The Periphery of the Mind

The Professor and I tried Ruby Tuesdays in Bentonville this past weekend, and we're underwhelmed to the point of never going back.

I ordered their best burger, with cheese, done medium-well. I got a medium burger with lots of pink in the center (roughly a third of the burger), that basically fell apart from juice and grease and butter. The waiter admitted it was cooked wrong, and said that if I hadn't eaten the uncooked parts he could have taken it back and thrown it on the grill. Their menu however said they'd cook it the way I wanted. But since the thing essentially fell apart, I really didn't care how they cooked it since I figured another burger would be another mess. Add a small order of fries and a glass of water, and it came to $9.99 for my meal.

The Professor ordered a couple of mini burgers (about comparable to McDonalds single patty burgers from the dollar menu), a small order of fries, and a visit to the salad bar. Her food at least looked cooked, and the salad bar seemed to have a bit of variety. Her price tag? $9.50. Tack on some iced tea for her, and even with a $10 off coupon we spent $13.40.

Much like the old joke "the food is awful and the portions too small", we were kind of underwhelmed. Menu options were sparse, the wait staff kept our drinks full but weren't any help with fixing their mistake, and the food was really overpriced. In the future if you want a burger I'd pick Sonic for flavor, McDonalds for price, and Red Robin for atmosphere.

Labels: Monday Morning Munching Meditation