Tony Roma’s

The only thing worse than the service here is the food… Never coming back.

I was at Union Landing this evening to see a movie («The Life of Pi») and I’m very sorry to say that Tony Romas has closed their doors. The Tony Romas sign has been removed, and the three little pigs on the other wall are gone.
I hope they get a better restaurant in that spot… it seems to me that Tony Romas should’ve been busy ALL the time, being so close to the theater; a prime location. I still think they charged too much money for what you got… or didn’t get.

Customer service? Where? I’m 30 miles away trying to call them. The past 20 minutes its rang so long the voice/​operator automatically picks up with «not accepting calls right now»
Thanks for not even picking up the phone.

I don’t normally review big chains, and I don’t know what compels me to write this, but I’m not a fan of Tony Roma’s. I guess it’s a good place to get ribs, but I don’t think Tony Roma’s offers anything special that you can’t get at any other place that serves ribs. Not to mention some of their salads are WAY too salty. I’ve never had a salty salad until Tony Roma’s.

It’s a chain, but whatever.
Baby back ribs! Cooked just right — a little crisp around the edges, tender rib meat. Sweet glaze.

Hate to review a chain, but here I go. We were in search of the Texas Roadhouse and spotted this place. This place was a ghost town when we walked in, and figured what the heck.
Food was just OK, and did the job. There for business, and not to impress clients.

I feel bad for Tony Roma’s because I think it loses almost all of its patronage to Texas Roadhouse. Many times, I would walk in and see it nearly empty while Texas Roadhouse is full to the brim with people as well as parties waiting for tables. Sure, the food doesn’t really compete with Texas Roadhouse, but Tony’s Roma’s still isn’t bad.
Ambiance:
I actually really enjoy the ambiance here, a lot better than over at Texas Roadhouse. It’s more brightly lit and spacious, which makes for a lot better and relaxed dining experience.
Customer Service:
It’s strange that some people point out bad customer service because I’ve actually gotten pretty consistently good service here. The waiters and waitresses have always been very kind and the food comes out at respectable times.
Food:
What I DON’T like about Tony Roma’s are the outrageously high prices for what you get. Like another Unilocaler said, they definitely do charge you an arm and a leg for a slab of ribs and as tasty as they are, it just isn’t worth it. My favourite food from Tony Roma’s has to be the mashed potatoes. They are damn good and some of the best mashed potatoes anywhere — smothered in unhealthy cheese and butter yum.
Also try their Potato Skins — delicious and is actually probably better than the Potato Skins over at Texas Roadhouse.
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Overall, if you want tasty meat you’re going to be paying a lot more than you would have hoped so it’s up to you to decide whether or not it’s worth it. I personally think that it’d be probably better to skip the ribs and check out the rest of the menu.

I don’t know what it is about boys and ribs, but this is my brother’s and dad’s go-​to spot for any «special» occasion. haha Many a father’s day, birthday, etc have been spent at Tony Roma’s.
I’ve gone to many of their locations, but this place is a solid 3 stars. Some days are definitely better than others – the service can be VERY hit or miss. This latest visit included our server forgetting to bring out the appetizer that we had ordered and never refilling our waters. I’ve had other visits though where the server was super attentive, my glass never made it half empty, and the bread was on the table within 5 minutes of us sitting.
Ribs are awesome and I love the selection of sauces (I’m a Carolina honey gal myself!) prices are excellent and they have some very yummy alcoholic beverages.

First time here, and probably the last time. I had a rack of beef ribs, with boneless wings for appetizers. The wings seemed like it came from Costco and they just drenched it in hot sauce. For 20 bucks you get 4 ribs, but all i saw was bones, huge bones. I proceeded in trying to gnaw the meat off the bones, only to find out the meat was super salty. I have no idea how they prepared the ribs, but Ive never had salty tasting ribs before. I could have gone to a buffet for better tasting and unlimited ribs for about the same price, a big disappointment.
Also a note, we came during happy hour, but its very misleading when they say appetizers are 5 dollars, but when you order they tell you it doesn’t include all shrimp appetizers and the sampler platter, which left us with half the choices on the menu. And only one drink specialty was on the happy hour menu, big fail.
Tony Roma sorry, but Dave has got you beaten, Famous Dave.

This was my first time trying Tony Roma’s even though I live near it nearly most of my life. My experience was pretty disappointing; I was expecting quality foods given the prices. My steak medium cooked tasted plain and odd, it tasted more like a $ 9 steak than a $ 16.99 steak. The mashed potatoes were VERY watery! It literally dropped over the fork onto the plate. The bacon and butter in the watery non potato like texture made it taste… like dog food (not that I tasted it, lol). The other dish we ordered was the bbq ribs, unfortunately they messed up on the sides. So they took it to the back and fixed it. The ribs came out looking different. My bf said the ribs didn’t taste as good as it used to be, and he could barely finish half of it. Given the slightly high prices and poor quality food, we won’t be coming back here.

I came here with my girlfriend and her sister when her sister was visiting from Indiana. We had just visited Berkeley and were on our way back to Silicon Valley, when they saw the Texas Roadhouse sign jutting out from the freeway. They’d both been there in the past (I hadn’t), and wanted to pull in. Unfortunately, the wait was absurd (two hours), so we ended up going across the parking lot to Tony Roma’s instead.
The restaurant itself feels like so many other American chains: huge, with tons of seating available. Décor hanging from the walls in a rather busy fashion, with tons of similarly busy staff running around from table to table trying to help all of the numerous patrons in the restaurant. The entire restaurant is buzzing with people, and seems lively.
Service can disappear for a while, and don’t expect to have your water glass filled too regularly. That said, they’re also quite friendly and will treat you right when you do get to interact with them.
As for the food, meh. All three of us were disappointed at the end of it.
I got the ribs, while my girlfriend and her sister split the ribs and ribeye steak combo. The ribs themselves were pretty drab, and didn’t have a lot of flavor. They were a bit on the dry side, and didn’t have much flavor at all to them. The steak was a bit tough, and also lacked flavor; it was missing seasoning or something to bring the flavors alive.
Similar story with the sides. I liked the corn on the cob, but honestly, that’s not too difficult to screw up. The loaded mashed potato, on the other hand, was rather dull and just okay at best.
I doubt I’ll be returning. There just wasn’t much to be excited about here, and there are certainly better rib joints out there.

I used to come to Tony Roma’s a lot more when I was living just a mile away from the restaurant… I always get the ribs combo and I did so during my last visit a couple weeks ago. What I noticed was that the portion seems to have decreased and the ribs weren’t as meaty as I remembered. The ribs were still finger lickin good but I’ve had better ribs elsewhere though…
The service was the part that’s always a bummer here… not attentive at all and we had to flag a couple times for more napkins, refill water, check, etc! It was a Saturday night BUT the restaurant was not full (it was crowded but not full). We got seated right away and there were plenty of staff on the floor. they were just no efficient or not working hard enough I guess that we were not tended enough.
PS: Parking is a b**ch though… so plan ahead…

Even though we not craving ribs (lying once we arrived and were seated by the bar
and it was like right awSofila ordered the «Roma Buirger /​fries
The accountant had he Roma Rack of baby backs and
I had the full slab of racks. I didn’t mean to eat hem all but they kept looking at me and it didn’t take look to make eye contact. and you know the rest. poor ribs/​
OB[

I am a sucker for cheesy restaurant food. I mean cheesy in both senses.
The boo boo and I swung by after hearing word of an hour and a half wait at Texas Roadhouse and before we caught up with Captain America.
It was basically empty, and it also happened to be happy hour!
That only consists of half of appetizers and a dollar off drafts, but still. I love me some sale potato skins.
I got my mango mojito on and the food was decent considering it is a chain restaurant.
The best thing was our server. I think her name was Susan, she is one of the sweetest girls ever, super cute, very nice, and absolutely one of the most adorable servers I’ve met ever.
She was very attentive, caring, and frankly she deserves a raise.
Shouts to my girl out there!
Other than that, the boy got a burger, which he described as «meh». I got the spinich chicken stack thing, and it was yummy but there was just too much food! It was destined to be a good drunkenly eaten leftover.
Food is ok, service is awesome.

The outrageous prices and poor quality of food makes this Tony Roma’s a one star joint. The server, as nice as he may have been, could only bump this place up to two stars. I don’t know why I expected it was going to be anywhere remotely as good as Roadhouse, but at the same time, I didn’t expect it to be such an epic fail either. In all truth, I hated my meal. Yes, I said it. Hated.
I ordered the 14 oz ribeye with mashed potatoes and rice pilaf. The steak was tough (unlike a ribeye should be), flavorless, and cold. I had to use A-​1 for crissake! The potatoes’ only redeeming factor was that they were smothered in waaaay too much butter… but I guess that’s the only way they could taste any better. On top of that, I’m almost certain my rice pilaf was made from a box. For $ 23, that’s unacceptable.
Our group also decided to share a few dessert trios that looked soooo much better in the pictures than they actually were. The red velvet tasted like some mass produced spongecake (not like cocoa at all) with a pathetically thin layer of frosting and the apple cobbler was simply some stewed apples plopped onto an undeniably cheap and store-​bought tart-​shell. The chocolate cake was probably the best, least generic tasting thing of the evening; I gotta say it was surprisingly rich and moist.
If I had to sum it it, there’s a reason why Roadhouse consistently has hour-​long waits during their busy service hours while Tony Roma’s not only takes reservations, but NEVER looks busy. ‘Nuff said.

Tony Roma’s, What’s going on man?
I don’t know what happened to Tony Roma’s nor do I know why this place keep getting shafted. I just know that Tony Roma’s used to be the spot where my family and I would go for a nice dinner. But ever since my aunt and uncle moved to Texas, our family stopped going here. It almost feels like one day, Tony Roma’s was the sh*! and you would have to wait 30+ for a table and all of a sudden this place have become a ghost town. I really can’t explain it at all.
From what i remembered of Tony Roma’s was that they have the best ribs by far of any chain/​corporate restaurants I’ve been to. The ribs would always come out nice and glazed. The meat would fall off the bones and their sauce seems to always hit the spot. Especially if you get the ribs, try it on their smokeridge sauce? I remembered it to be the sweetest and most succulent sauce. Besides that their are TVs everywhere to let you enjoy your favorite game.
If someone can explain to me what happened to this place I would love to know. It actually seems really strange. I mean back then when this place was poppin’ i believe Texas Roadhouse was still present. So it couldn’t have been the doing of Texas Roadhouse. Maybe management change?
But yea try Tony Roma’s ribs with the smokeridge sauce and tell me how it taste!

I normally don’t review chain restaurants, but since they have been slowly disappearing and I haven’t been to one in a long time, I thought I would write my thoughts about my last dining experience there.
Their St. Louis style ribs are just mouth watering good. The meat is tender, juicy (and not just from the BBQ sauce) and they just slid right off the bones.
Service was excellent. I don’t know why they are not busier. I would really miss Tony Roma’s if they disappeared.

I just don’t know and don’t get it. Am I the only one who loves loves Tony Romas ribs. They are so succulent and just so damn yummy. Haven’t been to iFly not to long ago, i wasn’t that hungry but of course, always have room for ribs. Tony Romas’ ribs to be exact.
I pondered whether to get half a slab or a whole slab and share it with a friend. As a conscience consumer, it would be efficient and price wise to get the full pork slab along with two sides. It was perfect. The ribs came out so juicy that they just fell off the bones. The two sides we ordered are corn in the comb and steam broccoli which were made right. To end it, we had a red velvet cake.
I was a little bit hesitant to eat red velvet cake at Tony Romas. Given that I have eaten plenty of red velvet cakes and cupcakes in places that were known and yet very disappointed. I was terribly surprised that it was actually very good. It was very moist and not too sweet with the cream cheese toppings.
All in all, it was a very pleasant late nite snack. Everything was good and enough to satisfy that often late nite hunger pain.

$ 26 for an appetizer, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts? That’s a pretty damn good deal. Also, you NEED TO KNOW WHAT TO ORDER. I’ve tasted about 14 things from Tony Roma’s — whether it’s from someone else’s plate or because I’ve wanted to experiment — and I can tell you with full certainty that as of March 2010, there are only 3 THINGS WORTH ORDERING FROM TONY ROMA’S. The rest is crap — and yes, you’ll leave the place with memories of a sordid 2-​star experience.
These three things:
* THE ONION LOAF
— [4/​5 — Eat it with the Original Sauce.]
* THE ORIGINAL BABY BACK RIBS
— [4.5/5 — So soft, so tender, marinated so well that you can taste the seasoning deep within the ribs. Also, make sure you have it with A LOT of EXTRA ORIGINAL SAUCE. P. S. The Loaded Mashed Potatoes = also a WIN. If you don’t really need fries with your ribs, replace them with the mashed potatoes.]
* ST. LOUIS RIBS
— [3.5/5 — Good, but not as tender as the baby back — obviously.]
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Now, for the long story (for those of you who can’t sleep and are trying hard, look no further — read on to be lulled into slumber…)
I grew up in Jakarta, where back in the day, Tony Roma’s was considered one of the most expensive places to eat in town and the only one that served real BBQ ribs. And as a kid, then teen — that original sauce remained DELICIOUS. Especially when you mix it with a little bit of Tabasco.
Now that I’ve come of age and been exposed to a great deal of fine dining establishments as well as REAL ribs from places like Corky’s and Charles Vergos’ Rendezvous in Memphis or Rudy’s in Texas. I decided to give this place another shot, against the inner self that chants, «No franchises!» with the fervor of spectators at a World Cup final.
Now, you can’t expect gourmet food at a franchise with cheap food like Tony Roma’s. So please, don’t expect Michelin-​quality. Our first time there, we went for one of our more casual dinner+movie date nights, since the Century 25 Union Landing across the street from Tony Roma’s happens to be the closest place to watch Indian movies and we’d been wanting to watch 3 Idiots.
Tony Roma’s has since turned into our «cheap yums» destination for movie nights. We’ve been there about 5 times since, and although we don’t ordinarily like to eat the same food too frequently, we like the ribs so much that we order the same thing each time — plus, it only costs us $ 26 before tax/​tip for a meal that leaves us very satisfied.

We came here for lunch the other day and was disappointed in a couple of things which I think results in taking away two stars. First of all, the «Roma Feast» the Mon — Fri $ 9.99 lunch special is removed from the menu and the big sign outside advertising it is also gone (see the photo i put up about the Roma Feast).
So instead we ordered the pulled pork sandwiches with cocktails. They were just OK. I don’t like paying $ 50 for a simple lunch for 2 that is just «OK». I ordered a Pina Colada and Matthew ordered a Daquiri and I swear the booze was missing from both our drinks.
I was not as happy as I was at our last visit here.