This Common Texas Roadhouse Customer Complaint Ruins The Entire Experience

When dining out at a high-end restaurant, along with all the bizarre etiquette rules you should know, there comes an expectation of a calm, peaceful atmosphere in which to enjoy a lovely meal. Of course, most of us don't visit these fancy establishments with any regularity, so we've come to expect a noisier environment from more casual restaurants, complete with loud talking, babies crying, and even sounds from the kitchen filtering out into the dining area. Texas Roadhouse is a terrific option for a good meal (it's one of the few well-known chains that makes its food from scratch, after all), but one common customer complaint is that it takes the expectation of a noisy environment and turns the dial up to 11, which tends to ruin the entire experience for some diners.

Texas Roadhouse's raucous atmosphere isn't just your imagination; SoundPrint conducted a study and found that, among 18 major restaurant chains, the casual steakhouse ranked third in terms of sound level, beaten out only by True Food Kitchen and Yard House, and just barely. While Texas Roadhouse was clocked at 80 dBA (A-weighted decimals), the leaders in sound level were a mere one and two dBA louder.

One Redditor stated that the last time they dined at one of these establishments, "the music was so loud we couldn't talk and enjoy our outing. In fact we gave up trying to converse and just sat there staring around the restaurant." They even pointed out that their server wasn't immune to the noise level either — they had to "lean close and yell."

The fact that founder and former CEO Kent Taylor is on record stating that the noisy environment is a calculated choice speaks volumes (pun intended). "We are proud of how loud and busy we are," said Taylor in 2012 (via Texas Roadhouse). While some might enjoy the noisy, lively atmosphere that Texas Roadhouse envelops its guests in, others do not, though they still want to enjoy the food. Is there a middle ground?

One Reddit user suggested asking to be seated "in a slightly less trafficked area." For example, you might try dining near the back, away from the center of the restaurant, where the music and voices would likely be loudest. If that doesn't work, why not take your Texas Roadhouse to go? The restaurant has gone viral for its generously portioned family meals at reasonable prices, though it also offers its full menu to-go, as well, including its iconic rolls that come with each order. This way, you can enjoy the Roadhouse's scratch-made sides, steaks, seafood, and chicken, but in an environment of your choosing, whether at a picnic table in a park or on your couch parked in front of the TV, where you control the volume.