[Earth Day Edition] pop-we Dinner Club Reviews Texas Roadhouse

Texas Roadhouse in Omaha, NE.

In March the population-we™  (pop-we) Dinner Club went to our first chain restaurant, the Texas Roadhouse. Each month a member picks a restaurant to dine at this month's was Randy's pick. The Texas Roadhouse has 340 locations in 46 states with plans of expanding over the next couple years. The restaurant in Omaha, NE., sits at 156th and West Dodge Road.

This place is always busy! People standing outside and sitting at benches met us as we arrived. When you walk through the doors, you arrive at a hostess stand to be greeted, and you are given a buzzer to let you know when your table is ready. To the left of the stand is a small waiting room, straight ahead there are a couple benches then the bar. The bar area is quite large. Unlike a lot of restaurants the tables situated in the bar area are reserved and you must be seated at one of these tables by the host/hostess. There are a number of barstools around the bar but these fill up quickly. A perk, free peanuts to snack on are available to patrons throughout the restaurant.

This night we had 10 people. They do not take reservations -- we tried to accommodate this fact by arriving early. The plan was to have dinner about 5:30, and to arrive a little after 5 o’clock, to get our name in for 10. However, like most weekend nights it was packed. We hung out in the bar area, where we got our fill of free peanuts, until our name was called. When they seated our party we found out they really do not have tables for large parties. Even though when Randy called ahead they said they did. We had to break up into 2 booths, which were next to one another. The first booth had a small table pulled up to it which allowed us to seat 6; the other booth 4 from our party sat at. So, if you're planning a large gathering and wanting to sit together -- beware.

BBQ ribs & pulled pork combo

I ordered their BBQ chicken with shrimp combo and my wife ordered the ribs with pulled pork combo (pictured at right). The BBQ chicken was juicy, tender but the sauce was a little sweet for me. I did try the ribs my wife ordered and they were excellent, fall off the bone tender and very tasty just as advertised. Usually what a chain claims and what you get are two different things but the ribs were very good. Texas Roadhouse is also known for their buttery rolls with cinnamon butter, which they give you basket of when you sit down. These rolls can be addictive…be careful or just plan on a doggy box.

Not to get away from our Earth Day theme for April the Texas Roadhouse earned A+ for their recycling efforts from this newspaper.

According to their website they've also won the following national awards:

2008
- Ranked in the top 40 on the Forbes® Best Small Companies list.

- Named to the list of Best Family Restaurants by Parents Magazine.

2009
- Ranked “Best Value” by readers of Consumer Reports magazine.

2010
- Ranked in the Top 10 on Forbes® Fastest Growing Retailers list.

- Winner Large Company of the Year Business First Magazine.

 2011
- Winner Large Employer Top Places to Work Courier-Journal Newspaper

After compiling the surveys from the other foodies the pop-we Dinner Club gives Texas Roadhouse: 3.8 star average on a scale of 1-5.

Atmosphere/Decor - 3.6

Cleanliness - 3.8

Wait Staff - 4.2

Menu - 4.2

Food Presentation - 3.8

 Food Portions - 3.8

Food Taste - 4

Cost (was the cost worth meal?) - 4

Noise Level - 2.6

Overall Experience - 4

Fellow population-we™ readers, if you’ve been to the Texas Roadhouse leave us a comment and tell us what you thought?

Want to do this yourself? To review how to start your own dinner club, visit our January post about doing just that. Remember it is a template; tweak it to fit you and your friends’ tastes. pop-we Dinner Club: good food…good friends…good times.

In celebration of the 41st anniversary of Earth Day population-we™ staffers will celebrate our love for planet earth with green posts the entire month of April! Thanks for reading our final Earth Day post

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Brown

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