Alright, this post is a special present for all of the jerks out there who have given me shit because I went to Texas Road House twice and ordered chicken both times.  I decided to give the place another chance and this time, I ordered ribs.  Turns out, the Texas Road House makes some pretty damn good ribs. 

Before I get to the part where I rave about how good the ribs at the Texas Road House were, I have a couple of items I need to address.  First, this place is so goddamn loud.  For the love of Christ, give me a break!  I ate with a party of 5 and everyone was having to yell just to be heard.  Turn down that Country music bullshit and let people eat in peace.  I understand it was a Friday night and they were busy, but there is a maximum volume level at which Toby Keith can be enjoyed.  Speaking of Toby F’n Keith, why is it that every time you hear that "I Love This Bar" song, some a-hole thinks he has the skinny on the bar he wrote it about?  That song applies to every bar not located in Lakewood.  (There are no girls in those bars.)

My other beef has to do with those peanut buckets on the tables.  Now, I’m all for free salty nuts, but those things are disgusting.  I was enjoying some of the said nuts when I reached my hand into the bucket to find myself a soaking wet peanut that someone had sucked on and thrown back into the mix.  It even had teeth marks on it.  That’s not right.  Those buckets should be emptied and refilled when each table is bussed.  They wouldn’t be able to leave a basket of bread on the table all night, so why are they able to leave the same peanuts there?  That being said, I did eat the soggy peanut, but only for comedic purposes.  (I have been feeling under the weather since then….)

For my dinner that night I ordered the half slab of ribs with french fries and mashed potatoes.  Yeah I double potatoed it, but that’s because all of their other sides really suck.  And another crappy side you can add to the list is the plain mashed potatoes.  Apparently the mashed potatoes there are just a base to which you add other toppings because our waitress acted like I exposed myself to her when I told her I wanted them plain. 

Speaking of our waitress, she was excellent.  Too bad I can’t remember her name now, but she was about 1000% better than the Chinaman that served us last time. (Also, Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.  Asian-American please…)

Surprisingly, the french fries were very good.  I know they were just frozen french fries, but they were hot and crispy when they got to the table.  That’s an improvement over most other restaurant fries.

Ahh, to the ribs.  Freaking awesome!  They advertise them as "Fall off the bone" which can be a problem sometimes, but these were perfect.  What really blew me away was the size of the half slab, it was huge and more than enough food for a tubby like myself.  The sauce on the ribs was pretty decent as well, it did have a faint taste of artificial smoke flavoring, but they have to do something when they aren’t smoking the ribs.  I really enjoyed these ribs and would put them on a level with the ribs over at Smokey Bones.  The ribs were a good value as well at $11.95 with the two sides. 

I’m glad I didn’t order the chicken again, I probably would have left disappointed.  I made good choice with the ribs and I would definitely go back again just for those.  However, I may have to sneak in my own side dishes.  While the Texas Road House is loud as hell, the utter bliss you’ll receive from their ribs ought to help block that out.