Oak & Stone opened its first Texas location in McKinney on May 19 — the Florida-based restaurant’s debut outside the Southeast after eight successful locations back home — and it has spent its first few weeks establishing itself as something McKinney didn’t quite have before: a 6,000-square-foot social restaurant built around the idea that eating and drinking should be interactive, unhurried, and a little unpredictable. Now, just a month in, the kitchen and bar team have introduced a summer cocktail program that leans into all three of those qualities. They’re calling them Poptails, they’re $15 each, and they involve a gourmet popsicle served directly in the glass.
Three options are on the menu now. The Midnight Sun pairs Tito’s Vodka, St-Germain, lemon juice, blueberry puree, and prosecco with a blackberry ginger lemonade popsicle — a lighter, floral cocktail that gets more complex as the popsicle melts into it. The Brewed Awakening runs Corazon Tequila, cold brew, Faretti Coffee Liqueur, and amaretto cold foam with a chocolate popsicle alongside — a coffee-cocktail that should appeal to anyone who normally orders an espresso martini but wants something with a little more going on. The Blue Crush is the most straightforward of the three: Myers’s Platinum Rum, lime juice, mint, and Sprite with a blue raspberry popsicle, a warm-weather cocktail that looks exactly like a summer afternoon should.
Each popsicle comes from Frios Gourmet Pops, a handcrafted frozen treat company that makes its products with real ingredients rather than artificial flavoring — which matters more than it might seem when the popsicle is actively melting into your cocktail and becoming part of the flavor profile as the drink progresses.
The poptails are a good excuse to spend time with the rest of what Oak & Stone has built. The centerpiece of the restaurant is the self-pour Tap Wall — roughly 50 rotating taps of craft beer, wine, bourbon, whiskey, and cocktails, with a tablet above each one displaying ABV and tasting notes, and a tap card from your server that lets you pour your own. Current options include Dallas Blonde, Stub’s Texas Pils, Velvet Hammer, Juice Pack, Sublime Bramble, Tito’s cosmopolitans, whiskey sours made with Buffalo Trace, and a rotating selection that shifts with what’s available. The non-alcoholic options are part of the same wall, which is a detail worth noting if you’re the designated driver.
The kitchen holds its own alongside the tap wall. The beer cheese and chips, made with Shiner Bock, is rich and warm and disappears faster than expected. The bourbon sticky wings run sweet and tangy without going overboard. Worth calling out specifically: Oak & Stone partnered with Terry Black’s Barbecue to bring in dry rub wings, a Texas-specific collaboration that reflects the restaurant’s stated commitment to working with North Texas vendors. The pizzas are personal-sized and designed for sharing — the Burrata with garlic herb oil, roasted tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil, and balsamic has become the standout. The Farmer & Pig and the Voodoo Chicken Sandwich are the other menu items that reviewers keep mentioning by name.
Happy hour runs Monday through Friday 2 to 6 p.m. and again from 9 p.m. to close — a double happy hour structure that acknowledges the late-night crowd as deliberately as the after-work one. And for anyone in the northern suburbs: a second Oak & Stone is coming to Addison at 5225 Belt Line Road this summer, which means the tap wall experience won’t require a McKinney drive for long.
Oak & Stone is at 8575 W. University Drive, Suite 150, McKinney. Open for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. (469) 422-6513.
