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Ransom's Steakhouse and Saloon

MY REVIEW: 2nd visit - (First one was nothing special, but thought we would give it another try.) Because of our group size (12), we arrived early for dinner, around 4p. on a Saturday. There was only 2 couples eating. Our waitress was nice and quick to take our drink order. After we placed our food order, we waited approximately 30 minutes for the meals to arrive. We were short two orders. The waitress apologized and went to the back to see what happened. It was then I noticed only one person in the cooking area. This was close to 5p. The cook became upset and gave the waitress a hard time. What a shame. In the meantime we were still waiting on the two meals. They finally came, but most everyone else had finished their meals. It is hard to believe that on a Saturday they would only have one person in the kitchen. To the assistant manager - If someone doesn't show for work, roll up your sleeves and help the guy out!

NAME: New to the area
SUBMITTED: 9/10/2012   LAST VISIT WAS: 07/2012
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: We had lunch today at Ransom’s for the first time and it was OK, but nothing special.

I had the chicken fried steak with the 5 cheese mac & cheese and the Texas fries. The chicken fried steak itself was fairly good: well crusted, tender and devoid of gristle. But the gravy tasted the same as the powdered gravy mix I find at the grocery store.

Before ordering, I asked our waiter if the Texas Fries were fresh-cut. He said “yes” and I eagerly ordered them as a side. Sadly, these fries were clearly not fresh-cut and were quite obviously of a frozen origin. I am not sure if he misunderstood my question or if he fibbed.

The 5 cheese mac & cheese was somewhat bland and reminded me of some mac & cheese I once purchased from a grocery store’s frozen food section. It tasted as if it was factory-made and delivered by a foodservice truck.

My wife had a steak with the roasted garlic & white cheddar mashed potatoes. She said the steak was pretty good, but was heavily dosed with MSG (she is sensitive to MSG). She thought her mashed potatoes tasted as if it was created from a powdered instant potato mix.

It is sad that their food is mostly mediocre – the restaurant itself is handsomely decorated with Texas memorabilia and is located on a scenic hill next to the magnificently historic downtown area of Montgomery, Texas. If the owner/operators would make more of their food from scratch, I think their eatery would be an absolute winner. But it is not and this will be our last visit.

P.S. I visited Ransom’s today seeking a great chicken fried steak and did not find it. For the record, the four favorite chicken fried steaks I have found so far in southeast Texas were from D*osey Doe, G*oodson’s, C*hili’s, and C*heddar’s. I would love to see b4-u-eat.com have a separate discussion area for chicken fried steak exclusively – this is a very serious cuisine for many of us Texans.

NAME: Mainframe
SUBMITTED: 4/16/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: April 16 2011
FREQUENCY: Visited once

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