Sam & Ella's Chicken Palace

If you like great tasting pizza, just go to Sam and Ella’s. Word to the wise, there is lots of cheese and toppings on their pies. And yes, go ahead and order the bread. It’s fantastic. There was a slight char to the crusts that’s just tasty. You know it’s coming out of a good oven. We were in Tahlequah for our state fire caucus meeting. It’s in a very neat location in downtown. Parking could be an issue during peek hours.

At first I was a little put off in the get go. Our meatball grinder the meatballs were cold and very small not enough to fill the French bread. Our server was very apologetic and took it off our bill and even after we said not to remake. She brought us a remake . The garlic bread was just the French roll burnt on bottom with cheese. The saving grace was the pizza. Toppings perfectly cut into smaller pieces to be able to taste every flavor in every bite Our server 2 min check back on us which was great as well as keeping our drinks full. Ireland is a very sweet server and even with poor taste in music playing she was a very sweet player and pizza saved the meal.

Came here very hungry and ordered a small deluxe pizza. My son ordered a meatball sub, since he’s not a black olive fan. Yes, I know he can request no olives but sandwich it was. Kinda hard to ruin a meatball sub so it was good and he enjoyed it. Came with a bag of ruffles and a dill pickle spear. My pizza was fabulous, if you like thick pizza. Loaded with veggies and meat, a small was more than plenty for me. Took half home. The waitress was really nice, offered ranch when she delivered my pizza (mind reader) and also brought a lid with the box so I could take my ranch to go. Perfect for my hotel munchies! She even asked if we wanted our drink refills to go. Lots of seating inside and the chicken/rooster decor was cute. But just a heads up, there’s no chicken on the menu in this palace! Enjoy

We were presently surprised to find this hidden pizza restaurant in downtown Tahlequah. Boys rated their pizza a 9 but my wife and gave it a 10. Waitress was great. Were going back

Supreme pizza (add jalapeno) with stuffed mushroom caps were fantastic! Its not burnt like some reviews put it, it's crispy- the way I like it. The artichoke shrooms were most excellent and are highly recommend. Its called the chicken palace as to its decor, not menu. Cute/fun atmosphere, great taste, and awesome service/staff.

Wow! The food is absolutely delicious! We had the ‘Caps’ (mushroom caps in a creamy sauce smothered in cheese) and a pizza. Both were so full of flavor that we couldn’t talk for a while because we were enjoying it so much.

I hate to knock off stars for service because bless them tried but for a Saturday, they were woefully understaffed. I have waitressed before so I don't take rating service lightly. We waited over 10 minutes for someone to take our drink order so we placed our entire order at that time. An hour later we received our full order. This is after watching other tables receive their pizza before us yet having ordered after us. We ordered a simple cheese pizza. We did get our mushrooms and Arti wrap out beforehand, which were appetizers, and that was nice. The food is extremely good, which is probably one of the reasons they are so popular. There were empty tables, so they were not at capacity.

I was driving through town and asked a friend for a recommendation for lunch. His advice did not disappoint and now I pass it on to you. I had a pepperoni, jalapeño, and bacon small pizza. I took a lot of it home. Thick crust and delicious.

Came here very hungry and ordered a small deluxe pizza. My son ordered a meatball sub, since he's not a black olive fan. Yes, I know he can request no olives but sandwich it was. Kinda hard to ruin a meatball sub so it was good and he enjoyed it. Came with a bag of ruffles and a dill pickle spear. My pizza was fabulous, if you like thick pizza. Loaded with veggies and meat, a small was more than plenty for me. Took half home. The waitress was really nice, offered ranch when she delivered my pizza (mind reader) and also brought a lid with the box so I could take my ranch to go. Perfect for my hotel munchies! She even asked if we wanted our drink refills to go. Lots of seating inside and the chicken/rooster decor was cute. But just a heads up, there's no chicken on the menu in this palace! Enjoy

I have been eating at Sam & Ella's Pizza for many years. They have always had the same menu. And the inside has looked the same for ages! The staff are always friendly and bring all the ranches. Because the ranch is a superior must have, and it's not because the pizza is bad without it. The ranch just enhances the incredible pizza even more. It's thick doughy crust, which some people don't love, but I love carbs too much! It's one of those pizzas that everyone in Oklahoma should try. It's a staple after a long hot river float too. The arti toast is one of the most brilliant creations known to man too. Who doesn't love spinach artichoke dip slathered onto garlic bread smothered in melty cheese baked to perfection?! And the salads and sandwiches are great too!

I love pizza. This pizza is nice crispy with a chewy edges. Service was great. Dining room was nice with a chicken themed decorations. They are located just down the street from the college.

Sam and Ella's is a quaint restaurant near NSU with lots of fun chicken paraphernalia all over the place. Truly a chicken palace with a fun play on words. The staff was friendly and the pizzas are great. They are extra cheesy with a great crust, flavorful sauce, and fresh ingredients. We will visit when we are in the Tahlequah area again.

There was hair in my pizza. I understand sometimes things happen when we go to a restaurant with human error, but the way things were handled after the hair was found was literally the worst experience I've had with a restaurant, ever. The waiter, Annika handled things really well and probably was the best part of coming here, but Ireland was rude and inconsiderate after waiting two hours for our food in a smoky room.

( First time going!!!!! )So from the start we really thought it would be chicken not pizza and subs bcs it says chicken palace but it wasnt, sooo now the service was ok the waitress where nice but slow the food was slow we waited 40 MINUTES for our pizza to come out and it was BURNT and it wasn't even that great, but we even ordered appetizer that came out burnt we asked the service to check on our pizza and she said since she put in the order it's not on her it's how ever long the chef takes. Just over all went one time never ganna go again, not even worth talking about positively.

I happened to be in Tahlequah today, and a friend had recommended this place. I must say it's some of the best pizza I've ever eaten, and I've eaten a lot of pizza. Fresh ingredients, excellent crust and sauce.

This is my former employment in college (19 years old). Jack and Andrea are the owners and this is literally their baby. Jack is a self proclaimed former rocker - was in a band and this name is where it all birthed from. The pies are all former titles to his song s from their album, albeit never came to fruition but birthed this gem instead. This place will always have a special place in my heart. It is where Carrie underwood was employed. It is also where I met a life time best friend while employed. First off the salad is bar none. I ordered it sans chicken. I do remember more bell pepper but I digress. I remember a college Math professor who would have this salad daily! I do not recall his name. Then the arti- toast. This is a spin on the ole regular cheesy bread - I guess you could say. It is more like a calzone but I love it and my husband has to get everytime we visit here, Of course we ordered the classic big sloppy pie- containing a layer of cheese, a layer of black olives and a layer of pepperoni- ONLY TO BE REPEATED! So double layer toppings!!!! There is no place like this place! My son (a self proclaimed dominoes lover) literally said "I AM IN HEAVEN." haha I was surprised there were no waitresses and they sadly took the old soda fountain bar. All that remind of it is a photo of what it used to be. Overall the quality of the food surpasses everything else. Of course we will be back bc it's my college staple

Going to start with the service. 1 star. Service was horrible took a very long time to be waited on once we ordered again a very long time. Once severed I have to admit the food was very good if they could speed up the service it would be wonderful

There pizza isn't that good .... restrooms are nasty .... people are friendly tho and costumed service is great

The pizza is outstanding! The salad was leafy, fresh & yummy (not all iceberg). Service was quick & super friendly. The restrooms are clean. The dining room atmosphere is really pleasant. Will be back everytime we are in Tahlequah!!

Returning to Tahlequah 10 years after we last visited. Sam & Ella's was a definite must on our list. It was much better than we remembered! The house salad is big enough to share. The pizza had unique flavors. Everything tasted authentically Italian. The nostalgic ambiance was how we remembered it! Definitely worth a try if you're in Tahlequah!

Food is fantastic!!! The only thing that could improve is the young female manager!!!

I used to LOVE this place and decided to get some mushroom caps for the first time in a long time and what a HUGE disappointment! The cheese was so burnt and stuck to the pan and all I got was an "I'm sorry." Well, I'm sorry that you won't be getting our service anymore just for that. I am not driving all the way back to you, loading my 2 year old up to go get more because we were craving them! Sad that that's the response I got. I paid for burnt mini mushrooms stuck to the pan.

I came in mid afternoon and there was only 2 other people eating. Ordered garlic bread and a pizza. Garlic bread was okay but burnt black on the edges. I have no idea where the waitress went and almost an hour I'm still waiting for the pizza. I was told by a different waitress I'd be another 10 minutes and they had no control over time one of went back to the kitchen. Definitely will not return Definitely week be sharing this experience.

Big sloppy. No olives. A classic! I think the large gets the portions right. The small has too much crust. The medium does as well.

The wait time for a sandwich was unreasonable. There were only two other diners in the restaurant. The prices are up; that's Ok everything costs more now. The sandwich size is down, that's not Ok. Don't do both. I would rather pay $12.99 and get a good-sized filling sub, than pay $9.99 and get a half of a poor sub sandwich. Quality is gone. These sandwiches weren't that good. I have driven to Tahlequah many times just to eat a Sam and Ella's, because of what used to be great food. I won't be touching the brake pedal near the place again. Is the restaurant under new management? An overall disappointment that I won't repeat. Sam and Ella's a previous favorite.

The food was was great! It was a very cozy spot, and the service was awesome. The pizza is great.

Amazing pizza great service. And great people watching. Was shocked on Saturday after the parade they weren't packed. Worth the trip

Sam&Ellas Complaint: Someone I know brought home a pizza from Sam and Ella's yesterday. Not horrible, but it was pretty burned and crunchy to where the crust couldn't be eaten and the cheese wasn't stringy. It was pretty rubbery, but the flavor was still good. For a pizza to cost over $30, you should have the best in town, which is often the case. So she called and asked the lady on phone about it and they told her she could bring it back today and they would replace it. She told them she was out of town and couldn't go back today and asked if there was anything else they would recommend and that she could come back in a couple days or send a picture. The lady who answered the phone told her to hold on and someone else got on the phone and just said (without introducing herself as the owner) "I'm sorry you were unhappy with your pizza but I baked it myself and it was perfect so there is nothing I can do". She went on and on and the person i know barely got two words in and the owner hung up on her. She called back and asked to talk to a manager. She replied "that's me (then rambled on some more about how great it was and how she (the person I know) wasn't getting anything free). She then said "this isn't Walmart and you can't just return it" (to which she replied "Walmart doesn't burn pizzas"). She then said my person was just wanting free stuff without paying and that she probably wanted her (the owner) to pay her car payment too. She politely told her "I never even asked for a free pizza. You're really going to act like that? You just lost my business". She then said in a snarky way "okay, sweetie. Byebye." Then hung up on her yet again. This was the OWNER. Needless to say, she didn't bring back the pizza and they just ate the not burnt parts. So after this experience from someone i personally know, I nor my family will be going to Sam and Ella's. It has always been one of my favorite restaurants in town. But for an owner to act so horribly, that's ridiculous. She not only should have replaced it, she should have offered additional compensation or at least free pizza for a future visit. Even though it's true customers aren't always right, to assume someone who visits there and purchases from a local business is just out to get free stuff, the business owner should NOT be supported. This is beyond ridiculous. #samandellas #shoplocaltahlequah #tahlequah You are welcome to share this. They don't want their name used or it would have been in the paper this week. Just ashamed that customers get treated like this.

Been eating here for 30 years. Great pizza, great place to hang out and laugh at all the chickens, and friendly staff!

My son and I came up for a basketball tournament. The pizza and service were great. I really enjoyed the decor.

Somehow even with the chickens it exudes classic pizza joint vibes. We ate here on a Sunday around noon and it was just a completely relaxing time. We had the caps and the supreme. Both were great. The kids loved the food and the atmosphere. Service was friendly and attentive. We're looking forward to going back and trying some of the other pies. Re: another review. The Tahlequah location DOES have indoor seating.

I was expecting all sorts of chicken dishes due to the name. However, they have SA who he's and Italian food. Note that you can't sit inside only outside. Had I know I would have eaten elsewhere as it was a bit on the hot side and I had to contend with lots of flys. Parking along the street was not easy to find but along side of their building there was plenty. You can pay with credit cards here but you can't tip with them. Sadly I only had $2.00 on me so that's all I could leave. I must say that the waitress was super friendly, and very attentive! Deserved more than what I left. There was no ATM near. I ordered their side salad which was awesome. I personally like blue cheese dressing and they use the good thick and chunky kind! The salad came with a slice of garlic bread which was delicious. I opted for a good old pepperoni pizza. It was super cheesy I personally like a little more sauce on mine less cheese and not so much bread. However for the amount of cheese it wasn't super oily like some I've had. The pizzas over all flavor was good just too much bread and cheese for my taste. I'd try them again but go with something other than their pizza.

While on a day trip to Tahlequah, The Kid and The Wife wanted to give this place a try. First, the place.... nice hometown vibe, perfect for the college town spot that it is. Lots of kitschy decor with an over abundant focus on chickens, for some reason, which is odd, because they don't serve chicken. Which is probably a good thing that I'll mention later. Seating was plentiful, since it was mid afternoon on a Saturday. Wait staff were plentiful and friendly. We were offered menus and told to sit wherever we liked, so we took a booth in the corner. Not much to see on the menu. A pretty basic set of apps, a few sandwiches and then pizza. No chicken. None. The Kid went with a small cheese pizza and a side salad, The Wife had a small supreme while I opted for the chicken sandwich, not really being much of a pizza guy. It's one of those foods I'll eat, but it's never my go to choice. The Kid's salad arrived pretty quickly, but almost on its heels was her pizza. So she really didn't get much of a chance to eat what turned out to be a pretty darn good salad. One of the better items we tasted. Her cheese pizza was pretty good, with lots of cheese and a really large size for a small. She managed about half of it, which for her is pretty good. My sandwich arrived next, a few minutes later (put a pin in that one). The Wife's initial comment was that the bread looked burned and hard, which wasn't the case. After an initial crunch from sitting under the broiler for a minute, the bread was pretty soft and chewy. Sadly, the sandwich was more of a missed opportunity than not. The chicken had no flavor at all, and the entire sandwich lacked any depth. The best thing on my plate was the bag of Ruffles. I ate about 3 bites and was done, which was pretty irritating, since I'd not had anything to eat all day. The Wife's supreme arrived several minutes later. It too was pretty good sized for a small. Plenty of toppings, good crust, and according to her, quite good. The staggered delivery of the entree items was mildly irritating. A sandwich and 2 small pizzas should have been easy to deliver all at once. I'm not sure why there seems to be a growing trend in restaurants lately to deliver your salad 7.3 seconds before your entree hits, but it's annoying as hell, and whenever I have to order the salad separately, I'm going to start asking them to take it off the bill when that happens. Overall, The Girls were happy, but I was overly disappointed and am happy knowing that I'll never have to go back again.

Bullet Points: No more waitresses to take your order....So service is spotty to no non-existent. Order up front, get a number and sit. Smokey as hell in there....hood vent appeared to be not working. Had to go outside occasionally to breath!! Sheesh, fix that thing or don't open! Drink time from order to table over ten minutes. Re-fill, had to track down a person to get a re-fill on our drinks. She did not bother to add more ice which was nearly gone....lazy. Appetizer ticket time - thirty minutes. At fifty five minutes waiting on one pizza we got up and went to the front to find out where our pizza was....girl went to the kitchen to find out, came back and said eight minutes more. Ticket time for one large pizza...one hour and fifteen minutes. Pizza was not as good as I remember from last time I was there.....but that was ten years ago maybe. Doubtful I would give them another shot, as the whole experience was a complete fail on their part. Very inept service and staff.

I love this place. I drive from Oklahoma City and it is worth every mile. They have an appetizer called Artie Bread that is hands down my favorite food. The only reason I am not 300 pounds from eating this bread is because I live almost 3 hours away. Therefore I only go a couple times a year. I made my trek there last week and feared they might be closed. Hallelujah they were open. Due to Covid-19 I ordered takeout. They delivered it right to me in my car with a mask on and a kind attitude. The best day all week. Thanks Sam & Ella's place and keep up the great work. I'll be back!! Yummy Arti Toast

Prices online are cheaper then actual cost at purchase I expected to pay this yet it was higher upon picking my food up! Please update online prices

The Arti Toast was fabulous. We were tired and hungry and I had heard of Sam & Ellas so I didn't really look at anything else. I did not know Chicken Palace was pizza. The crust was good, but I'm never going to choose a pizza place. Service was super slow. I suppose they could have been short-handed, but they had 2 servers and 3 in the kitchen and the place wasn't half full. I can feed 400 in a cafeteria with 5 people, so I don't know what their problem was. Our server was nice.

Food was burnt. We got one of our pizzas before our appetizers. We didn't even get one of our appetizers because they had to remake it due to being burnt and it never came out. Had to send 2 clean plates back because they had food on them. Other pizza we had them box up so we could take it because we were done waiting. It was so smoky in there all of our eyes were burning and watering.

Love their pizzas, great salads, and the arti toast is a good appetizer. The service sometimes lacks, but other times is great.

Love it! A must try EVERYTHING is good here. The service is great and it's a good place to bring your family for a meal in the middle of a college town.

The pizza is good but severely over priced, especially for Tahlequah. It took almost 40 min wait at the restaurant to get our pizza. Hire more staff.

Genuinely a terrible experience. Waited over 1.5 hours for food. This was difficult as the whole restaurant was filled smoke and was difficult to sit in there for so long. When the food arrived, there was a hair in the food. We reported this and the manager was dismissive. We paid for our other items and left to a different restaurant altogether. I would highly recommend that others avoid this place.

If you enjoy a smoke filled room, a two hour wait your meal (with 1 refill in that time), and hair in your food, this is a place for you... This place was TERRIBLE. No remedy or apology at all! Ireland, the so called "manager", was rude about the entire situation. The long strand of hair was somehow our fault and we still had to pay? Do yourself a favor, avoid this place, especially Ireland.

When in Tahlequah and you're craving pizza, this spot has the best pies. I recommend their Hill Pickle Chicken Pie.

We ordered pizza and we're told 40-50 minutes. Came in at 50 minutes and were told they had dropped one of our pizzas and it would be another 25 minutes. When I said I needed to leave because of a family emergency and would take a refund on that pizza, one of the cooks came out of the kitchen and harassed me about the refund. Very inappropriate and aggressive. I took my pizza and instead of a refund they gave me a written note for a free pizza and some bread. I am from OKC area It was obvious this place was poorly ran and they could not get any manager on the phone...no manager was on duty. Won't be back.

Worst service I've had anywhere... been waiting over an hour and still haven't even gotten drinks

When I heard of this place I thought that I was going to be spending the next 5 hours on the SHITTER! I then realized that it is "Sam and Ellas" not "salmonella." I had to get the Big Sloppy Pie because the name reminded me of my sexy body. It was some of the best pizza I've ever had. GET IN MY BELLY!

Good sandwiches. A bit pricey though. Small sandwich for the $9 pricetag. Appetizer was good and plentiful for the $9 price tag, but should have been served differently. The item needed like a cracker or something to consume it on. Otherwise, it was very good. No servers taking orders. A customer must go to the register, to order and pre-pay for their food. I've lived in the area nearly 9 years. The whole time, I've heard how good this place was. This was my first, and LAST trip to this establishment. I won't be back.

We used to love Sam & Ella's. Our last few visits have not been good at all. The staff has been very unprofessional & the pizza is not the same as it used to be.

If you want the full Tahlequah experience, it requires floating the Illinois River followed by an Arti-wrap and a pizza at Sam and Ella's. Despite the name, don't expect chicken, unless you get it on your pizza. Also, don't expect booze. But the pizza, appetizers and salads are all great. The Sunrise pizza is my favorite vegetarian option, but my husband loves creating a chicken and pineapple pizza. I absolutely cannot step foot inside this place without an Arti-wrap. So much cheese melted with spinach artichoke dip, folded into a calzone-type crust. If you're going for the healthier options, the salads will not disappoint. The servers are pretty much all high school and college kids, but we've never had an issue that wasn't quickly resolved. If you're in Tahlequah, you can't miss out on this place!

Horrible!!! This place is run by a bunch of teenagers who have NO idea how to operate/ act in a food environment. I think the apparent supervisor (who had to approve nearly every transaction I seen was the oldest person who couldn't have been over 19. I'm surprised the local health department hasn't shut the place down. First we walk in. Not greeted. instead just told to order and find a seat. It wasn't busy at all. When I paid with my debit card when I signed the receipt I tried to give a tip because it's the right thing to do and was quickly told you cannot tip with a debit card only cash. I think it's weird that you have to pay for a pizza/tip before you even get it. But anyways... We waited for about an hour before we actually got our three pizzas. Unfortunately, we sat in front of where you could watch them make your food. I watched the teenagers scratch their heads and then touch the food, I even watched a young man get up and sit on the prep table where he got down three minutes later and started making a pizza in the same spot without cleansing the area. seen employees eating , doing tasks with cash then grabbing food. Coughing ect. So grossed out ! When we first walked in the door to the right was a teenager sitting next to the wall plugged in with her phone on the charger. When we asked for salt and pepper they looked shocked. We were brought a tiny little shaker of salt and told they didn't have pepper. You can order unsweetened tea but when you ask for sugar substitute/sweetener they only have sugar in the raw. I don't think I'm putting this review together as good as I possibly could but the chicken on my pizza tasted really stale and the way my body reacted later that night after eating it, I can guarantee that it was old. There's many other stupid complaints that I could make but the main thing was the employees had no idea what they were doing and very uncleanly. I watched three pizzas sit next to us for about 20 minutes on the counter while employees were looking around for a missing order that was right in front of them the whole time and then they served the patron the cold pizzas! I just don't understand how this place is still in business. Clearly the owner does not care or they would be there helping to run the rest of the kids that know nothing about food safety run the place into the ground!! My great grandmother, when she was alive, used to say that this was the best little pizza place. She used to go eat there back when Carrie Underwood worked there. I guess that's the whole reason we even wanted to eat there anyways. Plus, it got pretty decent reviews. I'm not sure how. On a more positive note, the other two pizzas that other people at my table ordered said they were great tasting. I warned them against eating my leftovers the next day. They had the same complaint that I did there was no sauce on the pizza and eventually made them sick too. So I know it wasn't just me.I went there nearly 2 weeks ago and debated whether or not I should write this review because I do not generally like to write bad reviews but if this will steer the owner into getting this place back in the shape maybe it's worth it. I will never have a reason to go back to this part of Oklahoma again so my opinion/review cannot be changed. I don't mind giving somebody credit when it's due but this place needs some serious help and some serious intervention before the end up killing somebody with their food safety that is nonexistent.

I'm allergic to black olives and was told by the Manager that I couldn't order the Big Sloppy without black olives. I was told that I couldn't order without black olives after the pizza was brought to me. So I paid for a pizza that wasn't what I ordere. How is that okay?

We ordered chicken bacon ranch pizza. There was only a few pieces of chicken on the whole pizza. We also ordered Arti-toast and it was burnt. Quality has definitely went down. We live almost to Stilwell and can't just run it back to them. It was not good at all. I don't see how you would send something out that looked like that. money down the drain. Can't upload pics or I would show you.

The pros: the food is fresh and tastes good. The cons: we waited over an hour for our food. There were about 4 other tables besides ours. We were never checked on by the waitstaff for refills on our drinks. We had to request dressing with our salad. When I kindly asked for compensation for the long wait time, the waitress quickly said no, walked off and never came back. My husband had to refill our waters. A firm apology goes a long way, as does an offer for a free dessert or appetizer to make up for long wait.

Yesterday was only our 2nd time here. We live 60 miles away. Food was the delish. We got the Rock Island Red and we purposely got a large so we would have leftovers. I was disappointed to find today that their pizza sticks terribly to this special "Perfect Crust Pizza Liner" they place in the box! I'll come back, but I won't need to buy extra for leftovers. Philline was our waitress and she was a delight!

Stopped by for an early lunch on a Saturday. First tiem visiting, had the Caps as an appitizer and Spinach Pizza. The Caps are mushroom caps stuffed with artichoke dip and covered with melted cheese. While there wasn't a lot of artichoke dip to be found, these were fantastic. The mushrooms were cooked to perfection and covered in chesse, then cooked in the pizza oven. Oh that melted cheese was so ooey gooey. The pizza was full of flavor and they crust was excellent. We will be back if we need a pizza fix while in the Quah!

I went to Sam and Ellas during the RF Festival yesterday. I figured they would be packed at 5 o'clock and there was hardly anyone in there. When I came in I noticed there were only three very young adults running the place that I could see. They've started making you to order your pizza and pay for it in advance which I thought was odd. The place was full of flies because the door was open. The weight staff was very friendly. I'm just really shocked at how the quality of the product has gone down. I ordered a supreme and it was mainly pepperoni nothing like what it used to be. Very disappointed.