Texas Roadhouse Grill

A couple of months ago, Mark and I started restricting how many times we went out to eat.  We did pretty well until we returned from the trip to see his sister married.  Since then, we haven't been as strict.  Tomorrow sees our no dining out at restaurants policy reinstated.  As a last hurrah, we decided to visit the Texas Roadhouse Grill located by the mall in Myrtle Beach.*

Luckily, they weren't very busy upon our arrival.  We almost sat at the bar for half price appetizers, but you actually had to sit AT the bar.  There were no bar booths or tables.  That sent us right back to the hostess stand to request a booth.  The young lady that sat us turned out to also be our waitress.**  She grabbed drink orders from us and immediately went to fill them.

Upon her return, we ordered cheese fries as an appetizer, with a side of chili.  She was kind enough to give us another moment to peruse the menu and went to put in our appetizer order.  Mark figured out what he wanted and then wandered away to the restroom.***  She came by to top off Mark's iced tea and ended up taking our orders, as well.

While waiting for both Mark and food, I looked around the restaurant.  The place is pretty spacious and even has an upstairs.  The taxidermy animals sprinkled throughout kinda creep me out, but to each his own.  It was relatively quiet tonight, but there were some TVs playing football for anyone that cared to watch.

Before Mark made it back, the server brought out a fat loaf of bread with some cinnamon butter.  I waited for Mark for a while before I finally caved and had a piece.  He returned before I finished it and helped himself to some as well.  The bread was warm and pretty standard.  Mark really liked it but didn't care for the butter.  I liked the butter and just thought the bread was okay.  The bread had a good texture though, nice and soft.

While still working on the bread, our cheese fries arrived, and they were glorious!  Some cheese fries end up with the fry component being soggy and greasy.  These fries were holding their form and tasted great.  The cheese and bacon complemented them nicely, as did the ranch dressing.  Mark was the only one to try the chili, and he liked it.  He said it tasted as if they added beer to it.  My only complaint was that the side of chili was an additional two dollars.  It was plainly stated in the menu; I just thought it was a bit steep when the fries were already $6.99.

As we attacked the fries, my salad showed up too.  It was just a plain house salad, no different than any other.  It was pretty unremarkable but got the job done.

I was already feeling full when dinner arrived.  I had chicken tenders with corn on the cob.  Mark opted for pulled pork and chicken with beans and corn on the cob.  Both of us loved the corn on the cob.  Sometimes, it ends up soft and gummy at restaurants, but Texas Roadhouse Grill did a good job with it.  It was firm and tasty.  The beans were also surprisingly good.  Both of us agreed that the pulled pork was good.  It was tender and flavorful, even without the barbecue sauce.  Mark's chicken was a bit dry but still edible.  My chicken tenders had a nice light breading, which I prefer, but they were a bit bland.****

All in all, we had a great experience at Texas Roadhouse Grill.  The server was great, never letting my drinks run dry, and the food was pretty good.  The entrees were comparably priced, but the appetizer got a bit expensive with the chili.  When we start dining out again, we'll probably swing by Texas Roadhouse Grill; I suggest you do the same.

*This is not to be confused with Texas Roadhouse.  They are two different establishments.

**On a side note, I have never been called "mam" so many times in my life.  She was super polite.

***I'm pretty sure he was gone so long because they had an old school Frogger machine.

****They will turn into buffalo chicken dip tomorrow.