Ruth's Chris Steak House — Restaurant in Mishawaka

We dine at Ruth's Chris every year for our anniversary. Typically we visit the Grand Rapids location, but this year we decided to give South Bend a try. We brought our in laws who have never been. The service was sub-par, at best, which was especially disappointing considering the standard of service we're used to from RC. It took over ten minutes to get our drinks- a bottle of wine and two old fashions. My husband ordered the chopped salad and asked for no crispy onions as he has a shellfish allergy and can't risk cross contamination with fryers/oil. He confirmed the croutons on the salad were baked, not fried. I ordered the steakhouse salad. To our surprise, two chopped salads, both with crispy onions came to the table. We told the food runner that wasn't what we ordered, he looked confused when he took the plates and left. Eventually he came back with the correct salads. Our server never even acknowledged or apologized for the mixup. When food arrived, it had to sit on the tray for a minute or two while our server walked away with dishes because our table hadn't yet been cleared from our salads. My husband ordered the bone in filet, I got the classic filet, our in laws got the filet and NY strip. We also shared the au gratins and asparagus. My husband's steak was crispy and almost charred on the outside, mine was cooked fine, temperature-wise, but lacked flavor. All steaks seemed to lack the normal flavor we're used to. Additionally, the shareable sides are much smaller than what I remember. The asparagus was kind of mushy. It took a long time to get drinks throughout our meal, and even longer to get our check. When our check finally came, I was surprised to see we were still charged for the salads, even though we got the wrong one and had to wait ten minutes to have that corrected- with no apology. We waited another ten minutes before my husband finally went to the bar to hand his card and bill to our server who was chatting with another server. The server tried to take the book with our card tab and said "have a great night". My husband told her she hadn't ran our card yet- she laughed and said "oh I thought I did". She then walked away and ran the card. When leaving, we noticed our server behind the bar, chatting and laughing with the same person as before, and drinking wine-- which looked extremely unprofessional. Overall, we're extremely disappointed in the lack of service. We know this is NOT the standard for Ruth's Chris, which makes a $600 dinner bill especially hard to stomach. We likely will not return to...

You know you’ve stumbled into a different universe when a \$50 gift card feels like a live grenade in your wallet. That was us, walking into Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse dressed like we were about to order the Triple Chocolate Molten Lava Cake special at Chili’s—only to find ourselves surrounded by tuxedoed titans and cocktail-clutching aristocrats who clearly subscribe to “Dress for the steak you want, not the steak you have.”

But from the moment we shuffled in—no reservation, just two schlubby anniversary victims clutching our voucher—the staff greeted us like long-lost royals. “Table for two? Right this way.” And right this way we went, past the chandelier so bright it could power a small city, into a world where tap water is actually fine, thank you very much.

Scanning the menu felt like reading a Bitcoin prospectus. Steaks: starting at \

125. Sides: a mere \\

When the steak arrived, our waiter—who, I swear, looked like he’d been handpicked from the NBA draft for height and grace—offered the pièce de résistance in towering slices: the New York strip and the filet mignon, still sizzling with enough heat to toast marshmallows at a safe distance. He arranged them on our plates as if composing edible sculptures, then stepped back, letting the steaks radiate their proud, meaty warmth across the table.

One bite—and holy mother of beef—our entire concept of meat was rewritten. The flavor was so transcendent it made our sides (we’re looking at you, truffle mac ‘n’ cheese) feel like mere footnotes in a carnivore epic. “Who needs vegetables,” I murmured, “when you can have this beef?”

Yes, we paid roughly a small car payment for two people to eat protein, potatoes, and maybe dignity. Did it feel worth it? Absolutely. Would I sell a kidney to go again? Let’s just say I’ll be Googling “how to monetize my spleen” as we speak.

Next time, though, we’re coming prepared: tuxedo for me, evening gown for her, and perhaps a small loan for the sides. Because once you’ve tasted steak that good, you learn two things: one, life is short—and two, you only live once… so you damned well better live it...

My husband and I dined last night. It was our first time ever at Ruth's Chris and we had a reservation at 6:45. We were there for a date night. I want to expound on the good first. The food and drinks were amazing! Everything we had was delicious. Our server, Jaclyn, was wonderful and turned our initially negative impression into a very positive evening.

When we first arrived we were told it would be a few minutes until we were seated. No problem at all, we were there a few minutes before our reservation time. The host and hostess were discussing whether to seat us in the booth or wait a couple minutes to see if a birthday reservation shows up. Again, no problem, we really don't need the booth, we are happy with a table but appreciate the thought. I do want to point out that the table we were to be sitting at had been ready since before we arrived. The birthday reservation shows up so that solidifies the seating arrangement. Again, no problem because we are more than happy with the table we are getting. Here is the frustrating part, the birthday reservation walks in and gets seated immediately. Even though we've been waiting. After waiting a couple more minutes we get seated at our table. Why wouldn't we be seated first when we've been waiting and our table has been ready? We let our waitress know about the situation and how it really rubbed us the wrong way. She was apologetic and advised that she would get the manager. The manager comes over and proceeds to get in an argument with my husband about the entire situation. Even the table next to us commented on how they would have felt put out. The manager was already defensive when she came over and we tried to explain the situation to her multiple times but she just could not understand our concern. We explained we didn't want anything for free, we just wanted to make her aware of the situation but her countenance was extremely negative. Toward the end of the conversation, after my husband had given up trying to explain why the situation was upsetting, she did end up saying that the ball was dropped and comped our drinks. We appreciated the gesture but that wasn't what we wanted. Hopefully this review will shed some light on the situation and they will do better...