Well we went to Ruby Tuesday’s again tonight. It is one of our most frequented dining establishments. The food is usually pretty good, and we both like the salad bar. They changed the menu recently, and have even more burgers than before. There are still only a couple that I would actually get, but between those and the “Tuesday’s Tenders” there is always something good to have.
Unfortunately, the service could be better. The one we went to tonight is usually better than some of the other ones (and almost anything beats the abysmal service at Applebee’s) but Friday is not the best time to go. This is the second time we’ve gone late on Friday and gotten worse service than usual.
It started off well when we were seated, and nobody showed up for a while to serve us. When Nicki finally showed up, we were ready to order dinner, rather than just drinks. That isn’t really that unusual, since we both know the menu well, and tend to know what we’re going to get by the time we sit down. In any case, we ordered drinks, which had to be repeated 3 times (difficult as it is to understand “diet coke”), and dinner. I got the Tenders entree (repeated twice), and added the salad bar (asked for by me, rather than offered by Nicki) and S got potato and salad. That turned out ok, but when my dinner came it was the appetizer not the dinner, so I had no fries or coleslaw. I really don’t care about the slaw, certainly, but I wanted my fries. The runner that brought the food said she’d go back and get fries and slaw, and came back a minute later with the slaw, and said the fries would be out soon. About half way through the meal Nicki finally showed up again and asked how our dinner was. We went through what had happened with my lack of fries, and she seemed confused, and checked the bill (which she already was dropping off at our table) and noted that she ordered the right thing, and would find my fries. She came back with them a few minutes later, so at least I got all my food.
S had put my coleslaw on the plate her potato came on, and I had shoved my empty plate over so I could eat my plate of belated fries, and Nicki came by and took the potato/slaw plate, and left my empty dinner plate. We both just started laughing. She took the food we hadn’t gotten to yet, but left the empty plate? Whatever, I didn’t want it anyway! She snagged the check on the way by and when she dropped it off again, I managed to catch her long enough to ask for a refill on my soda. Which she brought, but didn’t ask if S wanted hers filled or not either, even though it was empty before mine.
In the end things worked out ok, but no thanks to our server. I suppose if we want good serves, we should go somewhere like Ruth’s instead.