Ruth's Chris Steak House — Restaurant in Cincinnati

Dinner, Sunday evening with another couple. I had made reservations for us at 5:30 and even with the Reds game letting out, we still found a parking spot (4 blocks away but it was a gorgeous day, so thats not an issue) Be aware though, its a congested area and parking is a consideration. We were seating immediately upstairs, but there is an elevator so even with a disabled woman in our party, that was fine. All 4 of us had never been so we had a few questions. Our server, Alicia was knowledgeable but not friendly and as the evening wore on - even less so....3 of us ordered the Ruth's Chris specials, a 6 oz filet with shrimp on top...this comes with a salad or starter, a side and dessert. For $45.95 this is a great value for the money. Our vegetarian friend ordered the pasta and veggie vegetarian plate and a side of broccoli and vegetable soup. We all felt his veggie pasta was a bit overpriced at $29.99 but in the end as you will see, he saved money. 3 of us ordered house salads, 2 with Thousand Island dressing on the side and one of those no onions. I ordered my salad with Ranch dressing on the side as well. I believe it was a busboy(? ) who came out and sat the vegetable soup in front of me - I said no and pointed across the table. The same bus boy came and sat a Caesar salad in front of me, I shook my head no again. Actually we all did, no one at our table had ordered a Cesar salad. Our salads did come out, one party in our group had requested no onions, she had onions, my salad came out dressed in Ranch, not on the side...I decided to let it go...I shouldn't have...hubbys salad came out dressed w Ranch he had ordered Thousand Island. All in all, every salad order was incorrect. I tried to eat my salad. The greens were crisp, cold and the tomatoes were fresh. Their croutons were delightful. Unfortunately the Ranch dressing liberally dousing my salad was so salty, I couldn't it eat. Inedible- hubby tasted and was shocked how salty the Ranch dressing was. I did speak to our server, Alicia and she did offer to bring out another salad. I declined, I did ask her to bring me a 6 oz glass of Moscato when she had time. She said ok. I never received my wine. She never mentioned it and never brought it out. Several of the guests at our table were frustrated because we couldnt seem to get anyones attention to get more water. Exceptionally poor service. The meals come out, 3 of the R C specials, medium well...mine was a bit pinker than I would like as hubby was commenting on that, our server Alicia offered to bring out a very hot plate to cook the filet a little more. That was fine and it worked. Clearly, she has experience around steaks. Our table had ordered 2 sides of garlic mashed potatoes and 1 loaded baked potato. 3 mashed potatoes came out. Our friend who had ordered the baked potato requested it again and was told they would bring it out. Ok...another guest had ordered the broccoli and was served what looked like creamed spinach. Every single course was incorrect. I don't expect this comedy of errors at an established steak house of Ruth's Chris caliber. The loaded baked potato came out finally as did the broccoli. We had 3 desserts at our table, 2 of them the standard blueberry cheesecake that came with the special and one was upcharged for changing it to the White Chocolate bread pudding. And, just to keep it interesting our friend who had ordered the White Chocolate bread pudding was served Creme Brulee. She immediately pointed out she hadn't ordered that and requested the bread pudding. My husband ordered the espresso rather than dessert and imagine our surprise when they brought him out a cup of coffee. (SARCASM) Not a one of us was surprised. We were there for 3 hours, eating in sporadic spurts as they brought out food then returned it to the kitchen ...The couple at the table next to us were equally upset..and complained. Our bills were both incorrect, with one in our party being charged 66 dollars for the $45 dollar special, yet we had ordered 2 specials...we also had to point out we had not...

Note to owners: Just booked extended family celebration at Jeff Ruby’s.

Update 12/22/2023:

1. No one from Ruth's Chris Corporate or Cincy has responded, reached out, or apologized despite reviews on Google and Yelp as well as submitting form on company website. They are clearly aware of the issues / fraud being committed at this location (read the other reviews). No way I was served a USDA Prime Filet (again, easily the worst steak experience I've ever had - even ignoring price). Worse than any wedding or work conference I've ever attended, literally inedible and couldn't be cut with steak knife. You've been warned - eat at Cincy location at your own peril.

2. Experienced EXCEPTIONAL meal (consistent with all prior experiences) at Ruth's Chris north of Indianapolis (Franchise rather than Corporate owned). Reinforced the complete fraud being committed at the Cincy location.

Original Review: Let me start by saying my extended family (three generations) and I have been HUGE fans of Ruth’s Chris for well over two decades. RC has always been at the top of our list for fine dining and special occasions (including a VERY special night two years ago in a private room celebrating my parents’ 80th birthdays).

What has always impressed me has been not only the exceptional service, food quality, and ambiance, but also the consistency – regardless of location including when traveling the country for work over the past 30+ years.

Unfortunately, that consistency was shattered last night (11/8) in Cincinnati (100 Freedom Way) where my wife and I had driven to celebrate my younger son’s birthday (along with his older brother).

The ambiance was similar to prior RC’s (booth was a bit tight), service was fine, and the appetizers (shrimp and calamari), salads (two chopped, two Caesar), and bottle of wine were all very good. However, things came completely undone with the entrees:

Both my and my older son’s filets were completely inedible / tough (and mine was underdone initially - first time that has ever happened at a RC). I couldn’t even cut through part of it with steak knife. Past RC filets have always been tender enough to cut with a butter knife and literally melt in my mouth. This was a tough and tasteless piece of meat (wasn’t worth eating) - like at all you can eat buffet and bad wedding reception. Having cooked countless steaks for myself, there is absolutely no way these were USDA Prime (or trimmed correctly).

My wife’s seabass was a overdone and not the flaky, flavorful experience she has had previously at other locations. Mashed potatoes were cold (butter on top didn’t melt) and even had hard lumps.

I didn’t make a scene given we were celebrating and didn’t want to ruin the mood. They did provide a complimentary dessert for my son’s birthday (as usual) and offered me a dessert to make up for the inedible steak which I declined. It was literally one of the worst filets I’ve ever had (even compared to weddings, conferences, and casual dining chains like Outback).

We will never go back to this location and it was such an epic disappointment, especially relative to the $600 spent including tip, that it has left lingering negative feelings which I’m sure will make it less likely to select RC (regardless of location unfortunately) for future fine dining.

Reading other reviews (which we should have done beforehand but never needed to do with RC) this is not an isolated experience at the downtown Cincinnati location. Avoid...

I went for a birthday dinner. I arrived late but was directed to our table. The person who sat me was kind of off putting and stating "if you're going to have more than 8 ppl sit here, she can't sit here" is this condescending tone. Wow??? There were literally two empty seats that were visible and he knew which table I was going too so I'm sure he knew there wasn't already 8ppl sitting, and it was a weird assumption that the bday girl who made the reservation would invite more than we could fit. It was a weird thing to say seeing how clearly the table is barely big enough for the 6 that was already sitting down and they had to literally say my seat is right here so he could walk away. Then one of the guest at our table asked for her lamb to just be cooked a little more, she just wanted the outside to be just a little more crispy like the birthday girls nothing was wrong with it, and the gentlemen handling her food, took out his cell phone and shined his light all on it and moved it around the food to I guess SEE why she was even asking and shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Which was extremely rude. Then passed on the food to the female waitress and said handle this, we know this b/c she came right back to the table bringing the food back and thought the girl at our table haven't gotten her food but we had to tell her why he took it since he decided not to tell her and she was confused. We can see him because he sat it down 4ft away from us and then we can see him exchange it with the female waitress and she told us what he said. And before I got there I guess the same male that was handling our food said some inappropriate things to one of our guess that I'll choose not to share, and something you don't say to guest at a fine dining location, very rude. Overall the food was really good, my steak was not medium well but well done but I was too hungry after already coming late to ask for another steak but still delicious. The female waitress was great. We weren't loud or anything had to ask for our table to be cleared just to make room b/c it was so squished and they never grabbed our empty plates. I was never offered a drink so I just drank the water left on the table out of my friends empty wine glass. I just feel a lot of assumptions were made and we were treated as such. The food is expensive and if you have issues with the food or want modifications, I think you have the right to get it corrected without the extra stuff like any other restaurant. $54 for two petite steaks and 4 jumbo shrimp and $20 mash potatoes and still tipped even though the two gentleman did not make it feel welcoming at all and I hope my tip went to the female waitress that day. The price doesn't matter to me but I wanted to share that to ppl b/c I'm sure ppl come for the food but also the fine dining experience and it just wasn't worth...