If you have yet to experience the glory of Texas Roadhouse, there are a few things you
should know before going.
From knowing about all the free food you can expect to their special birthday celebrations,
be prepared for the best steakhouse meal you've had in a long time.
There is so much meat served at Texas Roadhouse that every location has their own butcher
who cuts steaks by hand, and hand-cut, never frozen steaks are always going to be better
than the alternative.
Every restaurant has a giant meat cooler, too, where the meat is kept at a temperature
of 34 degrees.
They serve everything from ribeyes to filets to prime rib and New York Strips, along with
a ton of other meaty dishes, so you know you're getting the real, fresh deal.
"Chops done."
"Wasting meat's a crime."
"Well, it should be."
"OK, then."
"Ok, then."
One Redditor, who says they work in meat prep for Texas Roadhouse, had this to say about
the quality of the meat:
"I don't buy it so I can't say as to the cost but the quality of it is good.
The steaks would be the highest grade, then the leftovers from them are used for the kabobs
and Dillo bites...so it may not be the best meat ever but it is good."
Texas Roadhouse spends over a $1 billion on meat annually, and the restaurants serve USDA
Choice, which means the meat has been graded by the USDA, and are cuts of meat described
like this:
"High quality, but has less marbling than Prime.
Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib will be very tender, juicy, and flavorful
and are suited for dry-heat cooking."
“Roaring fires.
MALT BEER.
R-R-RED MEAT OFF THE BONE!”
Not too bad, right?
Texas Roadhouse also says their beef suppliers are leaders in sustainable beef production
practices, which means that the delicious steak you order has to come from a cow that
was raised responsibly.
According to Beef.
It's What's For Dinner,
"[Sustainable beef] balances efficient production with environmental, social and economic impacts."
Consumers can do their part in helping with sustainability, too, they explain.
Even though beef only makes up 20 percent of wasted food, if that were, quote, "cut
in half, the sustainability of the whole industry could be improved by 10 percent."
That just means that you need to be sure and eat the leftover steak you bring home from
Texas Roadhouse, if there is any.
And that?
Well, that's unlikely.
In addition to hand-cutting steaks and making those yummy rolls from scratch, Texas Roadhouse
also makes all their sides items, salad dressing, and even croutons in-house.
This matters because a lot of large chain restaurants don't bother with cooking their
food from scratch, as Money, Inc explains :
"In most cases, when a restaurant chain grows as large as this one has, they take shortcuts
in preparing meals that feature some prepackaged or frozen ingredients that are microwaved
or heated in some other way and served."
But creating food from scratch is part of the recipe for Texas Roadhouse's success,
and according to FSR Magazine, Travis Doster, the company's senior director of communications,
has said,
"If you think about it, Kent [Taylor, the founder of Texas Roadhouse] wanted to serve
food he was proud of.
Well, the men and women running our restaurants, they have that same mentality."
And being proud of the food you serve your customers is probably difficult when all you're
doing is dumping some frozen vegetables on a plate and sticking them in the microwave.
Thank goodness Texas Roadhouse doesn't do it that way.
If you're looking for a place to have a quiet night out, you might want to go somewhere
else because Texas Roadhouse is a rowdy, loud, fun place.
And they like it that way.
According to founder Kent Taylor, the restaurant was built on a foundation of fun.
He's said:
"If your employees are having fun, they are going to have fun with the guests."
Employees have been known to line dance, even if it is against the law.
Say what?
Servers at a Wichita location line danced every hour on the hour, even though it was
technically illegal, thanks to an obscure city ordinance that said a restaurant that
served alcohol couldn't also allow dancing without a permit.
"There was a time for this law, not anymore.
See, this is our time to dance."
Thank goodness they finally had the permit approved!
If you're celebrating your birthday at Texas Roadhouse, you don't just get the standard
birthday song, you get the birthday song sung to you while under a spotlight.
After that, servers bring out a saddled sawhorse for the diner to sit on while other customers
are encouraged to yell "yee-haw" at them.
Sound like your kind of birthday celebration?
In addition to the buckets of peanuts in the waiting area and at your table, you also get
free rolls before your meal even arrives.
Delicious, warm, baked in-house rolls.
They come out of the oven every five minutes and fortunately, they are more than happy
to bring you extra.
Even better than the bread is the homemade cinnamon butter served along with it.
It's a big perk, and people are obsessed with these rolls.
How obsessed?
One Twitter user said,
"When I die…bury me with Texas roadhouse rolls."
Another lamented,
"I cried last night because we accidentally left our rolls at Texas Roadhouse."
But probably the best advice of all was uttered by the Twitter user who said,
"Get you a man that chooses Texas Roadhouse rolls over Red Lobster biscuits."
You can afford to have a favorite item at Texas Roadhouse, because chances are it will
still be on the menu 20 years from now.
Texas Roadhouse knows what works for them and their customers, and they don't go around
chasing the latest fad or changing things up on their menu according to trends or whatever
molecular salad smoke with a hot chocolate blood orange infusion is all the rage these
days.
When FSR Magazine asked company exec Travis Doster about the last time they changed the
menu, he said,
"We added a steakhouse filet salad.
That was one of the more recent ones.
That's been four or five years."
And it's not like a salad is some sort of wacky trend that would shock customers.
There's something reassuring about knowing your favorite restaurant is still going to
serve your favorite meal and that you don't have to worry about it being discontinued.
Go ahead, get attached to something.
It's all right!
“I think I’ll just, uh…”
“Ya know, I’ve been working here for 44 years.
Ain’t nobody ever ordered nothin’ but T-bone steaks and a baked potato.”
Texas Roadhouse is the sort of place your kids will feel right at home in, and that
goes for any night of the week.
And if you're a parent, that's a big deal.
It doesn't matter if they make a mess, because the floor is already littered with peanut
shells, and the company's senior investor relations director had this to say when it
comes to why this place is so great for families:
"We play really loud music, so we're not going to hear your kids screaming.
It's just a comfortable place for families to go where they feel they can take their
kids and they're going to be okay.
I don't have to worry about them crying or screaming.
It's really a nice, comfortable place."
Anyone who has ever dined with a cranky toddler or a teething baby can appreciate that.
It's the sort of restaurant without quiet piano music and stuffy waiters and white linen
tablecloths.
It's the sort of place where if your kid spills a drink you won't feel like crawling under
the table.
"I want hepatitis!"
"Comin' your way, buddy!"
Texas Roadhouse always has a number of specialty cocktails on the menu, including tempting
concoctions like the Jamaican Cowboy made with rum, peach schnapps, orange and pineapple
juice, and a cocktail made in honor of country singer Kenny Chesney made with coconut rum,
peach schnapps, lemonade, sweet and sour, and blue curacao.
They also serve classic mixed drinks and wine so you can certainly get in the celebratory
spirit.
What we're saying is, there's something for everyone on this cocktail menu.
But while their mixed drinks and margaritas are delicious, some of them aren't the healthiest
choices, and Eat This, Not That! cautions against ordering the frozen raspberry margarita.
Why?
It'll set you back almost 500 calories, and it's loaded with 83 grams of sugar, way more
than you should be eating in an entire day.
There's good news, though, you can partake of the original margarita on the rocks, and
drink a much more manageable 170 calories and 14 grams of sugar.
Or, you know, you could order another basket of rolls with cinnamon butter and down a few
more frozen raspberry margaritas because you're a grownup, and you do what you want.
If cocktails aren't your thing, you can also order a beer from the drinks menu and know
that you're in for a treat.
That's because Texas Roadhouse takes the temperature of their draft beers very seriously.
Money Inc. explains,
"The Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain takes extra measures to ensure that each draft beer
that they serve their customers has been chilled to a specific temperature.
The staff is very particular about following the rules to ensure perfection.
The beer is kept at a chilly temperature of 36 degrees Fahrenheit."
And, beer is pretty much the perfect thing to drink with a steak.
No, really, it's science.
Steak is a natural fit with beer because the carbonation acts as a palate cleanser and
the bitterness takes away some of the fatty mouthfeel of your favorite cut of beef.
That means you aren't just drinking beer with your meal because it's five o'clock somewhere
and your kids are yelling and you finished binge-watching your favorite series on Netflix…again,
and the guilt is setting in, you're doing it because you're a gourmand and all fancy-like
and you know it's going to enhance the flavor of your meal.
Eating out is expensive, especially if you are a family with some adults in the household
who enjoy an adult beverage or two with their meal.
One of the reasons Texas Roadhouse is so successful, averaging about 300,000 meals per day, is
because they know their customers so well.
Business Insider notes that plenty of Yelpers mention the chain's, quote, "flawless execution
of basic American food."
People go to Texas Roadhouse because the food is reasonably priced and good quality, they
can bring their kids there, they don't have to dress up, and they can relax.
Those are all important, but there's even more to appreciate about the restaurant chain,
especially if you like supporting businesses that are about more than just the food.
They are regularly voted among the best in customer satisfaction.
They are big on charitable giving, their restaurants average four fundraisers a month for local
nonprofits and schools.
They are supportive of first responders and the military, even saying thank you with free
meals for the troops on Veteran's Day.
And they're supporters of The Special Olympics.
That's a lot, right?
It's this sort of commitment to their customers and to the community that makes this place
a lot more than just steaks and big margaritas.
Plus, those rolls!
If you love Texas Roadhouse but don't always have the time to sit down to a full meal there,
you'll definitely want to know the fast casual chain called Bubba's 33.
Also founded by Kent Taylor, the menu features items like burgers, wings, and pizzas, all
made from scratch just like Texas Roadhouse.
This restaurant also wants to be a destination for everybody, so they have a garage bar area
along with a family dining section, so those without screaming kids can instead scream
at big screen TVs while their favorite teams play.
They claim to be a place for "all things American, food, family, sports and beer!"
Sounds like an excellent place to take the family and/or an excellent place to go hide
from your family.
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