茹絲葵經典牛排館 Ruth's Chris Steak House 台北大直店 — Restaurant in Zhongshan District

It's Ruth Chris, what could go wrong? Steak in Taiwan is a strange creature. On one hand, there are new Taiwanese style steak restaurants that serve meat cooked sous vide and finished lightly for a pure beefy flavour. On the other hand, there are places like Ruth Chris, old school, continental, American steakhouses. I prefer the latter as the former is more about pandering to rich people than focusing good food. I like my steak rare to med-rare which is, in my experience, worse when done sous vide. People say that sous vide is about consistency of results and the evenness of the cooking, but honestly, sous vide steak is nothing like a steak cooked under a broiler. The intensity of the heat means that the outside has a better crust while the inside is more rare. Because sous vide cooks for so long, a rare sous vide steak doesn't have the same texture as a rare steak cooked the old fashioned way. Plus, even cooking doesn't equate to good cooking. You don't blend fried rice to make it even all the way; you taste the slight inconsistencies of each bite, that's what makes most food craveable. The steak at Ruth Chris is consistent from practice and skill, I don't wanna pay the same price for a chef to put some meat in a bag. Aside from the steak, I highly recommend ordering creamed spinach or creamed corn and mashed potatoes. Sauteed mushrooms are also great, and the sizzling crab cakes are always good when you're feeling extra hungry. Aside from the food, the ambiance and service are top notch. Service is accommodating and helpful and are willing to help with any questions you might have. I highly recommend coming to Ruth Chris if you are a Westerner looking for good steak from back home.

If you are visiting as a large group (7-10), I recommend ordering a couple of appetizers, three sides, a porterhouse for two, and a ribeye from the menu, that way the table doesn't get too cluttered and every cut of steak is...

Had the ribeye steak. Firstly, the prices of steak in Taiwan is very high. The 340-gram is already 1750 NTD. I ordered this one. Due to a misunderstanding the staff served me the 450 gram steak. I pointed out when I was about to pay that I did not order the 16oz ( 450 gram ) steak. The staff was very helpful in this case.

Steak: American grain/corn fed raised beef which was totally fine. I just don't get the redundant point of serving the steak on a plate that is literally frying the steak. Yes you need warm plates but the staff told me to order the steak rare if I want medium rare since it keeps frying on the plate....? Steak does not need to be piping hot especially when the sauce is not even very warm. This made 1 side of the steak actually crawl up to medium and I had to take it off the plate not to cook it further. The steak tasted good no matter what.

Had fries for 320 NTD!! They were good but 320 NTD for some fries....?

The pepper sauce ( au poivre ), was acceptable but lacks depth and balance.

The asparagus were very good. I was surprised how good they were. Very fresh and definitely not overcooked. Very nice. The hollandaise was not bad as well.

Creme brulee: taste good and the caramelised top was nice since it was not burned ( black ).

Overall a good experience but compared to Europe the prices of a simple steak with side is extremely high...Still worth a visit if you want steak since I haven't been able to find anything...

可惜沒有零顆星，覺得真的不行，非常不推薦，令人大失所望。

觀望了一陣子，選擇了一個特別的日子，決定要來茹絲葵踩點，在網路上認真看了幾乎所有評價，研究好菜單，參考了大家的推薦、決定好哪一家用餐，還有當天要吃的餐點。 選擇了大家都說服務特別好的大直店，大家推薦的招牌龍蝦湯，蟹肉堡，奶油菠菜，紐澳良煎蝦，肋眼牛排...奶油香蕉派，吃完只能說，令人大失所望。

從前菜一直到主餐，每一道菜都是油膩至極，餐前的麵包確實烤得外酥內軟，但即使它像嬰兒要蓋被子，餐廳空調非常冷，一下就冷掉失去酥脆感了，且麵包僅有一個種類，本身並沒啥特點，也沒什麼味道與香氣。相較起來，王品各餐廳的餐前麵包可能還好吃一點。

招牌龍蝦湯裡面真的就是湯，幾乎沒有料，只有少許的龍蝦碎末，一份湯分為兩碗，每碗大概只有1-2顆小龍蝦碎碎，橘黃色的湯十分濃稠重口，但味道上卻並不怎麼協調，喝下去的膩口感只想讓人趕快吞嚥下去，完全不想多作細部品嚐，口腔的厚膩感令人不適，喝不到半碗就讓我和同行友人頻配水，配著無味的麵包也沒有甚麼令人驚艷之處。

令人期待的紐澳良煎蝦，食材本身應該是沒有甚麼問題的，但是竟然overcooked，整份煎蝦令人哀傷的出現過硬的塑料纖維感，失去了新鮮蝦體應有的不Q彈嫩口，而且調味上蒜味奶油都下得很重，我一度懷疑它的調味跟龍蝦湯有87分像。那個醬汁調味重複性過高，一開始就遇到餐點的連續重拳，有點令人煩躁。

再來是令人期待已久，呼聲很高的蟹肉糕，天啊，是腥的！裡面的蟹肉是腥的！！就是那種你買了螃蟹回家結果放太久才去煮熟，然後又放太久才吃的那種不新鮮的蟹肉，外層還沒有這麼嚴重，蟹肉糕的內部愈接近中心愈有那種不新鮮的阿摩尼亞味！只能說還好是點了奧斯卡，只有一顆還有蘆筍搭配，不然那個蟹肉糕多吃一口我可能都會吐出來。

然後是網友說超級好吃的奶油菠菜，我吃完只有悔恨為什麼沒有點馬鈴薯泥或是乾脆放棄一道，因為那黏膩的奶油，真的讓人吃兩口就覺得飽了，並不會難吃，但是我們兩個吃了三分之一就開始放棄，然後一直在喝水，這道菜換成飲品可能剛剛好。

吃到這邊其實油膩感已經衝到腦門，然後就是今天的主角，油上加油的肋眼牛排~，點了長形的肋眼牛排，採取橫切的方式，一人一塊長條形的肉，上面大概1/4到1/3都是肥油塊與筋，切除肥油塊的部分，入口的牛排，滿滿的還是油味，濃濃的奶油和極重的鹹味，讓我頓時懷疑人生，完全吃不到牛肉本身的香氣，只有嚴重的奶油味和鹹膩感。三分熟的肉，在燙熱的瓷盤上快速的變成5-7分，油膩感讓我並不想細細品嚐，努力的想要嚼出那個應該好吃的肋眼牛的肉汁與香氣，但，我失敗了。沒有辦法，整體厚重的調味和過度鋪灑的鹽，讓這塊牛排完全失去了生命。

最後是名人推薦的奶油香蕉派，上層的香蕉尚算新鮮，配上厚厚的焦糖，有那麼一點香氣，但內部糊糊膩膩的醬，還是令人後退三步，吃不完，實在沒有辦法。

整餐下來，並不是滿足的吃好飽，而是油膩得真是受夠了的感覺。我覺得這個部分餐廳真的應該要向王品學習，因為整體菜單都是厚重的調味，在餐中應該要給予清口的冰沙或是醋飲，或許能夠讓客人順利的把餐吃完。

最後說說大直店的服務吧，這一天晚餐時間，從我們進去用餐的結束，正餐的晚餐時間，全場總共就只有兩位服務生，扣掉一位看起來是內場跑出來幫忙的，外場就只有一位用鼻孔看人，皮笑肉不笑的男性服務員，職業倦怠地，冷漠的說著重複的話語，整場都不太與客人正眼相看。

觀察這名服務員與每一桌的互動，都是制式且冷漠的重複台詞，對於客人嘗試化解冰冷的幽默話語，他也是叱之以鼻的毫無笑容，對於客戶的疑問或是一些想法，他則是以一副高高在上的口氣“教育”著客人，我們慣性的以十分有禮貌且微笑回應，嘗試緩和氣氛，後續似乎有勉強友善一點點，但或許是人手不足，讓他心情不甚美麗，其言談口語之中還是不時的透露出其不悅及沒耐性，並且充斥了侍者的不明傲氣。

用餐尾聲，店經理形式化的詢問是否對今日餐點感到滿意，老實說我不知道這樣公司規定是否對他們而言十分困擾，但他們顯然沒有準備面對客戶除了說「好吃」之外的負面評價，那個震驚的臉還真不是能夠裝的出來的。

客戶說出不滿意的理由，但店經理的回應則是歸因於客戶不聰明（或是說沒智慧）的點餐技巧，才會導致餐點不如預期，ex:等到反應後才說一開始在點餐時就可以說餐點不要過鹹...等，但客戶沒吃過又怎麼知道你餐點過鹹？然後沒吃過又怎麼知道你可以有什麼樣的客製化服務選項？

在經理的服務後，大致可以理解為何店內的服務生會是這樣，最後當客戶結帳離開時，經理也只是顧著講電話，一聲招呼也沒打。

我不太懂為什麼大家會說這家店的服務很好，餐點的部分真的也沒有評論說的那麼誇張，有時候並不是花很多錢餐點就一定要說好吃，我認為這家用餐體驗有過度被誇大的問題。

加上茹絲葵結帳上有非常詭異的小費機制，是我相當不認同的，如果你不收服務費，我可以給你小費，但是你都收了10%服務費了，還擺明著硬要多坑殺客戶，討著客人要多給你錢的這種機制，十分令人感冒，尤其是客戶並沒有得到相對應的服務與良好用餐體驗，這個制度只是欺負消費者而已。

綜合上述，真的不會想再踏進去這家店，這種彆扭的經驗讓我認為，不如吃夜市豪邁大叔的大塊牛...