Texas Roadhouse — Restaurant in Lafayette

I hate to do this to one of the top brands in restaurants, but this needs to be a learning moment.

We have to set the parameters first. It's 6:40pm, Saturday and a Purdue football game. They. Are. Busy. There's 4 of us and a 2 year old. We are walked to the booth and the first thing we notice is the light out above us. What's worse is that the employee says that it's been out for awhile. Don't they check that during corporate walkthroughs?

We ask to be moved to the booth across and we were. No issues there. A server came by and took our drink orders and we also ordered a cactus blossom. A handful of minutes go by and she hasn't come back and another table gets sat. Another server comes to greet our table and says she is our server. She appears to be overwhelmed as does the rest of the store. She explains that she is double sat and shouldn't have been. She takes our food order. I requested our child's food come first because it's now almost 7pm, but I also requested she go to the other table to get their order so they're not waiting for awhile.

At this point it's now 7:15pm and we get our drinks, but not our alcoholic beverages. The table that sat after us received a cactus blossom. I'm almost certain that was ours. Time continues to go by and we still haven't received our appetizer or alcoholic beverages. Our server comes back and says she'll take down our alcohol order to make sure we get the cocktails, and I said please I don't care when our food comes, but I wanted to make sure our son gets his meal before we do.

Out comes the salads. 3 salads hit the table for 4 people. Two salads had wrong dressings and I didn't receive mine. They finish their salads while I continue to wait. We still haven't received our cocktails yet. Our server returns to discover I haven't received the salad and we still haven't gotten the cocktails.

It's now 7:50pm and I get my salad, but they have the other 3 salads again. Something is completely messed up. I finish my salad. No cocktails. We've asked for them 4 times now.

It's after 8pm. No food. We ask for the child's meal. Out it comes looking like they microwaved it. The noodles are rock hard and it is extremely hot while the cheese is burnt around the edges of the bowl. Still no cocktails. It's now time to speak to management. After an exchange of words with the manager on duty, she comes back with a comped meal ticket. We ask for the entrees to be boxed to go as it's now 8:10pm. The entrees come out on plates and we just asked for boxes.

As a former partner, I'm embarrassed for the experience as well as for the team on that shift. The light out clearly indicates management doesn't do walkthroughs to ensure all parts of the operation are functioning properly. We loved our server, but she needs more training on steps of service and menu knowledge. They looked short staffed and although there appeared to be urgency, everyone was running around like there was no structure.

I know The Roadies are better than this and I know they'll overcome it, but this had to be brought to light. Normally, it's a five star. I didn't hate it, so it's not a 1, but tonight it's 2 star at...

EDIT 07/2025

I AM COMING BACK HERE A YEAR LATER TO CHANGE MY 5 STAR REVIEW TO A 1 STAR

———— Worst experience I have ever had at any restaurant period. As my previous review noted we are regular customers of this Texas Roadhouse but it will be quite a while till we come back.

I’ll start from the moment we walked in. The host greeted us, he recognizes us regularly. He seated us. After being seated we waited nearly 20 MINUTES TILL WE SAW A WAITRESS! That’s right from the hostess there was no interaction with the waitress until I flagged the manager down and she wrote or drink order down. Once the waitress brought our drinks, we ordered CHICKEN SALADS. Waited an additional 45 minutes for our SALADS! When they finally arrived 2/3 were RAW! When we told the manager again she had an attitude with us the whole time. We were given a refund for the 2 that were raw but we were left having to go find more food somewhere else after nearly 2 hrs at Texas. I’m still not satisfied with how this turned out. I reached out to Texas corporate and they said they would be contacting me directly and I e yet to receive a follow up. I would appreciate a follow up

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We have been here six times since we moved to the Lafayette area in May (that's how good it is). The service is out of this world! One they open the doors (even if it is right at opening time) you are always met with a smiling face and a warm welcome. The wait staff that we have had at all our visits are exceptional - very caring, patient, and attentive. Most importantly, this is a place that our daughter feels comfortable, she has autism and the atmosphere here is one that she feels perfectly fine in, which is a blessing!

For the food, I have had three different items : Road Kill, Herb Crusted Chicken, and 6 oz Steak - all were superb!! For the sides my husband and I typically choose the loaded baked potato. The potato's have always been my favorite at Texas but at this location they fix them right! Our appetizer is always the classic Cactus Blossom - cooked to perfection every time!! Much better than their competitors! French Fries are my daughters favorite they fix them nice and crispy like she likes them. Both my husband and I's steaks at our last visit were cooked exactly how we like them.

Well done, Texas! I want to applaud the staff, especially the managers here, for such a well-oiled machine. The hard work...

First, let me say I am completely disappointed with this place!! I went with a party of 8 and a 3 year old! We had a reservation and were sat at the appointed time. That was the only positive thing about tonight!!!!! We placed our drinks order along with appetizers, and we ordered our 3 year Olds meal at that time so it would come before or with the appetizers so that she wouldn't be hungry( anyone with children will understand why), our drinks came within 20 minutes then appetizers at 30 min from arrival, but our child's meal still had not come yet. After 50 minutes we had not yet recieved our meals nor our child's meal!!!!! This is completely unacceptable!!! After being there for an hour we asked if we could possibly get some rolls that your supposed to get when you sit down!!! And also asked for the manager! He finally came over to our table and he did not help at all. He tried talking over all 8 of us anytime we tried to bring some thing to his attention and was very loud and rude!!! We told him that our daughter still did not have her meal and he said well ill see what I can do! 15 min later , so a total of 75 min later, our daughter finally got her COLD chicken tenders!!! Yes, they were cold!!! We finally got our meals After that and none of our meals were hot!! We ordered a variety of meals. I ordered the steak and BBQ chicken with rice and Mac and cheese. All of which were room temperature or cold!! The others got catfish and another got smothered chicken and another got a porterhouse steak all with sides !!!!!!! I once again told the manager that all our meals are cold and he did absolutely nothing about it. At this point we were there for over 2 hours!! I am disgusted with your establishment!! We spent hundreds of dollars, and the manager did NOTHING to compensate our horrible experience except to say( a total slap in the face) if I'm standing here taking to you nothing will get to your table! Wow!!!!! Just wow!!!!! When a manager comes to your table and just says what's up and what do you want then there is a problem!!! I would love for a cooperate office to get in touch with me because this is...