Texas Roadhouse

Texas Roadhouse is located in the parking area in Everett near the Home Depot, Costco, and Target that we like to visit. The first thing you hear when you walk towards the restaurant is loud, lively country music. Large signs on the door warn "peanuts and peanut powder everywhere!" As you look around, it become apparent why the warnings are necessary. Each table contains a metal bucket brimming with peanuts with the shell. Peanut shells are strewn throughout the old, wooden floor. The ambiance is loud. Multiple TVs blast the Red Sox / Yankees game on TV while wait staff bustle around. After waiting about 15 minutes, we were seated. As we walked to our seats, we saw a line of waitresses dancing a choreographed country jig.

Texas Roadhouse clearly specializes in steak. At the front of the restaurant sits a large glass counter which contains rows and rows of raw beef cuts. The menu contains several steak selections, such as rib eye, prime rib, filet minion (called the Dallas Filet), steak tips, and sirloin. They also have other food, such as ribs, country fried chicken, roasted chicken, grilled salmon, and even a veggie platter, which consists of your choice of any four sides. The back of the menu contains burgers and sandwiches. There is also a sizable drink menu, especially beer.

Bryan ordered the 10 oz rib eye. Most of the steaks come in multiple sizes, such as 10 oz, 12 oz, and 16 oz. His first comment was, "this is surprisingly good for the price." Accordingly to Bryan, most cheaper steak houses will not actually cook meat "medium rare" when he orders it that way. They tend to overcook the meat. Here, the meat was perfectly medium rare and quite flavorful. The vegetable sides were also surprisingly good. The medley of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots was not overly mushy and subtly flavored with a bit of butter and salt. The broccoli was slightly over cooked, but over, not bad. We ordered sides such as baked sweet potato, baked potato, chili and Caesar salad. I thought the chili and Caesar salad were rather average. The baked potatoes were fine, although how hard is it to bake a potato?

Over all, our meal (including two Corona's) was only $33. A pretty good value. We would definitely recommend this as a place to go if you happen to be shopping in the area and are hungry. The place is popular, but they do allow you do call ahead and put your name down on the waiting list, which is nice.