Ruby Tuesday - South Portland & Westbrook

It is always sad when one of your favorite restaurants falls from grace. Ruby Tuesday in Smyrna, GA, was one of our favorite places to eat. Service was always very good, the biscuits tasty, but, most of all the ribs were awesome. My wife always ordered the "Ruby Ribs," The Memphis Dry Rub was her favorite.  Since we moved to Maine we've tried a couple of the Ruby Tuesdays in the area.  First we went to the Ruby Tuesday in South Portland.  Service was mediocre at best; the salad bar seemed to have fewer things than it did in Smyrna. With so many restaurants in the Maine Mall area we figured we'd go elsewhere in the future.  Not a big deal.

The Ruby Tuesday Memphis Dry Rub Ribs
we liked at Ruby Tuesday, Smyrna, GA

Some weeks later we happened to be in Westbrook and thought why not give the Westbrook Ruby Tuesday a try.  What a mistake. The dry rub ribs were no longer on the menu and not available. Our server tried to tell us that the ribs were the same and she could bring them without the barbecue sauce.  It would be the same.  My wife did order them with some skepticism. Although still cooked well, there was no taste. It wasn't the same; we knew it wouldn't be and wondered why the server would say so.  We had to ask for biscuits which arrived seconds before the meal.

Ruby Tuesday Westbrook
Photo: Courtesy of Google Maps

I ordered a burger, medium well.  In my world, medium well means a bit of pink in the middle. Definitely not red. After the food arrived and I had a chance to examine the burger, I found it red/bloody in the middle.  It took several minutes to flag someone down to complain. Another couple minutes for the waitress came to the table who I showed the bloody center to. She quickly turned away without a word and left. I was aghast. Another couple minutes and the manager came to the table to see my problem.  He argued with me about the burger and iterated that the burger was cooked properly. I disagreed and said it wasn't. Finally, he asked what I wanted done, and I said I wanted the burger cooked.  He took it away.  A long time later another person delivered the burger, dropped it off and left without a word.  The burger was overcooked beyond belief - dry and extremely overdone -- a hockey puck.  Clearly all the life had been squeezed out if it. Actually, a hockey puck is a lot thicker that what was left of this mashed burger.  And of course, the fries were stone cold.  Nobody came anywhere near our table for quite a while. Finally, I decided it wasn't worth complaining about any more and I ate the burger. My wife had nearly finished her ribs. I had had the salad bar so I could forgo the cold fries, it was just the principle of the thing.

Anyway, we paid our bill and left. We'll never go to Ruby Tuesday in Wesbrook ever again.  We are unlikely to go to the Ruby Tuesday in South Portland either.  There is another Ruby Tuesday in Biddeford. I don't know if we'll give them a try or not.  Ruby Tuesdays removal of the Memphis Dry Rub ribs from the menu eliminates my wife's number one reason for going to Ruby Tuesdays.

I will say I am saddened that Ruby Tuesday has fallen from the top of our most favorite national chain restaurants list.