Ruby Tuesday

I have been to this restaurant many times when in the area.  In the past if you had ordered an entree you paid extra for the salad bar but now they realized that people didn't like that idea so now it is included as a side item.  They do have a variety of items and most are good but being a germaphobe having to touch each thing kinda grosses me out and being behind a few people and watching them make their creations kinds doesn't help. You get the idea - they have small oval plates which are small so you can't much thus making you get up often to get more or pile it on thus creating the towering pile of too much food which then lands in the salad dressings.  Don't get me started on the croutons which are wonderful but then are flying off the plate like little bombs -think I had more on the floor then on my plate.

When I am ready to order my meal I normally always get the Chicken Bella which is amazing with veggies and lately I have been disappointed that the portions and the plate are getting smaller but the price keeps going up so I may need to make a new dinner choice.

The rolls they are bring out are small as well and each one of those yummy bits of carbs are 110 calories so eat them wisely - just saying.

Life is short so splurge and get dessert remember you only have to walk 20 miles to burn off the calories.

Sure, it's a chain, but this is one of the better ones.  Pretty consistent and the staff seems nice and attentive.  It seems the salad bar has a bit less options than normal, but there's much to make up for it.  Appetizers, main courses, all quite good and affordable.  Lots of coupons out there too.

Took my family of four there for dinner.  We had a coupon from the paper worth the price of an entree.  Otherwise the food would have been quite expensive.  As it was I think we spent around 72 economic stimulus dollars.

We were seated right away at about 830 pm on a Friday night.  So far so good.  The waiter we had was named Jonathan.  He was just okay.  We had to ask for our rolls, had to remind him to bring refills, and once he poured iced tea into a half full glass of Coke.  Then he started saying bad things about himself, how he was a "stupid idiot", but I don't know, it just made me feel bad for him.

The salad bar was excellent.  They charge a dollar more for it in the evenings and I did not see anything extra on it, so that is kind of a rip off.  For the entree, I got the steak/mushroom/pepper with sauce and it was quite good, and cooked as specified. Don't bother getting the blue cheese coleslaw though.   I saw them go to the salad bar and get coleslaw and mix it with blue cheese.  It is nothing special.

Endless french fires--yeah right.  You had to keep asking for them, and unless you asked for more, you got the equivalent of one package of ketchup.  Who knew ketchup was worth its weight in gold?  At least, that is how they served it.

The restaurant was clean.  They kept the salad bar clean.  The bathroom was clean.  It wasn't too noisy to carry on a conversation.  Never saw a manager--apparently they don't go out into the restaurant and ask how things were like other restaurants do.  I did not have any complaints anyway.