Ruth’s Chris Steak House is a luxury steakhouse chain with about 150 locations. Back in 2013 I first visited the Bonita Springs location and loved their Happy Hour. I thought the food and value were excellent. I decided to go back, recently, inviting two dining companions with me to hopefully have a similar experience as I did on my initial visit.
The ambience of the restaurant was essentially the same, with happy hour in the bar, daily from 4-6:30 PM.
The happy hour, at least for the food offerings, differed dramatically from my previous visit. Not only had the prices for each happy hour offering increased by about 25%, but the Menu had changed markedly from my initial visit.
Undeterred, my dining companions and I sampled a number of happy hour menu items. Initially, we split an order of crab beignets for the table. As with most restaurant-ordered seafood fritters, they were long in the fritter and short in the seafood. Although nicely flavored, I thought they were just OK.
Breaded and fried crab, jalapenos and cream cheese beignets (fritters) are served atop a spicy cucumber salad. Time to try a few more of the happy hour items.
One of my dining companions ordered the prime burger, presumably made with USDA prime meat. This was topped with Swiss cheese and served with the usual condiments (lettuce, tomato and onion) in addition to fries.
It was OK but nothing here would differentiate it from other burgers elsewhere.
My other dining companion ordered the steak sandwich. It was good, and served with hollandaise sauce, onion and lettuce and fries. Although good, the meat serving was anemic compared to my initial visit four years earlier and 25% more expensive.
For a more well-rounded evaluation, I ordered the roasted artisan chicken sandwich on pumpernickel bread, with cilantro-marinated chicken breast, brie cheese and a curry/peach compote. It was OK.
All in all, I was somewhat disappointed in the food offerings and the price increases. This is not an isolated incident. I have observed this trend in other national restaurant chains, locally.
Although the service at Ruth Chris was good, the food offerings left much to be desired. With many other great happy hours locally, it may be a while before I return.
It’s a wrap for another post on Forks
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
23151 Village Shops Way STE 101
Bonita Springs, FL 33928
Happy hour 4-630 PM daily, Waiting list available, No valet parking, All major credit cards accepted
Peter Horan, Southwest Florida Forks, posted on SouthFloridaReporter.com, Oct. 8, 2017
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