About a year ago, I found out that the OKC has one of the Jimmy Buffett restaurants known as “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” A local friend had taken a date there, and they loved it. Being one who always enjoys a good burger, I filed this info away in my head to take advantage of later on.

Well, today I finally went to CiB, and I have to hand it to Mr. Buffett. His name usually lands on quality things, and this is no exception. I showed up near the end of the night, arounf 10:30 PM. This, I can offer the following information (based on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best):

Ambiance: The restaurant has a beach theme- duh, right. That being said, it’s not too kitschy and serves to enhance the experience. In the air, there is almost a party atmosphere without being too informal. The music is eclectic, with the expected Jimmy Buffett music mixed in with country, reggae and rock. Not too bad, but not necessarily somewhere you’d take a first date. 4/5

Service, Primary: Here, the restaurant excelled. I was greeted at the door by the manager, who was friendly and guided me to a table. The waitress was excellent. She assisted me with my dinner selection, was prompt with drink refills as well as checking in on me, brought my food quickly and efficiently. 5/5

Service, Secondary: This is what I would use to refer to the non-direct people that were there. I was treated well by the bartender, who provided me with further assistance when my waitress was away and engaged me in pleasant banter. The other waitstaff worked other jobs quickly and quietly without bothering me. 4/5

Cleanliness: Very clean, very nice. 5/5

Menu: The menu was varied and sundry, with food that would seem in place at a ballgame or at finer restaurants. Excellent choice of selection. 4/5

Food Quality, Appetizer: I chose the mini chili dogs, mostly as a curiosity. These were a pleasant surprise, as the chili was tasty without being too spicy. The hot dogs were high quality, and I could have eaten a double order of these as an entire meal. 5/5

Food Quality, Entree: I chose the namesake of the restaurant, the Cheeseburger in Paradise burger. The beef was 100% ground chuck, well-seasoned and very good but slightly undercooked to my order. That was the only real complaint I could have though, as the rest of the entree was outstanding. I chose the sweet potato chips, which were a surprise. I’ll have to recommend this type of food to others, as I didn’t expect how good they ended up being. 4/5

Food Quality, Dessert: I chose the key lime pie to go. This was the only disappointment, as the pie was entirely too tart to enjoy. It does come with whipped cream and toasted shredded coconut, which did mitigate the tartness slightly. Still, I’ve had better. 2/5

Presentation: This relates to how the food was presented on the plate. Nothing overly complex, not bad so to speak but to be honest I would have expected something a little more, well… beachy given the ambience of the restaurant. Could be better. 3/5

The Little Things: I mentioned that the dessert was to go. To avoid the pie getting runny, the pie was placed in a container separate from the whipped cream and the coconut. Awesome call, on that. The waitress thanked me for coming in so late, and told me her name and to come back any time and ask for her. Nice. The manager even engaged in some small chat with me as he passed by at times. 5/5

Overall: 41/50. A very pleasant time was spent here, especially considering the hour of the night that I arrived. The food was mostly good, and the staff was excellent. Some small takeaways for presentation and the dessert, but overall a very enjoyable experience. Definitely a recommendation to try them out, and I will go there again.