Is Home Depot a Date Night Destination? Ruby Tuesday Review - Middletown, NY

It is only on the rarest of occasions and often a matter of convenience that we will eat at the big box restaurants.  Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Ruby Tuesday are a few in Middletown and we dine there when we are combining a night or afternoon or errands with food.  A recent Friday night found us in Home Depot picking out new bathroom flooring:

These are tiles designed to look like wood flooring and for the sake of the photograph are laid out on the bedroom carpet.

Once we completed our selection and a few other errands it was a quick drive across the parking lot to Ruby Tuesday.

I do have a weak spot for biscuits.  All biscuits.  I was content and calmed by the plate of biscuits which came to our table not long after we ordered.

Next up, a classic Margarita.  I have a confession to make; the summer of 2013 has been one filled with the fun and salty Margarita.  Once I find a cocktail I like it is hard to make a switch to something else.  This explains why the last 10 years or so have been filled with Cosmopolitans.

We decide to share an appetizer and the Mr. leaves the decision making up to me.  Sometimes it feels like a trap.  He knows I am more than aware of what he likes and I do want us both to be happy.  Shrimp fondue?  Well, that is what the menu called it, but in reality it was a cheesy dip for tortillas with some small shrimp mixed in.  Fine.  Not a dish I would lose any sleep over if I could never have it again.

Ruby Tuesday does offer a streamlined ordering process by listing the variety of available side dishes at the bottom of the menu. Once I decided on the steak it was easy to put it all together with some mashed cauliflower (not available everywhere) and spaghetti squash (also not necessarily on locally owned restaurants).  I'm kind of excited for my meal.

Fancy?  No, not at all.  Well prepared, yes and bottom line, I enjoyed eating it.

The Mr. went out of his restaurant comfort zone and ordered seafood.  The lobster meat was sweet and tender (yes, he gives me little forkfuls on my plate so I can try it) and I politely said no thank you to the shrimp as well as the macaroni and cheese.  I took his word for it that they were well prepared and seasoned.

A date night.  Conversation roams over the routine and the meal, the upcoming bathroom renovation and we are content. Comfortably Fed Well.  The big box has its time and place and I watch as a mother switches the hip her baby is resting on as she holds a plate from the salad bar.  I missed seeing how she was able to place food on it while holding the little one.  A father walks a young boy to the bathroom.  We are in a place for families and really, what could be bad about that?