My family of 4 went to Ruth's Chris for the first time, and our $500 meal at the upscale steak chain felt like a true value
- I recently ate at Ruth's Chris Steak House, a high-end chain restaurant, for the first time.
- Dinner for my family of four, including appetizers, two rounds of drinks, and desserts, was $500.
Although my family spent years avoiding chain restaurants, we've recently started visiting them with our teenagers.
We've been pleasantly surprised by chains we've visited so far — from Caribbean-themed Bahama Breeze to other steak-house chains like LongHorn Steakhouse — so I was excited to up the ante and head to Ruth's Chris Steak House next.
For this trip, my husband, two teens, and I got dressed up as the steak-house chain is pretty upscale.
Ruth's Chris is high-end and known for the unique way its steak is served.
The upscale steak-house chain has been around for decades and can be found around the globe, with 150 locations worldwide.
It's known for cooking USDA Prime cuts of beef with a special broiling method and serving them on a 500-degree Fahrenheit plate to keep every bite hot.
The chain also serves seafood, including appetizers like seared ahi tuna and shrimp cocktail. You'll also find a range of side dishes, from classics like creamed spinach and baked potatoes to unique offerings like lobster macaroni and cheese and grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce.
White tablecloths and well-dressed servers welcome guests at Ruth's Chris, making the experience feel distinctly more high-end than other chain steakhouses.
We started our evening by ordering cocktails.
Ruth's Chris has a pretty decent specialty cocktail menu.
I ordered a $16 Dirty Goose martini made with vodka, vermouth, and blue-cheese-stuffed olives, and can truly say the classic cocktail was among the best martinis I've had in my life.
Perfectly chilled, the drink was an incredible way to start my meal. The blue-cheese olives only added to the perfect blend of flavors.
My husband's cocktail was also $16 — a Manhattan made with bourbon, whiskey liqueur, and black cherries. Neither of us regretted our choice to start the experience with a well-crafted cocktail.
I was also beyond impressed with Ruth's Chris' wine list.
Ruth's Chris has its by-the-glass wines available in both 6- and 9-ounce pours, making it easy to control the price and how much you drink.
As a red-wine enthusiast, my all-time favorite wine to enjoy with a steak dinner is a cabernet sauvignon from Caymus Vineyards.
Lucky for me, I was able to splurge on a 9-ounce pour of this decadent wine for $47. No regrets, as it paired perfectly with my dinner and every sip was delicious.
My husband opted for a Paso Robles cabernet that was slightly less pricey at $29 for a 9-ounce pour.
I started my meal with a salad.
I'm forever obsessed with a really good wedge salad, so I ordered Ruth's Chris version of it. The salad came with bacon and blue cheese served over crisp greens with my choice of dressing.
It cost $14 and was among the best wedge salads I've ever eaten.
Our appetizers were so delicious, we could have stopped there.
We also ordered a goat-cheese-and-artichoke dip ($17) from the appetizer menu. It was packed with flavorful artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes and served with garlicky toasted bread.
Ruth's Chris often runs extra menu specials, so we also tried a $24 crab stack that was part of the restaurant's Mother's Day menu.
The jumbo lump crabmeat and fresh avocado were an absolute delight, but we preferred the two more simple appetizers we'd ordered over this high-end treat.
I ordered my steak with a blue-cheese crust.
At Ruth's Chris, steaks can be enhanced with options like a truffle or blue-cheese crust for an extra cost. I ordered a petite filet encrusted with blue cheese, bread crumbs, and roasted garlic. It was wonderful.
Like all steaks at Ruth's Chris, it arrived at my table sizzling in butter on what seemed to be a 500-degree plate.
The $58 steak stayed hot throughout my meal, and adding a bit of melted butter to each bite felt extravagant.
My daughter also loved her encrusted filet.
My daughter chose a crusted petite filet, too, but opted for one with truffle butter, Parmesan, and panko bread crumbs. Her steak came to $59.
I was shocked to see that, although she is tiny and just 13, she completely cleaned her plate and left nothing behind.
My husband chose the chain's Oscar steak preparation but found it was a bit excessive.
My husband ordered a rib-eye steak Oscar style, meaning it was topped with lump crabmeat, asparagus, and bérnaise sauce. It came to $89.
Although our server said the toppings were a popular choice with guests, my husband felt that loading his steak with these extras took away from the flavors of his rib eye a bit.
In fact, he was a bit jealous of the toppings my daughter and I had selected, claiming those were better than his selection. If we return to Ruth's Chris, he said he'd order the truffle crust on his steak instead.
Fortunately, my pickier son was able to order a burger off of the lunch menu.
My 15-year-old son, a picky eater and plain-cheeseburger fan, was a bit nervous about eating dinner at a steak house as fancy as Ruth's Chris, as he found the menu intimidating.
After asking our server, we learned it was OK for him to order the cheeseburger off the lunch menu, even though we were visiting during the restaurant's dinner service.
A true cheeseburger aficionado, my son could not get enough of Ruth's cheeseburger, a $16 burger made from prime beef and served with fries.
The sides are served family-style at Ruth's Chris.
Although the steaks served at any steak house are important, I've always felt that sides are the true stars of the show.
We ordered the creamed spinach ($14), sautéed cremini mushrooms ($15), and mashed potatoes ($14), and found each to be total side-dish heaven.
If I had to choose a favorite, it'd be the creamy creamed spinach, which perfectly complimented my steak. Still, the mushrooms were a great addition to our meals, as were the buttery mashed potatoes.
I finished my meal with a tasty crème brûlée.
Crème brûlée is my favorite dessert, so I had to try it when I saw it on the menu at Ruth's Chris.
The $12 dish wasn't the best version of the creamy, custardy dessert I've ever tried, but it hit the spot as a wonderful post-steak sugar fix — I only wish it had been served warm.
We also ordered an apple crumb tart that was warm and tasted fresh.
We also tried a decadent $13 apple crumb tart topped with vanilla ice cream that, unlike my crème brulée, was served warm and tasted like it was fresh out of the oven.
My family kept returning to the plate for one more bite and abandoned the crème brûlée.
Our meal cost $500, and I think it was well worth it.
For myself, my husband, and our two teens, the bill at Ruth's Chris added up to $497 before tip. Although this type of dinner isn't something we could splurge on every weekend, I can see the steak-house chain becoming a place we request for special occasions like birthday dinners or celebrations.
You get what you pay for, and for the high-end atmosphere, thorough servers, delicious food, and impressive wine and cocktails, the meal felt like a true value. Plus, for those looking to experience Ruth's Chris outside of its elegant dinner service, there's a lunch and happy-hour menu at select locations with options like steak sandwiches and burgers.
Dinner at Ruth's Chris was also a fun adventure to take our teenagers on, as we had them dress up in their fanciest clothes and had the opportunity to reiterate to them how to behave in a nice restaurant.
A few weeks later, my kids are still talking about what a delicious meal we had together and some of the wonderful conversations we had as we ate. As parents of busy teens, that makes the price even more worth it.
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