Times Change, Attitudes Change, We Get Over It...

My wife and I enjoyed a delicious meal at Ruby Tuesday in Alamo Ranch this evening. We were treated with great care from the waitstaff, and I am starting to think that for a nice quiet dining experience at a reasonable price, this will be one of the places that I prefer to go.
I shan't bother you with the full details of our selections since I reported on Ruby Tuesday just a month or so ago (read about it here), and just suffice to say that the salad bar is simply wonderful. My wife's salad is on the left, mine is on the right. Can you tell which one of us was really starving? Oh, and those really dark croutons? They are awesome. Do not let your salad go without tossing on a handful or so.

Ruby Tuesday is not what I would consider to be upscale per se, I mean, a jacket and tie is not required but people do seem to be at least wearing their duds from the office. There is no valet parking (and if someone does attempt to park your car for you, they are probably a thief), and our waitress didn't come equipped with one of those fancy towels draped over her arm as she poured wine. Though that may have been possible, had we ordered wine. My point is, it isn't Morton's, but it isn't McDonald's either.
There was a time when men would not enter a building wearing a hat; men would remove hats in the presence of a lady and certainly, no man of any culture would wear his hat into a restaurant. And this was a custom that two diners at different tables near us had failed to appreciate during our dining experience this evening.

Just so you don't think this is an assault on the younger generation, I should tell you that both of these gentlemen were in there mid to late 50's. Now in my grandfather's day, someone might have walked up to one of these fellows and asked them politely to respect the women folk and remove their cap. I suspect though that before it got to that, a manager may have intervened.

But times and certainly styles have changed. Men these days have to be cajoled by stadium announcers to please remove their hats for the playing of the National Anthem. But as the types of hat styles have changed over the years, as it has become common-place for people to wear jeans or sweatpants instead of slacks, so too has our acceptance of more casual wear in the work place.

Remember when only sailors and criminals had tattoos? Remember when a man wearing an earring meant he was either a pirate or gay? Have you been to the airport lately and watched middle-aged woman after middle-aged woman have to be wanded by the TSA employee to verify that the metal detected is a belly-button piercing and not a gun?

I hate to discuss work here, but I was actually involved in a conversation today about an employee who was alleged to appear unprofessional. The complaint? No it wasn't about how well the person did their job - in fact the customer had nothing but praise for the employee's courtesy, kindness and professionalism. Instead, it was thought that the piercing on the employees lip was so outrageous that something had to be said to management. It was suggested that the employee be moved out of sight. Oh, you mean where they keep the Blacks and the Mexicans?

The explanation given was that the employee was in a customer facing position - that is, seen by the public - and that just as this customer had been offended by the sight of such a thing - a piercing of the lip, other customers would also be offended. And of course, a piercing doesn't give the appearance of a professional organization.

So said the man wearing jeans and a cap in the professional office.

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So I sat with my wife and enjoyed the great service and wonderful meal at Ruby Tuesday's this evening, in spite of the fact that other diners chose to wear their caps indoors. Was the site of someone else's appearance, in spite of my particular views on the appropriateness of it going to ruin my meal? Not in this lifetime.

Times change. Attitudes change. Get over it.

Thoughts?

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.

Dinner Report: Chili's on 1604 at Culebra - You are on Notice!

Let's be clear; I am a Chili's person. I have said it before and I continue to believe that for a reasonable price, you can go to most Chili's restaurants, get some decent food, and it will be consistent with your previous several visits, regardless of location.

But in the past six or eight months, I have noticed an extremely consistent trend in crazy service in the bar section of the 1604 and Culebra Chili's, and I simply can't let it go beyond this evening; Chili's, you people need to know that directly across 1604, all that dust and construction and loads of new traffic are several new competitors that are just waiting to get started on earning my business.

But let me just fill you in on our experience tonight. First, it isn't so much our waiter. We have had this kid before and he is a good, friendly waiter. The problem is with the rest of the people milling about as if shift change is like some sort of two-hour overlap process where nobody does any actual work.

When we walked in around 4:30PM, the place was empty. The hostess immediately went to seat us in the regular dining section but my wife asked her if we had to sit in the bar to qualify for Happy Hour specials. (Don't even get me started on Happy Hour!) The hostess turned us around and sat us at a booth in the bar area and aside from the fact that there were only a few people in the area, we immediately noticed that there was no bartender.

This was not a problem because our intent was to eat, but it was a sign of something bad. An experience we had on previous seating's in this same area. By the way, am I the only person who finds it a tad bit unhealthy that they toss the receipt for the drinks in the tops of the drinks? In other words, say you are sitting in the regular area but you order a beer. Your server goes to the bar, orders up your beer then walks away to take some other customer their drinks. When the bartender (assuming they are there) fills your beer to about two inches below the top of the tall glass, thus serving you the same amount as if your ordered a regular size, he or she then takes the receipt and tosses into the top of the glass so your server will know which table to take it to. I trust the ink is edible.

So anyway, our server comes by and says he'll be right with us then leaves for about 10 minutes. I notice that two guys, apparently contractors of some sort, are seated at the bar near our table. Both these guys are working the cell phones, but are kind enough to leave the restaurant each time the phone rings.The result is, for the majority of the time we were there, these two guys would take quick chugs of beer, then be outside for 5 to ten minutes at a stretch.I trust they were coordinating the building of a new restaurant in Alamo Ranch while waiting for refills of beer.

I keep noticing the staff just hanging around, maybe having a meeting of some sort, and even though they are technically standing in the "employees only" area, they are in clear view of the customers. I could just tell that this was not going to be a quick dinner.I ordinarily limit my Chili's consumption of beverages to either unsweetened iced tea or a single tall Miller Lite. Because of the unreasonably slow service, I was forced to order a second tall Miller Lite. This would have been fine had I not been waiting for an extra long time. And here is the real problem. If you sit in the bar area, you see everything that is going on in the bar, you know that you could simply get up, serve yourself a tall water, a fresh lemonade, or in this case, a Miller Lite, and it would happen in a reasonable time. If it was a case of a bartender constantly making drinks, mixing Margaritas or doing all sorts of Tom Cruise Cocktail tricks, you could sit back and wait your turn. But there was no one at the bar, yet three feet away, multiple Chili's uniformed servers chit-chatting and milling about like they were waiting for the results of a horse race.... and then my burger came. I went with the Jalapeno Smokehouse Big Mouth Bacon Burger. When cooked right, this puppy is seriously YUM! But if we mistake "medium-well" for "stick it in the microwave until it is overdone, then leave it on the counter until it is only slightly warm", it isn't that great.My wife ordered some mushroom burger and asked for bacon on it, but was then upset that her bacon wasn't the same real thick good bacon that came on my Big Mouth Bacon Burger. Bacon discrimination: Call LULAC.

Oh, I checked my receipt later. We didn't even get Happy Hour prices on the drinks we ordered. WTH?

Yes, Alamo Ranch is open. We Culebra folk' now have our own version of Bandera Pointe - no, better yet, The Rim! So let us count the competitors ready to take my money:

• Logan's Raodhouse: I used to go to the one up on I-10 until Texas Roadhouse opened at Ingram and 410. This Logan's will be closer.
• Mama Margie's: We enjoy the one on I-10, but this one is, say it with me.... Closer!
• Ruby Tuesday: Fairly new around here but I've enjoyed them in airports and this is going to be a shocker, they are pretty much like Chili's.
• Red Robin: How many times have I yammered on about Red Robin? And now I won't have to drive to The Rim. Hell, I'll pull into Home Depot (or the new Lowe's if they don't get their act together) and then pop in for one of those huge stacks of onion rings, and a burger with an egg on top.

Be warned Chili's at 1604 and Culebra, your competitors are calling and I'm not in the mood for crappy service.