Ramsis's

I know the place has been around forever. BUT.....as much as I have went up and down Bardstown Rd, I had never stopped in there until yesterday.

The menu was huge and varied. So many choices. I would HATE to be the kitchen staff and have to know how to make everything from pasta to crab cakes to Vietnamese food to Thai to Creole.

I had the Banh Mi. It was extremely flavorful. I really enjoyed it.

I want to stop by again sometime and try other things.

I like Ramsi's but I've found their sandwiches to be the bright spot of their menu. When I've gotten some of their Thai dishes they've been some of the most bland food I've ever tasted. The Tortellini is one of the non-sandwhich bright spots.

We love their brunch (which always has the tortellini), but not big fans of the layout for brunch. Very congested, but usually worth the fight.

They have an excellent eggplant sandwich that I always end up getting. Their varied menu concerns me as well, it would be almost impossible to offer that many things & to also keep all of the ingredients fresh. You can't argue with their success, they are always crowded.

We've been to Ramsi's several times and, honestly, I've never been wowed. Never had a truly bad experience, but nothing I've had has been particularly remarkable, either. I tend to be more appreciative of places that have a limited menu that they execute really, really well, rather than offering tons of choices that are mostly average in quality. Ramsi's isn't as bad in that regard as, say, Cheesecake Factory, but they get slotted into the same catgegory in my mind.

The menu is insane. I don't know how they pull it off.

We used to go to Ramsi's a couple of times a month. In the last few years they've been slowly raising their prices, which means a trip to Ramsi's is sometimes now a bit more than we want to spend. If I'm going to spend upwards of $50 on a weeknight dinner (including drinks), I'd just rather try out someplace new.

That said, our favorites for years have been some of the sandwiches (jerk chicken, roasted vegetable, falafel, smoked salmon panini) and several of the seafood entrees, (fish tacos, majestic seabass, and the grouper). We often made a meal out of the Italian antipasto appetizer plus a couple of salads and drinks.

I agree the Thai dishes are bland - they used to have a pad thai that was very disappointing. I think it's what they call "Thai noodles" now. Speaking of menu changes, I for one got pretty annoyed when they started serving the house fries with all the sandwiches. Most of my favorites used to come with something else - roasted potatoes or latkes. You can still get a different side, but for an upcharge - latkes for example are almost $2.00 more to sub out for fries. The changes and price increases have kept us away lately. I guess I'm just getting crotchety.

Our last four visits to Ramsis's have been negative, two resulted in upset stomachs from the Gorgonzola Chicken (freshness was the concern) and one from sugary sweet (ugh) scallops that were undercooked, the other was just underwhelming in general.

This is sad because we used to love Ramsis's back in the 90's, but that was also back when I thought a menu with 111 items on it was cool, instead of a really bad idea (from a kitchen, quality, and freshness standpoint).

I'm not inclined to try again any time soon.

I don't think it's been the same since the car went through the front window. Not that the event caused the quality to suffer - I just think that's about the time that Ramsi's became a bit of a cliche.

i'm in agreement that this place has been in decline for several years. they really used to be one of my favorite places and the majestic sea bass was my go-to. several bad experiences later, i'm not eager to return. the final straw was when a girl with ridiculously long and disgusting dreads served us and i found a ridiculously long and disgusting dread-hair in my pasta. i know, this can happen anywhere, but it was the culmination of the decline,lol.

Completely biased becuase I worked here for the last 6 years of my life before starting my business a few months ago. My boyfriend is a cook there as is my nephew. Ramsi's is and always will be apart of who I am. I feel like I grew up in that place, from a young adult to a mother to business woman. Ramsi holds his staff to extremely high standards! The line is mainly 5 guys pushing out a tremendous amount of food. If quality lacks I assure you it is only do to the fact of being overwhelmed by the amount of customers they are trying to get food to, not the lack of caring. As far as freshness goes, Trust me, food doesn't stay around long enough to not be fresh. Ramsi's also has a farm of his own called Raising Hope Farm. I do not have explanation as to the reason for recent price increases but I'm sure he wouldn't do it unless he found it necessary. Lastly, service. Like i mentioned previously, He does hold his staff to very high standards of customer service. If he could serve each person on his own he would. I worked with all the servers at one point or another and there were some who just werent good. Plain and simple. They would bust ass when he was around and be a total lazy ass the minute he turned his back. If you find a server you like, ask for them next time. Two of the best servers there are Wsene and Rebecca. Your service is sure to be attentive and personable with these two.

Completely biased becuase I worked here for the last 6 years of my life before starting my business a few months ago. My boyfriend is a cook there as is my nephew. Ramsi's is and always will be apart of who I am. I feel like I grew up in that place, from a young adult to a mother to business woman. Ramsi holds his staff to extremely high standards! The line is mainly 5 guys pushing out a tremendous amount of food. If quality lacks I assure you it is only due to the fact of being overwhelmed by the amount of customers they are trying to get food to, not the lack of caring. As far as freshness goes, Trust me, food doesn't stay around long enough to not be fresh. Ramsi's also has a farm of his own called Raising Hope Farm. I do not have explanation as to the reason for recent price increases but I'm sure he wouldn't do it unless he found it necessary. Lastly, service. Like i mentioned previously, He does hold his staff to very high standards of customer service. If he could serve each person on his own he would. I worked with all the servers at one point or another and there were some who just werent good. Plain and simple. They would bust ass when he was around and be a total lazy ass the minute he turned his back. If you find a server you like, ask for them next time. Two of the best servers there are Wsene and Rebecca. Your service is sure to be attentive and personable with these two.

Jamie, I fully agree with you that the service at Ramsi's is almost always wonderful (one of the 2 you mentioned was at my wedding - I know how awesome she is) and that Ramsi himself is a great guy. I just think that when a place that's been one of your regular hang-outs for over a decade changes the menu (for the worse) and declines in quality, all while raising prices and adding on new upcharge fees, it's hard to get used to. I guess I'm crotchety. I understand periodic price increases are necessary, but I think the quality of the food has gone downhill at the same time prices have gone up. On the (now quite rare) occasion we go, we stick with our tried & true favorites because we've been disappointed by some of the new additions & menu tweaks. It's still a great Louisville establishment - just need to get a little of the magic back. Of course, just my $0.02 here.

I went with the wife this afternoon. I had the Banh Mi and she had the Salmon served on mashed potatoes and some type of sauce with sundried tomatoes. Being a vegetarian, I never think about ordering Banh Mi until the waiter specifically pointed it out as a vegetarian favorite made with a veggie-beef. That sandwich will have me daydreaming for weeks! The housemade bread, sauce, and veggie-beef packed a wonderful taste. My wife practically licked her plate---vegetables and all!

I may also add that the ceiling in the original dining area was lifted 5 ft in the past year for those who haven't been there in a while. It really changes the feel of the place by giving it a more majestic look.

Needless to iterate we were quite pleased. It wasn't a cheap lunch, but mighty fine.

The pharoah is alive and well on Bardstown Rd.