Sarah C.
Yelp
There's a first time for everything. I have eaten at Ruth Chris too many times to count over the years. I return frequently because despite being a chain, which I tend to avoid, generally speaking both the food and the service are consistently lovely. Last night was the very first time I have ever been less than 100% satisfied. Not only was I not 100% satisfied...I was not satisfied at all. We arrived to a fairly empty restaurant with a reservation for 13. Half of our party had a completely different dining experience than the other half. One table appeared to have a relatively good dining experience. My table on the other hand...did not.
Starting with the service. Despite not being busy we had to ask for water, bread, drink refills, etc We poured our own wine. When salads and soups arrived they remained on the table almost the full 40 minutes between their arrival and the arrival of our main course. Finally, when the other half of our party was having their dessert menus delivered I went to the bar to ask for a manager. After another 10 minutes past, I went back to ask for the manager again. By this point, our entrées had arrived, but the manager had not stopped by to offer so much as an apology. Despite the long wait, some entrées still arrived incorrectly. At this point, I went back to the bar to ask to speak to the manager again. The manager came out and spoke to me briefly, apologized, and disappeared.
The bill arrived and was paid by my business partner. The manager never came back by. The only reason I knew that we had also been charged for a $170 bottle of wine we didn't drink, was I happened to look on the itemized bill. I took the bill back inside the bartender, who took the bill to the manager. The bill was adjusted to remove the bottle of wine and included a discount (less than 20%) for our well below par experience.
It was returned to me by the bartender. The manager did not even bother to come back. Worst Ruth Chris experience my life. I was shocked and really surprised it was handled so poorly.
The only saving graces were the bartender who was incredibly polite and did his best to get someone to help me and the waiter for the other half of the party who apologized more sincerely and frequently than the manager or our waiter. My steak was cooked properly, but by the time it arrived I was beyond frustrated with the experience and had mostly lost my appetite.
Everybody has a bad day and maybe it was just that. But when the downfalls of the evening are so frequent and very obviously the fault of the restaurant, there should not be a $1000+ bill with a discount for delayed service that the manager did not even convey herself.