Texas Road House Review: You heard me

So, today was the big LCD/HDTV-buying day in our household (we've been saving for over a year so we wouldn't have to finance it), and we found ourselves out Outer Loop, chasing price-matching up and down the shopping corridor (ended up with a great deal, btw).

I've been dieting since January 2nd, and today was one of the "free" days I allow myself every couple weekends. I've learned through experience that you can't exactly go CRAZY on a "free day", lest you spend the next week making up for your sins, weight-wise. But I have been particularly jones-ed out for a cheeseburger, I actually haven't had one for a month at least, and we were out there, so, we decided to try Texas Roadhouse for a burger experience.

First of all: DAMN! It's really difficult to get to that Outer Loop TR - you can't turn left into it, there's only one entrance and if you miss it there's no way to get into it from the back side. Anyway, we finally parked, and it was about 3:20, and the place (at least 225 seats) was packed. Weird time of day to be packed, but, hey - we were there, right?

Okay, walk in, seated immediately, they bring the warm bread and butter basket with the menus to the table as they seat you, that's great. And when you sit down you have a galvanized bucket of peanuts and now also an empty bucket for the shells (there were a lot on the floor, but I think they might be trying to change that practice.)

Immediate, courteous service; salads quickly, no brown lettuce. Burgers can be cooked to temp, but "medium" is the rarest they go. To my surprise, what came out actually was a perfect "medium" (I prefer mid-rare, but they did what they said they were gonna do). Decent, obviously (or so I thought)frozen steak fries. A tiny delay in being able to ask for condiments of any kind after the food was delivered, but soon rectified. No dessert, two large draft Killians, $32.30 before tip, $38.70 after.

I am proud to say I ate only one half of a roll, a house salad, one half of the cheesburger, and nine (I really wanted twenty-nine, I'm starved for potatoes) steak fries.

I am not sure why, but that Texas Road House is ALWAYS packed. Every Monday while son is at Boy Scouts, we go out to eat on the Outer Loop/ New Cut to Jefferson Mall area. We gave up EVER going to TRH, we could not get a seat in anything under 30 minutes. I will admit on the few times I have gotten to eat there, the food and service are good.

That is good to hear!

I've not had as good of luck the times I've been to the TR on Dupont (nor over in Paducah for that matter, the Mother-in-Law fears non-chain restaurants for some reason, drives me batty, I digress). Steaks were hit or miss on temperature, fries have been cold, service has been spotty, non-steak items were oft lacking in much flavor. That said, thanks to the previously mentioned mother-in-law, I've been so many times, that on average I'd say I've had mostly ok experiences, but nothing special.

The one in Paducah is so overloaded with TR advertising (they even put some kind of cardboard advert around the light fixture) that it was rather distracting and made it hard to simply sit and eat, being incessantly bombarded with TR propaganda. (I'm already in your store, stop trying to sell me on being there...) Not sure if the ones around here are like that as much.

When the in-laws are back in town we'll have to try TR again.

Hey Marsha...You should try the atkins diet....Then you could go to Texas roadhouse more often...Nothing wrong with a steak...burgers or fish...Just watch the rolls and the sweet or baked potatoes....I enjoy Texas Roadhouse...but since I have tried Longhorns I like there steaks much better...By the way when I started on the diet I was 247...that was about a year and 3 months ago...I now weight 166...all from just cutting the cabs out....Today I got hungry and stopped by Wendys and had a triple with chees with extra onion and mustard and a side salad with Ranch dressing....Did not eat the bun...All that and about 10 carbs total....

Hey Marsha...You should try the atkins diet....Then you could go to Texas roadhouse more often...Nothing wrong with a steak...burgers or fish...Just watch the rolls and the sweet or baked potatoes....I enjoy Texas Roadhouse...but since I have tried Longhorns I like there steaks much better...By the way when I started on the diet I was 247...that was about a year and 3 months ago...I now weight 166...all from just cutting the cabs out....Today I got hungry and stopped by Wendys and had a triple with chees with extra onion and mustard and a side salad with Ranch dressing....Did not eat the bun...All that and about 10 carbs total....

Robert, good to hear from you. I actually was on Atkins for more than two years about 10 years ago, and while I did lose quite a bit of weight that time, it played merry hell with my digestive system and it took me a good 6 months to recover after I came off it. So this time I'm taking a pretty traditional route, and I also just joined the gym (Milestone, and I can give away free passes good for a week any time during my first month, so if anyone's interested, let me know). That being said, I'm thrilled it's working for you, and losing eighty pounds has had to make you exponentially healthier. In my experience Atkins just seems to work better for the guys than for the girls.

I was actually sort of looking around for you in Texas Roadhouse a little bit, heh.

I like Texas Road House because the food is good, consistent and filling, and also it's "home grown" with the headquarters here.......Plus they have baked sweet potatoes that are killer.......YUM

I have been too embarrassed to say it, but I love TR!

You can't beat TR's early bird specials. 15.99 for two 6 oz sirloins, sides, and salads. They also have a variety of about 6-8 other choices to choose from. I usually go to the one on Outer Loop or the one in Etown and usually the meal is perfect, although every once in a while they do overcook my steak, but they will readily replace it with one cooked correctly.

For a pretty good affordable steak, Texas Roadhouse is a good choice.
It has it's place. It isn't my first choice, but it isn't at the bottom either. I would go to TR before Buckhead's or O'Charley's and they have had tremendous success. In the casual dining sector they have very good service, it is probably because they are busy and the servers make good money.

Hey Marsha...You should try the atkins diet....Then you could go to Texas roadhouse more often...Nothing wrong with a steak...burgers or fish...Just watch the rolls and the sweet or baked potatoes....I enjoy Texas Roadhouse...but since I have tried Longhorns I like there steaks much better...By the way when I started on the diet I was 247...that was about a year and 3 months ago...I now weight 166...all from just cutting the cabs out....Today I got hungry and stopped by Wendys and had a triple with chees with extra onion and mustard and a side salad with Ranch dressing....Did not eat the bun...All that and about 10 carbs total....

That is an amazing weight loss, and even more impressive that you have kept it off.

and even better before I started I was taking blood pressure and cholestrol medication....now jus a baby aspirin a day...thats it...It does not mean that you can eat a pack of bacon every day...but you can eat it...along with eggs...meat and fish....just use common sense on the amount and dont forget the fiber part to that is the key to keep things moving....I am not saying that it will work for everyone...but I have tried a lot of diets and failed manly because you got hungry....with this you dont...just cut the carbs and the weight will come off...