The news came in a couple of months ago — "Ruby Tuesday debuts new Endless Garden Bar with significantly upgraded, expanded offerings," the release said. More than 55 items to choose from! On-trend flavors! Create your own perfect salad!
I was dubious; salad bars aren't usually my thing, not least because salads (and sandwiches) always seem to taste better if someone else makes them. But the offer of a free trip to the salad bar was enough to get me to try it.
But first I had to find one. The two Ruby Tuesday restaurants nearest me had recently closed. That left the locations in Donelson and Antioch as my only options. I thought there was one in 100 Oaks, but that's an Applebee's — or is it a Chili's? I finally got around to making the trek out to Donelson to check it out. And dude, that place was busy. A 20-minute wait at 6 p.m. on a Saturday.
First things first, I perused the garden bar to understand my options. The company states that half their customers visit the garden bar during their visit, and the vast majority of those visit the restaurant just for the garden bar. It certainly was very popular that evening, and the demand kept the kitchen busy restocking.
I was pleased to see more than just iceberg lettuce greens, cherry tomatoes and ranch dressing. Those items were definitely on there, but there were also mixed baby greens, romaine, fresh spinach and shredded kale to compose the base of a salad. On my first trip, I opted for a "Southwest" style salad, with mixed and romaine greens, roasted corn, black beans, black olives, tomatoes, crispy fried onions, shredded cheddar cheese, and cilantro lime vinaigrette. Oh boy, it was delicious. The vinaigrette was really fantastic and pulled the salad together really well (there are eight salad dressings, all made in house).
For my second trip, I went a little Mediterranean, with mixed greens, kale, olives, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, edamame, feta cheese and crispy Parmesan chips with Italian vinaigrette along with some hummus and pita chips. I also sampled some potato salad and some basil-vegetable pasta salad. Luckily, I didn't fill up too much because to finish off, I made another plate of my original Southwest salad. It was that good. I have tried (with no luck) to re-create that vinaigrette at home. To finish off my meal of salads, I had some fresh fruit.
So in sum, despite being dubious that I'd enjoy a salad bar (or a $10 salad, for that matter), I found the selections delicious and fresh (it's so busy, no item sits for long) and with four(ish) trips, I found the $10 price tag to be actually pretty cheap. Side note: Be sure to get an appetizer of the fried green beans (reminiscent of the haricot verts they used to serve at Rumba), and save the leftover dipping sauce to accompany the spicy roasted broccoli from the garden bar. It's delicious! Or use it to concoct a salad with some Asian flair.
Ruby Tuesday's locations in Nashville are at 520 Donelson Pike in Donelson and 2304 Murfreesboro Pike in Antioch.
