Restaurants, Food & Drinks » Monkey Island – Grand Lake’s Playground
If you are looking for the #1 place to have fun at Grand Lake, then look no further than Monkey Island.
Centrally located between the commercial hub of Grove and the wide-open, deep boating waters of South Grand Lake, Monkey Island has a perfect mix of resort amenities, lake access, and bars and restaurants to help you make the most of your Grand Lake Living!
The luxury Shangri-La Golf Club, Resort, Marina, and Conference Center is absolutely the centerpiece of Monkey Island, and for good reason.
With 27 holes of championship golf, plus other amenities such as a resort hotel & conference center, private fine dining, a resort pool with aquatic slide, pool and lakefront dining, a full-service marina including boat rentals, spa, and fitness center, plus a fantastic and all-new Activity Park featuring tennis, pickleball, a whiffle ballpark, and more – Shangri-La has what you need to make the most of your time at Grand Lake.
But that just gets you started, as Monkey Island has so much more.
Monkey Island has an active and engaged group of residents who work non-stop to improve the quality of life for both full-time residents and visitors.
One of the most popular features is the recently completed Monkey Island Trail (built with ALL donated funds), a 5-mile paved walking and riding trail that follows along Highway 125 and connects Tera Miranda Resort to Shangri-La, and all of the bars, restaurants, and amenities in between.
It’s a community and amenities like this that make Monkey Island truly special.
But, if you’ve landed on this page, you are likely looking for a little more information on Monkey Island. Below you will find some featured places to stay and eat.
Of course, the Shangri-La Resort and Conference Center is the headliner here.
This beautiful full-service resort and conference center is the only one of its kind on Grand Lake.
Besides the hotel, there are several great vacation rentals on Monkey Island. Here is a rundown of several featured properties and places to stay for your Monkey Island getaway.
Restaurants in the Grand Lake area.
No Image Available
Las Palmeras
Las Palmeras
Work570 W 3rd StGroveOK74344workWork Phone:(918) 786-9550work
Shangri-La’s Summit Restaurant offers Grand Lake’s finest dining experience. With unbelievable views from the highest point on Monkey Island, it is the perfect setting for a truly memorable meal.
Exquisite brunch buffets, beautifully paired wine dinners and weekly specials have all made the Summit the area’s first choice for intimate dinners, entertainment, special events, weddings, receptions and catering.
Reservations are available to the general public 24 hours in advance.
With a great bar menu, a wide variety of beverages, an extensive wine selection and five flat screen televisions, the Buffalo Bar at Shangri-La has become the gathering spot for golfers, sports fans and friends who simply want to relax in an atmosphere of casual elegance. Table seating or bar seating is available.
The Cove Club in Langley is the place to go for great food and refreshing drinks in the South Grand Lake area.
With daily specials, a diverse menu, a full bar, and breakfast until 2 pm, what more could you want in your soon to be favorite Grand Lake place to eat?
Come join us at Pickles Pub in Langley for GREAT pizza and cold drinks. We are open seven days a week, and feature karaoke and live music throughout the year.
Oh… and you can even stay with us as we’ve got several rental cabins available for nightly rentals.
Check us out on Facebook HERE and make plans to visit Pickles at the Lake in Langley!
Chickanellas is a fun, funky breakfast and lunch spot on Monkey Island featuring custom-crafted espresso drinks and fantastic scratch-made desserts.
Chickanellas is open 5 days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, from 8 am to 2 pm.
You won’t find any fried food here, just all of your breakfast favorites as well as a great selection of sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups, and quiche – all made with the #1 ingredient in the world – Love!
We are so excited to announce that The Fire Pit at Wildwood Cove is now officially a permanent All You Can Eat Crab Leg restaurant on the beautiful shoreline of Grand Lake!
They are open Thursday-Sunday 5 PM-9 PM and reservations (link above) are strongly encouraged!
If you are going to be spending some time on Monkey Island, chances are you are going to stay busy.
Whether you will stay booked up with a tee-time at Shangri-La, or want to rent a boat, maybe do a little shopping, stock up on groceries, go hang out at The Anchor – there are plenty of options.
Here are a few:
Restaurants in the Grand Lake area.
No Image Available
Las Palmeras
Las Palmeras
Work570 W 3rd StGroveOK74344workWork Phone:(918) 786-9550work
Shangri-La’s Summit Restaurant offers Grand Lake’s finest dining experience. With unbelievable views from the highest point on Monkey Island, it is the perfect setting for a truly memorable meal.
Exquisite brunch buffets, beautifully paired wine dinners and weekly specials have all made the Summit the area’s first choice for intimate dinners, entertainment, special events, weddings, receptions and catering.
Reservations are available to the general public 24 hours in advance.
With a great bar menu, a wide variety of beverages, an extensive wine selection and five flat screen televisions, the Buffalo Bar at Shangri-La has become the gathering spot for golfers, sports fans and friends who simply want to relax in an atmosphere of casual elegance. Table seating or bar seating is available.
The Cove Club in Langley is the place to go for great food and refreshing drinks in the South Grand Lake area.
With daily specials, a diverse menu, a full bar, and breakfast until 2 pm, what more could you want in your soon to be favorite Grand Lake place to eat?
Come join us at Pickles Pub in Langley for GREAT pizza and cold drinks. We are open seven days a week, and feature karaoke and live music throughout the year.
Oh… and you can even stay with us as we’ve got several rental cabins available for nightly rentals.
Check us out on Facebook HERE and make plans to visit Pickles at the Lake in Langley!
Chickanellas is a fun, funky breakfast and lunch spot on Monkey Island featuring custom-crafted espresso drinks and fantastic scratch-made desserts.
Chickanellas is open 5 days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, from 8 am to 2 pm.
You won’t find any fried food here, just all of your breakfast favorites as well as a great selection of sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups, and quiche – all made with the #1 ingredient in the world – Love!
We are so excited to announce that The Fire Pit at Wildwood Cove is now officially a permanent All You Can Eat Crab Leg restaurant on the beautiful shoreline of Grand Lake!
They are open Thursday-Sunday 5 PM-9 PM and reservations (link above) are strongly encouraged!
Shangri-La’s Summit Restaurant offers Grand Lake’s finest dining experience. With unbelievable views from the highest point on Monkey Island, it is the perfect setting for a truly memorable meal.
Exquisite brunch buffets, beautifully paired wine dinners and weekly specials have all made the Summit the area’s first choice for intimate dinners, entertainment, special events, weddings, receptions and catering.
Reservations are available to the general public 24 hours in advance.
With a great bar menu, a wide variety of beverages, an extensive wine selection and five flat screen televisions, the Buffalo Bar at Shangri-La has become the gathering spot for golfers, sports fans and friends who simply want to relax in an atmosphere of casual elegance. Table seating or bar seating is available.
The Cove Club in Langley is the place to go for great food and refreshing drinks in the South Grand Lake area.
With daily specials, a diverse menu, a full bar, and breakfast until 2 pm, what more could you want in your soon to be favorite Grand Lake place to eat?
Come join us at Pickles Pub in Langley for GREAT pizza and cold drinks. We are open seven days a week, and feature karaoke and live music throughout the year.
Oh… and you can even stay with us as we’ve got several rental cabins available for nightly rentals.
Check us out on Facebook HERE and make plans to visit Pickles at the Lake in Langley!
Chickanellas is a fun, funky breakfast and lunch spot on Monkey Island featuring custom-crafted espresso drinks and fantastic scratch-made desserts.
Chickanellas is open 5 days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, from 8 am to 2 pm.
You won’t find any fried food here, just all of your breakfast favorites as well as a great selection of sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups, and quiche – all made with the #1 ingredient in the world – Love!
We are so excited to announce that The Fire Pit at Wildwood Cove is now officially a permanent All You Can Eat Crab Leg restaurant on the beautiful shoreline of Grand Lake!
They are open Thursday-Sunday 5 PM-9 PM and reservations (link above) are strongly encouraged!
Besides these great options, there are a handful of other popular places to eat.
Bailey’s Bistro and Chickanellas are both great breakfast and lunch options on the island while The Road Hog, located at Littlefield’s Corner at the entrance to Monkey Island has great BBQ. And The Shebang has been serving great food and fun to Monkey Islanders for years.
Monkey Island is also popular for its nightlife, with places like the Blind Swine, Big Shots, and Monkey Island Pub offering live music and dancing most weekend nights.
Where did the name Monkey Island come from?
Not an island at all, actually a 6-mile-long peninsula into Grand Lake, there have been a lot of stories about how Monkey Island got its name but one thing remains true… there have been no real monkeys on the island. Well, maybe some pets and some folks acting like monkeys, but that’s about it.
Anyway, the story goes that some folks from the Bernice area had gone to the Tulsa Zoo about the time the Pensacola Dam was being built and the lake was getting ready to be formed, and they had themselves a fine Sunday that included watching and feeding the monkeys, who were all kept on a small island with a moat around it.
Soon after, a reporter from the Tulsa World came through the Bernice area to do a story on the changes that the lake would bring, and these folks pointed towards what would become known as Monkey Island and said something to the effect of “over there will be Monkey Island, that’s where the monkeys will be kept”.
That story was printed in the Tulsa World a few days later, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Monkey Island is a hub of activity, from golf, fishing, and boating on Grand Lake, to great dining and a happening live music scene.
Whether you are looking to buy a boat, do some fishing, enjoy some great food and fun, or you just want a quiet getaway – for a weekend or a lifetime – you can do that at Monkey Island.
