Photo by Lisa Petty
Audio By Carbonatix
At 6 p.m. on a recent Saturday night, we added our name to the list at a Garland-area Texas Roadhouse, thinking it might not be as busy as other steak restaurants, only to learn we’d have a 55- to 65-minute wait.
Curiously, at least half of our fellow diners-in-waiting lingered just outside the restaurant, shuffling their feet or calming babies in strollers. Why? The confirmation text you receive when joining the wait list at Texas Roadhouse reads: “Please remain close to the building and keep your phone nearby. We will text you to bring your party inside shortly.”
Many people seem to take this statement literally. Inside, there was bench seating near the host stand and a few stools at the bar. We ignored the text in favor of air conditioning and (hopefully) a drink.
After confirming with the host that we could, indeed, wait at the bar without being banished as rule-breakers, we headed that way. Finding only single seats, we were delighted when a diner, unprompted, offered to move down a seat so that our party of two could sit together. We then ordered two drinks ($7 beer, $9.50 wine) as we marveled in cityfied cynicism, both at our neighbor’s kindness and the generous volume of the pours.
Let us eat steak
As the saying goes, they’re not from Texas, but they got here as fast as they could. The first Texas Roadhouse restaurant opened in the early ’90s in Indiana; the chain expanded to Texas in 1997 with our state’s first location in Grand Prairie. Today, the company operates over 800 restaurants worldwide and is the largest-grossing restaurant chain in the U.S. by sales.
This fact was noted in a recent Wall Street Journal feature, which also highlighted CEO Jerry Morgan’s commitment to pinching pennies to keep the restaurant’s signature steak dinners as affordable as possible. This affordability, coupled with a super-family-friendly atmosphere and many people-pleasing perks (more on those later), adds up to overflowing dining rooms many nights of the week.
A new Texas Roadhouse outpost is opening just west of Dallas on the way to AT&T Stadium — we mean Dallas Stadium — bringing our North Texas total to 18. The coming throngs of FIFA World Cup fans will surely take note. With our state’s reputation — or at least our steaks — on the line, we felt it was high time for a Roadhouse revisit.
Bless this mess
Atmosphere-wise, it’s loud and full, with every flat surface covered in stuff. There’s stuff to munch on: free rolls and free peanuts with pails for the shells. There’s stuff to play with: tabletop video consoles with app-style games. And, of course, there’s stuff to order: overstuffed caddies hold laminated cards promoting new drink and food offerings.
It feels like visiting your friend’s big, messy, happy house: all crumbs and toys and kids hopped up on sugar soda.
Our waiter, Aaron, was little more than a kid himself. He greeted us promptly once we were seated – sidestepping a toddler with zoomies – and he knew the menu inside and out. We liked him a lot.
Okay, so how’s the food? Really?
Meat takes center stage here, from the market-style display by the host stand to an on-site “meat cutter” at every location. According to a company PR rep, the best-selling steak at Texas Roadhouse is the 6-ounce sirloin.
The representative pointed us to the company’s Sustainability Report in response to our questions on sourcing. It details that the beef comes almost entirely from U.S. and Canada-based suppliers that “adhere to North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) animal handling standards.”
For our dinner, we considered the Dallas filet, New York strip, or even the Porterhouse. We asked our hostess for a recommendation, and she professed her devotion to the prime rib. Aaron said he actually likes the Fall-Off-The-Bone Ribs the best.
Eventually, we settled on a 12-ounce Fort Worth ribeye ($24.99) and grilled salmon ($16.99). The latter is “harvested responsibly,” as well as “antibiotic-free, fed an all-natural diet, and given sufficient swimming space.”
Topped with cheese and bacon for $1.29? Yes, please
Most entrees come with two sides, and choices include (but are not limited to) baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green beans, and corn, any of which can be ordered “loaded” with cheese and bacon for an additional $1.29. That means you can get a loaded baked potato, of course, which we did, and we also opted to load our mac and cheese. Because, why not?
The food arrived promptly, and we were encouraged to cut into the steak to confirm it was cooked to our liking. It was, and delicious to boot. Rosy medium, per our request, that ribeye was juicy, flavorful and well-seasoned. Paired with the aforementioned baked potato, it was the definition of a “good steak dinner.”
The salmon, likewise, was cooked with skill – not a dry flake to be found. No need for a swim in the little ramekin of tartar sauce served on the side.
Beef steak prices hit an all-time high last week, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up 70% (70!!) since January 2020. In mid-May, Kroger has boneless Nolan Ryan ribeye steaks for $19.10 each. How does that compete, even for a Hall of Famer, when for a few bucks more, you can get a perfectly cooked steak, two sides and more schtick than you can shake a stick at for 25 bucks. Plus those free bread rolls and butter? Even with an hour wait, not a chance. Meat us at Texas Roadhouse any day.
