Ken's pizza still exists

[mike miller]

Still one in Chandler.

 

[Win65]

Good old days.

 

[Snattlerake]

I've eaten at this one a bunch of times. Hutch, Ks

 

[Roadking Larry]

I remember as a kid in the 70s, we had one in Claremore, Oklahoma. Istead of getting your pizza in a square, cardboard box, it came on a round, cardoard platter, wrapped in butcher type paper and it stood up from the pizza's surface kinda like a tent. Best pizza around...next to Shotgun Sam's and Shakeys in Tulsa.

There used to be a Ken's in Eufaula when I lived there back in 1998-2003. Good stuff.

I worked at the Claremore store late '78 to June '80. The package was actually a large flat bag that we tented and stapled the flap. I seem to remember we quite using them and went to boxes while I was there.

 

[AKguy1985]

Worked at a Ken's Pizza in the '70s.
Manager and area manager were crooked SOBs and were forcing kids to work off the clock.
My dad was working for the Oklahoma employment commission at the time. We hooked them up.

Mazzio's was a spin off. Ken and his wife divorced. She got the Ken's franchise and he got the Mazzio's side.

My uncle worked at the Ken's pizza in Claremore for several years til he became the manager of taco Bell. That would have been in the 80s. I believe he started in the early 80s. If you remember a Richard Knight that was him.

 

[O4L]

I've eaten at this one a bunch of times. Hutch, Ks

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That looks like the one we had here in Shawnee decades ago. The pizza was great.

It changed to Mazzio's at some point and was nowhere near as good. I was really disappointed.

After Mazzio's moved out to their new store farther north, it was a Goldie's for a little while. I ate there one time and it was terrible.

It has been a wannabe Italian restaurant for many years now, operated by Asians. I've never cared much for the food but for some reason a good portion of the "elite" society here seem to like it.

The building was hit by the recent tornado and was boarded up last time I looked. Makes me wonder if it will open back up.

 

[SoonerP226]

The building was hit by the recent tornado and was boarded up last time I looked. Makes me wonder if it will open back up.

That reminds me of a restaurant location in Norman, on Robinson, just west of the railroad tracks. (It has been a few years since I’ve gone through that intersection, so the changes they made to the railroad crossing may have eliminated it entirely.)

A new restaurant would open, then pretty soon it would be going like gangbusters, then it would tail off, then it would close, then the cycle would repeat. The word was that the guy who owned the building would get a successful restaurant in the building, then go all Jerry Jones and decide that any schmuck could run a restaurant in that location, raise the rent to run the tenant out, take over the restaurant, discover that he wasn’t any schmuck, close the restaurant, and start the cycle over again.

Funny how he never seemed to learn that lesson…

 

[Valhallajack]

There is a big Ed's on Penn Ave and 122nd in okc. Ken's pizza in chandler but I never eat there, better options are available.

 

[Shakel65]

Big Ed’s was great!

Loved that place and my father-in-law who lives out of state always mentions the great times and meals that he always enjoyed at all the locations.

Sadly, the relatives of Big Ed’s (I think it’s his son) are no longer running the place like Big Ed did. Our last visit, forever, resulted in being scolded for not finishing my ketchup. My wife and I walked out that evening after a mediocre burger and ok fries vowing to never return over his loss of less than a penny worth of a condiment in a restaurant once known for a burger bigger than a pizza, that was more than likely tossed after only half eaten.

It is at 122nd and Penn if anyone doubts this story order extra ketchup when you go next time and watch their reaction, lol. I wish it was a lie, my father-in-law that lives in Nashville always brings Big Ed up when they are in town.

Big Ed's nephew owns MOB grill in the Parlor downtown OKC. It's not quite the same but its very good. He uses some of the techniques he learned from his uncle. Hand cut fries like the old big Ed's and buns from La baguette in Norman,

 

[JMD]

There's a kens in Prague, mother-in-law lives there. We get asked to bring a kens fold back with us when we go down there.