Texas Roadhouse — Restaurant in Bismarck

Usually this place is ok, but ....

Stopped for dinner on our way out of town. Ordered a sirloin and a ribeye, both mediums, which is usually pretty safe. My husband's was ok, but my sirloin was very very rare. Almost still moving. Couldn't find our waitress, or anyone else. Probably a full 10 minutes of watching for any waiter. Bread/baked potato were good. Finally asked a bus boy, who was gruff, but he did find our waitress who showed up after another wait.

She apologized (which was nice) and took my now cold steak away, back to the kitchen to finish cooking. Then ... crickets. My husband had his meal completed. I'm still waiting. After close to an additional 15 mins, someone from the kitchen showed up and set my now charred, burnt dry remnant of a steak in front of me and said, "Cut into it to see if it's ok". He more or less demanded. So I did. I was just ready to be done with the whole deal by that point. Seriously, it was so overdone and dry...burnt edges. Brown all the way through. Not close to medium and not really hungry anymore. The guy that brought my steak back could easily see that, just wanted to get rid of the issue, I think? Not sure.

But I thought, well I can at least take it home for our pups. Again, no waitress. She NEVER came back after she took my steak away. Invisible, gone. So we found a different waitress and asked for a box. Which we received after a few more minutes. Boxed up the charred steak, and left. No one even noticed ...

Terrible service. Waitress kept apologizing but didn't do anything to help. It was so bad that we actually were almost hysterically laughing by the end.

Pay at tableside is a stupid thing. Gives wait staff alot of reasons to not check on customers. The worst is that we paid full price - $70 bill - for most of my meal that will go to our dogs. And the waitress was clueless or didn't care. I tipped 10% and am now irritated with myself that I even gave that.

To note - I'm usually pretty forgiving. Last night tipped another waiter full +20% on the expected bill when the kitchen totally messed up an order because the waiter handled it so well. And it wasn't his fault.

NOT the...

Texas Roadhouse in Bismarck is awesome! I don’t think I have ever had such good service. Our waitress, Alyssa (hope I am spelling that right), was kind and friendly and on top of it! She said since it was our first time (we have been to a Texas Roadhouse before back in MI, which we explained, but we hadn’t been to one in forever since moving to ND at the beginning of 2020.) so she said we could have 3 free sides to try! 😯 😋 The manager, Melissa, even came by one time and we got talking to her about our move and that it’s been awhile since eating at one of their restaurants.... and she ended up giving us a free appetizer! 😯 😋 Also, at one point Eliza knocked her drink over and my husband and I were trying to mop it up with the cloth napkins which were not much help. I noticed one of the employees walking by, looking over at us and he immediately stopped what he was doing to go grab a wash cloth/rag, which was so much better for soaking up the liquid! He wiped it all down and cleaned up most of the mess for us! His name was Darian (hope that is spelled right too).

On top of everything else they gave my hubby a military discount and then the manager brought out a gift box with a bag of their peanuts and some coupons in it for us! We already explained we lived a ways away (in the middle of no where) and may not be able to come back anytime soon and she was like, “It’s okay! The coupons don’t expire!” 😯 😆

And to think we almost went to Culver’s! I like Culver’s too, but we were on the way there when we spotted the Texas Roadhouse and decided on that since we have always liked it (and again... it’s been forever!) Glad we made the switch! We have a Culver’s closer to home but don’t have a Texas Roadhouse up our way at all.

We are a family of 6.... Texas Roadhouse filled us up on so much bread, sides and appetizers that at least 4 of us took almost our whole main meal to go. The other two ate a good portion, but still had to take some back to...

Edited*

Fall quarter of 2024. Their grill masters or chefs don't seem to understand what medium well is. It's not bloody! Three out of 3 last visits, same thing every time. It is getting old, to the point of wanting to go elsewhere! Please, don't profess to be a connoisseur of beef if you don't know how to cook it correctly. You've established a pattern or a track record by now. NY Strip every time. WaitStaff should insist on correcting this with the kitchen on behalf of the customer, without the customer having fear of kitchen staff sabotaging the food due to the complaint which their carelessness creates; rather, customers ought to be made to feel very comfortable & confident that kitchen will make it right without retaliation. This is becoming disappointing if not embarrassing for the Bismarck TRH. Is this a training issue? Because it certainly spoils the appetite.

*Edit - Addendum: as recently as April 4 they bring out a medium rare as dripping very bloody red AGAIN. I see their automated reply from earlier, now. It is not our responsibility to escalate in-house communication to higher-ups. That's your job to communicate to your bosses/Corporate, not the patrons. Anyway, about the 5th time in a row now that this happens as a constant. It is reasonable to conclude this STANDARD practice is a pattern. Seems problematic from this angle. We applaud their first time they cordially tried to correct it on April 4, with grace & kindness (its a step in the right direction!). Yet, enough is enough, this gets old: Not even discounted or replaced food will bring us back. Such a disappointing pattern that the Bismarck restaurant has established when it comes to getting the NY Strip cooked to medium rare. Didn't know it was rocket science for...