Dave M.
Yelp
I've been to Ruth's Chris in other locations over the years. When you think of this restaurant, other chains also come to mind... Morton's, Flemings, Capital Grille, etc. Basically, these are chains meant for business travelers with expense accounts; overpriced, nice atmosphere/environment, and attentive service. But the recently opened Ruth's in West Des Moines, IA better get their "stuff" together soon, or they will be a memory.
My wife and I decided to have a night out and try the new Ruth's. We arrived at 6:30 pm and made our way to the upstairs bar area for dinner at the bar. Very few people were up there when we arrived, but over the course of the next 30 minutes, it started filling up. "Popular place" I thought, which is cool.
We were hungry, so we placed our dinner order with our order of a bottle of wine ($58 for Alexander Valley Cab; again - overpriced, but hey, you're at Ruth's Chris). We ordered two steaks with vegetable sides (broccoli and creamed spinach). The wine promptly was delivered.... the rest.... ???
For over 45 minutes, we waited for two filets (6 oz and 8 oz) to be served with our veggie sides. The bartender was doing a good job displaying his own progressive frustration with the delay; he offered the obligatory "Your entree's are on the way", then shifting to the "I'm sorry for the delay, they're working on it" apology, to finally asking another employee to check on our meals because "these people have been waiting a long time" plead.
Now, for the record, I know the bartender has little to do with the food service, so this is not a criticism of him. But I will say that he could have lit a fire under the butt of his "roaming around the room doing nothing" floor manager a lot sooner. Hint to Mr. Bartender the next time this happens!
So, 45-minutes after we ordered at this "high-class" supposedly great service steakhouse, we get our meals. If you live in Des Moines or have plans to come here and want a good steak, just skip this place and head downtown to 801 Chophouse on Grand. Ok... enough of the plug (even though it's accurate)... back to the review.
Our steaks were baked to temperature in the masking butter that RC is known for, but nothing special. Frankly, I've been to Longhorn and had equivalent. My wife's shrimp (she order the 6 oz filet with two shrimp) were overcooked. How can you tell, you ask? If you bite into shrimp and it chews like a dog chewing on a rubber bone, you can bet that it's overcooked. Perhaps its because it was just sitting there on a scathing hot plate with a butter-sizzling steak for probably 15 minutes longer than it should... I don't know!
Finally, the best part (for Ruth's Chris)... the check!
After the lousy service and average at-best food, they deliver a bill for $200!! They knew we had a bad experience, and they did not even offer, let alone INSIST, on a discount. No problem, Ruth... I'll make sure plenty of potential customers know about the level of "quality" that is found here. To all others: You've been warned!