Meiki's Italian American (Closed)
6916 Northwest ExpresswayOklahoma City, OK
For years this restaurant was known as Meiki's Route 66, a popular restaurant on N.W. 39th Street
(historic U.S. 66) serving red sauce style Italian food. I have read that it specializes in pizza and calzones,
but the menu includes a large list of Italian dishes along with hamburgers, chicken breast sandwiches,
and chicken pockets on the American menu.
The new restaurant at Northwest Expressway and Rockwell is in large space and is popular enough
that it may get full at times. Casual Italian restaurants with moderate prices are usually a big draw, since
most people cannot sustain a habit of visits to more expensive restaurants, no matter how good the food
might be. I also think a reason for Meiki's popularity is that people think the food is better than average.
Dinners at Meiki's come with a salad and garlic bread. The Dinner Salad had pretty
standard lettuce and dressing. With the iceburg lettuce used in the salad about all I can say is that it
was fresh. The dressing was good and I enjoyed the croutons. This was pretty much a fairly average
salad.
Pizza is one of the major attractions at Meiki's, and I found out why when I tried the Margarita
Pizza with fresh basil and thin-sliced tomatoes. I thought this was probably one of the three or
four best pizzas in the city, with the flavors being as vibrant as the colors in the photo. Italian food
has much in common with Thai and other Asian foods, one thing being that anything made with
basil is likely to be good. Here the basil was fresher and more noticeable than normal, with there
being no "weak links" in the other components of tomatoes, cheese, and crust.
Besides the margarita pizza, customers can build their own cheese pizza with extra toppings,
order the Supreme with everything, or get the Vegetable pizza with the same ingredients as the
vegetarian calzone (mushroom, black olive, green pepper, and onion).
Calzone is known as Meiki's other specialty besides pizza, and so far I have found
none better in Oklahoma City or most other cities. In many restaurants calzone seem to be
more like a snack or a fast food meal than something that is really satisfying, but the one at Meiki's
was satisfying in both flavor and substance. I got the vegetarian calzone order, and I thought the crust
and the sauce were strong enough so that people would enjoy either the vegetarian or the meat version.
The mushrooms were quite good, something that is not always the case at restaurants. I thought the
onion flavor was too strong, and I do not know if customers are allowed to custom order the ingredients
inside so that this can be changed. Mozzarella cheese inside gives the calzone extra substance and
flavor. A meat version is also available for those who think the veggie one might not be filling enough
(although I thought it was).
Other than pizza, most of the items listed on the menu were pasta dishes. Based on the
waitress' suggestion I ordered Manicotti on one of my early visits. It may be fairly hard to make
an impressive manicotti since no meat is involved, but it is something I enjoy when they get it right.
The waitress indicated it was good because of the home made crepes used to wrap the ricotta cheese,
and I will have to admit that the dish was pretty much as advertised. The sauce, cheese, and crepes
were all good, and as far as I could tell were home made. The sauce was a typical Italian American style
red sauce, and I liked it better than most. This was not my favorite sauce in OKC but it was certainly
something that would make me want to return to the restaurant. The cheese was high quality both
inside and on top. The photo makes it appear that the dish was burned, but this was only along the
edge. Otherwise I thought it was cooked just right.
Lasagne was pretty much a copy of the manicotti except that it came with sausage and
did not have the crepes. The menu points out that lasagne has Meiki's slow-cooked red sauce, but
other dishes do as well, so the other ingredients largely determine which dish will be each person's
favorite.
Angel Hair Pasta with Pesto is one dish that does not use red sauce, but it does come
with Meiki's "fresh basil and chopped tomatoes." I thought this dish was good, and probably more
healthy for the type of diet I like to follow than some of the red sauce dishes. I do think, though, that
some other restaurants serve a better pesto (but this one was good).
The Garlic Bread that came with the manicotti and other dishes was pretty unappealing,
almost to the point that I would consider not eating it at future meals even though it comes free with
the meal. I thought the amount of garlic used was over the top and I really did not enjoy it.
Meiki's serves Italian Cream Soda in addition to the standard drinks for a change of pace
that is not available in many restaurants.
Meiki's does not claim to be "authentic," but is a good, old fashioned Italian American style
restaurant. I think the most authentic thing about it is the way the meals are made from scratch
with fresh ingredients, so that it is hard not to like the food here. Even though it is no longer on
historic U.S. 66, it is still worth a stop whether you are a local or are passing through.
A salad comes with the meals at Meiki's
Margarita pizza
Calzone can be ordered with meat (sausage and Canadian bacon) or vegetarian (mushrooms and
black olives)
Manicotti at Meiki's
Lasagne
Angel hair pasta with pesto
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RESTAURANT DETAILS
RATING: 20
Cuisine: Italian
Cost: $$
Hours: Closed Sun.
Accessible: Yes
Smoking: No Smoking
Most Recent Visit
Aug. 12, 2009
Number of Visits: 4
Best Items
Pizza, Calzone
Special Ratings
Margarita Pizza:
Calzone:
Manicotti:
Lasagne:
Angel Hair Pasta:
Salad:
Italian Cream Soda:
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