I have a $100 gift card to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse!

Cafe Society
1

So, I won a $100 gift card to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. I’ve never been before, so I’m curious what to expect. I am more familiar with chains like Chili’s, rather than high-dollar places like Ruth’s Chris.

So, what is an experience there like? What should my wife and I wear? Will $100 last me long there? (The website, of course, does not include prices. I assume that if you have to ask…) While we like drinks, we’re not much into wine. I wouldn’t even know what to order, and my wife wouldn’t likely enjoy it any way. The website has a page to make reservations. I assume that reservations are required and that we shouldn’t just drop in (a la Chili’s).

Is the place worth the hype? We probably would go to the location in Austin. What are your experiences with Ruth’s Chris?

2

It’s a high end steak house, which means if you’re not careful you could drop well over $250 for the two of you by ordering drinks, wine, sides, etc.

If you skip the before dinner cocktails, skip the wine or only a glass each, split a side or two between you and order steaks on the inexpensive side (LOL), you just might come in under $100. It’ll be hard IMHO.

3

I got one when I bought my last new car. Thinking whoopee, I took my Mom and still had to lay out another $60 + tip. No drinks.

Ask to share your sides and entrees. They’re OK with that, although I don’t know if they charge for sharing.

4

Steaks run $30 and up, sides are $5 bucks, salads and appetizers 10 to 15. It adds up. Without wine but not including tip, we usually spend $100 to 150. One side each, share a caper se salad, two filets. The coffee marinated filet is a.maz.ing.

5

Win another one and take your wife out for dinner.

6

Yep. That $100 will cover a decent meal for you, solo. Bring a date and it will hardly cover the entrees.

7

You can wear anything from a suit to khakis and a polo and nobody will care. You can also wear jeans and a tee shirt as long as you order the 5lb lobster and the expensive Scotch :slight_smile: .

Don’t think of the $100 card as payment for your whole meal, but think of it as a great discount. It may actually cover everything if you skimp, but instead enjoy your night out for $60 or so out of your pocket.

Everything is Ala Carte so you will pay for an appetizer, the salad, the steak, the veggie (share one or two), and any desert. Actually, you could probably share everything but the steak (entree)… that would seem tacky/cheap to me. I’ve had some great luck with the specials where they are trying to introduce new sauces and you get 3 4-5 oz fillets with different sauces.

No drinks will cut your bill significantly, but they do serve beer for not too unreasonable of a price.

8

Yeah, dress is supposed to be “business casual,” meaning a polo and khakis type thing but I went in with a tshirt and jeans once not knowing the dress code. I was with family and we probably dropped over $1000, so no one said anything, but I felt out of place. At least my shirt only had a small breast logo on it and it wasn’t a Lynard Skynard concert T or something.

Reservations are required, I’ve seen them turn away a well-to-do man and wife because they didn’t know.

I think steaks at our local one are $36. If you don’t drink and just share one appetizer, you might squeak by paying little more than $100. Their bleu cheese steak is probably one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.

9

The experience… not one bit like Chili’s. You need reservations. Show up and give them your name and you may be seated right away or it could be a short wait. You will not be given a beeper. They will find you and let you know when they are ready.

It will be dim with lots of heavy dark wood and leather. There will probably be a fire place somewhere in view. You will have a white cloth table cloth and cloth napkins. They don’t provide crayons so don’t color on the table cloth. Big bottles of wine all over the place.

The person who shows you to the table will likely help any women in the party into their chairs if you don’t do so, and will likely place the napkin in your laps. You will be given a menu and I can’t remember if they do it there but only yours may have prices. A different person will be by shortly if not already pouring you water. Another may be by shortly to bring you bread.

Your main waiter/waitress will be by shortly and take drink orders and ask if you have been there before and if not explain the whole menu and specials.

Making a long story short(er) you take a sip of your water and it will be topped off by someone you didn’t see. An empty plate will be removed in short order, and crumbs will be scrapped off of the table cloth before the next dish is delivered. You can make the biggest faux pas and the wait staff will treat it as perfectly normal. There will be about 5-6 people who take care of you… only tip once, they will share.

Enjoy both the experience and the food, have a great time, and treat the gift card as a discount on the meal… it is well worth it in my opinion.

10

The food and service should be excellent, so enjoy. As others have noted, it will be pricey. Anywhere from $80 to $120 per person with only one drink.

11

$100 isn’t going to cut it. Stayed in a swanky hotel in Fort Worth a few years ago, had a Ruth’s Chris in it.

I worked all day, the little lady worked all day, an hour drive to the airport, FLY, then get a rental car and find our way to the hotel. Ruth’s Chris was still open, we were both dirty, tired and hungry.

It was an excellent meal. The steak was so rich it actually hurt my teeth.

A few beers, a few sides and a few steaks, maybe an appetizer? was $175, just the 2 of us. And a creme-de-menthe or however you spell it afterwards.

Since it was late, the manager thought he would be nice and have our shitty rental car ($46 for the whole weekend) brought up from the valet. Got our name off the card we paid with.

Problem is, we weren’t leaving, we were staying in the swanky hotel, crappy rental car and work clothes and all, fucking awesome my car is ready for me, I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!

That set off a rather entertaining shit storm. The little lady let loose. She was tired, she had a long week, a cocktail on the plane and a few at the steak house.

I just stood back and looked at the poor dude like he deserved it, and he did. Fucker didn’t think we could afford to stay in the swanky hotel. That was 4 years ago, and that guy’s ass probably still hurts from where my little lady took a chunk out of it.

Good meal though.

It was a Nascar weekend, should I have worn a Dale Earnhardt Jr. tie?
Dumbasses.

12

I had a $200 gift card for Ruth’s Chris a while back, and my wife and I went there for dinner. We didn’t order anything terribly fancy, just one drink each, and I think a salad and entree each. I don’t remember whether we had dessert. I still ended up paying out about $40 if I recall on top of the gift card. And, frankly, I wasn’t impressed. Portions were relatively small and nothing to write home about. The drinks were very good, but they were also $14 each. The steak I got was supposed to be 8 ounces, but looked smaller to me, and cost close to $50. You want potatoes with that? Oh, that’s $9 extra. A “medium” steak was cooked brown all the way through. The service was good, but not outstanding, just what I would expect in a decent restaurant. I left with the impression that I could have gotten a better meal at Outback, and barely spent more than I did without needing a gift card.

13

Oooorrrrrr, maybe the manager was just trying to be a great manager and thought he was doing you a favor.

Really class act by your drunk-ass wife and yourself.

14

I didn’t want to come in and crap on others’ comments, but since you mentioned it. . .:smiley: I went to an RC in DC and, like you, was unimpressed other than by the ridiculous prices. I haven’t been back.

15

Now now, don’t jump to conclusions. All we know is that she is a little lady.

16

Well, since you have a gift card I won’t hate on the establishment too much, but as far as upper crust chain steakhouses go Ruth’s Chris is merely good, not great. Like others have said, the $100 isn’t going to be a free meal but merely a heavily discounted meal. Pretend like you’re going to the world’s nicest Chili’s and will pay/eat accordingly.

I hope you left out some details that would work to your benefit. Like Sick Ate, I don’t really see what the fuss was about. Just give the valet a buck or three and say “Sorry bud. I’m actually staying here tonight” and go to bed. Also, as someone who used to work in the service industry, that dude’s ass is probably just fine and your little lady is just one of a long line of “Can you believe these people actually exist?” stories that gets traded around on slow afternoons.

17

Stupid-ass hillbillies.

18

:eek:

I don’t know about her size, but she doesn’t seem very ladylike (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

19

Out of curiosity, I just checked their menu out online. Man does the website suck balls! Anyway, their menu didn’t really do anything for me. Their selections suck in my opinion. Do people eat sushi as an appetizer at a steak house? That seemed weird to me. But then again, I don’t eat raw fish. So what do I know?

20

My personal pet peeve sushi != raw fish.