Ruth’s Chris Steak House

Ruth’s Chris — South Barrington, Il — 2÷17÷2016
I’ve been to many restaurants in many cities but this is my first visit to a Ruth’s Chris… I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time. Beautifully decorated with white tablecloths thruout the dining room, this is my kind of place! From the service to the décor, this place screams fine dining… Rich in history, the first Ruth’s Chris steakhouse opened on Broad Street in New Orleans in 1965… All these years later, they have perfected the art of preparing fine meals…
I’m a sucker for baked bread with whipped butter and this one was baked to perfection. With its firm crust, light body and rich Flavour, this was the perfect way to start the meal…
For my first course, a white bean and chorizo soup prepared in a tomato base garnished with scallions… Delicious!
The aroma of steaks wafting into the dining room overloaded my senses… Wow!
For my next course… The petite filet and lobster tail with a side of Cremini mushrooms; pan roasted with fresh thyme. First they start the primmest of beef, rub it with salt and pepper and then broil it in an oven at 1,800°… Even the plate is served at 500° to ensure that the meals is warm from beginning to end. Who does this?! Each forkful was like an explosion as the flavour saturated every square inch of my mouth… The lobster, seasoned and grilled was also over-​the-​top…
One of the things I like about this restaurant along with everything that I like about this restaurant is the fact that they tell you how long each course is going to take before it comes out of the kitchen… Setting the expectation just ensures that you’re going to have a completely wonderful dining experience…
Dessert…, the crème brûlée… Classic Creole custard topped with fresh berries accompanied by my signature cappuccino…
What an amazing experience. I will definitely be back and I highly recommend you come here also! It bears repeating… Wow!

My husband and I had reservations here for Valentine’s Day weekend. Overall, it was an excellent meal but just an average experience.
The good: helpful and knowledgable waitress, delicious steak and sides, yummy chocolate duo dessert.
The bad: waiting area is FREEZING! We arrived a few minutes early and waited by the host stand. The door kept opening and blowing cold air in. The bar was just as cold! There were several young kids in the restaurant, but nothing too disruptive. Many people were taking pictures during their meals, with flashes. That was more disruptive than the kids. After dinner, we noticed that every other table got a rose for the woman at the table– everyone but us. That was kind of a bummer.
I’d return for the food, but wouldn’t stay if I had to wait for a table. I’d probably pick another steak restaurant over this one.

We went to Ruth’s Chris last Saturday night-​what a disappointment! Lobster bisque was cold –very small portion and not that great. Two people at the table had Chilean sea bass and both portions were extremely fishy-​we could all smell it at the table. Over all a very disappointing experience-​we will never frequent this restaurant again-​much better restaurants at a lower price point.

Fabulous Meal! Top Notch! If you can get there for happy hour during the week, they have some great choices at bar. not really any drink specials, but worth a try if around the Arboretum.

When in Chicago, we have to grab a great steak dinner. They have so many great steakhouses to consider, but I have been loyal to Gibsons for years. The group we were meeting wanted to try something new in the burbs. I’ve have been to Ruth’s Chris is a few cities, but it’s been years. Unfortunately, they terribly disappointed me this trip. The «16oz» ribeye was so skinny and questionable at 16oz. The service was well below par for an empty restaurant 2 days before Christmas. I had an empty martini for over 15 minutes. I was ready to get into the holiday spirit and I was in no mood to wait. I don’t care if I am downtown or in the burbs, my expectations is the service matches the price.
The food:
Seabass-​amazing, well cooked
«16oz» steak-​cut poorly, so skinny.
Cream Spanish-​Good, nothing special
Lobster Mac and Cheese-​best I have ever eaten. Unexpectedly light, not overwhelming with cheese.
Overall, the food was mediocre and the service was below average for the price. That might not be a fair statement since I found a few outstanding dishes, but I was here for a great steak and they severely disappointed me. It’s a steakhouse, screw up on the fish and you will have a good excuse. Screw up my steak and I will not be back.

Been to this location in South Barrington many times. This last visit on Christmas Day was no different than any other visit. We had reservations at 12:30 and were seated promptly after we arrived. I had the Ruth Classic filet and shrimp combo, it came with a salad and side of mashed potatoes. The steak was seared and grilled perfectly! For dessert I upgraded to the bread pudding which was enough for 3! Service was on point and what you’d expect at a high end steak house. What surprised me was that the server said that had reservations for more than 700 on Christmas Day! I guess no one cooks anymore!

Our family changed it up this year and celebrated Thanksgiving here. There are only five of us, so this saved my mom a lot of stress from the usual week long prep.
Dinner was excellent. My dad and I enjoyed the Thanksgiving dinner price fixe. It was $ 40. I got the Caesar salad, it was excellent, and he got the lobster bisque which he enjoyed. We both raved about the turkey and the gravy. I thought the gravy was amazing! He ordered the creamed spinach, I tried it and it’s not my cup of tea, and I order the mashed potatoes. They were excellent, garlicky and so smooth. There was also stuffing and cranberry on the plate. Both were good. We got our pumpkin cheesecake desserts to go, I liked it very much two days later.
My son also did the kids thanksgiving, he loved his turkey. We got him Mac n cheese as a side, that was a bust. It had jalapeño flavor. He hated it, and honestly, I didn’t really like it either, I would ask to substitute fries next time. He loved the vanilla ice cream part of the dessert.
My mom and husband ordered the other fixe. She the 11oz filet and thought it was delicious, he the 6oz filet and shrimp. There were three shrimp and the portion was small for him. He wished he would have gotten what she did because he enjoyed the meat so much. They both did the house salad and the same sides mentioned earlier. Their dessert was different: a turtle cheesecake with a cranberry bark. The bark was good and the cheesecake was okay. The pumpkin was more to my liking.
We all liked the bread and butter, but tried not to overindulge on it. I had the moscato, very good if you like a sweet wine and my husband and dad got cocktails. They were appropriately stiff.
The atmosphere was loud. Not very easy to talk to, but spirited with lots of families filling the dining room. Our server, Tiffany, was so pleasant. She was helpful and attentive.
I enjoyed my time very much. It’s an expensive substitute to home cooked Thanksgiving, but enjoyable at the same time. Next time I want to do happy hour in the bar. That’s looks affordable and tasty.

Our server was amazing. She suggested the calamari which was different and very good. Had the petite filet. The steak was amazing. I have yet to find anything better. It is pricey but well worth it.

Very nearly 3 stars. Excellent service, delicious meal. My wife and I each had a version of Ruth’s Classic. I had a 16oz steak which was cooked perfectly it was just so very thin. My wife had the filet w/​shrimp, her meal looked to be an exceptional value. A little on the noisy side for me but we had a wonderful meal and enjoyed ourselves. With tip our tab was just under $ 200.

I have mixed thoughts on this place. The taste of my filet was good, not great. The service was very good. And the price was too expensive. You can get a bigger and better steak that is cheaper at a lot of different places. I would go here again but it won’t be my first choice

I will not be coming back to this restaurant again.
Ambiance: We were seated in their special event room, which had the tackiest décor, and made us feel like we were at a cheap buffet instead of an upscale steakhouse. Our table was also in the main walkway for all the staff and patrons to walk through. Of our party of 4, 2 of us were being constantly knocked into every time someone passed us (every 2 minutes).
Service: Decent service from the waiter, until we requested to change tables because we kept being hit by people walking by, then he cared less about us :/​
Food: This is where I was truly disappointed, because we have been here before, and the food was memorable. We ordered the chicken, steak, lobster tail, lobster mac and cheese, crab cakes, creamed spinach, and potatoes au gratin. Chicken was flavorless and dry, steak was good except we ordered it medium well and it came medium, lobster tail was dry and overcooked, lobster mac and cheese was bizarre (it seemed to have canned Rotel green peppers or jalepenos and tasted more like bad velveeta queso dip instead of mac and cheese), crab cakes were mostly bread/​filling and not enough crab, creamed spinach was a disturbing purée of green goo, and the potatoes au gratin were dry!!! Why!!! :/​
This was a birthday celebration, and it disappointed us. The food should have been outstanding instead of turning into a bad Unilocal review. Save your $$ and go elsewhere.

My fiancé and I came in for our anniversary this past Sunday night around 6pm. We had never been to this location, but I definitely think it’s my favorite. The décor was very nice and more modern than the other locations. Our server was friendly and acknowledged we were celebrating a special occasion. I got the Ruth’s classics; I started with the steak house salad which was VERY good. My filet and shrimp was delicious as well. I got the special side as my side, which was fire roasted corn, but I hated it. It was more like a salsa and not at all what I expected. We also got the Lyonaise potatoes, which were good but not as good as Perry’s or Joe’s. My fiancé enjoyed his filet as well. We upgraded the dessert that came with the classic for $ 4 to get the chocolate cake and it was awesome. I was surprised we were not offered a free dessert or that the fee was waived since it was a celebration because they usually do that, but oh well. We came because my fiancé loves it here and we had a gift card, but I definitely think Ruth’s Chris has dropped on my list of steak houses.

Love everything about Ruth’s Chris definitely one of my faves. Spectacular service and great food. Normally I’m not that person who orders chicken at a steakhouse but their stuffed chicken is to die for. We’ve been to the Chicago, Puerto Rico and South Barrington locations and they never let me down.

*Steakhouse Hop*
First time dining in Ruth’s Chris some years back, I was really impressed. It was the first time I got that Ritz Carlton treatment at a restaurant. Everybody called me by my name and they ushered me to my table like I was the Queen of England. It was pretty cool.
Service has always been the number one thing here and I always received stellar service. I visited this location the most because again it was close to my work at the time and we did tons of business dinners here. Christi was my go to gal and she was more than awesome in handling our private events here. She remembered me even after awhile and if I were to tell her I was coming in for a personal dinner, she with no fail would send a surprise treat. It was so nice and very memorable.
The steaks itself are definitely delicious in general but it is not my all time favorite. They serve the steak on this really hot plate with melted butter and they warn you profusely about how hot it is. You can see it sizzling literally. However, it gets cold like in a flash. It’s the weirdest thing for me. How could it be?
I did like their panzanella salad and the calamari as well. They also offer a pre fixe menu with three courses that’s pretty reasonable in price. You get tons of food as well. It’s not a bad choice if you’re dining on budget and would be happy eating a standard smaller cut. If you’re aiming for the grand daddy porterhouse, then go the a la carte way. Oh, they also have good mints. Not sure why but I really love their mints.
I took my parents, sister, and niece here the last time I dined here. It was such a great time. With the abundance of choices for steakhouse, Ruth’s Chris is definitely one of the nicer ones with guaranteed good service. At least, my experience here had always been great and that’s why I still come back here once in a great while.

My husband and I just celebrated our 4^th anniversary and we had the most wonderful dinner. We love this place so much that we incorporated celebrating our anniversaries at Ruth’s Chris into our wedding vows! Everything was on point. From our drinks to our dinner to the anniversary message written on our dessert plates.
We each got the Ruth’s classics and it’s a great deal considering all that you get. My husband got the larger filet and I told him it would probably be an 8oz filet; wrong! He was pleasantly surprised when we were told it was 11oz. I got the filet and lobster tail and the only problem with it was that there wasn’t more! The sides were awesome and plentiful. I do wish that I had ordered my filet medium rare instead of medium but now I have something to look forward to next year.
Jovandi was our server and he was incredibly attentive without being overbearing. From the time he greeted us and told us Happy Anniversary to the very end of the meal, he was an amazing server. I can’t write more positive things to say about this restaurant. I just wish that our anniversary could be monthly instead of yearly!

Since this is a top end priced restaurant I will rate it as so. I came for my second time, both on Chicago Restaurant Week. This year they seem to have a focus on profit, and not quality. For the low price of $ 44 a person you receive a small nearly tepid warm lobster bisque that makes you wish it was a full serving. The steak, a filet in my case, was an end piece that was rolled together to resemble an actual filet. This mangled mess that was presented would be fair for a steak worth $ 10, it did however come on a hot sizzling plate. Wow, well I guess a hot plate is worth the up charge? The dessert came, a little puck of chocolate that had no feeling of quality to it. I would have been happy to pay $ 15 for the meal.
Stop doing Restaurant Week since you have clearly given up on a real enticing menu for it. I’m disappointed, the point is to gain customers by showing them what you can do. Instead, I will not be back unless someone else fronts the bill.

This place is definitely one of my favorite steak houses. It consistently serves great food from a wonderful staff. We made reservations at 7:15pm and got seated at 7:22pm which was fine because of their wonderful wait area with comfy chairs to wait in. All of the staff is so friendly and does their job with a big smile.
I ordered the Surf n Turf consisting of a 6oz fillet and 2 4oz lobster tails. It was amazing! The fillet was served on a hot plate with sizzling butter and it melts in your mouth. I have been here several times and each time it is so good. For dessert I got the apple crumb which was a great ending to a great meal.
I would definitely recommend coming here.

Awesome place for steak! What’s even better is that service was top notch. Ginette was our server for the night and she was spot on with her service for our dinner. She was super nice to us and very accommodating, even our 1 year old daughter liked her.
Our steaks were absolutely delicious, but what else would you expect from Ruth’s Chris? My wife’s steak was over cooked and the Manager Chris fixed the problem for us immediately. she had ordered a Medium and it came out Medium well to well done, yuck! He actually bagged up the steak for us and sent us out a new steak, which was slightly under cooked this time, but better than being over cooked!
Probably the only downside to the dinner was that the sides weren’t all that amazing, but they were still quite serviceable. We ordered mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and mushrooms. Nothing spectacular, but we were there for steak.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the service here at Ruth’s Chris, and the steak I had was awesome. This place is quite pricey for steaks, but you’d definitely be pleased after the meal is done. Thanks again to Ginette and Corey for absolutely wonderful dinner service.

We came here for my wife’s 30^th birthday, so it was a special celebration.
What I can tell you is that for me, this is one of those restaurants that is for special occasions only. The other high reviews are spot on. The ambience was classy and sophisticated. I was glad I wore a button up shirt and dress shoes and didn’t go with anything too causal, as I would have felt out of place.
The service was personal, professional, and informative. Our server was confident and knowledgeable and it felt like he was being genuine and not just selling himself for a good tip.
The food was excellent. We both had the filet with shrimp combination and we agreed that this could be some of the best meat we’ve ever sampled. Even our sides (mushrooms and mashed potatoes) were well portioned and flavorful.
So why not 5 stars? Well, the price point of this restaurant makes it one I will not be able to visit very often. If I can come again and verify that another item on the menu is of the same quality, and the service is consistent and not just a lucky surprise, I would easily bump this up to a 5 star experience.
I just need to save up, and give Ruth’s Chris another shot… hope it’s sooner than later.

After a couple visits to Ruth’s Chris, I think I can give a nice little review about my experiences. This is pretty much a special occasion restaurant seeing as everything is ala carte unless you opt for the Ruth’s Classic Dinner starting at $ 43.95. When it’s just me for a girl’s night out, I would splurge from time to time for this price, but for my family of three with all of their upgrades/​substitutions, I think we will keep this to a special occasion spot.
Both visits were for dinner and the restaurant is dimly lit — very romantic actually. The large booths are walled in so you are not listening to your neighbor’s conversation… although we did smell their delicious menu options a few times on the most recent visit. Everything is just very nice. White linen napkins are on the table, but when you are seated, the host or hostess will immediately offer you a black napkin in the event you are wearing dark clothing to avoid the white lint. It’s a nice touch.
There are many options on the menu to suit pretty much everyone I know. We tried some of their calamari and it was tossed in a sweet & tangy sauce with roasted red peppers. Of everything we tried, this was the least exciting dish to hit the table, but it was still good. I’ve tried their chicken and tortellini soup as well as their corn chowder. I love a good soup and both of these hit the spot. The chowder boasted crispy bacon, fresh corn, chunk of potatoes (or maybe cauliflower, but I don’t think so) and a wonderfully luscious base. Their steaks are served on 500 degree plates… don’t touch that! About halfway through my steak, I usually flip it over on the plate to distribute the heat. It’s probably not doing anything, but I like to think it is. We’ve had their mashed potatoes, the loaded baked potato and the lyonnaise potatoes. I enjoy the sautéed onions in the lyonnaise potatoes. Plus dessert is always a winner! Their chocolate cake is light and fluffy. It’s absolutely scrumptious!
Overall, for a chain steakhouse, it is very good. The wait staff are trained very well and I truly don’t have any complaints.