When you think of a chain restaurant with hundreds of locations across the country, you most likely imagine an efficient kitchen. One that has to be uniform and serve a large number of customers quickly, which often means sacrificing quality and freshness to some extent.
According to one former Texas Roadhouse worker, though, that’s not the case at her former place of employment.
In a TikTok video that has garnered over 1.4 million views, creator Rachel Sykes (@rs_inthiseconomy) recalled some of the unique aspects of working at the Texas-style steakhouse.
What Was Unique About Working At Texas Roadhouse?
“I’ve been seeing a lot of misinformation about Texas Roadhouse food online… and I’m here to talk about it,” she says.
Sykes explains that she worked as both a server and a local sales marketer, while her husband worked as a corporate trainer and in the kitchen.
“Texas Roadhouse is a from-scratch kitchen,” she says.
She specifically addressed claims about the chain’s butter.
“I just seen a video about their butter not being real butter,” she says. “But their in-house butter is Amish farm butter… it’s all Amish farm butter.”
According to Sykes, very little at the restaurant was frozen.
“The only thing that was frozen when I worked there was their ice cream and their salmon,” she says.
She adds that the steaks are prepared differently than many people might expect.
“They have an in-house meat locker and two meat cutters at all times,” she says, explaining that the staff cuts steaks on-site.
“It is literally straight off of the cow to the grill,” she continues.
She Claims It’s Not The Only Freshly Made Dish
Sykes also claims much of the rest of the menu is made in-house.
“They even make their own croutons for the salads,” she says. “They also make the ranch, the mayo… all the salad dressings. Everything is made in-house.”
She adds that even custom steak sizes are possible because of the in-house butchers.
“I once had someone order a 72-ounce porterhouse steak, and we made it happen,” she recalls.
Sykes also compared the chain to competitors.
“I also worked briefly at an Outback, and their steaks were frozen,” she says. “And I had friends that worked at LongHorn, and their steaks were frozen. Texas Roadhouse is the only steakhouse that I’ve ever known… to physically cut the steaks and lay it on the grill,” she adds.
It’s important to note here that both Outback Steakhouse and Longhorn Steakhouse also state they never freeze their steaks.
“Texas Roadhouse is legit,” Sykes wrote in the caption.
Commenters Agree
In the comments section, several viewers backed up her claims.
“Please God don’t let them get bought out by private equity…” one person wrote.
“Stop, I don’t need more people crowding my local Texas Roadhouse, it’s packed enough,” another joked.
“As a former Texas Roadhouse server, this is 100% accurate!” a third added.
“Why doesn’t Texas Roadhouse advertise this? People would go in droves to eat fresh over frozen steak and everything else!” another said.
Is This Actually True?
According to the company itself, much of what she says lines up with how the chain operates.
On its official website, Texas Roadhouse states that it focuses on fresh, quality food made from scratch, including items like croutons, dressings, and even bacon bits.
The company also says that each location has “an in-house meat cutter, or butcher, who hand-cuts every steak [they] serve.”
Others who claim to have worked at the restaurant have made similar statements online. In one Reddit post on r/restaurant_managers, a user wrote that “99.9% of the menu” is made from scratch.
In another post on r/nova, several commenters also mentioned Texas Roadhouse when asked about restaurants that prepare food fresh, with one saying that “nothing is frozen and heated up.”
@rs_inthiseconomy Texas Roadhouse is legit. #texasroadhouse #restaurant #steakhouse
BroBible has reached out to Texas Roadhouse and the TikToker via email for comment.