I always love to visit new restaurants that have just opened, and since it was my pick this week I decided we should visit the Red Robin restaurant on the corner of Hanley and Dale in Richmond Heights. Early Yelp reviews had given it some poor reviews for their service, so I was hoping the service had improved since their original opening. We arrived around 11:00 am and realized to get to the restaurant we had to enter at Dale and drive east of Hanley for several hundred feet before we could enter the plaza and then drive back to the restaurant. We noticed most of the cars were parked by the strip of stores on the east end of the plaza, but we were there right after their opening time of 11:00 am.
As we entered I noticed the dining area was quite cavernous with a large bar in the center so they are obviously expecting a large crowd. We were seated at a table for six on the side where we could view the HDTV's mounted on the walls and the strip of artwork mounted on the ceiling. They were playing an assortment of old music pretty loud which made it difficult to hear much in the dining area. It was also bitterly cold inside while it was a pleasant day in the 80's outside. We had perused the menu beforehand and they have quite a few choices, including a large assortment of burgers, and other sandwichs and salads as well. I decided to order the Burnin' Love which looked quite towering from their photo online:
What I received in person appeared slightly different:
Others in the group mostly ordered burgers: The Bleu Ribbon, The Bacon Guacamole, and The Grand Brie whereas my wife ordered the BLTA Croissant. The serving of fries on the side was somewhat skimpy but we knew that did not matter since they were bottomless, and we did order some more later. The burgers and sandwiches themselves were rather messy to eat but they were all very well cooked, well prepared and quite delicious. I did not eat the pepper speared on the top of my burger (I tried it and it was not that interesting) but the rest of my Burnin' Love was much more flavorful. It was not spicy hot at all, but you could taste the jalapenos and the chipotle mayo coming through with the burger meat which had a good meaty flavor with just the touch of pink I had requested. The burger patty was not as good as a Five Star patty, but perhaps you need to order one of their "Finest" 1/2 pound Angus burgers to reach that level.
My wife did enjoy her BLTA Croissant, although she thought it was messy with lots of mayonnaise flavoring the bacon and croissant. When we finished our small serving of fries it was easy to ask for more which showed up quickly and were warm and fresh. It actually worked well starting with just a small serving of fries, and just asking for more. They also came unseasoned but they had seasoning on the table so those who wanted seasoning could add it and others did not have to worry about it.
We also ordered some fruffles for dessert which were actually quite good, cold frozen brownies covered with frosting and with a raspberry dipping sauce. They made a tasty ending to our meal.
Our server was pretty responsive so they have hopefully resolved their earlier service issues. The manager even came by later and asked us how we liked everything and we only had one complaint. The problem? To pay by credit card you have to use the kiosk/tablet on the table. If it only required a card swipe, designating a tip and a signature that might have been fine, but they want you to click through a variety of screens, answer a survey and then try to persuade you to enter an email address for their rewards program. The tip selection was even some funny slider instead of somewhere you could type in some numbers. I would hate to see a less tech savvy person trying to traverse that tablet just to pay their bill. We decided it would be a lot easier to pay with cash next time!
Overall, however, we thought the experience went pretty well, and for a "gourmet sit-down burger chain restaurant", the Red Robin actually did a solid job. The service ended up being fine and the food was quite good, well prepared and served in a timely manner.
Food Quality and Service
Comfort and Environment (why are all restaurants so cold?)
Dealing with that Tablet for Payment
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