Ruby Tuesday Menu Items Ranked Worst To Best

For many of us, Friday and Saturday nights are reserved for venturing out to eat and staying up late to have a good time. But that doesn't mean you can't make a weeknight just as fun as your weekend. 

So, instead of waiting until the end of the week to unwind, why not head to a place that has the second day of the workweek in its name? The people at Ruby Tuesday want you to treat every day like it's the weekend, and they provide the energetic environment for you to do just that. Ruby Tuesday serves up various dishes that help quell the appetites of hungry customers, and many of these menu items keep people coming back time and time again. 

Of course, as with any dining establishment, not every single item on the menu is crafted with the same kind of tender loving care, which means there are certain options that you should probably avoid. So, the next time you and your crew roll out to Ruby Tuesday in search of a worthwhile meal, make sure you know which mouthwatering items are worth ordering. 

Chips and dip are a great way to kick off a meal. Everyone gets to pick away at the pile of chips and dunk them into whatever cup of goodness sits nestled in the middle. Chips also don't sit in your stomach like cement, so tossing several of them back won't ruin your appetite. 

Ruby Tuesday has two chip-and-dip appetizers, and one of them is the Spinach Artichoke Dip. Sounds appetizing, right? You might have eaten spinach-artichoke dip prior to your Ruby Tuesday's excursion, in which case you might think you know what to expect. Unfortunately, you'll feel let down by this particular version.The dip is comprised of artichoke hearts and cheesy spinach, and it's topped with shredded Parmesan cheese. Now, while that should create a stellar concoction, the problem is that the dip has way too many greens and not enough cheese. 

Look, getting a healthy dose of veggies in is always a good thing, but when you order a dip, you want the healthy stuff evened out with the cheesy stuff, and this dip doesn't even remotely accomplish that. Unless you're trying to dunk your tortilla chips into a bowl of hot vegetables, look elsewhere for a meal starter.

Chicken is one of those proteins that doesn't really have a strong flavor on its own; however, there are numerous ways to season and dress chicken that can really make it stand out as a stellar dish. The rich and hearty hickory-bourbon glaze is one of the most delicious ways to baste a piece of chicken, which is exactly why the Ruby Tuesdays menu offers the Hickory Bourbon Chicken dish. 

This dish features two grilled chicken breasts served with two sides of your choosing. In theory, this dish should taste great. Sadly, in reality, the opposite is true. It's a shame that this dish is quite passable because the hickory-bourbon glaze is actually quite tasty; it's a little sweet, a little smoky, and it has just enough bite to satisfy someone looking for a bit of heat. 

However, the grilled chicken breasts don't do this glaze justice. The meat is super dry, and you have to resort to talking a huge gulp of water with every bite just so the food travels down your throat smoothly. It's a shame that such an awesome glaze is wasted on two pieces of chicken that deserve to stay far away from the dinner plate.

Pasta is wonderful for truly filling you up when that beast of an appetite starts growling in the pit of your stomach. A carb-heavy pasta-based meal layers your stomach better than most foods, and there are so many ingredients and sauces that work well for pasta that you can easily find a combination that you love. 

The Chicken and Broccoli Pasta is just one of the pasta dishes that Ruby Tuesday offers, and even though the ingredients contained in this item are simple and straightforward, this is not a dish you should choose as your main entrée. 

This dish consists of a bowl of penne pasta mixed with broccoli and a layer of chicken draped on top. Firstly, the chicken is quite dry. The seasoning on the outside is somewhat tasty, but it's not enjoyable enough to cancel out the texture of the chicken. Secondly, the Parmesan cream sauce is quite bland. You'd think that each bite would contain a salty punch of Parmesan cheese, but it is almost entirely lacking. This is one pasta dish to veer away from.

There are few better ways to serve cheese than crisping it in a deep fryer. Mozzarella sticks generally have a crispy outer shell with a gooey inside that makes for a little stick of handheld heaven. While you can pretty much fry any cheese you can think of, mozzarella seems to be the go-to cheese for frying because it's firm enough not to fall apart completely in the oil but soft enough to create that stretchy photo-worthy cheesey pull after each bite. 

Ruby Tuesday serves up Mozzarella Sticks as a starter, but even though the temptation to indulge in fried cheese might linger strongly inside you, it's best to stave it off. Even though the mozzarella sticks at Ruby Tuesday look quite appealing when they hit your table, much of the cheese that lives inside the crunchy exterior is nowhere near the level of gooeyness you desire. 

Most of the time, it feels like you're biting into a stick of Polly-O string cheese encased in fried batter, which doesn't make for a great taste or texture in your mouth. The marinara sauce served alongside these cheesy upsets doesn't do a thing to enhance these sticks, so it's best to direct your appetite's vehicle towards a different avenue altogether.

If you know that you're going to tackle an entrée containing a pretty substantial amount of calories, salt, and all that other good stuff, sometimes it's best to kick off the night's dinner with a bowl of greens so that your body receives the full spectrum of all the nutrients that it needs. Ruby Tuesday is never one to hold back on offering a variety of roughage, and one of the salads Ruby Tuesday offers is the Backyard BBQ Grilled Chicken Salad. It contains a whole medley of ingredients in just one bowl, but the end result is a big potpourri of problems.

The salad has romaine lettuce tossed with cabbage, carrots, roasted corn, tomatoes, bacon, black beans, green onions, shredded cheddar cheese, and grilled chicken. Yes, that's a lot of ingredients in one bowl. The salad is served with a barbecue-ranch combo dressing that should bring a lot of life to the salad, but the truth is that it breathes absolutely no vitality into anything. The dressing tastes overly sweet, which makes for an odd flavor profile when mixed in with all the veggies. The chunks of grilled chicken are also quite dry, making you wish they hadn't been added to the salad in the first place.

Incorporating fish into your diet is a great way to obtain a dose of omega-3 fatty acids, which are beneficial for heart health.  And, as we all know, it's astoundingly important to take care of your heart. If you're sitting at a table in Ruby Tuesday's dining room and are wondering about the best way to get some of those essential omega-3s into your diet, then you might decide to choose the Honey-Glazed Salmon Bowl from the menu. 

This salad bowl is served heaped with veggies topped with a sizable filet of salmon, but unfortunately, in this case, obtaining some of those omega-3s comes at a price. That price (well, besides the actual price of the dish) is the lack of flavor and unfortunate texture of the fish itself. The bowl contains a large variety of ingredients: Romaine lettuce, baby spinach, carrots, cabbage, corn, quinoa, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, Parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. 

The salmon has a sweet honey glaze on it, but the consistency of this dressing is unpleasantly runny. Additionally, the fish is far too dry, and no amount of dressing or glaze can save this sad piece of salmon. Do yourself a favor and seek out your omega-3 nutrition in a different dish. 

Sometimes, your eager taste buds crave a vibrant medley of flavors. Other times, you're perfectly satisfied with something simple, so long as it's still tasty. Chicken tenders are pretty darn perfect in the latter of those two scenarios. There's nothing fancy about a plate of fried chicken strips, and that's okay. The Crispy Chicken Tenders at Ruby Tuesday are warm and comforting; they do their job, and it's up to you whether or not this dish is worth your time. 

Overall, there's nothing wrong with the buttermilk batter-dipped strips of fried white-meat chicken. It's just that, if you're seeking something that will amaze you, then these might not be the best option. Listen, they're crispy, the meat is tender, and the honey mustard sauce they're served with offers a nice zesty kick. There's nothing terrible about this menu option, but these chicken tenders are nothing to write home about, either.

If you order a plate of nachos at a restaurant, the moment you see them approaching your table, they're likely to give you an immediate feeling of relief. Nachos are often associated with having a good time. Ruby Tuesday clearly wants you to have the best time possible while you dine, which might very well mean ordering the BBQ Chicken Street Nachos for you and your friends to enjoy while you sip drinks and laugh about life.

You'll probably recognize many of the ingredients on this platter from the nachos that are offered at other restaurants. Ruby Tuesday's nachos contain the standard black beans, shredded cheddar cheese, jalapenos, sour cream, pico de gallo, and guacamole. However, things take a different turn with the addition of juicy chunks of barbecued chicken and a healthy drizzle of zesty barbecue sauce on the entire dish. 

These nachos are served on a huge plate, so almost every chip has at least several ingredients piled on top. These nachos are a welcome change from those loaded plates of nachos that merely dump the fixings on the top layer of chips and leave everything underneath bare and boring.

Few foods hit the spot quite like burgers. Two grilled buns holding a variety of tasty fixings piled on top of a juicy patty of beef make for a great day. Burgers scratch every itch a hungry carnivore may experience, and Ruby Tuesday is on a mission to leave no scratch un-itched. One of Ruby Tuesday's burgers is a simple classic: The Ruby's Cheeseburger. f you're trying to steer clear of an overly fancy burger, this is the way to go.

The construction of this burger is as simple as can be: A juicy beef patty covered in American cheese resting atop layers of lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles. Of course, you can add or subtract whichever ingredients you want depending on your taste preference, but overall, this is a basic burger that does everything a classic burger should. It won't blow you away with unexpected flavors, but it will satisfy those burger cravings that tend to hit now and then. After all, that's all you can really ask for from this menu option.

After a big meal full of savory flavors, there's likely only one thing your palate wants: Something sweet to balance out the flavor show that has been playing on your tongue. A sugary dessert fulfills that desire, and Ruby Tuesday certainly doesn't deprive its paying guests of the opportunity to jump on the sugar bandwagon. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Skillet is one of its top desserts, and after a meal full of hearty flavors, this dish offers the perfect level of relief. 

It's also quite a looker: A warm, freshly baked chocolate chip cookie sits nestled inside a skillet, and it's topped with two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled with both caramel and chocolate sauce. This vanilla ice cream perfectly complements the soft, warm texture of the chocolate chip cookie. 

The chocolate chips in the cookie are warm and melted, giving this cookie little bursts of gooey goodness. The caramel and chocolate drizzle adds another layer of sweetness to a pretty awesome dish. Needless to say, this skillet is a solid way to round out your dining experience. 

Boneless wings are a delightful creation for anyone who has ever wanted to enjoy munching down on some wings without ever having to deal with picking the meat off the bones. These little chunks of fried, glazed chicken put smiles on the faces of anyone looking to avoid gnawing down on a skeletal structure. 

Ruby Tuesday's Boneless Wings are every bit as good as the boneless wings you've had elsewhere. It's not difficult to toss a handful of battered chicken into a deep fryer for a few minutes, and Ruby Tuesday offers this simple yet delicious dish for your tasting pleasure. 

You get to choose which sauce you'd like your platter of wings to be tossed in, and Ruby Tuesday has a nice variety of sauces. The sauce offers delicious glazes like hot buffalo, hickory bourbon, Nashville hot, Parmesan garlic, or honey-pepper-garlic flavor. 

The hickory bourbon is rich and tangy, and the Nashville Hot Hive gives a nice scorching kick to the tastebuds. The Parmesan garlic has a nice cheesy flavor that is complemented by a light tinge of garlic, and the honey-pepper-garlic has a wonderfully enjoyable sweet heat. These little morsels of chicken are definitely worth your time if you want to begin your meal with a solid appetizer. 

Generally, the words "coconut" and "shrimp" may not find themselves working quite so well together. After all, one is an ocean-dwelling crustacean, and the other is a fruit that dangles from palm trees. However, when you mix coconut into breading, cover shrimp in said breading, and then fry the shrimp, the end result is absolutely delicious. The Ruby Tuesday menu is filled with delicious flavor combinations, and that's exactly why the restaurant chain also offers a platter of Coconut Shrimp as an appetizer. This dish can be ordered to share with other people so that everyone at the table can try this mouthwatering combination and indulge.

The shrimp is extremely delicate, which makes for a very satisfying bite. The breading is sweet because it contains coconut, but not so sweet that it overwhelms the sweet-and-salty flavor of the shrimp. But, the element that makes this appetizer an absolute powerhouse is the honey-sriracha mayo that accompanies this dish. The creaminess of the dip works very well with the crunchy breading. Additionally, the honey and siracha combine to provide a  sweet kick of spice that turns each shrimp into a mouthful of delight. These crispy shrimp pieces are highly addictive, though, so be careful!

The life of a true carnivore is likely incomplete without steak. A thick slab of steak checks off all the boxes when you're craving something packed with protein that you can tear apart with your teeth. Although red meat is high in cholesterol, if you're a meat-lover, few things are more satisfying than ripping into a juicy cut of beef. Ruby Tuesday has several offerings that are perfect for any carnivorous craving, and one of these is the Top Sirloin. 

This sirloin is available in either a six- or eight-ounce cut, and it's served with two sides. However, if you're really in the mood for steak, this is not the best option for you. Now, every cut of steak is different, and this top sirloin is very lean. Therefore, if you love striations of fat throughout your steak, you're out of luck with this menu option. 

However, that doesn't mean this sirloin is lacking in flavor. It's well-seasoned before it hits the grill, and those seasonings seep into the meat while it cooks. The end result is a tender piece of tasty protein that's definitely worth ordering, even if it doesn't quite satisfy your meat cravings. 

Eating something that has a soft gooey filling can be quite a lot of fun. It can feel like you're mining through an outer covering of flavor to reach the even tastier stuff on the inside. It's a culinary mission that always yields satisfying results. This is just one of the things that makes lava cake so amazing: Not only do you get a moist mound of soft chocolate cake, but when you dig into it, a warm, thick river of dark chocolate liquid spills out from the cake. 

Ruby Tuesday serves a Chocolate Lava Cake that's every bit as rich and decadent as your dessert dreams. After you place your order at Ruby Tuesday, you can expect a softball-sized mound of rich chocolate to arrive at the table. The cake is topped with a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream covered in Oreo crumbles and a chocolate sauce drizzle. 

While these elements are great, they're certainly not the best part. The most awesome aspect of this cake emerges when you take your spoon and plunge it into the cake for the coveted liquid prize that rests inside. The warm dark chocolate center pours out like black lava, making every bite you take richer than the last. This is chocolate on steroids, and that's a darn good thing.

If your stomach can't decide whether it's craving something from the ocean or something that used to roam the land, then you might be keeping your fingers crossed for an option that offers both. A meal that contains both meat and seafood makes for interesting, fresh flavors that leave two different flavor cravings satisfied. If this combination sounds appealing to you, then it's worth trying the Blackened Shrimp and Sausage Pasta at Ruby Tuesday. This dish is a great way to explore a culinary combination of goodies from the land and the sea. 

This dish contains penne paste, which consists of those little starchy ridged tubes. The penne is tossed with a thick tomato alfredo sauce that leans more heavily on the alfredo, so if you love cheesy pasta sauce, then you'll be more than pleased. The main attractions here, of course, are the succulent pieces of blackened shrimp and the savory coins of sausage that are mixed in with the penne. The shrimp is plump, and the sausage has just the right amount of salty fattiness to make this a dish that you should both run and swim towards. 

Anyone who loves seafood should probably take a trip down to New Orleans at some point to bask in the glory that is life-changing oceanic delights. Now, maybe that trip a long way away from now, and you'd like to get some kind of a New Orleans fix sometime in the near future. Well, luckily, Ruby Tuesday can help with that. The menu offers an entrée that is appropriately called "New Orleans Seafood" for all those people who want to dive head-first into the grub from The Big Easy.

Creole seasoning is wildly popular in New Orleans, so it makes sense that this dish contains a healthy dose. Creole seasoning contains paprika, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil, white pepper, black pepper, as well as cayenne pepper for heat. This dish consists of a flaky filet of tilapia rubbed in Creole seasoning and topped with sauteed shrimp and creamy Parmesan sauce. The sauce forms a lovely rich accompaniment to the gentle flavors of the seafood, so each bite is creamy, refreshing, and rich. This flavor-packed dish will surely give you a great taste of New Orleans cuisine. 

Ribs are perfect for people who love to chew on bones and scrape the meat off them with their teeth. There isn't much that rivals a fat rack of ribs smothered in a zesty sauce. Well, if you're a rib enthusiast, then Ruby Tuesday has you covered. It offers a full- and half-sized rack of Baby Back Ribs, and the photo alone is enough to kick your salivary glands into full force. Luckily, the actual ribs are just as amazing as the photo, so you won't feel like the wool has been pulled over your eyes once they arrive at the table. 

The ribs are slow-cooked for hours, so by the time they are pulled out of the oven, the meat is so tender it practically falls off the bone without any effort whatsoever. Just one bite will strip the juicy meat right off the bones, and that perfect greasy goodness runs down your chin as you feast on these ribs. But the best part of this dish is that you can choose your desired flavor.  You can opt for Sonora-seasoned, Classic Barbecue, Hickory Bourbon, Nashville Hot, or a Texas Dusted dry rub. Just make sure you ask for extra napkins.

Although Philadelphia is famous for its cheesesteaks, you don't necessarily have to go to the City of Brotherly Love just to enjoy one. In fact, you can head down to the nearest Ruby Tuesday when the craving for a Philly cheesesteak suddenly strikes like a bolt of lightning. By ordering up the Philly Cheesesteak Hoagie at Ruby Tuesday, you get to enjoy a glimpse of the best sandwich that Philly is famous for without ever traveling to Pennsylvania. 

Now, the big difference between the sandwich Ruby Tuesday serves and an authentic Philly cheesesteak is in the cheese. The authentic version nearly always contains cheese whiz. That's right. That yellow pumpable paste is typical of a cheesesteak that is truly from Philly. Ruby Tuesday tops top tender strips of shaved beef, onions, peppers, and mushrooms with melted cheddar. The beef is thinly sliced, which alleviatess the overly chewy texture, and the grilled veggies are great for balancing out the richness of the fat in the meat. This is definitely a hoagie that is worth exploring. 

For many of us, macaroni and cheese is a dish that immediately sends our minds soaring back to childhood, when many of us used to shovel down the stuff as if the world was running out of the dish entirely. As adults, some of us may not eat it that often anymore, but macaroni and cheese lovers probably enjoy diving into a hot bowl of the stuff even as adults. 

If you happen to feel like ordering this beloved dish at Ruby Tuesday, then you absolutely must ask your served for the Crispy Chicken Man 'N Cheese. It's way more than just cheesy pasta. There's a whole other level of culinary greatness going on here that is definitely worth tackling. 

This item is basically two dishes in one. You get a hot bowl of rich macaroni and cheese, which is satisfying enough on its own; however, this Ruby Tuesday menu item is topped with crispy chicken cutlet strips covered in marinara, melted mozzarella, and grated Parmesan. Essentially, this dish gives you a miniature chicken parmigiana placed right atop the macaroni and cheese. This two-for-one dish is bound to bring you a lot of joy. 

The texture of salmon, when cooked correctly, feels wonderfully delicate, rich, and amazing in your mouth, and that's exactly why so many people prefer it over other kinds of fish. Salmon-loves really enjoy cutting right through the flaky layers with a fork to reveal the light pink coloring on the inside. If you're obsessed with all things salmon, then you'd definitely be missing out dearly if you neglected the Hickory Bourbon Salmon option on the Ruby Tuesday menu. 

This is one fish filet you don't want to let swim away. The filet at Ruby Tuesday is big and hefty, so you know you're getting your money's worth, which is always a good thing. The salmon falls apart into warm layers the moment you push your fork gently into the filet. The glaze is smoky, a little sweet, and has a subtle hint of heat that gently simmers underneath the sweet smokiness. The heat sneaks in at the last second and finishes off every bite like a maestro rounding out a culinary orchestra.

Steak lovers can vary in terms of preferences. Some like a lean cut of beef that's rich in protein but lacking in fat. Others, however, know full well that fat has a boatload of flavor, and they want their meat as marbled as humanly possible so that when the meat cooks, all those glistening strands of lard melt, ooze, and saturate every square centimeter of beef. 

The people who love a fatty steak will most likely end up ordering the Rib Eye at Ruby Tuesday. It's a thick slab of beef that has enough marbling to be considered a gorgeous work of art. Anyone who loves a rib-eye steak knows that you have to order it on the rarer side to ensure that your taste buds get every ounce of flavor from the meat. Cook it for too long, and all the greasy goddess from the fat will dry up along with the meat itself, and you'll be left with a tough piece of rubber. 

Order this steak medium rare and prepare for a succulent piece of beef that oozes flavor-packed fat every time your knife cuts into it. Juice explodes from the meat with every bite, so just make sure that you dap any of the great that might make its way out of your mouth and drip into the plate. 

When you're craving a handheld meal with a bun and fillings but aren't in the mood for red meat, you can turn to the next best thing: Chicken. Chicken sandwiches are available in all shapes and sizes; some of them are worth your time and money, while others deserve a one-way ticket to the nearest dumpster. One chicken sandwich that absolutely deserves your undivided attention is Ruby Tuesday's Ultimate Crispy Chicken Sandwich. This sandwich is so good that it will make you forget all about red-meat patties altogether.

This chicken sandwich has so many amazing flavors that your tongue won't know how to handle it, but in the best way possible. The crispy chicken cutlet is glazed with a deliciously sweet and savory honey-garlic sauce, and it's topped with hardwood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, honey mustard, and cheddar cheese queso: Just take a second to process that information. 

Each bite contains a lovely sweetness from the glaze, crunch from the chicken, saltiness from the bacon, creaminess from the honey mustard, and thick richness thanks to the cheddar queso. This is the perfect item to order when you want to eat something that delivers a wallop of flavors to your mouth. 

A regular hamburger is a great option when your palate is longing for that classic meat, cheese, and bread combo. But piling a burger with a bunch of awesome ingredients turns a great option into a near-perfect one. There are so many possible things you can put on top of a patty of beef to make it a meal of epic proportions, and Ruby Tuesday is no slouch in this department: The Hot Mess Brisket Burger is the perfect example of a truly epic meal. 

If you assume that any menu option with the word "mess" in its name will likely contain just about everything dumped on it, then your assumption is absolutely correct. This thing is a behemoth, and even though it's called a burger, it actually doesn't have a top bun. It's an open concoction that's designed for the hungriest of patrons. The base consists of a thick piece of grilled Texas toast topped with a beef patty, sliced brisket, grilled and crispy onions, melted American cheese, and smoked gouda cheese. 

This burger is drizzled in signature sauce, barbecue sauce, and house-made ranch dressing. It's messy, delicious, savory, and just about everything else you want when you're hungry. For a great meal at Ruby Tuesday, just forget your manners and act like a hot mess for one night.