Ruby Tuesday  

I've been going to the Ruby Tuesdays in Kowloon Bay for a number of years and have enjoyed the services and quality of food they've provided. I was really happy to learn that they opened a new restaurant in a more central location in Tsim Sha Tsui and was eager to hold my birthday dinner there this year, which happened to be on Saturday, April 7.

I invited around 28 people (but actually booked the table for 26) and made sure I secured the day and preferable time three weeks in advance. I personally went into the restaurant and spoke to the party organiser (or the person who handles large bookings) and told him what I wanted. Everything seemed to be under control and I was told that a section of the restaurant would be kept for us. My name and phone number was written down in front of me as well. The staff member also repeated the date and details back to me for me to confirm what I had just said to him.

I just want to reiterate I booked this three weeks in advance and went into the restaurant to speak to the organiser. I didn't get a phone call in the lead up to the selected day, so I assumed everything was ready to go.

What a gross misconception that was...

I turned up to find my guests standing outside the restaurant as they were told they had no record of my booking. To make matters worse, a friend who was with me when I booked the table spoke to the organiser and asked him what was going on. He said: "I remember that booking but don't remember writing it down." Isn't that your job?

So before we even sat down to eat and taste the food, I already had a bad taste in my mouth

The initial booking was for 8:30pm but we weren't seated until 9pm. I appreciate the efforts made by staff to get tables organised and to clear previous customers' places, but this is something very basic and something I find extremely unprofessional.

Eventually, my guests took their seats and we were told we would get a few desserts on the house as compensation for their 'mistake'. I also have a 50% off card, so I guess all they could offer was reversing the costs of desserts. Still, I didn't feel like that was enough for such a simple request!

Things that we enjoyed:

Mozzarella sticks were excellent - great way to start the dinner
The Ruby Relaxer (alcoholic) was very tasty and refreshing
Alpine Swiss burger was juicy and the buns were perfectly toasted
Attentive staff
Fajitas and quesadillas were tasty and piping hot

However:

Not enough cheese on nachos
Triple Play was served quite cold - felt like it had been left on the side to wait for other dishes to be cooked
Drinks took a while to come out
TERRIBLE ORGANISATION

But because we sat down at 9pm, we didn't have much time to sit and enjoy some time after dinner. We were told that last orders were going to be taken, and when another friend of mine arrived, we were told we were allowed "one more drink - that's it". Not really sure what that meant, but okay. I felt like we were being rushed to get out. I understand the restaurant closes at a certain time but I didn't appreciate the way the whole evening was handled.

I'm not really sure what happened with the booking fiasco but to mess up such a large request was embarrassing and incredibly annoying to say the least. While the quality of the food was good (for the most part) and we enjoyed ourselves, it makes me wonder if this has happened before and how many times it has happened. We left satisfied with our dinners and with extremely full tummies

I will still go to Ruby Tuesdays as I do like their food, but I think for future information, I will go to Kowloon Bay or call the party organiser to double check that everything is under control. For such a big group of people and for a special event, I found it inexcusable to be told there was "no record" of our booking.

By all means, go and experience the food and atmosphere at Ruby Tuesdays, just don't go with a group that exceeds maybe four people. Perhaps they'll be able to get that right.

Managed to do reservation for lunch hour. The lady receptionist sounded and looked a bit stressed.
I mentioned to her over the phone that we are celebrating birthday for a friend and would like them to give us a cake. She said "no problem will give you guys a piece of cheese cake" I am a bit surprised as, in the end, they charged us $108 for the cake (and by the way it is not cheese cake) and this particular charge was made without alignment. I didn't bother arguing because the birthday girl was with us and afterall just want a nice experience for her.

Service is friendly but extremely inefficient. We needed to remind our server 2-3 times for napkins and water refill. The only time when service is fast was when we ordered food and took the bill.