Reba McEntire celebrated the opening of her Reba’s Place restaurant and music venue with an intimate performance, which was streamed live on Facebook. The restaurant, which is now open, was filled with locals, eager to welcome the country music star’s new business venture.

“This has been a long time coming,” McEntire shared during the concert. “I know a lot of us thought we were going to be able to open last October, but timing is everything. Everything happens for a reason. To give you a little bit of backstory, a little bit of history, I signed with PolyGram and Mercury Records in 1975, and I didn’t have a No. 1 record until ’83.”

McEntire’s first chart-topping hit was “Can’t Even Get the Blues,” first released in 1982.

“We worked six years and we waited, but boy it was worth it,” McEntire said. “It was so worth it. So here we are today at the grand opening. It might not have been October, but just like ‘Can’t Even Get the Blues,’ it was worth it.”

 

The Country Music Hall of Fame member gives a lot of credit to plenty of other people, besides herself, who helped make Reba’s Place a reality.

“Music and the fans helped build this place and get it all together. And that’s what a restaurant is all about, where people can come in, visit and eat,” McEntire said. “Reba’s Place is a joint venture with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and they are the best partner. It’s exciting to work with people who have a passion for this town and for creating jobs, tourism, and new opportunities in southeastern Oklahoma, in the community where I grew up.”

By her own admission, Reba’s Place might have never happened if not for the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave her some unexpected time off — time to dream and plan what might be possible.

“Well, if you remember 2020, everybody was sitting around twiddling their thumbs, and that’s when we came up with all these ideas for when we could get out there again,” McEntire told Garden & Gun. “I was back in Oklahoma for a while because my siblings and cousins still live there, and an official in Atoka named Carol Ervin gave a presentation about how much a project like Reba’s Place could benefit the town.

“That community always has been very supportive of me, and I wanted to give back,” she continued. “So we partnered with the Choctaw Nation, and it all came together amazingly well. You can’t go into a town that small and do something like this project without the full support of everyone who lives there.”

Not only did McEntire name the restaurant after herself, but she was also the driving force behind every detail, big and small, including the decorations, venue and menu.

“It has 15,000 square feet over three floors,” McEntire explained. “Upstairs is a retail area for merchandise, and downstairs is the restaurant and stage. I wanted to keep the stage small because I don’t want big productions and loud music — I just want people to be able to go there to listen to some music with their neighbors and have something good to eat. For the menu, I had my list of things that had to be on there, like chicken-fried chicken, and pintos and cornbread. And my smashed potatoes that I make with garlic and onion.”

More information can be found at RebasPlace.com.