Ruth's Chris Steak House — Restaurant in Niagara Falls

OK. Hold tight... this is an absolute MUST once in your lifetime. The food is very expensive (see end of review for pricing), HOWEVER, it was worth it to do once, for a special occasion, like an anniversary or something of that nature. The facility is VERY LARGE (2nd largest one in the world), however, we were placed at a very low lit booth, that had curtains to draw closed, it felt like we were the only ones there. There was low soothing music playing, the atmosphere was everything...the food was even more impressive, and the service was delightful. Our server was named Shelby, and she was attentive without being pushy, made honest recommendations, and treated us just like we were about to spend a lot of money on food. We ordered the Porter House for Two. One side of the T-bone is prepared like a filet mignon, and the other side is cooked just like a strip. It was heavenly. If I am remembering correctly, it was 40 oz of beef, haha. We had absolutely zero issues devouring it, as we had breakfast earlier, but skipped lunch knowing that Ruth Chris' Steakhouse dinner was going to be epic. And it was. The steak comes out, already cut into sections so you aren't fumbling trying to rip any meat from the bone, like a neanderthal. You can just take smaller sections off at a time, which was very nice. For a side, which is priced separately, we order the sweet potato casserole, which was like a highly whipped mashed potato, topped with pecans and brown sugar. It was the best sweet potato dish I've ever had. Again, it was expensive, but there wasn't a single issue or disappointment with our food, the atmosphere, or our server. To top it off, we had told them we were there celebrating an event (anniversary) and so they brought out a (complimentary) chocolate lava cake with one scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, drizzled in chocolate syrup. This was also phenomenal. OK... PRICE... as previously mentioned, it was expensive and we knew this coming in. I guess when in Niagara Falls, you can hit up a casino and maybe set a budget of $200 - $300 dollars to lose at casino and that would be fine, or you can use it for an evening at Ruth Chris'. I would HIGHLY advise going to Ruth Chris' Steakhouse. This is something everyone should experience once in their lifetime, or, if you are fortunate/blessed enough, once every handful of years. Go into it knowing the bill will be high and just enjoy being spoiled. Porter House for Two: $189 (US)... I had seen someone post picture of menu where it was $140, maybe that was old (before inflation/covid) or perhaps we caught a holiday menu (it was Labor Day Weekend) Sweet Potato Casserole - $19.99 (US...this feeds 2 people) 2 Glasses of Prosecco Ruffino White Sparkling Wine - $13.99 per glass (US)

All together, we were around $270 US (Canadian $377); plus we added a tip. We knew it would be pricey, and you need to understand that going in, don't let the expense ruin your experience. If it is too pricey, then maybe go elsewhere? That is fine if you don't want to drop that money, it is more than usual, and I completely get it. I had to remind myself a couple times that this was going to be expensive, haha...BUT, there was not a single thing we were disappointed in. The steak and sweet potatoes were the best we've ever had... anywhere. We will be talking about this experience for years. Hopefully, at some point, we will return......

I'll sum it up for you before going in more details: "outrageous prices for disappointing food".

We were staying at the embassy suites Hotel, it was a package deal which came with a number of coupons. We opted for Ruth's since we had a $70 to use. Yay!

#1 comment: I called Ruth's Chris Steak House (RCSH for short) and was told I needed to go to their website to see their menu, and call them back to order. I looked and.looked, but their website didn't list any prices, none whatsoever. I even tried the "order" button, which was apparently only for US locations as Niagara ON couldn't even be found.

Suggestion to Ruth: add an actual menu with prices to your website! all other restaurants do this.

We ended up going to the restaurant itself (4mn walk) to look at the menu. When I say "menu", I'm needing very kind as this was basically a skewed photocopy more than anything. My jaw kinda dropped when my girlfriend and I looked at the prices, but we thought "with a $70 it's still going to be great food at a good price".... Well, no. Keep reading.

Suggestion #2 for RCSH: gets proper menus that actually reflect the prices you're selling food for. A photocopy doesn't quite cut it.

#2 comment: Don't get fooled by the $50 or $70 coupon (we got $70), it will barely cover the least expensive entree on that outrageously overpriced menu. We had a solid lunch so we got the chicken ($59) and "king" salmon ($75), admittedly the "least expensive" entrees on the menu, so the least one could possibly pay for a 2-person meal when using the coupon. Food came reasonably fast. At that time we still hadn't seen what was in the cute red bag and we were looking forward to a very good meal.

#3 comment: the grand food reveal. This moment in our hotel room was accompanied with a "you got to be kidding me" upon opening the containers. You can look at the picture to get a better sense of our disappointment. I left the little sauce container in there for scale. That was by far, the loneliest piece of fish I ever saw. Not a green bean or leaf of salad for decoration, nothing to make that sight make you feel this King is being recognized as the $75 dish it is sold for. Even the crappiest chicken wings joint puts celeri sticks and carrots with their cheap dish. Our King looked lonely, and sad. The highlight was that the sauce had little chives in it which brought a bit of color to this sinister picture.

The chicken looked better but again, stood in its container without anything else.

The salmon tasted good, but the sauce was cheap and tasted like a regular sweet Thai sauce off the shelf at the grocery store. The chicken was stuffed with a cheesy filling that was far from transcending. We didn't order sides which were also overpriced. It was a very sad meal overall, which certainly didn't look like a $160 diner.

Suggestion for RCSH: if you sell food like it's worth a million bucks, make it look like it worth a million bucks.

The final bill was still $90 after tax and after the $70 coupon. I didn't look at the bill to determine whether gratuity was automatically added which I read in other comments. I have been to a lot of places, traveling for work and going to other steak houses in North America. That has to be the most disappointing experience I ever had. A very pretentious menu that definitely under-delivered for us. We would have been better off going to the Keg....

We are fans of Ruth’s Chris. We discovered them about 3 years ago and we’ve been going back once or twice a year since then. Of our 4 previous visits, they have all been to the Mississauga location. Great food. Always perfect. Very pricey, but we know that going in so we’re prepared to pay through the nose. But the steak is next level fantastic.

We had a $75 coupon for the Niagara location, so we were looking forward to our great meal.

Beforehand, I did see some of the review for how expensive it was, but I had dismissed that for it just being Ruth’s Chris pricing.

Well. Sir. Next level expensive. About 40% higher than the Mississauga location. The $75 T-Bone was suddenly $115. The $65 ribeye was suddenly $101. We almost got up and left. We should have.

In order to cut the cost, we decided to share everything. We had the chopped salad to start. Shared the ribeye and had the potatoes au gratin and mushrooms on the side.

When the chopped salad came out, it was on one plate. So a young server came by to separate the salad onto two plates. Apparently it is a requirement to do so with nothing other than a fork and spoon, using one single hand. Which, apparently, is a technique that is very challenging. We wanted to grab the plates from him and just do it ourselves. The end result was a mess of a plate with 75% of the salad going to my wife and 25% to me. Some would say, “as it should be”. But he was attempting a 50-50 split.

Then came the meat. It was, of course, served on a piping hot plate and looked fantastic. A server came out with it and 2 additional hot plates so we could share.

He immediately cut the steak in half and served us each on our own plates.

Now, you meat professionals out there (which these guys at Ruth’s Chris should be) know that a steak needs to rest for 5-10 minutes after being cooked. If it’s not allowed to rest, all the juices flow out of the steak and you end up with......

A steak that is dry and tough. Yup. A Ruth’s Chris Steak that was dry and tough. Worst steak we’ve had in quite some time.

Now, you’re probably asking why we didn’t send it back. It’s because we didn’t realize how bad it was until we were at least 50% of the way through our meal. By then, we didn’t think it was fair to send it back.

But then we found our potatoes were cold and we got very upset at the whole thing. The next day we’re still quite upset about the meal.

We’re people who don’t mind spending more from time to time, but we feel ripped off by this restaurant.

I have given it 2 stars because the mushrooms were fantastic and the service was ok. But I’m now rethinking it. Maybe it should be 1 star.

So, all in, taxes and tip incl: 1 ribeye, 1 bottle of red (see pic), one chopped salad, one mushroom side, one potatoe side: $378 Cdn.

Yeah, I think I’ll change it to one star. But it had been 2 until I wrote this and started getting upset again.

There are so many other places to eat in Niagara. I suggest...