My Humble Opinion
If you are looking for a quiet and special atmosphere...forget it. If you are looking for the best meal you have ever had, this is the place to go! All items are ala carte, but all that I tasted were outstanding. Being my first visit, the server warned me that the food was served on extremely hot plates. The steak arrived and was hot and simply outstanding. The flavor was overwhelming, the cut was the most tender I have ever had. I even had to shun the A-1 sauce. Overall, service good, meal...fantastic.
reservation
Consistently Outstanding!
Who needs to sing the praises of Ruth's Chris to a business traveler? They are always my hands down choice for business entertaining when I'm visiting one of the many lucky cities to have one.
The location on Harbor Drive is no exception. Definitely my choice for a special birthday or anniversary dinner when I just plain don't want to take a chance. Their steaks are exquisite - served sizzling, tender, flavorful beyond any steakhouse's fare I have tried and always done perfectly to order. The sides are all ala carte but delicious and definitely portioned to shared. (Try the asparagus with hollandaise if you're a veggie person).
The ambience is very nice too, much like one would expect from a high end Chicago or New York steakhouse. If you're lucky enough to get a window table along Harbor Drive, you'll have a beautiful view of San Diego Bay - gorgeous at night! I definitely recommend adjusting your reservation timing to maximize the chance of garnering one of these window tables which are greatly coveted by the regular customers.
really great
The Del Mar location is really great. I prefer the laid back spread out atmosphere at this location. I find the downtown restaurant way to cramped and active. The steaks have been consistently fantastic. Yes it is expensive but man, is it good.
Awsome Place.
I went to Ruth's Chris in Del Mar. The Restaurant looks fabulous, both inside and outside.
The service is very good, the food (Steak is awsome), but you don't get a lot of it.
Give it a try, you won't regret it.
Wow!
Perfect atmosphere, location and food. I cannot say enough about this place.
My favorite restaurant
I've been to Ruth's Chris a few times now and it is such a pleasurable experience- every time!! The service is outstanding and the food is incredible. From the bread, to appetizers, entree, dessert, it is so tasty and delicious. My filet mignon is perfect every time and the bleu cheese topping is to die for! I will return to this restaurant as often as my husband allows me!!
Eat here for GREAT food.
I have been to this Ruth's Chris here is San Diego 5 times and have loved it every time. Everything that has crossed my lips here has been wonderful. There are a couple of other great resaurants in the area that I have visited but this remains number one in my book. I know it is a steakhouse, but the stuffed chicken is out of this world!
The best steaks!
The steaks are simply divine--tender, cooked perfectly, too big to eat in one sitting. The view of the harbor is wonderful--there is outdoor seating, too. True, nothing is included and the plates are very hot. Our salads and sides were delicious, though expensive. Our drinks from the bar were excellent and the service was wonderful. Highly recommended, especially the t-bone!
Fantastic
I'd like to consider myself a professional steak eater, my wife probably wouldn't argue. I've seen my share of all varieties of cuts from many different places so I'm a tough sell. Until we dined at Ruth's Chris.
My previous experience at a well known steak house (in La Jolla) was not pleasant at all so it made this experience extra special. There's 2 things I look for in a restaurant: service and food quality. I give the service a 9 and the quality of food a 9.
Service: Jon led us through the evening without a hitch, from beginning to end. Making recommendations while not being pushy or unpleasant. He suggested some great wines as well.
Food Quality: I had the Ribeye (recommended) and my wife had the Petite Filet. The Ribeye was the best cut I've had, anywhere. The Filet was fantastic. Lots of flavor in the meat which is rare these days. By the way, order the regular filet, it's $2.00 more than the petite and you get a bigger cut. The vegetables were average but that's ok. There's only so many things you can do with plain Asparagus.
The price is the only draw-back. Even though both cuts were the best we've had, we feel the price needs to come down on the meat. It's just a bit overpriced. Otherwise, Ruth's Chris is a winner.
Uncomfortable chairs
The chairs are very uncomfortable. The booths are good, but they face away from the water (no view). The tables that have views have very uncomfortable chairs.
The service was average for an expensive restaurant.
Desert was served for the birthday, but then we were charged for it.
The service was a 4/5
The food was 4/5
Excellent steaks and spinach au gratin
Go there just for the spinach au gratin. Steaks are great too.
To Pricey
Fine food and atmosphere, but it is very pricey.
Great, but not that great!
The service was pretty good. Our waiter was very friendly and he suggested the most expensive wine and dish on the menu. The ambiance was great too overlooking harbor bay. The steak was tender, but the price was just rediculous! None of the steak or seafood entres came with sides. You had to order them seperately. When the steaks arrived, they were sizzling plainly on a white plate with not even one garnish to complement the presentation. For 4 people, we nearly spent $275. For a chain restaurant, this is definitely over priced. Its great, but not that great.
Update
We had a dinner for 6 @ the San Diego bayfront location. I previously scored it a 4/5, but after I have thought about it, I would only give it a 3/5. It is very expensive for the quality of service and the uncomfortable chairs. Try another steak house downtown.
Service Sucks!
For the amount of money we spent at the restaurant, we had the worst server and service. The hostest doesn't even allow any guest to feel quite comfortable. Even though we were two young men, the service was horrible. I constatly had to find someone to either refill our drinks or ask a busser to get our server so we may get some dessert. Our check was well over $200, because of the service recieved...the manager decided to give our desserts complientary. That's sweetened the deal, but I will never go back to that downtown restauarnt.
Disappointing
This was our second time dining at Ruth's Chris, and we were very disappointed. We thought that maybe the first time we went it was just a bad night, but the second time confirmed that this restaurant is over-rated and over-priced. The best part of our very expensive meal was the salad! The steaks are average, the side-dishes are average at best and WAY overpriced ($7 for steamed broccoli??), and the service is just ok.
Save your money
It's good, but way overpriced. Everything ala carte, and our asparagus was really fat, and tough. I hear they marinate their steaks in butter, which is why they're so tender. It just wasn't worth the hundreds of dollars we spent, I would have rather gone and cooked my own Filet Mignon at The Turf Club.
Nothing special
We had a horrible time at Ruth's Chris. Our steak was extremely blah and the sides had no taste. The atmosphere was not enjoyable either. The table's were so close together I felt like I was sitting with the two couples next to us. I could barely get into my seat and couldn't hear my husband the whole night. Not an enjoyable restaurant at all.
Disappointment of the month
Having been to Ruth´s Chris in Del Mar before, we were full of good expectations when making our reservation. Unfortunately, however, we had a very disappointing experience in the San Diego Ruth´s Chris restaurant. The service was poor - initially, everyone came and overwhelmed us with everything, until we placed the order. Then, water was not refilled. We asked for more bread, with the Lobster bisque, the bread arrived shortly before the main course.
We had to help ourselves to the wine rather than it being served by the waiter, for several times. The dishes from the starter stayed on the table for a long time, and had to be cleared in a rush because there was no room for the main course. The "sizzling" experience meant grease spots all over the shirt and jacket - thanks. The meat was really good, though, really well cooked. The "potatoe au gratin", by contrast, had nothing to do with a potatoe gratin, it was just some slices of melted cheese over an undefined mass of potatoes. The creamed spinach was fine though. No attentiveness of the servers, let alone of the manager who hovered around but never bothered coming anywhere near our table.
Coffee - one cup must do, no refill. Trying to pay with a MasterCard from Belgium - sorry, that´s where we live - failed outright, the server came back and said that they got the message "call". But the server did not bother to call to get the authorization from MasterCard (which they would have easily gotten), he just dumped the $237 check (for 2 people) back on our table. Is that what they call really great service, worthy of the price we had to pay for this experience? Luckily, there are other places in town, where the service is more attentive, the atmosphere more personal, and the overall experience more enjoyable.
