Mickey Mantle's Steak House

Mickey Mantle was born on October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw, Oklahoma — a small town in northeast Oklahoma about 70 miles from Tulsa. His father, Mutt Mantle, was a lead and zinc miner who named his son after Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane. Mutt drilled his son in switch-hitting from age four onward; the Mantle family relocated to Commerce, Oklahoma in 1934, where Mickey grew up and played high school baseball.

The Yankees signed Mantle out of Commerce High School in 1949 for a $1,500 signing bonus and a $400 monthly salary — a substantial sum for an Oklahoma teenager during the late 1940s. He made his Yankees debut in 1951 at age 19, replacing the retiring Joe DiMaggio in center field, and went on to play 18 seasons with the team, winning seven World Series titles, three American League MVPs, and the 1956 American League Triple Crown.

Despite his Yankees career, Mantle remained deeply connected to Oklahoma throughout his life. He owned a home in Dallas but visited Oklahoma frequently, was a regular at Oklahoma sports events, and donated substantially to charities in Commerce and the broader northeast Oklahoma region. He died in 1995 at age 63 from cancer; the funeral was held in Texas but the broader Mantle family legacy remains anchored in Oklahoma, which is why his namesake restaurant is in Oklahoma City rather than New York.

Mickey Mantle's opened in 2000 as part of the broader Bricktown revitalization driven by the 1993 MAPS sales tax program (which funded the Bricktown Canal, the Bricktown Ballpark, and the supporting infrastructure that turned Bricktown from a derelict warehouse district into Oklahoma City's primary entertainment district). The restaurant was developed in coordination with the City of Oklahoma City, which renamed the street Mickey Mantle Drive specifically for the restaurant's launch.

The restaurant occupies a corner building at the western edge of Bricktown, directly across the street from what would become the Paycom Center (then called the Ford Center, opened 2002) when the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder relocated from Seattle in 2008. The proximity to the Paycom Center was a structural advantage that would make Mickey Mantle's the standard pre-game dining choice for Thunder fans — typically 50+ home games per season, plus playoffs and major concerts.

The licensing arrangement with the Mantle family includes a substantial Mickey Mantle memorabilia program throughout the restaurant: original signed bats, framed game photographs, original Yankees jerseys and caps, the Triple Crown plaque, photographs of Mantle at every stage of his career, and various other artifacts donated by the Mantle family. The bar area has the most concentrated memorabilia display; the upstairs private dining room has additional artifacts including some of the more personal Mantle family items.

Mickey Mantle's is a serious USDA Prime steakhouse. The beef program sources the top 2% American USDA Prime grade exclusively for the steak menu and dry-ages cuts in house for 28 days minimum before serving. The marquee steaks are the bone-in cowboy ribeye (22-24 ounces depending on the day's cut, priced around $80), the 22-ounce Porterhouse (a bone-in cut combining filet and strip in a single piece, around $90), the 14-ounce New York strip, and the 8 or 12-ounce filet mignon. Each cut is cooked on a 1,200-degree salamander broiler to produce the dark Maillard crust that defines American steakhouse cooking.

Beyond the standard beef program, the restaurant runs a strong seafood menu — cold-water lobster tails flown in from Maine, Alaskan king crab legs weighed at the table, ahi tuna seared rare, jumbo Gulf shrimp, and a rotating fish-of-the-day. The seafood tower (a tiered display of oysters, shrimp, crab, lobster, and clams) is the show-stopping appetizer for special occasions; it runs roughly $80-$120 depending on the day's market prices.

The signature non-steak menu item is the Chicken Mickey — a Frenched chicken breast in a Cajun-influenced creole cream sauce that the kitchen has been preparing the same way for over two decades. The dish is the standard recommendation for non-beef diners and is genuinely excellent. Other notable menu items include the prime rib (slow-roasted in three sizes), the pork chop, lamb chops, and a respectable vegetarian portobello mushroom plate.

Mickey Mantle's wine list runs roughly 400 bottles deep and is widely considered one of the deepest wine lists in Oklahoma. Strength concentration in California Cabernet Sauvignon (a multi-vintage Napa Valley collection that runs from $70 entry-level bottles up through several rare collectibles in the $1,000+ range), Bordeaux red blends, Oregon Pinot Noir, Italian Tuscan reds, and Argentinian Malbec. The white wine program is smaller but well-edited around Burgundy Chardonnay and Loire whites.

The bar serves classic cocktails (Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Sazerac, Vesper, Negroni) at consistent fine-dining quality, plus a small list of signature cocktails developed by the bar team. The whiskey selection includes serious American bourbons (Pappy Van Winkle when available, Blanton's, Eagle Rare, Stagg) and a strong Japanese whisky program. Cocktail prices run $15 to $24, reflecting the upscale steakhouse positioning.

The full bar is accessible without a dinner reservation — counter seating at the bar accommodates walk-in customers and is a respectable pre-game cocktail option even without a dining-room reservation. The pre-Thunder-game bar crowd (NBA game nights) is genuinely vibrant; the post-game late-dinner crowd extends Mickey Mantle's service window well past 10pm on home-game nights.

Reservations are essentially required for dinner service — Mickey Mantle's sells out Friday and Saturday nights and during major OKC events (Thunder home games, Bricktown Comets baseball games, major concerts at the Paycom Center). Reservations are made through OpenTable or by phone (the restaurant has its own reservation system in addition to OpenTable). Walk-ins are sometimes accommodated at the bar but rarely at dining-room tables during peak hours.

Dress code is business-casual upward — no flip-flops or athletic wear, but ties and jackets are not required. Many regular customers wear nicer jeans and a button-down; visiting NBA fans often wear team jerseys before games. The dining room is dim and feels appropriate for a special-occasion dinner.

The natural Bricktown pairing for a Mickey Mantle's dinner: pre-dinner drinks at the bar or at one of the canal-adjacent bars, dinner at Mickey Mantle's (allow two hours), then walk to the Paycom Center for a Thunder game or to the Bricktown Ballpark for a Comets baseball game (April-September). The walk to either venue is genuinely 3-5 minutes; the post-game return to Bricktown for late drinks at one of the canal bars is the standard sequence for a complete Bricktown evening.