Ruth's Chris Steak House — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

We were given a gift card to this restaurant for our first wedding anniversary but were very disappointed. After being seated, we ordered a glass of champagne each.The drinks took 15 minutes to arrive and were brought out in individual screw top bottles. We then ordered the spicy shrimp for an appetizer. The shrimp themselves were okay but the sauce they were in was in no way spicy. It tasted almost exactly like the frozen orange chicken sauce packets from those large club warehouse stores. After the appetizer (we are about 45 minutes in at this point) the waitress brought bread to the table. While the bread was warm, it was again almost exactly (if not exactly) the same bread I saw earlier that day at the club warehouse store. But whatever, it's free table bread right? Ok so we're waiting for the main courses and it's been about an hour total since we arrived so we decide that hey, it's our anniversary why not have a second drink? So we each order a drink. We're still waiting for the main course and enjoying each other's company, about one quarter of the way through our drinks and the waitress comes over and tells me, "Wow it looks like your drink is just disappearing. Anyway, the food will be out soon." Personally, I don't think that having two drinks on your anniversary with a steak dinner is reason for the waitress to comment on our drinking. We weren't drunk or acting inappropriately. Anyway, let's move past our waitress judging our life choices and back to the food. For the main course my husband ordered the ribeye steak, I ordered the petite filet with shrimp, and we chose to get the lobster mac and cheese as wells as the garlic mashed potatoes for the table to share. First of all, it is advertised on the menu that they use only corn-fed beef. Cows do not eat grains like corn in nature. Cows eat grasses and similar foliage. Corn is used to cause cows to gain weight quickly on factory farms and because it is one of the cheapest grains available. So advertising only corn-fed beef is like a big glowing sign that says, "We only use factory farm beef and that's probably why our steak is terrible." Oh, I almost forgot another thing our waitress felt the need to tell me. I was wearing a black dress (as per dress code). Before the steaks come out she tells me, "You should really cover your cleavage when the steaks come out otherwise you're going to get oil all over them." First of all, please don't mention my breasts to me while you're serving me dinner. Second, my cleavage was not anything crazy at all. It wasn't even a strapless dress. There were many women with similar or more revealing dresses on. So does she tell them all to cover up too? Okay back to the food. Okay so we ordered our steaks medium rare. Medium rare means an internal temperature of 130 F with a warm red center. This restaurant has a thing where your steak comes out on a 500 F plate for some unknowable reason. I guess you're supposed to cook it yourself on the plate or something? The steaks come out and we know about the Surface of the Sun plates thing so we give them a minute and try the sides. The lobster mac and cheese was the best part of the meal and honestly kinda disappointing. It was a basic mac and cheese with some overcooked lobster thrown in. The garlic mashed potatoes were super bland with the barest hint of garlic. We used the tabletop salt and pepper on both sides for some minor improvements. Edible, but not $$$$ steakhouse quality. Back to the steaks. Or should I saw cows? These things were not only still mooing, but they were still fighting for their sad corn-fed existence. I'm not talking blue rare, I'm talking straight out of the fridge still cold raw. We're sitting there cutting our steaks into tiny chunks trying to roll them around on the rapidly cooling plate in order to get some level of doneness out of them. By this point, we just want to go home. We --unlike the cows-- have given up. Unfortunately Ruth's Chris wasn't done with us and our tracts suffered the next day. Nothing like raw beef to get the old tract...

Ruth’s Chris, Virginia Beach, has classic steak house hushed vibe having soft lighting, heavy cherry wood trim, substantial earth tone carpet and minimal background noise fulfilling fine dining ambience. Seated in comfortable chairs at a white clothed table our small party of three settled in for early evening dining on the recent Labor Day weekend enjoying food, drinks and conversation celebrating a birthday.

The birthday honoree, David, and I savored perfectly prepared (broiled not grilled) USDA Prime Cowboy Ribeye (bone-in). David’s wife, Stephanie, chose Filet Oscar, Filet also USDA Prime. Though she said the crab cake was a bit salty. RC’s steaks are USDA Prime but they are not dry aged. We shared flavorful, fresh, skillfully seared Ahi Tuna appetizer and Sin Cake (dense flourless chocolate cake) A La Mode and Crème Brûlée for dessert with Coffee. The Coffee was burnt and I replaced mine with Espresso which was fine. Sides we ordered were Mashed Potato, Baked Potato and Grilled Asparagus. Other drinks throughout dinner included Manhattan Cocktail, Ice Tea, Coca-Cola, Malbec and Kahlúa.

Service was outstanding as expected in fine dining. Our server, Marylin, is experienced, genuinely sincere and knowledgeable vis-a-vis menu items’ ingredients and preparation techniques. She anticipated our needs and met them. Hot dishes arrived at the table piping hot. Typical in fine dining restaurants heated plates are used insuring it which was the case here. RC also puts a dollop of high fat content butter on top of steaks when plating, on heated plates, that gives the sizzle illusion when served and spikes the rich flavor of a highly marbled ribeye for example. Noting that my Coffee was burnt and without hesitation Marylin replaced it with Espresso as requested. These are distinguishing service differences between casual dining and fine ding restaurants. Detail from furnishings and restaurant acoustic’s design to high quality fresh ingredients, expert preparation and artistic plating along with faultless service = 5 stars.

Oddly, the check included an 18% Service Charge which is not disclosed in the menu nor by signage nor was it voiced by Marylin. My experience is that service charges are sometimes assessed and demanded when serving large groups not for a table of three in $$$$ restaurant. Most restaurants have the sound judgement to disclose a fixed service charge, if there is one, to guests before taking food and drink orders.

It is RC ‘s right applying the 18% service charge. I think it was bad judgement not disclosing the service charge at the time we were seated and in poor taste not being transparent. I deducted 1 star from the 5 I assessed above.

PS: Before receiving the check my intention was to tip Marylin 20% of the total check amount which is standard for me when receiving high caliber of service. Marylin said the service charge on the check was surprising to her and she circled it on the check to bring it to my attention. I...

I planned my birthday dinner at Ruth Chris. I never ate there before so I thought this would be a good occasion. I called to make reservations 3 weeks prior to my birthday dinner. The host Savarna took my info (name number & email). I had a question about how many people can be in my party, she said the manager would call me back but my dinner reservation was booked. She did not inform me that I would receive a confirmation email, so I didn’t expect one. I just assumed my reservation was booked because she took my info. Days pass and I never receive a call back about the number of guest I could have, so I called back. Once again I was told that the manger would call me back. I never receive a call back. The day of my birthday, my party arrives (10 ladies dressed up & a huge cake) and the host tells me, they can’t find me in the system and that I have no reservation! And they are too booked to seat my party! I was completely livid and embarrassed! The manager Shawn Kelly was so unapologetic! He act as if I was crazy and never called Ruth Chris for a reservation! He also told me that, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen here and that they are pretty good with handling reservations! Haha that’s was him using his customer service skills! No one seem to care or fix the issue! I was turned away with no apology! It’s was awful! I just want to state, if I was made aware of receiving a conformation email; when I never received one I would of called back to make sure that’s everything was good to go! but no one told me about a conformation email, so I just thought my table was reserved. The next day, I reach out to my cell phone provider to research my call log to prove that I called Ruth Chris, for reservations! I found the two calls that I made! I reached out to the General manager Brian Penton. He was able to find me in they system! 2days laterrr (my birthday is gone now ha). Anyways, he apologized and said he would talk to Shawn Kelly. Nothing can really be resolved at this point, because what happen, happened & my birthday was ruin due to Ruth Chris incapability to book a reservation properly & to communicate, the process of steps of booking a reservation (conformation email).

Moving Forward 9/26/20 : After contacting corporate, I was emailed by the General manager. He apologize and granted me a $250 gift card. Thank you . I will change my rating to a 3 star, for the simple fact, it shouldn’t of happened and when I reached out to the GM he should of offered me something for my inconvenience. But I’m grateful...