First Oklahoma Wahlburgers opens in Cache

CACHE — Oklahoma has it’s own colorful blend of celebrity endorsed or owned restaurants, from Reba’s Place in Atoka to Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse in Oklahoma City.

Now Cache not only has a celebrity owned restaurant chain itself, but it’s the first one ever opened in Oklahoma.

Wahlburgers, owned by celebrities Mark, Donnie and Paul Wahlberg, celebrated its grand opening with a meet and greet and food sampling at Comanche Cache Casino on Feb. 27. Housed in the Casino, the restaurant combines casual fare with gaming options.

The restaurant was started by Paul Wahlberg who, unlike the musical Donnie and the dramatic Mark, was the chef in the family, according to the website. When they opened their first restaurant in 2011 in Hingham, Mass., a domino effect of business success was in order.

“We’ve been so excited for the new project and everything,” Wahlberg said. “It’s been amazing for us. Coming to Cache has been just fantastic.”

Why did they choose the casino of all places?

“One of our groups that does the Native American casinos, they had been introduced to Comanche Nation,” Wahlberg said. “It was an opportunity for us, and we really wanted to be supported.”

Being in Comanche County, there’s one collective theme the restaurant shares with the area: community engagement. They even want to support the local baseball teams.

“We want to be part of the community,” Wahlberg said. “That’s the biggest thing for us. It’s not that we just show up, (it’s that) we get to be part of the community. We want to be involved in the local things and things that happen around here. So it’s been great for us. We’re always about taking care of the military families and all of those things. Supporting youth programs, those are the things that are really important to us.”

Wahlberg would like to see more restaurants throughout the state, but wants to make sure this one is a success.

A week before the grand opening, the Casino also celebrated its own grand re-opening. The Casino temporarily closed in February 2024 due to expansion. The re-opening introduced an expanded gaming floor with over 300 slot machines, a new open air veranda and a convenience store and gas station.

“It’s tied everything together, this grand opening,” Brian Weryavah, General Manager of the Casino said. “We finally brought everything together and are able to see everything. We’ve had a lot of hard work and effort and our team has come together, just to wrap things up on our end, going forward, adding this kind of variety.”

When it came down to deciding on a restaurant, the Casino wanted a little pizzazz.

“It was just something that we looked into,” Weryavah said. “’What can we do that’s different, what can we bring that is going to create a buzz of excitement?’ This was a perfect fit for us.”

“It just brings everything together,” he continued. “This being nationally recognized and the main brand, with Comanche Nation Entertainment, we’re gonna draw them in.”

Wahlberg’s burger of choice is The Our Burger. Guests can visit the restaurant and view the menu for more tantalizing eats.