Jason Russell

Review of Ruth's Chris Steak House

First off, I have to say this didn t have to be a ...

First off, I have to say this didn t have to be a one star review. Aside from the following complaint, our waiter s service was excellent.

I had not expected to need to complain about this as I was sure it would be handled appropriately by management. Food allergies are a serious matter- not a matter of personal preference. To have a restaurant ignore them after specifically catering to them is wrong, reckless and negligent.

I ll start with my order, from the gluten free menu provided by the kitchen:

Petite filet (medium rare) and shrimp
Fire roasted corn
Black truffle butter

When my food came out, I received the filets, shrimp and corn, but no truffle butter. The filets were over cooked somewhat (our waiter offered to replace them at this point) and I started eating while hoping the truffle butter would arrive. Our waiter came back after a few minutes and I asked where my truffle butter was. He said that he had written down truffle crust instead of truffle butter and that he would get some.

At this point I stopped him and asked if the truffle crust was gluten free, as I had not seen it on the menu. I m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to fine dining, so I wasn t as suspicious of what I was served as I might have been otherwise. I mean, surely a high end establishment serving $50 plates would realize that a gluten free filet (marked as such) and truffle bread crust do not mix. Alas, this was not the case and I d already eaten far too much to get off lightly.

Our waiter was quite prompt in replacing the food with the correct gluten free options (less than 5 minutes to be exact) but the damage was already done. I can t very well enjoy my food knowing the gastric pains I would face an hour later and I couldn t convince myself to finish it or get the delicious-sounding gluten free chocolate dessert I saw in the menu.

I wound up leaving the dinner party to return home early as I did not want to dampen the mood too much as I was feeling unwell about 30 minutes later. But even as my meal was cut short, management could not find it within themselves to even offer the slightest apologies for their mistake...they were wholly unwilling to comp even my horribly botched meal. As I understand it from the host, the management felt their duty was done by merely replacing the food- food I didn t even get to enjoy.