Ruby Tuesday is a good ol’ fashioned “Americana” bar and grill, ala Applebee’s and Chili’s but with a salad bar. Now, it has come along the way of Chili’s and added a gluten-free menu.
I do love it it when a sort of stumble onto a new gluten-free menu. This time I was calling the restaurant because Emma was going for an 8 mile bike ride with my husband and they were going to stop for dinner (Grace and I met them for dinner, but took the car instead). I called ahead and I asked what they suggested for a gluten-free meal. The manager’s suggestion was that I refer to their new gluten-free menu!
“Aha,” I said. I told him how awesome that was and we would look forward to seeing it.
The menu consists of listing items from their salad bar, as well as burgers, steak, chicken, ribs and some seafood. First off they do have a very clean salad bar. I did let Emma eat from it even knowing the risks for cross contamination. She had some of the ham, shredded cheese and boiled eggs with no trouble.
Then she ordered a steak “from the gluten-free menu”, as she told the server. But 15 minutes later when it arrived at the table it was covered wth two items that weren’t gluten-free: the mashed potatoes and some funky “onion straws”. Both Emma and I explained to another server (who brought out our food but didn’t take our order) that she can’t have any of the food on that plate and she needed a new steak; this time with a baked potato.
Our server eventually came over to the table and I had to go through the gluten-free menu with her regarding what Ruby Tuesday said was gluten-free and what wasn’t. She sounded like this was the first time she’d heard of the gluten-free menu. I think it is quite likely the server didn’t know what Emma was talking about when she mentioned the gluten-free menu, and just put the steak order in like any regular order.
The new steak came out within 10 minutes, and we were still eating so that was fine. Emma thought it was very good.
Overall experience with the new menu: C+ — with possible potential. I talked to the manager before we left about how I didn’t feel the wait staff had enough experience with the new menu and needed more education. The manager acknowledged the menu is only a few weeks old and the staff needed to learn more about it. He told me he appreciated the feedback.
I will likely give it another chance with Emma, maybe later in the summer and see if it’s any better. If not, then that maybe that.
Please let The Savvy Celiac readers know about your experiences eating gluten-free at Ruby Tuesday, by filling in the comment information below. GF Road Warrior already contacted me via Twitter (http://twitter.com/AmyLeger) , check out his blog post about it!
Tags: gluten-free, menu, Ruby Tuesday
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