Texas Roadhouse — Restaurant in Oceanside

I've never been to Texas Roadhouse. I have moved largely away from chain restaurants for a number of reasons.

Today I was reminded why.

The four of us came to this location around 4:45 pm on a Friday. I kept checking the Wait List on their mobile app and it just said "0 to 10 min" so I assumed the place was dead.

When we entered, it was like we stepped through a portal and landed right in Dallas, TX. Loud, busy, dark even though there were loads of bright lights. It was wild. I'm surprised no one was riding a bull and I half-expected a bar fight to break out just like in the movies.

There were a number of people waiting, but I used the Wait List feature on the app so we got seated pretty quickly. We got seated in one of the last empty sections in the "main" dining room (there are other dining rooms, out of sight, I presume). The booth was kind of small. Luckily we're not big people but still it was tight. They had many two-person booths too which is cool. I've always preferred booth seating to open-air dining where people can stare at you from all sides.

I started perusing the menu. After five seconds, our server appears wanting to take our drink order. I haven't even looked at the drink menu yet. She said she'll get some waters first. Shortly she appears with our waters ready to take our drink order. I still haven't looked at the drink menu because there is only ONE menu and we have three adults who want a cocktail. There were also no prices on the drink menu. Odd.

I ordered a $5 LIT (Long Island Ice Tea) just for her to go away so I can look at the food menu now. After five minutes, she's ready to take our food order. I'm still looking at appetizers. I mentioned I registered for their VIP Club and got a free appetizer email. We got the $14.99 ribs for the appetizer.

We all ordered our food and the food arrived very quickly as well as another basket of bread...which was pretty good but not the crack people keep talking about.

I got the 16oz NY Strip. Wife got the 16oz Prime Rib. Daughter got the pulled pork sammich and gramma got the chicken fried steak.

My steak looked great. Grill marks, thick. Temperature was good, not perfect (got med rare). The prime rib looked weird. See the pics. It was also med rare but maybe we needed to cook it longer. Wife did not like the "au jus" that came with it. My steak tasted like charcoal...most likely char from the grill and the countless steaks cooked on it before. My baked potato was the smallest potato I've ever seen in a restaurant lol. It was cute but damn potatoes are cheap. Why not give me a big fat potato?

One of my sides was the chili, which was EXCELLENT. Really tasty and I upgraded to the bowl for just $0.99, instead of the cup. The bowl they gave me was HUGE.

I ordered another drink but our server looked at me kind of funny. I wasn't sure why until I realized: they want us out! They want to seat the next customer and as I got my drink she asked if we wanted boxes. I seriously had just two bites of my steak.

We chugged our drinks, boxed our food, hit the bathroom (which was packed with wet floors...eww), paid to only realize she "forgot" to comp the ribs appetizer (remember I had a free appetizer for my bday), so she had to go correct it. Nowadays I always double-check the receipt because mistakes seem to happen more regularly.

So long story short: our experience here was not great. I feel like it could have been great...on a different day. Friday is a busy day and they want to churn-and-burn and I get it. Still my experience is a 3-star experience. Five star looks different. It's more calm and maybe I want three drinks?

Notes:

There is NO happy hour. They have an "Early Dine" menu for $14.99 (no drinks) featuring 11 discounted entrees. For drinks, the $5 Long Island is always on the menu. Use the Wait List feature. Get the "Kicker" for $3 more. You can pre-select your steak at the front. Bread service appears to be unlimited. Check...

First-time customer! Sadly, I was an Outback steak girl, but they closed the restaurant close to us. Everyone was telling me that over the years, you should go to Texas Roadhouse (TR). But since it was my birthday and it was a steak house, I thought I would try it. They did have one of my favorite appetizers ---Fried Pickles. Don't ewwww me! The crincht outside with salty dill inside and ranch to dip in. Heavenly! I ordered the NY strip(large because I wasn't paying for it) sides salad and everything mashed taters. Salad crispy and crunchy, with carrots, tomatoes, croutons, and more ranch! Steak perfectly med rare. Superb. I was almost afraid to cut it, but I had a job to do. And boy did I. My hubby kept stealing my taters, so I kept twisting my plate further and further away from him. I made it seam like it was a better angle to cut my steak. But it worked. Remember that to all of you who have gotten your plates picked! Then, at the end of the meal, they pushed over a saddle mounted on a rocking horse and put a white dangley cowboy on me, and asked if I wanted to ride. I know my kids were up to something because every time someone even looked our way or brought something to the table, they all said, "It's her birthday." So I said absolutely, then my kids were concerned. "Are you sure?" "You might get hurt, " "Maybe just sit on it," but i usually do what they least expect!!! Then they were taking pictures, and the whole place was singing Happy Birthday (well, maybe not the ones outside waiting for a table). There are pictures. My daughter could have warned me not to wear a dress if I was going to do a ride, but fortunately, it was a long dress, so only the lower parts of my leg showed. I was more concerned with how many heads that hat had been on. But it looked very clean, and the waiter put it on and took it off, so I guess human contact was minimal. But everyone had a great time, had great food and looking for the next big occasions some can go there again. Fantastic servers at bar and tables. The empty tables were quickly cleared for the next guests. I would highly recommend TR. In fact, I am getting hungry just writing this. Might have to pick a fight with the hubby, and we can make up by...

We ordered our meal and things came out in a quick manner, except the kitchen blew both entrees. My wife ordered a rare steak, she cut into it and it was a very firm medium. We call a server to get this corrected and I went on to my chicken fried steak. Well I gave the first bite to my wife and she said she loved the chicken, but I didn’t order chicken. I had ordered steak. Now the whole meal is stopped while I try to get anyone’s attention. The female manager finally walked by our table and I had to call out to her to get her attention. She was definitely not checking on your guests or doing any table checks. I showed here my meal and said I had ordered the steak, she smiled and said “that’s chicken, let me take care of that. And we are working on that new steak for you”, she said to my wife. At least she was aware of our first meal mishap. Shortly after that this female manager shows up with my wife’s new steak and my chicken fried steak. Deb cut into it and it was perfect. Now let’s eat. Manager leaves. I go to cut into my steak and it’s burnt to a crisp. It actually crumbles when I try to cut it. Completely black on the inside, no resemblance of meat, just burnt carbon. (I’m in this business) This punk cook knew exactly what they were serving because they plated it and smothered it with gravy so it wasn’t visible. Of course, this Manage of Duty served me this piece of garbage with a big smile on her face and never came back to our table. I had someone find our server again. Our server was put in a horrible position because of her under trained manager, a new expo and a incompetent BOH staff. She had to ask to get the bill adjusted since the manage did zero follow ups with us after 3 entree screw ups. ...