Texas Roadhouse — Restaurant in Champaign

First of all, let me just say, Ariel, the bartender, is an absolute gem. If I could give her five stars and a raise myself, I would. The service? Phenomenal. Top-tier. Chef’s kiss.

Now, the food. Oh boy. Where do I even begin? My boyfriend’s salad came with an unexpected guest, a ladybug. The manager kindly explained that this was “kinda unavoidable.” Look, I get it. I’m not above eating a ladybug for the story, but we’ve been avid Texas Roadhouse diners for a year—the addiction to the rolls is unreal—and not once has a bug graced our plates. So forgive me if I respectfully disagree on the “unavoidable” part.

Then came my steak. Or should I say, the cow itself. It was so raw I think it mooed at me. I sent it back, waited eight minutes, and it returned overcooked—but at that point, I’d have happily chewed on a flip-flop just to be done. I smiled and said it was fine because, emotionally, I had already left the building.

Now here’s where it gets fun: we get the bill. Nothing comped. Nada. Zilch. I was ready to just take the L and pay, but after six years in customer service, I figured this was a “I don’t want to be a Karen and will be kind, but mildly Karen please take some money off” moment. Ariel (angel on Earth) called the manager over again, and we were generously comped… drumroll, please… three whole dollars. For the bug salad and fresh cow. I almost cried—out of laughter, confusion, and the need to go home. I paid it obviously, I wasn’t expecting a free meal, just maybe a “I’ll take one of your $5 margs off because you probably needed the alcohol to get through this meal.”

In conclusion: service was incredible. Someone give Ariel a management position. Food? A little too wild...

6 of us were passing through town and had a gift card for Texas Roadhouse so we decided to give it a try. The parking lot was packed so my immediate thought was that there would be a wait. To my surprise we had a table in less than 5 minutes. We were greeted and welcomed by every single staff we encountered, even the guys grilling the steaks were smiling at us through the window. Our server, Riley was fantastic and personable and helped us celebrate 2 birthdays. Every member of staff was hustling, serving, cleaning and doing it with a smile. We saw that after tables were empty they wiped down EVERYTHING, every menu, even the inside of the lid on the bottle of ketchup, even the light fixture above the table. After our meal what I presume was the manager came over and asked how our visit was. As we left every staff member we walked by THANKED US, told us to have a good night and were so friendly, we didn't want to leave lol. Let me tell you, myself and many people I know stopped going out to eat because of the awful customer service on top of the prices the last few years just makes it a terrible experience, but NOT at this location. This place has excellent food service and customer service that just may change your mind and give you hope that good experiences are NOT a thing of the past. We all wished this was more local so we could visit more often. Well done, Texas Roadhouse, we had a...

If you make a reservation for more than 5 people do not expect them to be able to accommodate you with anything that resembles comfortable seating. You will be crammed into a corner and if your lucky the people around you wont mind you sitting on top of them. The food is always good, the staff, management aside is friendly but the seating is ridiculous. We did call ahead seating for 7 (which included a highchair and a sling for my infant) and when we got there they tried to seat us at a table for 6 and wanted to stick my toddler in the isle. We told them that wouldn't work and so we had to go back to the waiting area for them to find more reasonable and safe accommodations for our party. They then took us to a table for 4 (because that makes sense) and pulled out an extension and put the high chair in the middle of the isle once again. I am not an unreasonable person but when the seating is so crammed together that your only option is to put my toddler in the middle of a busy walkway, that is not acceptable. We soon realized that they were simply incapable of seating us somewhere that made ANY logical sens we left but not before i asked to speak to a manager who got irrationally defensive. Anyway, we will not be going back, not because of the food or the staff but because the restaurant layout was thought up by someone who has never been in a ...