Texas Roadhouse — Restaurant in Hadley

This has been my first time at this particular location but not a first for the great Texas Roadhouse name and food that I’ve come to expect. I have enjoyed myself plenty of times at various locations across the country and EVERY SINGLE TIME it has been absolutely amazing to say the least. I’m sure you can imagine how upset and disappointed I was when my experience at your Hadley location left me with such a bitter experience that I don’t know if I will ever step foot in any of your locations ever again. The restaurant was extremely busy and fully packed from the moment we got there to the moment we left. Not an issue at all. It’s expected when you visit a popular restaurant on a Friday evening. You could tell our waitress was overwhelmed from the second she started talking to us. Again not an issue. Like I said it was really busy and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d been running at 100% since she started her shift. It took quite some time to get our drinks, took even longer to get our bread, took the longest to get our food and there was not a single peanut in sight! Everything that I have listed so far, including the lack of peanuts, could and would be forgiven for two reasons. Reason number one. Like I said before everything that happened was not only understandable but expected given all of the circumstances. Reason number two. The food I’m used to getting from Texas Roadhouse is worth just about any amount of hassle it takes to acquire. Sadly enough this time was not the case. I was so excited for my full slab of ribs as I always am because Texas Roadhouse does em better than anywhere else! FALL OFF THE BONE is exactly what they say in the description in the menu and I would tell anyone who said differently that they are sadly mistaken. The plate I was served showed me that anyone I may have called a liar could have been telling the truth because these ribs were bad. And when I say bad I mean bad bad. I have pictures I can send if you’d like. The slab was not evenly cut to a 6 and 6, more like a 3 and 9 which I would not complain about had they still lived up to the fall of the bone expectation. I would have even been able to look passed the fact that more than half of that 9 piece slab was all fat had I been able to experience the fall off the bone that I’ve come to expect from Texas Roadhouse. What I got to experience was a slab so over cooked that I could grab it from one end, hold it out straight and flip it over without it ever breaking apart. That is not acceptable in any way shape or form and the fact that Texas Roadhouse has people working for them that would even allow food like that onto a plate let alone off the line and served to a customer is a concern that I think is big enough to keep me from ever walking into a Texas Roadhouse again

That is an exact copy of what I wrote straight to the restaurant. It has been almost one week and still no response. I would not go back here if they paid me let alone spending hard earned money for what they call “fall off...

TEXAS ROADHOUSE: STEAKS & BURGERS CONFRONT THE TOFU CURTAIN …

I live in Hadley, MA, right next to the college town of Amherst, a place where vegetarianism is rife. People here subsist on tofu, veggies, rice, whole wheat spaghetti and pizza. Until Texas Roadhouse “arrived” this past year with its focus upon meat, it was nearly impossible to find a restaurant that prepared steaks and burgers properly. That’s no longer true. Texas Roadhouse has staked its claim to being a purveyor of moderately-priced meat entrees that attract long lines of customers. We decided to give it a try.

Hubby and I had dinner there last Thursday evening at 8:00, figuring we’d avoid the crowds that show up earlier in the evening. We were right. By time we arrived, we were immediately seated in a booth where we enjoyed the Wild West décor and bucket of peanuts at our table.

We already knew what we wanted, having reviewed the online menu before our arrival: Rattlesnake Bites ($5.99) for our appetizer, Filet mignon for our entrée. The Rattlesnake Bites – little fried balls filled with jalapeno peppers and jack cheese, served with horseradish sauce. I had to restrain myself from overeating these delicious morsels in anticipation of tackling the filet I wanted to order.

Hubby’s 8 oz filet, medium rare (20.99) , was grilled to perfection and very tender, he reported. I ordered filet medallions, a platter of 3 small medallions (9 oz) ($19.99). Two of these little filets were delicious though not as rare as I would have liked. One was grilled perfectly and very tender. Both filet dishes were smothered with grilled mushrooms. Our sides of baked potato were piled high with cheddar cheese, sour cream and bacon bits – caloric but delicious! The house salad came with an excellent blue cheese dressing, replete with big chunks of blue cheese. Desert: An out-of-this world strawberry cheesecake we both shared. Truly fabulous. The total bill before tips didn’t break the bank: $76.00, including beer and Sangria. (Alice Shane, author BAD DAD, a...

Our server (Rubens) was a fantastic server and was so chill and diligent about checking in on us. Not a stereotypically bubbly server and I super appreciated his chill vibes , always saying "yes, of course" when we ordered something. And he was always there when we needed him, anticipating our needs.

Have you ever tried to catch a server's attention via eye contact or a small hand wave and they haven't looked over and caught your eye contact/gesture and then you awkwardly wait for them to circle back through, and sometimes you still don't get their attention on the second try? Well that never happened with Rubens. He was excellent at proactively checking in, I think there were only 2 instances where we needed to get his attention and he noticed our eye contact right away and came over. He is excellent and I hope I get the chance to be seated in his section during a future visit.

The reason why this wasn't a 5 star experience was because the food quality was a little bit of a let down and not up to the standards I'm used to at Texas Roadhouse. The bacon cheese fries didn't have much cheese or bacon on them and my medium-rare steak was cooked medium-well or well done and was on the dry side. Usually there's steak juice on the plate after cutting in and that was definitely not the case with this visit. In retrospect I wish I had told Rubens I was a bit disappointed in the quality of food the kitchen made for us because I'm sure of given the opportunity he would have helped correct things.

But it was a pretty busy night and I'm not one to make a fuss. We were seated quickly but I know that just because there was a smooth and quick turnover of tables doesn't mean they are sufficiently staffed in the kitchen to uphold high standards for delicious and well made dishes. I don't know that I've ever sent back food except maybe once or twice with any undercooked steak. I will still go back, but next time I'll be mindful to speak up honestly if I'm a bit let down on the quality...