So Shannon got home a little early, so we were able to head over to the Birthday Celebration of Jen, Dusty and a belated one for Lindsay. We got there a little after the 6:30 arrival time, but it was ok, since we ended up waiting a whole lot longer for a table at the Texas Roadhouse.
The place was pretty sterotypical of many texas style steak houses, peanut shells on the flor, some dead animals (real or fake) on the walls, and etc. Nothing really out of the ordinary.
We waited...watched our number pass by, and then finally got a table. It brought a thought to my head and I found it kind of funny that we're willing to wait for an hour in a resturant, but can't wait for 2 minutes on the road... Also, during a discussion I had with Jen, we talked about how you really shouldn't pass final judgement on a resturant in the first couple of months that it's open...since...well...they're still breaking into running the place. I know that I have had the experience at a place up in Ames, at this deli, where intially the sandwhiches they ahd there were aweseom, but as they picked up traffic, the quality went down, to where they were only good. Or a place where ti starts off ok, but tweaks it to be better...
Anyways, our 15 member group sat down in three booths in the same section. Shannon and I, across from Lindsay and Josh.
The rolls that were set out for us, were pretty good and we ordered drinks and an appitizer (Rattlesnake Bites).
They delivered the first round of drinks and took the rest of our ordered, as we devoured more rolls.
The Rattlesnake Bites came, and they were pretty much, jalepeno poppers...a little better then your average, but not astounding in anysense of the word.
More rolls got eaten, since we were all very hungry. Shannon got her salad and Josh got his chili. Shannon's salad was pretty standard fare, lots of cheese, pretty mediocre selection of greens. It tasted ok...
The main course and sides came.
I had the Filet Medallions, which they say comes with a peppercorn or portobello mushroom sauce (whcih I got neither cause the waiter didn't ask what I wanted). Shannon had Country Fried Sirloin. I had a baked potato covered in bacon, cheese and sour cream, and a cup of chili, and Shannon had their mashed potatoes.
Well I was really hungry, so I cut myself off a piece of the Filet Medallions and what did I get? A piece of gristle and fat buried inside my meat. Not exactly what I was expecting. But what can you do, you know? The meat was done at about what I ordered (I had heard that Adam and Tiff had a much worse experience as far as the meat doneness went). And pretty good, after that first bite though...it was kind of a bad first impression. The poritons were pretty large and filling.
I tried Shannons' Country Fried Sirlion, which was actually pretty good and the mashed potatoes were actual mashed potatoes rather then reconstituted dried potatoes, and pretty good too. The gravy on here's was pretty good as well.
My chili...was...well...it wasn't bad per say, but the chili had a bit too much chili powder in it. It was kind of overpowering to the rest of the chili. If they toned it down a notch it would actually be probably pretty good.
My baked potato....well the insides were good, but the outsides had one of my pet peves. They had salted potato skins. And I know this is supposed to make the insides of the potato taste better, but I like eating the whole potato, skin and all, and when the skin is covered in salt, it's just too salty to eat.
The bed of rice that my filets were on...was just doused in soy sauce. Just covered. Just too much. The place just has too much salt.
The filets after that first bite were pretty good and certainly tasty. Not the best grilled meat I've had by any sense of the word, but certainly good.
Oh...and when I ordered my drink...it was...well I ordered a Sam Adams. and they brought me a winter lager. I like the Sam Adams, and I like the winter lager, but when I order a Sam Adams, I kinda expect the Sam Adams, not the winter lager...
Our tables had gotten served at various times, so Jen's table was done first, we second, and the third table didn't even have thier main courses by the time we were done eating.
Shannon and I took home a lot of leftovers, which we at today...and on my 3rd filet, I also had a nice chunk of gristle in it too...Thrilling.
But what made it a decent experience overall was that it wasn't that expensive. The total bill including tip came up as 45$ and considering we've been dropping one and a half to twice that (all be it on meals that are much better), it was actually kind of refreshing.
We'll go again, if it's somewhere that someone else wants to go...and maybe give it another chance if we want blasting country and peanut shells under our feet...