Texas Roadhouse

Great place to eat, staff is exceptional! Love it when it is someone’s birthday and they saddle up and when the staff line dances!

Native Texan here. And apart from the fact Texas Roadhouse is a national chain that was founded in Indiana and headquartered in Kentucky, they do a DECENT job of trying to replicate the food you’d get at much better known establishments in my beloved Lone Star State. How you know Texas Roadhouse isn’t 100% authentic is there is no fried okra on the menu; in Texas, it is ALWAYS beef ribs—NEVER pork; and Texans don’t say “Yeehaw” anywhere (but probably at Texas Roadhouse). The draw here are their steaks. But it kind of never matters which cut of steak we order, it’s just mediocre. I just go for the Southern Fried Sirloin—which again, you KNOW it’s not 100% Texan because it is ONLY and EVER referred to as Chicken Fried Steak in Texas—or the south, period. I’m splitting hairs on this only because I know my stuff. Besides, once you’ve visited authentic Texas steakhouses or been to Japan where the BEST steaks and real wagyu beef is from, you’re kind of ruined for life ordering steak from anywhere else. A real Texas steakhouse would have a pit somewhere on the property. You’d be able to smell the food before even getting out of your car. But Texas Roadhouse doesn’t have a pit, which explains why their ribs and chicken aren’t smoked and are too wet with sauce. Slapping sauce onto meat (without even bothering to leave it long enough on the grill to carmelize) is a sign of a bad pit master trying to cover up bad barbcue. And again—we don’t do pork ribs in Texas. Texas Roadhouse has to know this on some level too because they don’t explicitly identify their ribs as being beef or pork on their menu. They just refer to them as ribs, and what you get is pork. And it’s probably because beef ribs are harder to do. Texas Roadhouse in Altoona is probably the most popular eating establishment in the area because Altoona just doesn’t have much of a food scene to speak of. Texas Roadhouse is just fine, but it speaks volumes of how the lack of food diversity can stunt an area. This place is always packed. And the service seems fine enough. But if you order a house salad as a side (because there is no fried okra) be prepared to get a whole lotta toppings and very little lettuce. I’m not sure if there has been a lettuce shortage for the past 6 months, but despite being very good about serving bright leafy green salads when we first started patronizing this particular location, lately, 2/3rds of our house salads have been composed mostly of egg, bacon, and cheese. This last time we went, the waitress even asked me if I wanted extra bacon, egg, and cheese crumbles and I told her no. But my salad still came with a ton of toppings and a smidgeon of lettuce mixed in. I’m not a big salad muncher to begin with, but sheesh—if even I am complaining about the lack of lettuce, there’s a problem. Anyhoo—Texas Roadhouse Altoona is the best restaurant chain in this neck of the woods, for what it’s worth.

Had a great experience tonight. The place seemed packed, but didn’t slow anything down as far as our service goes. Greeted as soon as we came in, walked back to our seat, and then provided excellent service from our server (Riley). The manager, Hannah, even stopped by to make sure we were satisfied with everything. Will definitely be back. This place clearly has processes in place.

Great food! Not too bad prices! My son had the Ranger steak & it was cooked perfectly. He ate it all, which is a feet. 😂