Dinner Report: Ruby Tuesday in Alamo Ranch...

Was I asleep at the wheel? I don’t think I even noticed the new Ruby Tuesday in Alamo Ranch going up until my wife and I were being seated by the hostess. I still don’t see the Red Robin we expected a year ago at the corner of 1604 and FM 471, so there is a good chance that I’ll be eating a big huge stack of those onions rings before long.
But enough of my inattention to detail. If you have never been to Ruby Tuesday, think of it as a much classier version of Chili's, Applebee's, Bennigan's, etc. A co-worker of mine compared it to Marie Calendar. I suppose.

What we did find was that the place is suitable for going in a little more dressed up than your sweat pants and chocolate stain covered wife beater. Thankfully, it was a designated bath day for us, so we were fairly presentable.
I noticed right off the bat that there was lots of wait staff, probably a combination of trainers and trainees. I also noticed a really nice salad bar set-up, though I’m afraid I did not get a photograph worth submitting for your viewing. Okay, well here is the picture anyway. Can you see the salad in there? Sorry.

The menu offers too wide of a selection for me. Honestly, if we had not been pressed for time, we would have taken several minutes to really go over it. They have burgers, seafood, sandwiches, steaks, ribs, and all sorts of pasta, chicken and appetizers. They also have the aforementioned salad bar. I apologize for not getting pictures, but I saw this fellow who must have ordered the "all you care to pile on your plate and then some, salad". I promise, if they had a scale, it would have weighed in at four pounds. That's the diet for me.

In the end, without knowing how long our order would take, we opted for the burger menu and were very pleased.
My wife ordered the Handcrafted Smokehouse Burger "topped with aged New York cheddar, applewood smoked bacon, tangy barbecue sauce, and crisp onion straws." Seriously, those little onion straw things are good. I do like the fact that they are willing to serve the burger cooked "medium". The Sometimes, places like this try to go overboard, offering up specialty tastes and such when all you want is a good burger. My wife and I both agreed that this was good, not overdone.
I opted for the Triple Prime Bacon Cheddar "with aged New York cheddar and applewood smoked bacon". Again, it was not overdone in terms of extra fancy flavors, just a good dollop of mayonnaise and the normal fixin's.

We both suspected that these burgers might be in a situation where they are pre-cooked, then delivered to the restaurant where the on-site cooks, then heat them up or finish cooking them to order. I don't know for sure, but I think that sort of thing goes on. Regardless, they were good.

I would say that Ruby Tuesday is a bit spendy if all you are looking for is a quick burger, but then again, if that's all you want, hit What-a-Burger for about half the cost. But for the atmosphere and the rest of the menu (including a full bar if you are so inclined), it was not that much more than a trip to Chili's, and the fries were better.

Have you tried out the Alamo Ranch Ruby Tuesday? Did you get good service like we did? Did you try something besides the huge selection of burgers? Leave a comment below and tell us about it.