Ruth's Cafe — Restaurant in Birmingham

I spent $671 for Thanksgiving catered dinner from Ruth’s. Place order on 17 November pick up on the 27th which is 10 freaking days to prepare this Catering. When I arrive at 10 AM on November 27, I was informed that my potato salad was not ready and they had to prepare it. The manager told me it would take approximately 30 minutes. I drove all the way from Greystone off of Highway 280 in Hoover Alabama. She asked me could I leave and come back in about 30 minutes and I told her I would wait after waiting for about an hour and 15 minutes, she approached me and said that they was just putting my banana pudding in the oven and it was gonna take another few minutes to cook. after waiting two hours and 15 minutes, my food was ready to go. The young lady brought out the banana pudding because it was hot as hell on the bottom steel cooking. Place it in my trunk. I thought she was gonna continue to load up the rest of the items, but she left and went to the back and never returned so I had to load up all of the items very very carefully. Container was hot as hell because they was just cooking the food today as I waited two hours and 15 minutes. After getting home, I decide to sample the potato salad because I love potato salad. It looked very good but once I stuck my fork in and put it in my mouth, it was as if I was eating cream potatoes with no seasoning no salt anything just plain damn potatoes On top of that, it was hot as hell. Remember, they had to cook it while I was waiting for two hours and 15 minutes. As I was sitting there, a young lady went out the door and the door fell Off the hinges, lucky I caught it in time. I’m standing there like a fool, holding up this door waiting on employees to come to assist. They have so much molasses in their asses just standing around looking at me holding the door until I said,one of you MF get over here and get this GD door or I’m gonna drop this B. After packing all of my food into my vehicle and return their car, there was not one person that was employed there that said thank you and have a great Thanksgiving. They made it seem like it was my fault that I was picking up my order on time promise. I rate the service as terrible. No organizations after sitting there observing for two hours and 15 minutes customers were waiting sometimes 15 minutes to get their orders off the line. This is a good way to kill a business and is dying slowly because I understand they have Close dear second location. As I stated, I am a food critic and once I try this meal for Thanksgiving, I will review it as well but so far the potato salad is terrible plain Jane if you like Cream potatoes with eggs and mayonnaise in it....

First time I’ve visited them at the North Birmingham location on Carraway Blvd and to be honest I didn’t enjoy the food or the atmosphere at all. I walked in around 10:48 am and wasn’t greeted with a smile, hello or anything so I looked around and saw nobody standing in line and a few people sitting down, which I assumed they’d already placed their orders so I approached the counter waiting for the staff to greet me and ask what I wanted but instead they just stared at me until I spoke up and asked how they were doing and if I could order a baked dark chicken plate. After I attempted to place my order they then informed me that lunch doesn’t start until 11:00 am.

So I waited until 11:00 am to place my order but when everyone got in line, a lot of the food still wasn’t ready to be served to some customers and the staff was just standing there talking, waiting and walking around.

Eventually I placed my order and paid $12.65 total for a piece cornbread, a small drumstick and leg quarter with a small portion of Mac n Cheese and collard greens.

The baked Mac n cheese was very oily and had too much butter, plus the noodles weren’t fully baked, it’s like they just boiled them, drained them and put them in the oven for a little while just so the cheese could melt.

The chicken taste good but nothing special. It definitely needs a little more seasoning and they should serve breast instead of quarter legs for the amount of money customers are paying.

The collard greens had a weird sweet taste to them for some reason, idk why??? But they were fresh, green and not over cooked. The cornbread had a slight sweet taste as well and seem like it was cooked the day before and needed to be cooked some more so it could be flaky instead of just soft. It also needed some extra salt and butter.

Overall I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone because they’re customer service is very poor for with below average taste of food, small food portions and higher food prices.

Not to mention flies flying around the restaurant and serving counter with fly traps right next to the front door entrance, which lets me know they don’t have proper pest control and aren’t properly cleaning the inside of the restaurant.

I also wasn’t thanked nor offered a receipt after I paid for my order. I stood around waiting for a receipt or something and they just said “You’re good to go”. No thank you, have a nice day, come back to see us, here’s your...

I miss the other location. It was much better as it had a large dining area and it was used for entertainment karaoke sometimes. It was well kept and very clean. Today, I had a taste for key line cake and I thought I'd give the location on 24th street a try. When I stepped out of my car, a strong smell of rotten urine hit me. Seemed like the area around the front and the dumpster is where men take a leak when they're just standing around. Oh my! But I still wanted cake so once inside I clearly saw that the key lime cake is much different from the ones they sold out there in Trussville/Irondale area. I got a pound cake instead bcuz it looked pleasing to the eye. While the very kind cashier gave me my change, I got a chance to look around and see that the whole place need cleaning. To my surprise, it was very grungy, grimy, and unkept and needed everything thrown out! That's not right! I tasted my cake in the car and it had an off taste like it was stored near collard greens or cabbage. I still ate it bcuz the pound cake was beautiful. Please, please get the restaurant back to quality standards. Don't just sell. Use the monies to reinvest in the restaurant. People liked it when it first opened near the truck stop. Until major improvements are made to the interior and exterior, I cannot...