Cuisine: Steak, Chops & Ribs Restaurant Features: Bar, On-Site Parking Location: Coon Rapids, MN
Links: Texas Roadhouse Website
Atmosphere: Downhome FUN! As you walk in the front door, the first thing to greet you is a stand of cute, bubbly hostesses (make sure you Call Ahead to put your name on the list and get a confirmation number;the Texas Roadhouse is always PACKED). Adjacent to the hostess stand is a juke box stocked with classic & popular hee-haw music; play a few of your favorites (complimentary) and listen to them play throughout the large U-shaped restaurant (bar is in the middle of the restaurant). Although the restaurant is quite large, the Roadhouse literally packs 'em in, table-to-table with just a small path to the "Outhouse" at the back of the restaurant. The bathroom is not really an outhouse, but it does have only 3 stalls and a line almost out the door.
Apparently, the Texas Roadhouse is a popular spot for birthday celebrations; we knew this because no less than 6 times did the entire wait staff come together to serenade the birthday guest. It was actually kind of funny to see, while being sung to, the birthday guest had to sit on a wooden "horse" complete with saddle, with the chandelier doubling as a "spotlight" on said guest. (In this case the guy with in the black sweater (back to camera) on the left side.
Menu: The Texas Roadhouse is known for their steaks. Check 'em out before you order!
Beside the steaks pictures above, other popular menu items include Fall-off-the-bone ribs, chicken- fried-chicken, BBQ or smothered chicken, grilled porkchops, catfish and walleye. If you're hungry while looking over the menu, enjoy the peanuts and hot buns with sweet butter…they're sure to tide you over. Texas Roadhouse Menu
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Price Guide:
Appetizers $5-9
Steaks: $9-$19
Ribs: $13-$17
Entrees: $8-$13
What I ordered:
The menu proclaimed its famous "made-from-scratch-recipe" Texas Chilli, so I chose that as one of the two sides that came with my steak. I mistakenly assumed that "made from scratch recipe" meant homemade, but unless my taste buds deceive me, this chili tasted like it came straight out of a can. Besides the chunky tomatoes and mildly-spicy kick, I was highly disappointed with the chili. Next time I would defintely get the side house or ceasar salad as one of my sides instead.
Since the Texas Roadhouse is known for their steaks, I decided to go with the 12oz ribeye (medium) smothered with muchrooms, onions and jack cheese, with texas steak fries as my second side. The flavor of the mushrooms and the seasoning on the steak had a hint of garlic, pepper and salt. The ribeye was cooked exactly to medium, but I thought it should have been more tender than it was, as it was a little on the tough side. The fries were slightly crispy and nice and hot on the inside, lightly salted.
My companion ordered the 16oz prime rib (medium rare). The cut was thick and tender as can be, with a slightly aged flavor. The au jois was also very flavorful. Probably the best large prime rib you will find for $17.99!
Service: Other than having to call ahead 2-3 hours before you'd like to dine-in, the service was very good. As I mentioned earlier, the staff was very fun and friendly. Our server did an excellent job keeping up with refilling the drinks for our party of six and kept bringing additional baskets of the warm buns. Our food took approximately 30 minutes to arrive, but the peanuts and buns (not to mention good company) made the time pass extremely fast.
I will definitely go back to the Texas Roadhouse in the near future.
The food here is great, I haven’t had meals that tasted this good at a restaurant in a long time. And the service is just as terrific, our drinks were always filled when we wanted or when they had gotten low. My family and I will always come back to eat at this resaurant.
Just wanted to tell you – I have been referred by a co-worker to go Texas Roadhouse, just made plans with friends to do that – Co-worker told me this morning they went to your place on Saturday 4/12/08 a party of 7 and was told they would not be seated together – that you WOULD not try to accomadate them – It would be a cold day in HELL before I would accept my “dinner party” to be split up – BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE -I will not try your establishment now-You must be busy enough to not care about peoples needs – You lost repetitive customers over that ordeal and lost atleast 3 (families) future customers.
Too busy to eat in, takeout was fine other than the fries were cold and the burger ordinary.
Tonight was my first visit at this Ranch. It was my Grand Daughter’s 20th. Birthday. We were treated with very much respect by MGR Diana. She was great. Being a retired Law Man, I have dealed with a lot of people and she was just super. Don’t let her get away from you.
Your Friend,
Jack
sorry excuse for restaurant food. Believe me, none of it is better than the chili mentioned. It all comes frozen or out of a can. the steaks are so salty (and probably stored that way) that they are completely void of all moisture. It’s amazing that a resaurant can serve such poor quality food. It’s doubly amazing that north metro types flock there in hordes. I guess if you have never had good food…
duh.. you took your food home of course it’s going to be cold. And it’s not a fast food restaurant.. there is going to be a wait.
Try another place.
I’ve driven past this place a few times so for my birthday I decided that its where I wanted to go with my family. We had people traveling from up to 45 minutes away. Being they would not take reservations we called an hour ahead (longest they would allow) and we were told to call back in 1.5 hours to see if they would have a spot for us. No thanks. You not only lost me as a customer but my whole family.
Andy, sorry to hear about your bad experience at the Texas Roadhouse. Please note that the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog is not affiliated with Texas Roadhouse in any way. I am independent and do reviews of all the local restaurants I dine at…..
I had one of the best pulled pork sandwiches I’ve ever had here. Next time you go (if you go back) try it!
modern space cowboy
Thanks for dinner last night. Everyone was very friendly.
I’m very happy to see that we finally have a Texas Roadhouse in Minnesota. I have been hard pressed to find anyone who didn’t enjoy themselves and have a good meal when visiting the Texas Roadhouse. I frequent them in many other states I travel in and find the atmosphere here in MN to be consistent to those all across the country; fun, high energy, and accomodating. I find the Texas Roadhouse provides about the best piece of meat you can find for the price point in a chain restaurant experience. I look forward to future locations popping up in Minnesota soon.
I had the worst piece of meat in my life the other night.I ordered Prime Rib and could not identify what I was served. Also discovered that the Ribs are very dry and crispy.
I’ve been to Texas Roadhouse three times, after discovering it in Illinois. I absolutely love it (and the wait/crowds are proof enough). Outback and other steak places in its price range aren’t even close. If you want to spend $60/person then you can do better.