The Chain Restaurant With The Best T-Bone Steak

A T-bone is no fun at all if it involves your car, but a T-bone on your plate is a tasty cut of steak that balances tenderness with chewiness. T-bones are a staple at many steakhouses, but which one cooks it the best? If you ask 50 food critics, you may get 60 different answers (we're an indecisive bunch, at best), which is why Mashed decided to consult the vox populi. Opening the field to independent steakhouses would just confuse matters, because a steakhouse in a city with 2 million people will garner more opinions than one in a tiny town, so we limited the contenders to a handful of popular chain restaurants specializing in steak and used the reviews to rank them worst to first.

To cut right to the chase, the top-ranked T-bone comes from Ruth's Chris Steak House, an upscale establishment with locations in 37 states and the District of Columbia (plus 10 more overseas outposts). Those willing to pay around $70 for the steak may well find it to be succulent, sizzling, scrumptious, and all of the usual adjectives one might employ to justify such an expense.

The restaurant itself also touts the fact that its T-bones are wet-aged for nearly a month — most supermarket steaks, too, are wet-aged instead of dry-aged, because this process is easier and less expensive. Even though T-bones are fairly well marbled, Ruth's Chris Steak House's wet aging helps ensure they won't dry out too much when cooked.

If a $70 steak is not for you, then you may be relieved to know that the second-best T-bone on our list comes from a restaurant that's not quite as high-end as Ruth's Chris Steak House. It also has better market penetration — at last count, only eight states don't have a LongHorn Steakhouse (nine if you include the District of Columbia).

At LongHorn Steakhouse, which bills itself as a casual dining chain, you may be able to enjoy a T-bone steak for under $30. Although, this T-bone comes in at just 18 ounces as opposed to Ruth's Chris Steak House's 24-ouncer, so your doggy bag may be a bit lighter once you're done dining.

So, what do customers say about the LongHorn Steakhouse T-bone? It, too, earns the same type of accolades, being lauded as tender, flavorful, and well seasoned. While the ambiance at LongHorn Steakhouse may not be as elegant as the chain restaurant fine dining you might find at Ruth's Chris Steak House, budget-minded carnivores will find little to complain about. Even better, the T-bone at LongHorn Steakhouse comes with a salad and choice of side, while Ruth's Chris Steak House sells its steaks a la carte.