Hideaway Pizza

Hideaway opened its first location in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 1957 in a tiny basement space off the main strip near the Oklahoma State University campus. The basement was literally a hideaway — a small subterranean space accessed by stairs from the street that Oklahoma State students discovered and adopted as a regular gathering place. The original Stillwater Hideaway is still operating in essentially the same basement location, 68 years later, with the same name and substantially the same menu.

The original founders were Bob and Patty Wedel, who launched the operation as a small pizza-and-beer business serving the Oklahoma State student market. The choice to specialize in pizza was deliberate — pizza was a novel American food category in mid-1950s Oklahoma (the original Pizza Hut had opened in Wichita just one year earlier in 1956), and the Wedels saw an opening to be the dominant pizza operator in the Oklahoma State college market.

Hideaway grew slowly through the 1960s and 1970s, adding locations in Norman (serving the University of Oklahoma student market) and Edmond before expanding into the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan markets through the 1980s and 1990s. The chain's commitment to staying family-owned and operating with consistent quality standards rather than maximizing growth has resulted in much slower expansion than typical American pizza chains, but produces a substantially higher quality-per-location average.

Hideaway's menu is dominated by a small set of signature pizzas that have been on the menu since the early years. The Big Country (sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers) is the most-ordered pizza in the chain's history and the default first-time-customer recommendation. The Old Fashioned is a vintage 1957 recipe of cheese, pepperoni, and hamburger; it tastes specifically like 1950s American pizza in a way that almost no other pizza available today does.

The Paradise is the Hideaway pizza that most defines Oklahoma's regional pizza identity — bacon, pineapple, banana peppers, and feta cheese on the standard Hideaway crust. The combination of sweet (pineapple), salty (bacon), spicy (banana peppers), and tangy (feta) sounds chaotic but is genuinely well-balanced; the Paradise is unlike any other American regional pizza and is the Hideaway pizza most likely to be ordered by Oklahoma residents who have moved out of state and pine for a taste of home.

Other classic pizzas on the menu include the Big Mac-style "Two Wheeler" (a stacked beef and cheese variation), various meat-lover combinations, vegetarian options including the popular Garden Variety, and seasonal limited-edition pizzas that rotate through the chain a few times per year. Pizza pricing ranges from $14 for a small one-topping to $32 for a large specialty pizza with multiple toppings — the standard mid-range American pizza price point.

Hideaway operates roughly a dozen locations in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, with the most relevant for visitors being the Classen Boulevard location (2329 North Classen Boulevard) — the closest to downtown OKC and the easiest to combine with other tourist activities. The Classen location has been operating for over 30 years, has the most parking of any OKC Hideaway location, and is the standard recommendation for first-time visitors.

Other notable OKC area Hideaway locations include the Bricktown Hideaway (in the Bricktown entertainment district, the natural pre-Thunder-game stop), the Edmond Hideaway (north OKC suburbs, popular family location), the Norman Hideaway (south OKC, serves the University of Oklahoma campus market), and several others scattered across north and northwest OKC. All operate substantially the same menu with the same kitchen standards.

The Hideaway interior design varies somewhat by location — some are in restored historic buildings, others in standard suburban shopping-center spaces — but the overall aesthetic is consistent: dark wood, vinyl booths, exposed brick or red paint, vintage Hideaway memorabilia on the walls, and the distinctive Hideaway neon sign hung centrally in each dining room. The atmosphere is casual, family-friendly, and unpretentious — the standard Oklahoma neighborhood pizza place.

Beyond the pizza, the Hideaway menu includes a few specific items that are part of the chain's identity. The cinnamon sticks (housemade pizza dough cooked and rolled in cinnamon sugar, served with cream cheese frosting for dipping) are the signature dessert and are widely considered the chain's best non-pizza item. The salad bar — available at most locations — is genuinely good Oklahoma salad bar quality with fresh ingredients refreshed throughout the day.

Beer and wine are served at all OKC Hideaway locations. The beer list is broad and includes local Oklahoma craft options (Anthem Brewing, Marshall Brewing, Coop Ale Works) alongside the standard American macros. Wine is a small list focused on basic table wines appropriate for casual pizza dining. Cocktails are available at most locations but the bar program is intentionally minimal — Hideaway is a pizza-and-beer place, not a cocktail bar.

Soft drinks include the standard American chain options plus locally-bottled Frostie's Root Beer (an Oklahoma soft drink that's hard to find outside the state) and various Mexican Coke and similar offerings. The drink program is reasonably priced ($2-$5) and rounds out the casual American pizza meal experience.

Hideaway is open daily, generally from 11am to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 11am to 11pm Friday and Saturday. No reservations are accepted at any location; seating is first-come-first-served. Weekday lunches are reliably uncrowded; Friday and Saturday dinners (especially the 6pm-8pm window) can have 20-40 minute waits at busy locations.

The chain is exceptionally family-friendly. Kids' menus include child-portioned pizzas and standard kid favorites (chicken fingers, mac and cheese). The dining-room noise level is high enough that kid energy fits in. Booster seats and high chairs are available at all locations. Many OKC families consider Hideaway the standard weekly family-pizza-night destination, and the dining rooms are typically full of kids on weekend evenings.

For Route 66 travelers, Hideaway is a meaningful Oklahoma cultural stop. The chain launched in 1957 at the height of the Route 66 era and has been continuously operating along the Mother Road corridor (with locations in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and many smaller Route 66 towns) for nearly 70 years. For visitors who want to understand the local Oklahoma food landscape, a single Hideaway pizza meal is essentially required orientation. The Classen Boulevard OKC location is the recommended starting point for visitors based in downtown Oklahoma City.