TEXAS ROADHOUSE - DUBAI MALL

I have been hearing a lot of good things about this particular steak house hence I think it should be amazing to have dinner here and actually experience everything for myself. Still connected to my Shack Shake post, Texas Road House is where I went to have dinner, and it’s also located in Dubai Mall. TRH is HUGE in Dubai, and as I arrived, the queue quite long and I had to be on the waiting list to wait for my table. Even before I am actually inside, I got the feeling that I would love this place, when I hear “Texas”, this was something that I really expected when it comes to the design, just this cowboy-ish pubs and very American (seriously I don’t know how to explain it properly), but you know when you watch cowboy movies and there are scenes where they come to a certain old-school looking pub to save the world, and the pub consist of mostly wood material layering all the design, crowded, rugged and in a way, dirty, but dirty pretty and just something so Texas about it. This is what a casual steakhouse should look like, when I don’t need to dress up and all that shit, I just wanna have some good time, good food and good conversation.

When you hear everything is bigger in Dubai, that actually includes my dinners here, it’s just BIG. The menu here was very big, but I love how they seem to have this focus where the range wasn’t all over the place and those menus they put in the book really those who’ve been passing certain standards and sell-worthy. Enough yakking, let’s just get down and dirty.

To have the confidence to freshly bake their complimentary bread every 5 minutes, that’s a clear sign of an established restaurant! I love how the waiter gave brief explanation about the handcut steaks and the bread while escorting us to the table, and soon enough, another pleasant "surprise" that they actually gave us a big bucket of peanuts to accompany the bread.

RASPBERRY MARGARITA – 22 Dirham
Had this to prepare my palate before all the proteins and stuff, and this was a very refreshing kickstart. It’s mostly sour with a little hint of sweet, but altogether fruity, and that’s what I love about it.

FRIED PICKLES – 19 Dirham
I never had fried pickles anywhere before and this should be a good debut, and boy it wasn’t disappointing at all. Was a little skeptical about this, but it was fresh, tangy and absolutely yum, it’s mandatory for you mix the lightly fried pickles to the ranch dressing, it really changed the whole flavor.

I found this perfect to be paired with beers or cokes (if you don’t drink alcohol).

CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP – 21 Dirham

Not the best presentation, but as I sipped this, I was literally so in love that it’s weird, but amazing, how I have to admit that this was one of the best dish served on the dinner. For some reasons, I caught this Indian curry like flavor of this tortilla soup that I really like. This should be something interesting to be available in town and we should really chill on the boring mushroom soup.

GRILLED SHRIMP – 32 Dirham

The overall seasoning was actually good, but just slightly salty, but I honestly enjoyed it, especially the freshness of the shrimp! For 32 Dirham, I found the pricing was a little high.

COUNTRY FRIED CHICKEN
The battered fried chicken was perfectly deep fried and the cream gravy was really something that became a big big role in changing everything: flavor, texture and overall impression. When I had the chicken alone, it was dry and boring, but the sauce really juiced up and raise the “delicious” bar to a certain level where I enjoyed it a lot. It’s something different.

STEAK KEBAB – 77 Dirham
Expecting much from this dish because it’s just something that’s very Middle East comparing to the other dishes, but eventually I wasn’t a big fan of it due to the meat’s lack of flavor and dry texture.

Expecting much from this dish because it’s just something that’s very Middle East comparing to the other dishes, but eventually I wasn’t a big fan of it due to the meat’s lack of flavor and dry texture.

JALAPENO BURGER – 55 Dirham
I actually didn’t want any burger because I just couldn’t see anymore after the big Shack Shake lunch I had, but this Jalapeno burger looks crazy good that I had to order one. Good thing it wasn’t a bad pick as the bun was perfectly firm and soft, just how I love a burger bun to be, the default 225 grams patty is cooked “medium well”, so you won’t have that extra juicy texture comparing to the steaks I had earlier, but it’s that beautiful blend of the patty, cheese, spicy mayo and the jalapeno where you get savory, salty and spicy, and all just blend perfectly well creating this altogether awesome play of flavor and texture, the spiciness was something that came as a beautiful surprise and such refreshment to my palate for I haven’t had spicy food among my visit here.

Their steaks came with two side dishes that you can choose out of the 7 availble options, such as: mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, honey-glazed carrots, grilled corn, creamy potato soup, coleslaw, caesar salad. It’s not very common in Jakarta, but here, the waiter will offer if you want your favorite steak to be topped with sauteed mushroom and onion, and of course being a first timer, I sure did ask!

BONE IN RIB-EYE – 179 Dirham (565 gram)
Always believe the first and candid impression! I literally “OH MY GOD” after the first bite as this steak was so so so good, I asked for medium and they gave to me a perfect medium, the meat was so tender, juicy and it’s so flavorful! That extra smokey flavor from the grilling also contributed well in maintaining one’s appetite to have some more. This is certainly a menu that you should not miss, and for 179 Dirham and almost 600 gram of protein, sure damn worth it!

And oh, the sauteed mushroom is DA BOMB!

NEW YORK STRIP - 120 Dirham

Asked for medium rare for two reasons: to know if they’re consistent with their temperature and simply because I love medium rare LOL! I was impressed by how well they are with the consistency and not to mention, they’re full house. Something like this actually made me look down a little bit at certain restaurants in Jakarta that easily failed on the first order of my steak, even when the restaurant wasn’t packed, I do feel like restaurants in Jakarta should start hiring people who can really cook steaks and fixing some management issue.

I am typing this because it’s just that I really have bad experiences when it comes to steakhouses in Jakarta, to be completely honest, most of the times, I really stop visiting certain steakhouses due to the bad experience on each and every visit, some I even gave 3 chances, but anyway, let’s go back to this dish, I enjoyed this: the meat was tender, but chewier, but as in overall, I think the rib eye really stood out and my attention & palate was sold completely.

AWARD WINNING BEEF RIBS 

Ordered the half portion and I was stunned of the HUGE portion, it’s normally like a FULL set in Jakarta. The chunky ribs certainly looked appetizing with all that BBQ glaze on top. The meat was tender, but just slightly dry as I had the more center part. The BBQ sauce wasn’t my favorite as it’s lacking the signature tangy BBQ sauce character that could really live up the overall flavor.

BIG OL BROWNIE - 28 Dirham
The good old classic brownie topped with country vanilla ice cream and glazed in generous chocolate sauce. It’s the good old classic that’s infact, never gets old. I LOVE how finally I could find something made from chocolate that’s not crazily sweet (and infact the brownie had this bitterness to it) and it allowed the ice cream to balance everything out. Genius.

Presentation wise, I love how they presented the food just the way it is, I love how their fries wasn’t french fries, instead they use natural handcut fries which I really do feel belong to steaks and for the lack of better English, I like how they serve it “dirty”. Every single food that I ordered was so appetizing looking.

I noticed the service was flawless, the staff was friendly and I learned that each waiter here was assigned to serve two tables. The only problem was because of the packed restaurant, sometimes it was challenging to call the waiter, and getting used to the Indonesian system, some restaurants here are equipped with the “call” button, if one day they’re planning to come and expand in Jakarta (which I believe they should), this could be a gesture worth considering.

Texas Roadhouse
Dubai Mall LG112-2 Fountain Restaurant Area
Financial Centre Road, Downtown Dubai, Burj Khalifa complex
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
+971 441 90266
Opening Hours:
Mon-Wed, Sat-Sun: 11 AM - 11 PM
Thu-Fri: 11 AM - 12 AM
Average spending for two: 300 Dirham
Dresscode: casual
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