Welcome to Reba’s Place

Until recently, Reba McEntire had no plans to open a restaurant. The fiery-haired country music icon, actress, author, and lifestyle entrepreneur was already busy with a film, a tour, and a new book, thinking that entering the hospitality industry would be too much trouble. Yet here I am at 11 a.m. on a Monday, among many visitors filling the foyer of Reba’s Place, her newly opened restaurant in Atoka, Oklahoma, not far from her childhood Chockie cattle ranch.

“Reba’s Place wasn’t my idea at all,” McEntire shared with Dinogo. “When the city council approached me about starting a restaurant in Atoka, I initially declined. Restaurants are challenging ventures, and making them profitable is tough.” However, after hearing the excitement from local officials who believed the restaurant could boost tourism and create jobs in the quiet town of 3,188 along Highway 69, McEntire agreed. The result is a three-story restaurant that opened on January 26, featuring a stage for live music, an upstairs lounge filled with her mother’s books, and a shop selling Reba’s Place merchandise. The menu offers Southern comfort food, including deep-fried pickles and locally sourced beef, highlighted by a massive tomahawk steak that serves up to six people. “It’s the best steak I’ve ever had,” McEntire claims.

McEntire’s business partner for this venture is the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, which runs various businesses in the state, such as restaurants and casinos. They worked with McEntire on the restaurant's menu and design and hold weekly meetings with her to ensure Reba’s Place operates smoothly.

Transforming a century-old Masonic lodge into a restaurant was, as McEntire describes it, quite the adventure. The building was in disrepair, requiring a complete overhaul, and filled with bird droppings, with some structural issues on the third floor that led to a dramatic incident where McEntire had to be rescued through a second-floor window after the stairs she was about to descend collapsed. “It was pretty scary,” she recalls. “I hoped for one of those big inflatable slides, but the fire department just used a ladder. After that, I made sure that those stairs would be the best built in the entire United States after we finished this project.”

The menu primarily features Southern classics, many of which hold personal significance for McEntire. It includes her Mama’s pimento cheese sandwich, generously spread on soft bread with a layer of Miracle Whip, along with her mother’s preferred cocktail — Seagram’s gin mixed with 7-Up. “I contributed pinto beans, fried potatoes, and cornbread. I’ve always loved beans; they were a staple in my upbringing,” McEntire shares. As a rancher’s daughter, she made sure the menu offers a robust selection of steaks. And of course, there’s the Red Head ‘Rita, a tribute to McEntire herself, infused with Ancho Reyes liqueur. I decided to try one: When in Atoka, follow Reba’s lead.

McEntire won’t manage the daily operations at Reba’s Place; she intends to visit frequently to stay informed. Yet, she inherently understands hospitality, even as a newcomer to the restaurant scene. A baker arrives at 4 a.m. every day to prepare items for the complimentary bread basket, which includes small loaves of banana bread, green chile cornbread, and apple-ginger muffins. The restaurant sources its beef for burgers and steaks from nearby ranches run by the Choctaw Nation. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, avoiding any pretentiousness; inside, the 250-seat venue feels surprisingly intimate.

In recent years, many country music stars have launched their own restaurants. Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, and Justin Timberlake all have venues in Nashville, with more to come. However, Reba’s Place stands out from those large, impersonal bars teeming with tourists due to its serene location in downtown Atoka. The decor reflects McEntire’s essence, featuring cowhide rugs and sparkling costumes from her numerous tours and her Broadway role in Annie Get Your Gun. “We have photos in there I hadn’t seen in years, along with the ‘Fancy’ dresses,” she notes, referring to her iconic 1991 cover of the Bobbie Gentry song. “I’m a collector; I save everything — memorabilia, costumes, you name it. We’ll soon display my outfit from Tremors. Just like the menu, we’ll rotate the memorabilia so that returning visitors will see new items each time.”

While Reba highly recommends the tomahawk steak, I didn’t have a party of six to share it with or $150 to spend on a single piece of meat. Instead, I opted for the cleverly named “Fancy” steak dinner: a plate of Choctaw Ranch filet medallions accompanied by a rich, smoky mushroom ragout and a few grilled shrimp. It certainly looked fancy, adorned with a little pile of grilled onions and a sprig of rosemary. It may not have been avant-garde, but it was a fantastic steak, and that’s all it really needed to be.

If Reba’s Place achieves the same success as other celebrity-branded venues, like Ree Drummond’s Pioneer Woman Mercantile and Blake Shelton’s Ole Red, it could significantly boost Atoka’s economy. Since its 2017 opening in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, the Pioneer Woman Mercantile has generated over 175 new jobs, doubled the town’s sales tax revenue, and led to the opening of more than 20 new businesses. Local officials are optimistic about Reba’s potential, citing a recent report that estimated a $37 million annual economic impact. They highlight that Atoka is only 126 miles from Dallas and located on a major highway where “8 million vehicles” pass yearly, according to Carol Ervin of the Atoka City Industrial Development Authority. “We just need a reason for them to stop. Reba’s Place will give them that reason.”

After lunch, I naturally checked out the merchandise shop and took a stroll around Atoka’s downtown, visiting a few boutiques selling T-shirts, including some styled like campaign shirts featuring “Dolly/Reba 2024.” The city center doesn’t yet feel like a tourist hotspot, which is actually a plus. Two months in, Reba’s Place appears to be a place where fans can feel a bit closer to a country legend, or simply savor a plate of chicken fried steak and pinto beans, leaving happy. As I drove two hours back to Dallas, I had just one regret: not ordering the strawberry shortcake. It’s Reba’s favorite dessert, and I now trust the refined tastes of the Queen of Country more than ever.