Accompanied by my niece and after a tour of a local chocolate exposition, we ended up in the bistro chain of "Ruby Tuesday", ostensibly named after a Rolling Stones' song but who knows?
We were seated at a fine booth with a pleasant view. The service throughout our dining experience was impeccable.
We began with a drink, a margarita. Not that I'm a connoisseur of mixed drinks but I thought my drink to be a little low on the spirits. Although the lime was fresh and sharp as only fresh limes can be.
I considered the Shrimp Pasta Alfredo but changed my mind quickly. This dish, one of my favorites, is always served in gigantic portions and offers little of variety in terms of taste and presentation. Ruby's brags about its salad bar and with full intention of testing it fully, I decided on an appetizer termed by the restaurant as a "4-Way Sampler".
Ruby's own menu describes this treat as:
4-Way Sampler
Asian glazed wings, classic Tuesday tenders, Southwestern spring rolls and fried cheese sticks. Served with smoky honey Dijon, ranch and marinara dipping sauces.
My niece opted for one of Ruby Tuesdays custom hamburgers. We both decided to begin our meal with a trip to the salad bar.
Keeping a salad bar clean and tidy can be a challenge at times. Customers tend to drop bits of food and stuff drips. However, on the day of visit by niece and myself the restaurant was not crowded.
We arrived at around 4:00 pm for a late lunch/early dinner. While an employee was busy keeping the salad bar stocked with plenty of food, no one was paying any attention to the general untidiness of Ruby Tuesday's great source of pride. Lettuce that was meant to frame the pretty vegetables was tossed all about and was more a nuisance than a pleasure to the eye.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - RJ Elliott
My experiences dining at RT indicate that it's pretty hit-or-miss.
For instance, the one in Pigeon Forge, TN is great. But most of the RTs I have been to in Central Florida and Long Island have been disappointing...
2 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I used to eat non-kosher food. And I used to frequent places like Ruby Tuesday. Frequent is not quite the word. It wasn't good enough to go there that often.
Having been a manager in a fast food restaurant for a number of years, it is my humble opinion that going to a "chain" restaurant like Ruby Tuesday's is a waste of money. They are also fast food restaurants, but you don't see that aspect of them unless you visit the kitchen and see how your food is prepared.
3 - Mike
Stop nitpicking. I worked in a restaurant, and keeping the salad bar tidy is not an easy task, especially hordes of weight watching slobs come in and mess it up.
Also, why are you complaining about the spring rolls not tasting good enough? Ruby Tuesdays is not an asian restaurant, so dont expect it to taste as good as an asian restaurant would serve them.
Be a tad more realistic.
4 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Mike, you raise unpleasant memories of the salad bar we had before we went to selling salad in little clamshell boxes - PVC with the rabbit food.
It was an absolute disaster with all the "weight watching" types going up and loading their plastic plates, making a mess as they did so. Patfish, I hate to tell you this, but when you've worked as a foodie long enough, you start seeing the customers as pigs rushing to a trough.
The worst days were Saturday afternoons when the moms came in with the screaming brats ordering kids' meals for them - which they threw all over the floor once ensconced in their high chairs - while the moms all ordered the smallest salads they could get away with. I was so glad when I left the restaurant on Saturday afternoons after doing the paperwork.
Restaurant work is not something I've rushed into here in Israel. The customers here are a lot tougher to deal with than Minnesotans.
5 - RJ Elliott
"Restaurant work is not something I've rushed into here in Israel. The customers here are a lot tougher to deal with than Minnesotans."
Heh.
I have done my share of restaurant work as well. Unpleasant, in my experience. Most of your co-workers are semi-competent party-animals, and a disturbingly-large portion of your customers are human scum.
6 - Dave Nalle
Mmmm...what's next, a review of Applebee's or Boston Market?
Dave
7 - Nancy
I worked a restaurant job once for about 25 minutes. One of my first customers was SO gratuitously rude & crude, I dumped his order on his head & quit on the spot. One of the most satisfying days of my life.... :D
8 - Walt Wilson
Service was excellent.
9 - unhappy
tonight me and my wife decided to go and have a nice dinner so we chose ruby tuesday. I asked the waitress about the commercial about the burger I had seen on tv and she told me I would enjoy the bigger burger insted so thats what i ordered.I dont mind paying good money for good food but when I pay $10.00 for a burger I dont expect it to be raw with blood dripping on my plate.I ran out of coke and it only took the waitress 23 min. to bring me another glass which she charged me for.Tonight has changed my whole perspective about this place which is bad cause in the past I always made sure to let everone know that I perfered ruby tuesdays over applebees.Im not a very hard person to please but when I go to a restraunt and spend $40.00 on a meal I expect some service.The girl who was our waitress was to busy talking to boys rather that servicing up plentiful to get a tip.I will eat here again but only cause I have enjoyed it in the past and hopefully it will be a better experience.
10 - Lynn Jacksonville
My husband, mother and I decided to dine at our local Ruby Tuesday's tonight. It was a mess. Our waittress was "new" which became an excuse for her horrible serving skills. We had to bring our empty glasses to the hostess to get a refill, again after 45 minutes of being there go to the hostess for our food, which was wrong and cold. Then when the waitress came by and saw that we actually had our food she decided to drop off the check, which was also incorrect. After waiting 45 minutes for her to pick up the check, we again brought it to the hostess to pay it. Needless to say she got no tip and we are not going back.
11 - Mom
Mothers Day @ Ruby Tuesdays in Americus, GA
You walk in ask for table for 6, they look around it takes 5 minutes and I can see empty seats. Whats the deal?
Out of chicken, ribs, baked potatoes & mashed potatoes. Do I need to continue?
Plates @ salad bar was dirty!!!
Last time eating @ a place like this!!!!! My family will never go back.
We should have know when we went in and no one was there so how do you run out of food and especially on Mothers Day?
12 - KK
I frequented a Ruby Tuesday tonight with my two children and husband after a long day at the fair in Vancouver, Wa. The hostess was very friendly, gave us her name, as stated if we needed anything to let her know (albeit a bit nervously...probably due to rude customers in the past taking out their frustrations with waitresses on her). The waitress was very nice also, and did an excellent job of keeping our waters filled (hard to get service like that nowadays anywhere) and made sure we didn't need anything else once our food arrived.
Their prices begin at $9 for a plate and go up to $17; with appetizers around $7-$9. I found the $3 per soda charge a bit steep, even if it is refillable; most people don’t refill, but they would have to refill at least three times to come close to equating that price had they bought it from the store themselves. I was pleasantly surprised to see multiple options for myself as I don't eat meat. I had my choice of a veggie burger, a salad bar, a baked potato, and a veggie quiche with salad bar...I opted for the later while my children ordered the mini burgers & chicken & dh ordered a burger as well. The quiche was square and an individual size. I don't eat a lot, but I don't graze either. I took one trip to the salad bar and loaded up my romaine and spring mix lettuce with garbanzo beans, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, thinly sliced beets and carrots, olives, mushrooms, cucumbers, bell peppers, broccoli, sliced zucchini and some weak colored red onion. I was not entirely pleased with the salad bar as a few someone’s had tossed about the cheese like confetti onto several other dishes and the bottom right side of the cucumber bowl was slimy (not where I grabbed my slices from)...as in some cottage cheese had been sitting in it a while and made an impromptu opaque gravy out of the liquid there...slimy. That was not appetizing. I looked past it though, hoping that they would have someone clean the mess up a bit. As I was drizzling on some honey mustard dressing and adding some waldorf salad to the corner of my square plate, someone did come out. They pulled some cheese and veggies covered with it out of one dish and disappeared, leaving most of the mess. I didn't return to the salad bar, but as we walked out at the end of our meal, I noted nothing had changed.
I only made one trip to the salad bar & had my approximately 6" square quiche. I ate about 1/4 of the quiche, most of my salad, and all of my 3/4 c. or so of waldorf salad and I was too full to finish. I asked for a box, however our waitress graciously offered to box the remainder for me and I thanked her.
The food overall was not exceptional. I am happy to see more choices for my own veggie loving palate, but I've eaten better elsewhere for around the same. The only complaint I had with the quiche (which had a good filling) was the pasty crust. It was rather greasy and reminiscent of philo pastry sheets. My husband was satisfied with the burger. The fries had an interesting taste we couldn't place, but they were good. The onion straws he ordered on the side were uniquely flavored also and they were something of note....unfortunately they were the only thing of note.
The decor is very art deco. For those who may not know...my basic understanding is that art deco is taking geometric shapes and repeating them in sets throughout a space to draw the eye. The hanging lamp shades were all triangles and gargantuan circles of various shades. The glass window insets between sections of the restaurant were squares within a square. There were squares within the rectangle shape of the bench backs. All of the wall art was square, rectangle, square, rectangle repeatedly with a strong sports theme. They take the art deco theme all the way with their square and rectangle serving plates.
There was a wood fireplace in the entry, but I can't say if it's a façade or works...although they did have a pile of real wood stacked high next to it along with a neat old radio on top of an oversized mantel above the left side of the fireplace. The light was easy on the eyes and soft to compliment the dark stain tones of the "wood" walls.
Overall, I will probably be back sometime only because of the choices I have compared to other "burger joints", but we won't be dining here often unless the food makes the prices more acceptable or the prices lower to accommodate the mediocre but acceptable food.
13 - Ruvy
KK,
Sounds about right: overpriced, mediocre food. Read my comments #2 and #4 above.....
Also, if you want to know how one American chain made out in Israel, go to my review of S'barro's in Jerusalem.
14 - Kelley
I have visited many times to this RT on Owen Dr, in Fayetteville, NC. Todays experience has given me a disstate for the place. I was joined by 2 other people. We started off by ordering drinks and an appetizer. After about 10 minutes our drinks and appetizer came. We placed our order. When the food finally arrive, it took a while cause one had ordered a well done steak, we were very hungry. I began to cut into my steak and realized that the Medium Rare that I had order was not that. It wasn't even pink inside. I was very polite to the waiter and explained that my steak was over cooked. He accomidated me and took it back for a new one. While I was waiting the manager came over and apologized for the over cooked steak and told me that one would be out shortly. Another 20 minutes later, a new steak arrived. It too was way over cooked. There was just barely any pink on this one. Now I am not a cook, but I do eat steak a lot. There is a ususally a lot of pink and in some cases depending on the steak blood when you order it medium rare. This was not the case. I took one bite and pushed the plate to the side. When the waiter came back to ask me, I told him that I would take the steak the way it was, but it was still over cooked. I don't expect a lot at restraunts when things like this happen, cause I know that it's hard work. I used to own a restraunt, but when we received our bill and it read $92, I was shocked. They didn't even try to comp so much as the appetizer. I felt that they were telling us to deal with it at this point. I will not be visiting this establishment again. I do bring a lot of business there too. Thank you Kelley
15 - Darlene
Ruby Tuesday is a very pleasent place to eat with the family. We had such a great time. I love the salad bar, its wonderful. The service is great they always ask us how our days bein going. The hostess in the morning is very nice. I will be back to enjoy this wonderful place to sit down and eat. Keep it up Ruby Tuesday dont change
16 - Brenda
I had a dining experience at the Ruby Tuesday in Shreveport, LA. Dining that day was myself, my husband, my grandaughter (age 11) and a friend of hers, (also age 11). The waitress did show us a kids menu, but there was nothing appealing to the girls on it. We started looking at what they might like on the regular menu. We saw the item marked dinner for 2 for $15.99, which included an appitizer, salad, and an entree. The way it was shown on the menu was VERY deceptive. To make a long story short, I ended up paying $80.00 for a meal that cost about $30.00 to make, maybe. I asked the waitress specifically about the wording. We were charged $15.99 per person + drinks. Also, we were only given two appitizers, which with the way we were charged we should have gotten 4. The waitress should have had the courtesy to re-afirm what we thought we were ordering. I don't make a habit of paying $80.00 for a lunch anywhere. Also, the entree my husband ordered (which was fried shrimp on pasta) was bitter and he could not eat it. You can rest asured that I nor my husband will never enter the doors of a Ruby Tuesday again.
17 - Dylan Crimson
Nothing could make the visit better, we will come back again very soon. From the Manager to the Server and Backwaiter everyone was the best we have seen in quite awhile. We even saw our Waitress, Rebekah, move another table to sweep under the table after the people had left. Good impression on us. We will be back.
18 - Jeff from Tallahassee
Got taken on the dinner for two thing also. The way it was worded was as if it was dinner for 2, for $15.99 total, not 15.99 per person.
19 - Lisa Solod Warren
This whole review and comments....it's a joke, right?
20 - Ruvy
This whole review and comments....it's a joke, right?
No, Lisa, it's reality. The dissatisfaction you see in the comments above reflects reality. Restaurant chains attempt to market dreams - and the managers therein have to make the customers think that they are getting that dream - when they know damned well that they are not.
And there is nothing funny about having to clean up after cheap soccer moms who mess up salad bars and their slobs of kids. One result for me was that when my kids hit two or so, I would leave the kitchen when my wife fed them. I couldn't blame the kids for being two years old - but on the other hand, I did not want to yell at them either. They didn't deserve to see my intolerance - an intolerance bred of seeing the cheap soccer moms and their slobs of kids at Burger King....
And unfortunately, it is painfully true that customers in a restaurant seem like pigs at a feed trough after a while. I spent a good while talking with the guard at the Burger King on ben-Yehuda Street in J-lem yesterday, telling him about how I can still make a whopper blindfolded while he told me how the restaurant was losing money having to sell things for a mere 10 shekels to get customers inside. As I talked with him, I watched the customers inside with the practiced eye of a restaurant manager. Just because the restaurant is kosher doesn't mean the customers don't act like pigs at a feed trough.
I wanted to go in and have myself a double hamburger or double whopper - but 40 shekels is serious money for a hamburger sandwich.
oink, oink....
21 - Joanne Huspek
I only came here because of Ruvy. Very entertaining, the post and the comments. Ruvy has a sharp eye, but of course, he's got the experience.
When the kids were little, Fridays were always Ruby Tuesdays nights. (I often wondered why they weren't TGIF nights...) Back then, the food wasn't half bad and the service was excellent. But then came a change in management, the good waitstaff graduated from college and got real jobs, and the economy tanked the place.
As for soccer moms and their slobby kids, it's the responsibility of the parent to teach decent manners. My kids may not have the best manners at home, but they've been groomed in some of the nicest restaurants around and know what to do with a fork and a napkin. My son's first trip to the symphony when he was 10, and I took him to a very nice restaurant before, one of our favorites. The maitre d' commented for months afterward what a gentleman he was.
'Course, he didn't see him at home beating up his little sister. :-)
My cooking outranks most restaurants, even the fine dining establishments. In my old age, I can barely stand to eat out anymore.
22 - Ruvy
Ah Joanne,
You're a woman after my own heart!
As for soccer moms and their slobby kids, it's the responsibility of the parent to teach decent manners. My kids may not have the best manners at home, but they've been groomed in some of the nicest restaurants around and know what to do with a fork and a napkin. My son's first trip to the symphony when he was 10, and I took him to a very nice restaurant before, one of our favorites. The maitre d' commented for months afterward what a gentleman he was.
Our sons were raised the same way, if not to such formal standards. We could barely ever afford the fancy restaurants in St. Paul. But our boys behaved, did not run away from their seats, and tried to eat their dinners without making a terrible mess. They didn't scream or whine at the table either, and neither my wife nor I can remember how many times we were complimented on the way our sons behaved in a restaurant, it was so frequent. It didn't hurt that when we ate out, we included our boys in the conversation, didn't read the newspaper and ignore them, like we saw so many parents do to attention starved kids. And of course these folks at the restaurant did not see our kids fight at home....
Thank you for the kind words, Joanne. You've made this sick man's day.... My wife, like you, makes food that far surpasses the stuff on offer in restaurants here. But we can barely afford to eat out anymore!
Of course, for the next week most restaurants that will be open in Israel will not be kosher. No pizza shops, no bourekas, no falafel, no fancy Italian restaurants that charge $175. It's Passover, and that means lots of matza and lots of water (to prevent constipation). Ah matza, the bread that tastes almost as good as the box it comes in....
Bet you can't get that at Ruby Tuesdays!
23 - Joanne Huspek
I've never met a matzoh I didn't like.
:-)
24 - CEO. Pro woman
I was in the winterhaven rubys and had a wonderful dinner mainly because of a manager there who later i found out name to be casey she made us fill at home and went table to table talking to every one like she has know them for years she truly takes pride in job and i thank her
25 - Brian
Well, I work at an RT. I see things from both ends, Server and Guest. But I can't help siding with myself when a problem arises. I make 2.13 an hour. 2.13!!!! Tips are what my lively hood is actually based on. So day after day of seeing 2-4 tips on $40 checks really starts to wear a person down! I stopped caring so much. And for Well done steak eaters..if you want beef jerky go home and burn your own meat! And I KNOW half of these people can't possibly be leabing the same kind of mess on the floors in their own homes, but the tables and floors in my resturant look like absolute disasters after people leave. One Lady Ordered loaded cheese fries and when they came out, she began to "GASTLY" complain about how fatting it must be and "how can anyone eat this!! it must be full of calories!!" I have really started to hate people so much!!! So general populace..but you sicken me...