Ruby's Diner — Restaurant in Commerce

UPDATE GM Pete Feliciano reached out to me, wanting to rectify my previous experience at Ruby's Diner at the Citadel Outlets & make things right. Planning on another shopping trip at the Citadel Outlets, I took him up on his offer, and came away a satisfied customer.

Crispy green beans- Served w/ Buffalo ranch, honey mustard & regular ranch, the crispy green beans proved to be a great appetizer. Freshly fried, I kept telling myself the crispy green beans were "healthier" than French fries.

ABC omelet- An omelet made w/ thick cut bacon, pepper jack cheese & avocado. Served with RubySpuds & choice of bread. The bacon was just the way I like it - slightly chewy. Don't care for burnt to a crisp bacon. The omelet was well-portioned, and the RubySpuds were perfectly crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside.

I also ordered a RubyClub & Deluxe BLTA to go, which were also satifying to the tastebuds.

As I ate my meal, I saw Pete stopping by each table, checking in & asking how was their food. He provides great customer service at his establishment, and went out of his way in handling my dissatisfaction. Plus, I have enjoyed the food I've had at Ruby's.

Highly recommend!

END UPDATE

Powershopping at the Citadel Outlets, lunch was next on the agenda. Arriving at Ruby's Diner, I asked the waitstaff at the front desk if the Citadel Outlets gift card is accepted as payment. Conversing amongst the 4-5 of them, most said no, while one said it can. She was very adamant about it. Of course, she was the one who seated & waited on me during this visit.

Sitting down, I was perusing the menu & asked for water. When she asked for my order, I again inquired if I can use the Citadel Outlets gift card. She replied "Yes." Thus, I ordered a guacamole burger, lettuce-wrapped with added pickles & onions.

The food was good, but my stomach soon soured when I was done. When I was finishing up my meal, she brought me the bill. I tried handing her my gift card for payment. She only showed me the bill, then took it away. Fiddling with my phone for awhile, she asked me if I had my bill. I said "No." I'm thinking, "why would I have the bill, when you took it away?" So, she brought me the same bill, but said I couldn't use the Citadel Outlets gift card. Whu? I repeatedly asked if I could use it for payment, and she replied in the affirmative. Now, she offered me my check w/ an employee discount. I'm sure that's against policy, seeing how I'm not an employee. The attendant didn't offer to comp my meal, nor even bother to apologize for giving me the wrong information. No tip for you, dear.

I made a concerted effort to make sure I would be able to use the Citadel Outlets gift card as payment. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even bothered to dine at Ruby's. I was told yes, then told no, afterwards.

I do not recommend patronizing Ruby's Diner at the...

As a former Ruby employee, I feel the standards have fallen, but that's not what this review is about.

We were greeted at the door after about 20 seconds, and the host didn't say much, we actually had to say "2 please," and then he said, "Follow me. Once seated, he said nothing, and a few minutes later, our server approached, We were ready, so we gave the entire order. A few minutes later my shakre arrived and about 10 more minutes the food arrived. The order was correct, but chicken in apb was just warm enough, about 110 exterior. We needed silverware, so whoever brought the food went to get that. Our server dropped by at the same time, but having not tasted anything, we had no feedback. About 7 minutes later or server checked up and then proceeded to stay at the expo and read some manual. We waited 15 minutes for her to face us as she would go to the computer and back, then to BOH, but never looking in our direction. After she took the order at a new table she looked our way so i locked eyes.

Food - liked lackluster and just put on the plate. The chicken was cut into thick strips, salad was lazily prepared and didn't taste that great. The burger was fine but definitely not HOT. If service was up to par according to policy then i guess I'd give it a 6/10 since the restaurant was clean and didn't smell like cleaner, but everything else just had the feeling of "We're in a mall, so we don't need to try." If we compare it to 2004 standards, then 2/10 - no one had a name tag, shirts were untucked, no 30 second greet, no shake of the month, no 2 minute 2 bite, no introduction, just felt like a clean, good smelling, and slightly better...

Stopped by for lunch with the family. I ordered the Fresh Roast Turkey Breast and everyone else ordered the Deluxe BLTA.

The sandwiches were nothing extraordinary but they were good. I also substituted my fries for sweet potato fries which were not too warm when they arrived so it was s slight disappointment.

As our server rushed by continuously we found it difficult to get her attention since all I wanted to ask for was a side of ranch for the fries. By the time our meal was over she finally was able to help us and brought us three servings of ranch even though only one person still had fries on their plate.

The server cleared the two plates for the folks that had finished eating and as we were about to ask for the check she asked if we wanted more fires as they were "bottomless" we didn't notice that on the menu but it would have been nice to know q lot earlier or at least before practically clearing the table.

A few minutes after she brought more fries for the person that still had their plate with them, we decided to ask for the check but again had trouble getting her attention. I suppose what made this more frustrating is that the Point-of-Sale machine was literally to the left of me and I couldn't get her attention.

Overall my experience was not great but then again this could have been an off day for the restaurant.

Since the food was nothing to brag about I'll probably choose somewhere else to eat next time but at least we gave this one a shot.

If you appreciate the Diner experience as far as decor goes, the place looks great and is a lot fun for fans of this style.

Try it out for yourself and let me know...