Texas Roadhouse — Restaurant in Rialto

I went to Texas Roadhouse w/my parents. Finding parking was a bit of a pain. It was my 1st time eating there. My mom had messaged ahead to be put on the seating wait list, even then we still had about a 45 minute wait. While u wait, they give u a bag of peanuts in the shell to crack open & munch on. I don't like peanuts so I just sat on the outdoor bench & waited. Once inside, we were seated & a basket of warm rolls w/ a side for cinnamon honey butter was set in front of us. But, we couldn't eat them. Our table had no utensils so had no knives to spread butter on the dinner rolls or appetizer plates to place our rolls. Our waiter had already gotten our drink orders & it would be several minutes before he returned. We just sat around perusing the menu until he got back w/our drinks. My dad let him know we didn't have utensils or the little plates. Our server apologized profusely, & quickly went to get those items. Of course the rolls were already cold by the time we got the knives & forks, but he had returned w/a basket of warm rolls.😊 As far as the food, it was ok. I got one of the Texas Roadhouse Combo Meals which consisted of a 6oz sirloin steak & bbq chicken breast plus 2 sides, for the sides I chose the House salad w/ranch dressing & steak fries for $25.99. For the House salad, the server does inform u that it does come w/ egg (crumbled hard boiled egg) & diced tomatoes, just in case u don't want them on your salad. I've got a couple of minor complaints. 1. My steak was a bit over cooked, instead of medium-rare like I ordered it was more medium. 2. I was hoping the bbq sauce would be a bit caramelized on the chicken like in the photo on the menu, but I got grilled chicken breast drowning in bbq sauce. It seemed to me the bbq sauce was dumped onto the chicken at the last minute. (Sorry guys, I forgot to take photos of the food. I've been away from doing reviews for a while.) Ok, moving on to my mom's meal, she got one of the other Texas Roadhouse Combo Meals. Her meal consisted of 6 oz sirloin steak & grilled shrimp w/ 2 sides, for her sides she chose a Caesar salad & baked potato for $23.99. Now, she asked for her steak to be cooked medium, but it was undercooked to medium-rare. I honestly think, they mixed up mine & my mom's steaks, especially since they were both 6 oz sirloins. We couldn't trade them because my mom is a slow eater & she saved her steak for last. She only ate one of her grilled shrimp because she said they were dry, kinda cold & fishy tasting. She also stated that the shrimp she got didn't look like the photo on the menu because the menu seems to show them in some kind of sauce/butter. My mom gave the shrimp to my dad & he gave her they equivalent of a couple of ribs. Like I just mentioned, my dad got a full slab of ribs w/a House salad w/Thousand Island dressing & a sweet potato (yam) w/butter & cinnamon for $25.99. He enjoyed everything, but had a minor complaint about not being able to section the ribs into an individual rib to eat because the bone would just pull away. He just ended up tearing up the meat & making little sandwiches w/a couple of the rolls. I guess, when they say "fall-off-the-bone-ribs", they literally mean it.😄(Just a side note, I'm not sure if the prices I listed are current because I don't know if their website has been recently updated.) About the atmosphere, it's LOUD! So, if u are seeking an intimate night out, do not go here. It is very noisy. We could barely hear our waiter, let alone each other just across the table. U might be able to make out faint strands of country music playing in the background, but good luck figuring out what song is playing. The place itself has a bit of a barn look w/ a lot of dark wood & booth seating at least where we were. Some country memorabilia here & there. I can at least say I've been there, but I don't think I'll...

I don't like leaving bad reviews, but I do believe they're just as necessary as the good reviews.

It was nearly a 2 hr wait to get seated. I wouldn't have minded the wait at all had the meal, service, and overall experience been worth it... It's obvious by my wording thus far that it wasn't.

In placing our order, all of us ordered 8 oz sirloin 's with grilled shrimp all around; 1 med rare, 2 med; with our sides being baked potatoes and salads with the dressing on the side... simple enough order for such a busy night (or so I thought?!)

I had originally chalked up our poor service to the late hour (not really our fault because it took 2 hours to get seated) and because of how overcrowded the place was, but it was more than that because courtesy was severely lacking in abundance. I believe there is a disconnect from the staff with customers because of how loud an environment it is, which makes it difficult to properly connect with each other.

Well, even simple was messed up. We got two 8 oz & one 6 oz that was cooked "well done." Only one of the salads had dressing on the side & the other was so drenched in dressing that there was barely any shape or form left to the lettuce... it was soup-y like salad. The other salad with the dressing on the side had browning lettuce (meaning it was old/not fresh) which was probably the reason the other salad was drenched in dressing to hide the fact of serving/using old lettuce.

We were not a fan of their cinnamon butter that is served with complimentary dinner rolls, so we just requested regular butter instead (not a big deal, really) but I mention it in case you do ever dine here you know they put a LOT of cinnamon in their butter... which, in my personal opinion, does not go well/blend in with a steak & shrimp dinner in any way... I mean, it is a steak house... and I don't think I want the taste of cinnamon with my steak by default (again, just my personal perspective here... sorry!)

The taste of the steaks were quite bland (maybe because it was cooked well done, I'm not sure) but for spending @$120 for a meal of 3 people, one would naturally expect the food to have a reasonably good taste... strike 5!?... also the baked potatoes were very dry and bland tasting as well.

Side note: I love country music & love it even more when it's playing loudly; however, when you're trying to have a nice dinner experience and then have to try raising your voice above the music to have any decent dinner conversation or speak with the servers , it's huge obstacle to have to overcome.

By the end of the whole experience, we were just glad for the peace & quiet of exiting the building. I recommend to the staff to lower it just a smidgen, at least so we can hear one another a little better.

Sadly, I highly regret bringing my mother here for Mother's Day. We dine out a lot, so when I say nearly everything about this place was poor, I'm talking about from the beginning to the end and everything in between. I presumed that because we had seen this restaurant so packed, it must have meant it was a great place to eat... boy, was I wrong... and we plan on never returning.

I hope this review was helpful to someone... if anything, you could at least know not to bring anyone here that you're looking to have any meaningful memories or moments with. The place is truly lacking in many necessary fundamental restaurant etiquette & service and the taste of the food is not...

My first visit to this location; I love the chain from my days back in the Midwest and southwest but I recognize not every location meets the same high expectations. Google Maps said it was going to be busy and the wait could be up to 2 hours but I walked in and asked anyhow. The young man at the register said 40-50 minutes and we decided we would take the wait. Like many places nowadays, they take your phone number to let you know when your table is ready. 60 minutes later with no notification I went up to ask where we stood in the queue and the young lady told me probably another 8 minutes.

The notification finally came through and she then asked us to stand by the meat counter. We were alone there for a couple minutes but then surprisingly they took another five groups to their tables while we waited. I went back to ask the cashier who apparently didn’t remember talking to me 5 minutes earlier but assured me we would be next and after two more groups were taken to their table, eventually we were next.

For as impersonal and indifferent as the cashier ladies were, our waitress on the other hand showed real interest in our group and demonstrated her goal of making our evening pleasurable.

Of course we ordered the cactus blossom appetizer. Long after I had left the southwest and moved out to the west coast I had fond memories of this deep fried onion blossom. Pity that the memory was so much better than our reality tonight. The blossom looked perfect upon delivery but the taste was okay and it did not come apart easily as the blossoms of memory had. The leaves would not come loose and I ended up having to use a knife to get them loose, causing the breading to fall off, the slippery onion to slide around and spoil the entire experience.

The buns as always were a fluffy delight and with the honey butter, really work up your pallet for the steak you know is coming. Steak medium well for me, steak medium rare for my wife, a full slab of ribs for her son. We all love the grilled shrimp add-ons and the loaded mashed potatoes.

This location gets a 4 due to the exceptional waitress attitude, the high quality steak and fixins, overall speed of delivery after order, energy and enthusiasm of the crew (as demonstrated by their t-shirt motto “I love my job”) and the only detracting aspects of the visit are the long wait, impersonal greeters and unusually difficult-to-eat cactus blossom. Yes I would recommend this place to friends and may even return myself...