Critic's Review
I got a coupon for $5.99 all you can eat salad bar this morning, and I'm low-carb loading so I thought I'd do it. Why pay $12 for a wedge salad when I can do a salad bar; with Chuck's gone, you have to go to a buffet to get a salad bar these days.
This place is 10 miles from downtown Fort Lauderdale, and it's right on 595 so it's a pretty quick trip if you don't hit any draw bridges. I got here fairly quickly.
The place was dead at 2pm; the restaurants are very chain restaurant looking but they're fairly comfortable.
They're following the TGI Fridays model of pushing drinks and desserts as the table is filled with advertising. I ordered an iced tea, and also got some biscuits; they sort of looked like mini version of the cheddar bay biscuits that they serve at Red Lobster. I like butter on my biscuits, so I didn't taste them just yet.
I sugared the tea and tasted it and nearly spit it out; Sweet Tea. This is the second day in a row that I ordered Iced Tea and was given sweet tea. Servers need to ask if you want sweetened or unsweetened tea. I had her bring me an unsweetened tea.
After checking out the menu, I decided on ordering an entree. I also had a coupon for $5 off a $15 order, and you can order the salad bar as a side with an entree. So I could have a steak and 1 more side for about $5 more than the salad. I ordered the Asiago Peppercorn Sirloin with steamed broccoli and the Salad Bar, which is $15.99.
One thing that was odd what that my server had no interest in taking my menu, so I just put it on the other side of the table. It stayed with me, along with the advertising, for the entire experience.
Another good thing about the salad bar is that there is no waiting.
Where else can you get a side salad like this? The salad bar was well-maintained and had fresh ingredients, but only the basics. No nuts or meats except for ham cubes and something that might have been bacon. No blue cheese crumbles. One good thing is that they have actual tomato slices; most restaurants are moving to lousy, useless grape tomatoes, so these were welcome.
This is another place with music for the employees and not the customers; a largely middle-aged crowd was treated to "Golden Veins", Philip Philips, Lorde and Katy Perry.
The entree came out before I was half done with the salad.
I immediately asked for butter; do people really eat plain, steamed broccoli? I scraped off the cheese and sauce, and checked the doneness of the steak.
Now that's medium rare. It wasn't the best steak I've ever had, but not bad for the price. A couple of mouthfuls of gristle interrupted the flow. The cheese sauce worked out well for the broccoli, which were steamed properly.
I tasted the biscuits; they weren't bad but not good enough to temp me to violate my low-carb protocol.
As we were negotiating the coupon, my server suggested that I get my tea refill in a carry out cup. Worked for me.
As you can see, the table was kind of messy.
The total for this with the coupon was $14.51. including tax.
Conclusion
The first time I went to a Ruby Tuesday I ordered the "stir fry", which consisted of grilled chicken and overly boiled vegetables. I said to a manager "This isn't stir-fried" and his answer was "Well, we use stir fry type ingredients". Yeah. After a fall from grace they're trying to re-invent themselves with a more contemporary menu. I can't say that the menu particularly appeals to me; but I also can't say that I didn't like anything I had today. Combined with the salad bar, you can get a pretty substantial lunch or dinner here at a very good price, which I suppose is the entire point of places like Ruby Tuesday.