Thursday, July 31, 2008

Good-bye, Ruby Tuesday

I received a weird email from Ruby Tuesday recently. Click the link above to view it. Apparently they are blowing up "the last old Ruby Tuesday" and will air live coverage of the event.

My honest opinion ? I kind of cringed at the ad. The old Ruby Tuesdays had a laid back, fun atmosphere and tasty food. I don't visit the new ones anymore. Everyone in my family refuses to go, in fact. The last two times we visited Ruby Tuesday, the salad bars were smaller. The furniture and decor was changed to have a formal, dreary, business meeting appearance. Also, I received a very sad excuse for a quiche and asked for a different meal, only to be brought another bland, sad looking entree. I read somewhere that Ruby Tuesday wants a formal, upscale steak house feel to their store. Hmmmm....

So, dear readers, share your thoughts. Do you prefer the old Ruby Tuesday or the new Ruby Tuesday ?

*August 8th update: I received another email about this:

"The news we've sent to you in the last few days about the demolition of the last old-style Ruby Tuesday and the building we "blew up" by mistake wasn't really real (you already had your suspicions?). It was all for fun and our way of showing just how much we have changed, how most casual dining restaurants have come to look alike, and how much fresher and better Ruby Tuesday really is now.

Cheeky's Bar & Grill, the other "restaurant" that was "demolished" by mistake was actually a scale model in a studio in Hollywood. We were joshing you a little, and we hope you'll forgive us. We couldn't help it, really. All these changes that have made our restaurants the best they've ever been make us smile - put us in the mood to make a joke or two while we're telling the world our brand is really different from all the rest. We hope it made you smile, too."