5 Paw Review!
POLO GRILL
By Lauren Cavagnolo
Love dogs? Love wine? Polo Grill’s patio is a must visit for anyone looking to combine the two.
Polo Grill has been a fine-dining fixture in Utica Square for more than 35 years now. The restaurant opened in 1983 with a bar and one dining room. It now boasts five private dining rooms in addition to the main dining area, a new lounge, and patio dining. Known for its wine selection, according to its website, “the cellars now house 25,050 bottles showcasing 1,478 vintages.”
The restaurant’s quaint patio is a perfect retreat after a stroll around the grounds of Utica Square with your pup. Tucked away in a low-traffic corner, it’s easy to forget you are in a bustling shopping district, let alone Oklahoma—the patio is reminiscent of a European bistro.
Mr. Harvey, a 2-year-old Akita mix, and his humans Angel Woodstock and Colleen Gable of Oklahoma Pet Collective Society joined me for brunch on a Sunday afternoon to check it out for ourselves.
If you want a fine-dining experience while trying to stay budget friendly, lunch or brunch is a great time to visit, though the dinner menu is amazing and well worth the price. An added bonus, brunch also features live music by Mark Bruner.
Harvey, who wore a bowtie for the occasion, was showered with attention and pets from the waitress and immediately presented with his own bowl of fresh water upon his arrival. Even the dog bowls at Polo Grill are upscale, no pie tins or plastic here. Harvey had his water served in a sleek, steel dish.
Though it was late afternoon, there was plenty of shade at all of the tables between the umbrellas and trees.
Brunch menu items ranged from $9 to $27 with $7 cocktails and included waffles, pancakes and steak and eggs.
The lunch menu is more extensive, starting with soups and salads in the $8 to $17 range. Appetizers start at $6 for garlic bread for two and range up to $23 for steak tartare. Entrees included sandwiches, shrimp and grits, steak frites, grilled veal chop and a New York strip with prices ranging from $14 to $59. Additional sides are $5 to $7, served a la carte.
Between the three of us, our group ordered the petit medallion benedict, crab and goat cheese crepes and cobb salad. Everyone was pleased with their meals as evidenced by the halt in conversation as soon as the food arrived.
Over the course of the afternoon, Angel, Colleen and I discussed Tulsa’s pet overpopulation problem and the founding of Oklahoma Pet Collective Society in December 2020.
Unlike many area rescues, OPCS has a mission of sending the animals it rescues out of state to areas that are not suffering with overpopulation and mistreatment of animals. Since its founding, the group has transported 75 dogs out of state and has helped close to 200 dogs by housing them at its facility for other local rescues. “We pull many from the animal shelters; we pull from all over the place,” Woodstock, founder and president of OPCS shared. “Dogs that are on the euthanasia list, we bring them into the facility and make sure they are all vetted, and we do out of state transports.”
Thanks to a generous donation from Med Pharm, the group has its own van for transporting dogs.
“We have our own van now, and we just did our second transport [in June],” Woodstock said. “We sent out 42 dogs to Minnesota.”
OPCS also works with other area rescues to maximize the number of animals it can assist. Another 28 dogs were transported to Minnesota in late June.
“We also transport dogs that belong to other rescues. We collaborate with as many
rescues as we can on housing the dogs and transporting them,” Woodstock said. “Adoptions are great and much needed, but they are more of a band-aid than fixing the issue, which is overpopulation.”
The group does some adoptions, but the vast majority of the animals they pull from shelters or take in off the street end up on their van to either Minnesota or the New England area. Currently, they are doing transports once a month, but Woodstock says she is working to get transports done every two weeks, rotating between the two locations.
The group hopes to make its first trek to Maine and New Hampshire this summer, taking between 30 and 45 dogs. A trip that far will take three volunteers and will be a 23-hour drive one way, not including any stops needed along the way. The organization covers the cost of food and hotel for the volunteers.
In addition to transporting animals out of state, OPCS also provides spay/neuter clinics to the public and has plans to offer clinics just for rescue groups in the future. “We have a major overpopulation issue in Oklahoma. We want to work on that by educating and offering a free spay and neuter clinic to low-income [families],” Woodstock said. “We don’t check income; if someone wants to get their dog spayed or neutered, we are just happy about that so we are going to do it. We are going to have a clinic just for rescues also.”
At the time of publication, Harvey did not have a spot on a transport and was available for adoption.
As for Polo Grill, the verdict from our crew is it is a lovely patio with plenty of shade and amazing food, making it the perfect spot to spend an afternoon with your pooch.
