Texas Roadhouse — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Today we went to celebrate the 26th birthday of one of our grandsons. He picked the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Greenwood, IN.

When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was, we were some of the few - I would say "only" but my wife says she noticed one or two others - people of color present. We had a small party of 8 people.

After waiting for some time, we were shown to a booth with a table attached, in a wing of the restaurant. I had just sat down and ordered our beverages when I looked down at the table. The attached photograph is what I saw.

Scratched into the table was the word, "Ni@@er." (letters changed to avoid censorship) I pointed this out to my wife, daughter and son-in-law. It took a few minutes to calm everyone down.

My wife, immediately rose to go and get a manager. Manager number 1 came over, looked at it and immediately went on the defense claiming, it must have just happened.

He must have realized the problem with his implication - WE did it - wouldn't fly because we hadn't ordered our food at that time, so we couldn't have been trying to get out of paying our bill. The only thing they had brought was the customary bread and ice water for all.

He immediately adjusted course once again, stating that he would wipe it off after we left. Yeah, right. Someone had taken a knife or some other implement and scratched the word into the wood.

He then left - I guess he thought he'd resolved the issue - and my wife went back and asked for the general manager. Manager number 2 came over. He stated he was NOT the general manager, he was a "floor manager." He looked at it and offered to move us to another table. Did I mention, the place was packed with people sitting outside waiting for a table?

At this point, we declined. My daughter told Manager number 2, Manager number 1 should have offered to do THAT right off the bat. I guess I don't need to say, our level of pissivity was rapidly rising. Keeping a lid on the looming eruption, my wife indicated, before going public with this - as I'm doing right now - she wanted to make certain she had notified ALL of the managers present. I stood to the side while she met with them.

Their solution was to give us some coupons for discounted meals on them. Really?!

ANALYSIS

My first job - 14 years old - was working as a busboy in a restaurant. When you bus a table, you wipe it down and dry it. You want to make sure all the grunge is gone and you want it dry so that the next patrons who sit there, won't get their clothes wet.

The MOST important thing about bussing a table is making certain the surface is perfectly clean. This means you LOOK at the table and check your handiwork. I have no idea how long that word was scratched into that table top. but I guarantee you, each time a "busboy" cleaned that table, he/she saw it. Did they report it? If so, why didn't the management do something about it then?

What are the odds? What are the odds one of the few Black families patronizing the restaurant that night, would be sat at a table with the word "Ni@@er" inscribed into it? Are there other tables in the restaurant with that word scratched into it? How long has that word been inscribed into that table?

DEI - This is why Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is so important. If they trained their people in DEI, then the FIRST time the table was bussed after that word had been carved into it, the busboy would have immediately reported it. Had they been trained in DEI, the manager to whom it was reported, would have either had that table repaired or replaced.

Frankly? As a person of color, I would be extremely concerned about eating ANYTHING coming from the kitchen of that restaurant. What might they be doing to my food before serving it?

I intend to contact the Texas Roadhouse corporation as well as our...

My family and I (10 people total) recently visited this Texas roadhouse on Southport Road to celebrate my grandson’s birthday. The service provided was absolutely horrific, after waiting 3 1/2 hours to be seated with no heat in the waiting room upfront and mind you it’s freezing outside we were seated at our table and it took them 37 minutes to come and take a drink order and we didn’t get any bread until our food came out as we watched all the tables around us being served hot bread. I ordered a bowl of chili. The first time it came out. It was so cold that the cheese was still solid and hard on top so I sent it back to be reheat it when I got the bowl back. It had green beans in it so once again I sent it back he brought out the bowl again and once again it has green beans in it and it’s cold. So I told him we’re gonna try it one more time so I sent it back and he took forever to bring it back out and then when he did he sent someone else to bring it out to me instead of our server and once again, it had green beans in it after waiting almost 20 minutes for our server to come back to our table to let him know that the bowl had green beans in it once again he apologizes and takes the ball away and I tell him that I don’t want another bowl because at that point my entire family had already finished their meal so needless to say I never even got to eat that night. And not one time did a manager ever come to our table to apologize for the incompetence of the kitchen staff or offer any type of discount on our bill. I am beyond disgusted with the behavior and treatment from this restaurant. We have been coming here for our family celebrations for many years now and I don’t know which changed in the past two years, but the service has been beyond disgusting. For a manager to see a plate of food come back to the kitchen over three times and not have the decency to come and apologize is beyond disgusting to me. It simply shows he doesn’t care at all. Oh, and also we told our server on three different occasions during our visit that we were there to celebrate my grandson‘s birthday. They never did come over to sing happy birthday to him which was very sad for him because he was so excited to get...

Had the single worst dining experience of my life here last night. The three hosts were struggling to seat people which was understandable given the late rush from a late release at the INDY 500. One of the hostesses kept checking her smart phone while the other two were busy trying to get names in and people seated. The display case of steaks would have been a nice touch, but it was filthy. We were seated at a table in the back where the staff had left a dust pan and broom in a perfectly usable booth, another staff member was taking her break at another table when people were still waiting to be seated. Ordered our food and one entree came correctly in a reasonable time, but the food I ordered got messed up in the system. I ordered a salad not a steak I explained. Our server was nice about it and took it back. Our blooming onion came after my friend finished his food. During that wait for my salad, the manager came to deliver the incorrect meal for a second time. He literally dropped the plate in front of me, the food of course was probably ice cold by that time, and I explained that wasn't what I ordered He said "what's wrong with it?" I told him, "well I ordered a salad not a steak". He took the plate and left. Our server came back to apologize and say that the salad would be another ten minutes. I realize it's a rush, but this was a solid 45 minutes or more after we ordered and technically the restaurant was closed by this time. When the salad arrived, it was almost inedible. The French dressing tasted like BBQ sauce and the chicken was inedibly salty. The server was nice enough to not charge us for the cold unseasoned blooming onion, but it was still probably the worst dining experience of my life. As we were leaving, the staff were blocking the only path cleaning up with a broom and didn't even bother saying "excuse me" when I asked to get by so I could go home. As we walked out I saw food literally all over the floor coming out of the kitchen. Sweet potato it...