Ruby Tuesday in Riverview Gets 3 Stars

This restaurant in Riverview is just about the best Ruby Tuesday I've ever been in and I've been to a few. 

It is located at 10509 Gibsonton Drive in Riverview, just a small jump off of Interstate 75 and about a block west of U.S. 301.

As we walked in, the bar was clean with a bartender wearing a nice collared shirt and a big smile. 

The server's name was Phil and I guess he thought I would be impressed with the fact that he didn't write anything down. He just stood there with one of those little "watch me" smirks that really chap my... Do the servers nowadays think that it's cool to do that act like Justin Long did in the movie, "Waiting?"

I didn't like anything about that movie! I have worked in several restaurants from franchises to 4-star steakhouses as a kitchen manager and I have never seen any of the sick games played or the nasty cooks they portrayed in the flick--with the exception of a philosophical dishwasher I knew once.

You want to impress me? Write down my order and bring out the food I ordered, thank you.

Anyway, Helen ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich with cheddar cheese instead of Swiss, as offered on the menu, and absolutely no pickle near her plate. She also ordered the steamed broccoli as a side item. I ordered the Boston blue burger, medium well, and the endless fries. I also asked Phil not to include pickles on my burger.

Phil dropped off a plate of three cheese biscuits while we waited for our food and he made sure our drink glasses never met the halfway mark.

Here's the rub. Care to guess how many things Phil forgot while trying to impress us? He blamed it on the kitchen and he probably would have gotten away with that explanation except we never complained. He just looked over from the bar while my wife was eating her chicken sandwich and started talking about the cheese and asking if they got the order right. I had pickles on my sandwich and it was a perfect medium, However, I asked for medium well.

All in all, my wife's sandwich was better than average, despite the wrong cheese, and both of our buns were toasted nicely.

My burger was very tasty with a pile of fresh lettuce, tomatoes and onions and, of course, the crispest pickle in the whole world. The fries were very fresh and crisp and the broccoli was cooked al dente (firm to the bite). The best way to determine how fresh your fries are is to rap one sharply against the side of the plate and it should snap in half with a tiny wisp of steam escaping.

I'm giving this Ruby Tuesday three stars and would definitely eat here again but next time I will offer the server a pen or pencil and a pad of paper.

I'd like to address a few restaurant owners out there. This statement is in response to a couple of letters I received from some concerned businessmen who felt I did their places an injustice.

First of all, my experience is exactly that--my experience. And it's not to say that the person sitting right next to me didn't get the best meal of his life but I obviously didn't. I am extremely fair and have found the bright sides to any place I've reviewed.

I recently read that one of the places I gave a rave review only has a 59 percent approval rating, according to their Website. That surprised me since my meal was darn near perfect but that's the nature of this business. When I have a bad meal, I often tell how it could have been better or I let readers know how the bad people in this industry try and push off substandard food on us---the innocent and unsuspecting public.

If you've done something bad on purpose, I'm going to point it out and, hopefully, people will heed the warning. But if it's an innocent mistake, people will know and forgive you for it. The bottom line here is that I'm telling it like it happened to me and it's nothing personal.

1 Star--Wouldn't go back on a bet

2 Star--Would have to go back, but only on a bet

3 Star--If I was in the neighborhood and hungry

4 Star--Would go out of my way even if I wasn't hungry

5 Star--Would make reservations and wait in a line