Ruby Tuesday

We stopped here passing through Bristol on our way back from TN for a bite to eat. Mistake. Didn’t take too long to get a table for 10+, though there weren’t many other diners. Service was slow but certainly friendly. Half the items on the salad bar were frozen in their dishes. When the food I ordered arrived, baked fish & mashed potatoes, the outside breading was clearly burnt. Inedible. Since we didn’t have time to go anywhere else, I thoroughly scraped off the top layer and ate the tasteless fish. Mashed potatoes were salty and lukewarm. Wasn’t the worst I’ve ever had but… bleh. Wasn’t good.

Chain restaurants — generally not my first choice — offer some level of consistency. But there are differences from one location to the next, and this place falls a bit short of the Ruby Tuesday I go to at home.
The salad bar wasn’t well maintained. Not as many items as in other Ruby Tuesdays, some empty bowls — «it’ll take some time to get more broccoli salad» said the staff. Plus the way patrons are seated, isn’t great. We were put in a side room, right on top of the only people eating there. The next set of diners were put right on top of us. (Come now, when there are vacant tables, do I really need to hear other people’s conversations???)
On the plus side, our burgers were very good, cooked as ordered. When I say I want medium, I mean medium and that’s what I got! Plus our waiter, who may have also been a bartender, took care of us quickly and efficiently.

I was happily surprised when I went for lunch last week! The server was great — so helpful. Since we have food allergies the GM came out and helped us order and made sure everything was prepared correctly. Then when the food came — she came and checked on us. The food was delicious! Wonderful experience!

SLOW SERVICE, SKANKY SALAD BAR, DISGUSTING FOOD, DIRTY BATHROOMS…
A few months ago, my husband and I ate here after a nearly decade-​long hiatus (because the food was always just sub-​par) and surprisingly LOVED it. We couldn’t wait to come back! So, last night (a Sunday night around 5 p.m.) we gave it another go…
We waited about 5 minutes for a host to seat us. The restaurant had our table, another couple and a party of 6 — that’s it. Our server came to the table right away and asked what we’d like to drink. He was very friendly and we had high hopes. Little did we know it’d all go downhill from there.
We ordered and went on to the salad bar (wilted lettuce and spinach, messy serving spoons, dressing with weird film on top of it because it hadn’t been stirred in God knows how long and stale croutons. I ate a couple of bites and decided to stop before I got sick.
I ordered a sirloin and broccoli for dinner. The broccoli was so salty I actually had to SPIT IT OUT. The steak was dry and rubbery. I maybe made it through 2 ounces before pushing my plate away. My husband had a pretty similar experience with his steak and his potatoes were stone cold.
My drink was never refilled and we were clearly finished with our food (napkins over our plates and set to the side) for nearly 10 minutes before the waiter came to check on us. By that point we were just ready to get out of there so we didn’t say anything about how disgusting the food was. It was another 15 minutes before he brought our check and another 10 before he brought our card and the receipt back. The restaurant was empty! What took so long?!
I woke up sick to my stomach this morning and feel nauseous every time I think of our meal. I’m guessing our wonderful visit a few months ago was some kind of fluke and Ruby Tuesday really is as disappointing as we remember it being for all those years. No more chances. You know it’s bad when you leave wishing you’d gone to Shoney’s.

Unilocaled restaurants in this area of Bristol VA in search for food after an early Saturday movie. It looked like Ruby’s was the best option in this area, so we decided to give it a try since we had not been to one in a long time.
We arrived at 6:00 and were greeted promptly. I searched for a health score posting as I always do but could not find one posted in the bar, the bathroom area or in the foyer. I could only find a certificate that said they «complied». I am not sure of the health score posting requirements in Virginia, so I used my smart phone to look up the info on the Virginia Dept of Health website. According to the website, their last inspection was May 2013 and the items listed were acceptable to me. Virginia does not appear to have a score range from 1 – 100 like most states.
We were greeted promptly by the server and received our drinks just fine. We asked about the Shrimp Fondue and she commented that she had never tried it. We ordered it anyway. Although the shrimp were cooked just right, the cheese sauce was not that flavorful and the house made chips seemed a bit oily for my taste.
My wife ordered a chicken tender salad that had 8 various toppings on it. She asked the server if it had onion on it. The server was not sure, so she said she would just put no onion on the order just in case.
I ordered the fish tacos with salad bar. One of the mixed salad items on the salad bar seems spoiled, so I did not each much salad. The fish tacos were good except for the spicy mayonnaise based sauce that overpowered the tacos. There was just too much! Although the fish was not hot when it arrive at the table, the flavor was good.
As my wife ate, she realized that the salad was a bit under-​dressed. She commented to the server that there seemed to be something missing from the salad. The server did not know what was missing, so we asked for a menu so we could figure it out ourselves. There were 4 toppings missing from the salad, so the server said she would go get them. The dining experience was now out the window.
A manager or key employee did visit our table in the course of their normal rounds around the restaurant (not because the server sent her) and we shared our experience with her. She thanked us for the feedback about server menu knowledge (or lack of) and explained that is not the expectation they have of their staff. She offered a free dessert, we declined, but she brought it anyway with a to-​go box.
For the price of our meal, there are other restaurants in Bristol TN/​VA that would have given us a better dining experience. I think we will stick to our tried and true down on State Street for after-​movie meals.

Luv salad bar and triple prime burger. Clean atmosphere

«It was yummy,» Will, my nephew, just commented about our lunch today. He had the Beef Minis with Mashed Potatoes — kids have the choice of side dish and he surprised us by choosing mashed potatoes over french fries. (There is no doubt he is a family member given his love of mashed potatoes.) They must have been good because his plate was clean by the end of the meal. (comment from the peanut gallery, «You got that right.») He wanted desert but since there was a good selection of sweets at home he opted to negotiate for one of each.
The other children all had the chicken fingers with french fries. They must have been good, Emma ate all of her chicken after having a late morning snack. The kids also loved having the kid’s menu and crayons to color with while we waited.
My sister and I got the Jumbo Lump Crab Burger. Basically a crab cake on a bun. A good concept (remember not only am I a mashed potato fan, I love anything with crab) but it ended up being too much bread. Plus crab cakes are meant to fall apart (as it did) and that makes it hard to eat as a burger. The Cajun sauce that came with it was good and spicy.
Will is sitting with me, waiting for me to finish hoping to get control of the computer soon. I am just hoping that he becomes a Unilocaler when he is old enough, he reviews would be fun to read. He also makes a good editor — he caught all my misspelling and inconsistencies. He votes for 4 stars so I am rounding it up from 3.5 stars since it was such a good place to eat with 4 kids.