After a rather long day of recording at the recording studio that I own in Tempe, Arizona, I find that I have worked up quite a hunger. With my wife in hand, we head to Tempe Marketplace, a large outdoor shopping mall located off Rio Salado Parkway and Smith Road in downtown Tempe. While this place offers numerous great restaurants, we find ourselves parking and walking into Ruby Tuesday. To be honest, I was not expecting all that much. But in the end, I was quite surprised, and delightfully filled to the brim when I left.

Ambience and Customer Service
Ruby Tuesday actually offers a very quiet and dimly lit, romantic interior that is completed with leather wrapped seating and booths, a grand salad bar and a main bar area that has seating for about twenty patrons. A friendly hostess offered us seating right away, and we didn’t wait for more than a few minutes to have our drink and appetizer orders fulfilled. Then it was on to the menu.

The Never-Ending Salad Bar
While I ordered the steak and lobster tail combo ($16.95 on dinner special) and a tall draft of Samuel Adams Summer Ale, this entrée also comes with a plate of never-ending salad. Their salad bar is self serve and has everything that you could possibly imagine a salad bar offering. All items are fresh and are changed out on the hour. While I was there I even saw an employee cleaning the bar several times. Ruby Tuesday is best known for their world famous and super premium burgers. However, they are quickly becoming known for their amazing salad bar as well. Make sure you grab a plate next time you are in.

My Rating: **** Four Stars for location, cleanliness, customer service, food presentation and quality, attention to details and a really well-priced steak and lobster combo meal that really made my mouth water.

Where the Name ‘Ruby Tuesday’ Originally Comes From
While nobody is really certain where the name of this now national franchise stems from, one thing is for sure: it may be based off the Rolling Stones hit song also called, ‘Ruby Tuesday.’ Just so you can get a taste for this song’s classic R & B timbre, we have taken the liberty of imbedding a live performance of it from the Rolling Stones below for your enjoyment.