Yup. Always packed pre-COVID.@Flash wrote:
Pre-COVID their parking lot was always full around mealtime and the benches on the porch full of people waiting for tables. We are at I believe 25% occupancy with 50% occupancy coming soon. Roadhouse is open but the parking lot has lots of space and no one is waiting outside. I suspect they may be doing call ahead appointments for tables.
CEO Wayne Kent Taylor jokingly calls it the "redneck Outback."@sandyf wrote:
I know nothing about this restaurant...
@Flash wrote:
It is a restaurant that what it doesn't deep fry it cooks forever with enough salt to rapidly raise your blood pressure. When we did shops we watched as the morbidly obese waddled in and out of the restaurant--leaving with bags and boxes of leftovers. We only did a couple of shops because the food was just so antithetical to a healthy diet.
@Flash wrote:
It is a restaurant that what it doesn't deep fry it cooks forever with enough salt to rapidly raise your blood pressure. When we did shops we watched as the morbidly obese waddled in and out of the restaurant--leaving with bags and boxes of leftovers. We only did a couple of shops because the food was just so antithetical to a healthy diet.
@sandyf wrote:
I know nothing about this restaurant as they do not exist where I live but I got the impression shoppers liked this shop (perhaps only because the food was reimbursed).
@shoptastic wrote:
Best description I heard is that Texas Roadhouse does simple American food exceptionally well.
A lot of it is freshness (everything made and cut that same day). It's good proportion sizing and value too. And good taste. It's not fancy French, Italian, Japanese, etc. cuisine. But it's simple food done exceptionally well at an affordable price. Plus endless crack addict bread and peanuts.
TX has the highest percentage of their chains, sandyf, but they are located everywhere in the U.S.@sandyf wrote:
You got me at the endless peanuts. I could just eat peanuts in the shell and bread for dinner and be as happy as a clam, esp since I do not eat clams. I guess I have to try it when i am in tex ass.
@Dandydew wrote:
I LOVE Texas Roadhouse! Especially "Road Kill" and the house salad with Honey Mustard dressing. The bottled steak sauce is great too. I buy a bottle every now and then for home use. I have tried to find a good knock-off recipe for the honey mustard dressing, but no luck. A waitress once told me it has apple juice in it. That's all I know!
@shoptastic wrote:
TX has the highest percentage of their chains, sandyf, but they are located everywhere in the U.S.@sandyf wrote:
You got me at the endless peanuts. I could just eat peanuts in the shell and bread for dinner and be as happy as a clam, esp since I do not eat clams. I guess I have to try it when i am in tex ass.
My mom's favorite restaurant is TXRH, so it has a special place in my heart. I will always love the place. She can be super cheap - I love her, but it's an annoying habit - and I've seen her eat practically all free bread and all free peanuts (with a glass of water) throughout the night, while taking a few small bites of her meal and taking the meal home ON TOP OF some extra free rolls! We only go on $9.99 special nights too, so she really gets a mega-bargain.
@sandyf wrote:
There are none in my area and reading this forum is the only place I have learned of them...I said i would try them when i go to Texas because I am going to Texas in a few months..Just looked it up and there in fact TxRH in California but not anywhere I ever go.
We have very few chain restaurants of this type that are nationwide where I live. Personally I think it is because there is no empty land to build the type of restaurant that has a parking lot and a building. Recently some of this type of restaurant has popped up in remodeled shopping malls which have increasingly become restaurant malls with a few retail rather than retail malls with a few restaurants.
@shoptastic wrote:
Hmmm. Interesting. If I remember correctly, you're in Southern California (if not, no worries and no need to reveal). I lived and worked in SoCal previously and can see how it wouldn't be as big of a cultural brand there perhaps. Space is definitely an issue in many areas.
You are right. I live in Los Angeles right near the beach. As i mentioned some of the shopping centers have become restaurant heavy but also with many pricey places. A mall a few blocks away has a Ruth Chris, a Yard House, a Pan Quotidian (probably spelled wrong) and a host of other places that might have a handful of other locations but where entrees are $25 and up. On the streets almost every restaurant is a one or two locations only place. I guess they would be called mom and pop but mom and pop are gourmet trained chefs with fancy food. These places have hefty prices too. If I want to eat in my neighborhood i go to the places that have been around forever, not these places. I see Texas roadhouse in Anaheim and east of LA. All of them are an hours drive or more from my house, although right now traffic is light. There is no such thing as 6 seconds off the freeway. It takes longer than that to get thru the traffic once you exit!! And places close to freeway exits are usually the old places that have been around and are cheap with street parking if you can find it.
Yes, lots of mom and pop restaurants that have amazingly trained chefs....that is something I remember of LA and OC. So many amazing ethnic restaurants too that are not chains, but family-owned.@sandyf wrote:
You are right. I live in Los Angeles right near the beach. As i mentioned some of the shopping centers have become restaurant heavy but also with many pricey places. A mall a few blocks away has a Ruth Chris, a Yard House, a Pan Quotidian (probably spelled wrong) and a host of other places that might have a handful of other locations but where entrees are $25 and up. On the streets almost every restaurant is a one or two locations only place. I guess they would be called mom and pop but mom and pop are gourmet trained chefs with fancy food. These places have hefty prices too. If I want to eat in my neighborhood i go to the places that have been around forever, not these places. I see Texas roadhouse in Anaheim and east of LA. All of them are an hours drive or more from my house, although right now traffic is light. There is no such thing as 6 seconds off the freeway. It takes longer than that to get thru the traffic once you exit!! And places close to freeway exits are usually the old places that have been around and are cheap with street parking if you can find it.
@shoptastic wrote:
I have nightmares of the 405 freeway when I lived in SoCal, so I can imagine Wayne Kent Taylor trying out his 6 second rule and 30 minutes later still unable to get off an exit ramp during rush hour.