Texas Roadhouse — Restaurant in Elizabeth City

Extremely disappointing experience.

My husband, mother & I stopped in for lunch around 2 yesterday. They were very busy and indicated a 20-30 minute wait to be seated. Completely understandable.

They texted my husband that our table was ready about 15-20 minutes later. When we returned to the podium to be seated we had to wait another 15 minutes to be seated.

Service was slow and the music was so loud I had to yell for our waitress to hear me when I ordered. I've eaten at a variety of Texas Roadhouse locations in multiple states in the past 20 years, this was the 1st time I have had a waitress tell me she couldn't hear me when I was ordering in a normal tone of voice. It was also the 1st time the entrees for the entire table were not cooked properly.

After being seated, it was another 15 minutes before our drink order was taken. The rolls were the best part of the meal although the 1st basket was barely warm, the 2nd was hot and fresh out of the oven.

We had all ordered steak dinners. My husband and I ordered salads. When 20-30 minutes has passed and our salads hadn't been served, my husband asked if they would be served before the main course. The waitress stated they would, it took another 10 minutes to receive them. They were served with very little dressing and we requested more so we could eat them.

The additional dressing didn't arrive until the main course was brought out 15 minutes later. My mother's dinner was missing a side and the grilled vegetables on her steak.

All three steaks were overcooked. The fresh vegetables side was undercooked. We were unable to locate our waitress and had to flag down a different staff member to request our waitress.

When we told her our steaks were all overcooked she responded rudely "I'll get the manager." Courtesy is a vital component in the service industry. Tone and phrasing are very important. Had she used a softer tone and something to the effect of "I'm sorry, let me get the manager for you" her response would not have been offensive..

The manager offered to have our steaks and the veggies recooked. When the replacement steaks arrived my mother's steak was missing the grilled vegetables again. When we cut into the steaks to ensure they were cooked properly, all 3 were again overcooked. The fresh vegetables (broccoli and carrots) were again undercooked. The only part that was a bit tender were the tip of the broccoli flowerets. The sweet potatoes with carmel sauce were delicious.

I had requested a refill of my drink when we told our waitress of the issues with our order. When we left over 30 minutes later I still hadn't received it.

We declined to have our steaks cooked for a third time. By this time our sides were cold and we weren't prepared to wait another 30 minutes for the entree to be redon and eat cold sides with the entree assuming they were finally cooked properly.

The manager did take the dinners off of our ticket.

The poor service may have been due to the way tables were assigned to wait staff. It appeared that instead of grouping table assignments together they were spilt up around the restaurant decreasing efficiency. I observed that all of the tables around us had different wait staff...

My husband and I went to the Elizabeth City restaurant last night. Our server was wonderful. Our food arrived about 20 minutes after we ordered. I had ordered a 6oz Dallas filet, medium well with loaded French fries. When the food runner put my plate down he told me my loaded fries would be out in a few minutes. As soon as I touched my steak with my fork I knew it wasn’t right. I cut it open and it was rare to med rare. Our server came over and I showed her. She apologized and took the steak back. She came back and said the kitchen was a little backed up but it shouldn’t take too long. She also informed me she let the manager know what had happened. My husband told her if the loaded fries were done before the steak, to go ahead and bring them so I could at least eat something. She said okay.

At this point I told my husband to go ahead and eat while his food was hot. He didn’t want to but he did because I insisted. About 5 minutes after the server told me she had told the manager, the manager came to our table. She ask how everything was, like she didn’t even know what was going on. I told her and she said she would go check on it right away. Her right away was stopping at 4 or 5 more tables on her way to the kitchen. 10 minutes later she came back and said the kitchen was really backed up but she was keeping track of it. Our server came over several times, each time apologizing profusely. I assured her it was not her fault and I appreciated her keeping us informed.

In the meantime the table diagonal from us had received an order of loaded fries. I looked at my husband and just laughed. We were furious. My husband had already finished his food while I was still waiting for mine.

About 30 minutes after the last visit from the manager she came back to our table and told me my food would be out in 3 to 4 minutes. 17 minutes later my husband said he sees the manager with a plate in her hand. The server came over and told me the manager was bringing my food out. I told her at this point I don’t even want it. We just want our bill for my husband’s food so we pay and leave. She said it was ready and on the way. I told her that was fine. The manager finally showed up at the table with my plate. My watched her the whole time and she stopped at 4 tables to talk to people while holding my plate. She put it down and asked me to check it. As soon as I touched it I knew it was wrong. I cut it and it was nearly raw. I didn’t know what to say. I was struggling so hard to keep my temper in check. She apologized, said she would take it off of the bill and would take it back and have it recooked. I told her ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! At this point I am not hungry anymore. We were there for over an hour. I told her she could take care of the whole bill. The server brought our check and said mine had been removed and she discounted my husband’s. Her idea of a discount was $5.00.

When you have a compliant it should take top priority. This was not a priority for them at all. The table right next to us was seated right after we got there. They were having issues as well and were complaining to the manager about their order.

It...

2nd time to the Elizabeth city, NC TRH. First time was excellent - good food, good service. Today, we were running errands and decided to go back. It was only 9:30am so we waited in our car for an hour and a half until they opened. We were the 3rd party seated in the whole restaurant. There were plenty of wait staff (about 12 servers that I could see). After waiting for 30 minutes (not exaggerating on the time as I checked the time before we left), we still hadn't seen our waiter/waitress. Nobody checked on us or came to ask for drinks. Other people came in after us and were waited on by several servers. Two wait staff stood 2 booths away for almost the entire 30 minutes and chatted with a couple having a birthday or anniversary. One even sat in the booth with the customer while they chatted with them. As much as we anticipated another good experience and waited almost 2 hours for them to open, I couldn't wait any longer and we left. Went to our favorite sushi restaurant (the waiter there was excellent and got a 40% tip). I will try TRH again sometime but sadly disappointed with our 2nd visit. This is is an update to my previous 2 star review above... My recent 3rd visit was like my first - excellent service and good food. Our waitress (unfortunately, I forgot her name but wish to commend her) was outstanding and so polite and helpful with our customized order. She was very personable (legitimately kind, not the fake "I have to be nice" feeling you get at other places sometimes). She checked on us several times and even made sure we received any extra items we requested. A+. I will update this post if I get her name as she deserves credit. As far as the food goes, it is pretty good. The chicken tenders were excellent and had a real meaty texture without being too tenderized like Hardee's. Salads are excellent (love the croutons), ribs were fairly good (no gristle or tiny bone fragments on the ends from the band saw like with many other places) but the ribs were a touch overcooked and a bit soft. Ribeyes were good and cooked perfectly to order. Fat on the ribeye was above average, which I like, so if you are looking for a leaner steak, you may prefer the NY strip or Porterhouse. The cactus onion was great and I prefer theirs more than the one from Outback. The TRH onion didn't have a bunch of uncooked batter in the middle, wasn't burnt, and the sauce wasn't too spicy. The sweet potato unfortunately was way overcooked and the marshmallows were bitter/burnt on the top, the potato had a mushy chalky taste - probably would skip the sweet potato next time. Except for the issue on my 2nd visit, TRH has been an excellent dining experience and has some of the best wait...