Bricktown Brewery is one of those places that makes more sense when you eat at the original one.
I’ve been to newer Bricktown Brewery locations, and they do the job. But the downtown Oklahoma City location at 1 N. Oklahoma Ave has the old Bricktown bones around it. Brick walls. Brewery equipment. That early-90s downtown restaurant energy from when Bricktown was still becoming the entertainment district people know now.
The original restaurant opened in 1992 inside an old candy factory, and Bricktown Brewery says it received Oklahoma’s first license to make and sell craft beer after Prohibition. More than 30 years later, the name has grown into a regional restaurant brand with more than 20 locations, but this is the one that still feels tied to the street outside.
We Covered the Table Pretty Well
We stopped in with a group and ordered like people who had no interest in a light lunch.
I got the Roast Beef French Dip, which came with sliced roast beef, white cheddar and mayo on a toasted baguette, with au jus on the side. That is exactly the lane I want a brewpub sandwich to stay in: hot, simple, salty, filling, and not trying to reinvent lunch.
The pizza was a loaded combination-style pie with sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, red sauce and mozzarella. There was a lot happening on each slice, but in the old-school pizza way where the toppings actually feel like the point.
The rest of the table filled in fast: chicken pot pie, a kids’ mac and cheese, and one of the appetizer samplers. That last one is the move when you’re with a group and everyone wants “just a bite” of everything, which is how a table ends up looking like county fair math.
Nobody at our table was pretending this was health food. It was comfort food in a brewpub downtown, and it hit that mark.
Why the Downtown Location Matters
Bricktown Brewery could be treated like any other casual restaurant chain now, but the downtown OKC location has a different weight to it because this is where the whole thing started.
It wasn’t a suburban concept dropped into Bricktown later. It grew out of the district at a time when Bricktown was still changing from warehouses and industrial buildings into restaurants, bars, the canal, the ballpark area and event traffic.
That matters to me. A place can expand and still have one location that carries the original story better than the rest.
The brewery still leans into its beer side, too. Core beers include Old King Kölsch, Bluesberry Ale, Bar Hop Hazy IPA, Millie McFadden’s Red Rye Ale and Wiley’s Blood Orange Wheat. If you’re just there for lunch, you can treat it as a restaurant. If you’re there because you want the brewpub part of the brewpub, that side of the place is still part of the identity.
A Solid Bricktown Group Stop
Bricktown Brewery Downtown OKC makes the most sense when you’re already in the district.
If you’re downtown for a game, concert, canal walk, convention, date night, family outing or one of those Bricktown evenings where nobody in the group can agree on what they want, the menu covers enough ground to keep things moving. Burgers, pizza, sandwiches, big comfort-food plates, appetizers, kids’ food and beer all live under the same roof.
That’s not always exciting on paper, but it is useful in real life.
For me, the appeal of this location is the combination of the setting and the food. The French dip was big and straightforward. The pizza had plenty going on. The pot pie and mac and cheese kept the table in comfort-food territory. The appetizers did what appetizers are supposed to do, which is disappear while everyone is still talking.
Not exactly a light lunch.
A good one, though.
Details
- Address: 1 N Oklahoma Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73104
- Phone: 405-232-2739
- Hours: Monday-Thursday 11 AM-10 PM, Friday-Saturday 11 AM-11 PM, Sunday 11 AM-9 PM
- Website: https://bricktownbrewery.com/location/downtown-okc/
