Long-Time Family Owned Tulsa Soul Food Restaurant Wanda J's Moves Location

A new generation is carrying on the legacy of Wanda J's, a soul food restaurant that's been in Tulsa for half a century.

Wanda Jefferson Armstrong opened her first location in August 1974 on the corner of Apache and Peoria with the help of a friend.

"She took me to the bank, and I had got like $1,200 to buy the equipment, she loaned me $800 to buy groceries, and her husband loaned me $800 to get all my receipts and all that stuff. I took off from there and I never looked back," Wanda said.

Family was the motivation behind starting her own business and what kept Wanda going.

"That was my life, you know, taking care of my kids, making sure they had what they wanted, what they needed, and just making sure that they always had something that they could look up to," she said.

In the last decade, Wanda started to take a step back from Wanda J's and let her kids and grandkids take over.

In 2016, they opened Wanda J's Next Generation Restaurant in the historic Greenwood District.

"I really liked Greenwood; it was really nice," Wanda said.

At the time, she was focused on running Evelyn's, a soul food restaurant named after her mother. Although Wanda said customers would still ask for her at Wanda J's.

"I could not be at all three places at the same time," she continued with a laugh, saying, "I said Colonel Sanders is not at his places, so you all let me just be where I am."

In September 2023, Wanda J's Next Generation Restaurant outgrew its Greenwood location and moved into Evelyn's space at 3014 N 74th E Ave., where it still is today.

Customers like April Barre can often find Wanda sitting in a corner booth or going table to table.

April said, "You can feel she cares for her customers and for her employees, she cares for her community."

April has been coming to Wanda J's since she was a little girl and started working for her at 16 years old.

"I worked for her on and off until I was probably up in my 30's," she added. "She is a very good lady, paid outstanding."

Wanda admits the menu has changed a bit since 1974. "We served scrambled pig brains with eggs, pig ears and pig tails, rice and neck bones, and all of that kind of stuff," she continued saying, "We have really toned it down a lot now because back then most of my customers were men."

That style of soul food remains a part of Wanda J's with some of her original customers asking for it even today.

"I have people that come for the neck bone, people that come for the beef tips, people that will come for the liver and onions," said Wanda.

However, one menu item that remains popular is Wanda's fried chicken. "I said, oh we should have named it the fried chicken place because most of my customers love the fried chicken and the peach cobbler," she said.

If you ask April, no other name would quite fit because Wanda J's would not be what it is today without Wanda.

"It is very family oriented," she said. "You feel like home every time you walk in here. They are going to make you feel loved and if you are having a bad day this is the place to come."

Come in with an empty stomach and leave with a full heart. 

"That is it, just pleasing the customers, making them happy, and feel like when they get through, and they leave, they really ate a dinner," said Wanda.

Wanda J's Next Generation Restaurant is located near the Tulsa International Airport. It is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.