Texas Roadhouse

Chain restaurants.  Many thoughts...they are convenient, they are perfect for families with children of all ages, they are generally consistent, dependable, fairly modestly priced and great as a go to when traveling and you are not sure of the locally owned restaurants.  However, as a rule, the Mr. and I try to avoid them for date nights.  We are at a place where our children are adults, we do not have grandchildren, we can enjoy a leisurely paced meal and sometimes I am more concerned with food quality and preparation than meal price.  With that being said, it's not that I will not eat at a chain, but it's simply not typically my first choice.

The Mr. and I celebrate the anniversary of our first date.  Once upon a time about a million years ago, we went on a double date with a couple and since it was the beginning of December we thought it would be safe to simply go to the mall and do some holiday shopping.  If we didn't like each other, we could go home early and no big deal or if we hit it off, additional plans could be made.  Now, in modern time, we not only celebrate that first date and the funny things that happened, we make it our holiday shopping night and start formulating our plan of attack for Christmas.

Since I almost always pick the restaurant, I left it up to him and that is how we ended up at Texas Roadhouse.  It is convenient to shopping, the menu is appealing to men - easy to eat, no questions about fussy ingredients on the menu, and quick service so we could get on with our plans.

I do love the bucket of peanuts.  It gives our hands something to do unrelated to scrolling through our phones and we make eye contact.  Oh, hello, Mr.

The vinyl easy clean menu cracks me up.  The cowhide Flintstone print is a great touch.

I'll start with a salad with dressing on the side please.  It's fine. Nothing great, nothing awful.  At this point, we are plotting our destinations for after dinner.  The servers gather a few tables away to sing some sort of festive birthday song at one of the guests.

For the Mr., chili is the beginning of his meal.  I had a taste, I liked that it wasn't mouth on fire spicy hot.  Nice.

Main course - here is where my fussiness comes in.  I ordered sirloin tips with mashed potatoes.  The server carefully asked if I wanted gravy on the potatoes and I said no. I had no idea the meat would be pooled under it as well.  It was well, gloppy.  And yes, I know I am being too particular, but the plate was messy.  Yes, I stuck my finger in gravy when I tried to turn it.  The meat however, was tender and it was quite a large portion.

The Mr. was perfectly happy with his half rack of ribs and french fries.  Food that can be eaten with fingers and he gave me a piece of the well sauced meat.  Nice.

My only negative thought here is the portion size of fries.  Seem small to you?

We finalized our shopping plans and headed off into the cold, dark, wintry night.  It does not matter where or what we had for dinner, that first date included a pit stop at McDonald's after all - what mattered more that night was that we had each other and felt Fed Well.