Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday

I don’t expect my McMuffin to be served on fine china nor do I expect the metal dispenser next to the self-serve fountain drink station be stocked with white, linen napkins. When I place my meal order via a clown’s mouth, I expect to pay a fair price and get a level of service comparable to the paper-wrapped food I’ll be consuming. When I’m dining at a place with valet parking where reservations are necessary and screaming children unlikely, I expect a higher level of service.

I expect to get my money’s worth.

Dinners at places like 801 Franklin or Tallula are usually planned. Dinners at places like Ruby Tuesday or Longhorn or any number of mid-priced, chain restaurants are more spur-of-the-moment choices. I’ll choose them when I want something a little nicer than fast food but a little faster and less expensive than fine dining. While I don’t expect a memorable repast of culinary delights, I do expect a decent meal at a fair price and, because it’s a chain, consistency from store to store. With that standard of expectation, my fellow and I decided to stop by the Madison, AL Ruby Tuesday on Highway 72 for a quick meal before going grocery shopping.

The Ruby Tuesday website states, “Ruby Tuesday is driven by uncompromising freshness and quality, gracious hospitality and a growing list of Five-Star restaurants destined to be the envy of the casual dining business.”

In their Mission Statement, they claim their mission as quality, passion, and pride. They talk about all three but the following passage stood out to me: “Passion is people. People who love what they do and take your enjoyment personally. Passion is what to expect from the people who take your order, the people who craft your meal (and peek out from the kitchen to see your delight) and the people who are designing our comfortable, stylish Five-Star restaurants that are destinations in themselves. Everyone you meet here is happy you've come, and they're genuinely dedicated to having you visit with us frequently.”

I’ll describe our experience and let you be the judge as to whether or not they’re accomplishing their mission.

I’ll admit I’m in a rut when it comes to ordering at Ruby Tuesday. I’m watching my weight and I’ve found a meal that satisfies me and is reasonably healthy. I usually order the petite sirloin, baked potato, and steamed broccoli. A trip to the salad bar starts my meal. Several months ago, I discovered a wine on their limited but decent list and it’s become a favorite both when eating at Ruby Tuesday and at home. The Greg Norman Shiraz goes nicely with the meal and it’s offered at a fair price per glass. My companion ordered the hot buffalo tenders, a glass of unsweetened tea, and the salad bar.

I placed my order, requesting my steak be prepared medium rare, the butter and sour cream for my potato “on the side,” and I verified that the broccoli was simply steamed, not cooked in butter. I asked for a glass of water and requested that my wine be brought with my meal. My fellow’s only special request was for extra blue cheese dressing.

I’ve seen rants on other blogs about customers who special order everything and if the restaurant is extremely busy, I’ll order something simple with minimal or no modifications. Other than that, I’ll admit, I’m picky. The food is, hopefully, prepared when ordered and, even in a casual dining restaurant, I believe I should be able to ask for something to be served on the side or without butter. If it’s not possible, the server can tell me and I’ll order something else. If you think the above is picky, you should witness me ordering a martini. If I’m not able to customize my meal a little bit, I might as well be ordering from a vending machine.

We visited the salad bar and were surprised that the quality and variety seemed somewhat lacking. It wasn’t horrible but it also wasn’t what we’d come to expect from Ruby Tuesday. After we returned to our table, the server came over to let me know that the wine I’d requested was not available. I was a bit disappointed but knew they carried another decent red, the Robert Mondavi Cabernet, so I ordered it. Our meals arrived and, with them, word that the Mondavi wine was also not available. Since her order station was nearby, I asked if I could just walk over there with her, see what was available and make my choice. She agreed and we went to the touch screen. I wasn’t familiar with any of the other wines, so I just chose from the available red wines. I returned to the table.

I found my steak swimming in a sea of butter. I quickly pushed it to the edge of my plate. I’m beginning to accept that many restaurants ladle butter on their steaks without any mention of it on their menu. I don’t like it but I’m beginning to understand that I’m not going to change it, either. What I don’t understand is how a server can listen to a patron order their food with no butter or butter on the side and not mention that the other part of their meal will come doused in it. If your customer seems to be avoiding high fat or calorie foods, you may want to mention the ½ cup of butter that’s poured on the steak and offer to have it prepared minus the butter.

When the server returned to let me know that the bar staff had to go out back to get the wine (this confused me), I asked for a separate plate. Mr. Consumer ran out of tea during the wine dance and our server never seemed to notice. He did not receive his extra dressing until he asked, twice, for it. After moving my steak to a plate without a pool of butter, I cut into it. While it was medium rare, it didn’t resemble any sirloin I’d ever seen. It looked like a chopped steak that had seen better days. It didn’t taste any better than it looked and I made do with my potato and broccoli.
Ick Steak




Our server returned. She informed me that the wine I’d chosen (third try) was only available by the bottle and not by the individual glass. She was quite apologetic and assured me that they had “a really nice carbonnay” and asked if she could bring me that. While part of my mind wondered if a carbonnay was the mutant bastard child of cabernet and chardonnay, the other part of my mind formulated a response to her offer. “No, thank you,” I said, “and I know you’ve been trying really hard but I’d like to see your manager.”

When the manager arrived, I gave a quick description of our dining experience. He began to berate our server, saying that all the servers are told about the available wines and that they were changing their wine list and so on. He had many excuses and reasons for our experience. He offered to get me a glass of wine and I declined saying, “No, thank you, I’m done.” He offered to get me a new steak and I again told him that I was done. I told him that I wasn’t looking for a new steak or a glass of wine or anything else other than to inform him of our experience so he could look into it and, hopefully, make the necessary improvements. I was disappointed that he immediately went into blame mode and pointed the finger at our server. As the manager, he should have accepted responsibility for what happened at that restaurant while he was in charge. Our server seemed to be trying very hard and did not appear to have been taught anything about their wines. Granted, she was slow in refilling the tea but she was trying, in vain, to find a glass of red wine somewhere in that restaurant. In the end, the manager did not charge us anything for either of our meals. I walked over to our server and handed her a tip, thanking her for her effort.

We’ve had exceptionally good service at the Ruby Tuesday in Athens, AL and very good service at the south Madison location on Tom Thrasher Drive. As for the Highway 72 location:

I Paid For That? I don't think so.

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday.