Celebrating another birthday in HK

This year's birthday was spent trying yet another new restaurant that opened up at the mall downstairs. CharK and I got to Ruby Tuesday (Tseung Kwan O branch) around 7:30 and there were only about a handful of people standing around the restaurant. But the actual list of people waiting for a table was about 1-page long. It turned out they only call their guests`mobile number rather than using a sign/calling the next table to be seated.

So we walked around the mall for about half an hour, then waited by the desk for nearly another 20 minutes before we were finally seated. This system is somewhat ineffective because we weren't the only party where the hostess would call to ask if we'd like to keep our reservation and we'd respond by saying "Yes, we're actually standing in front of you."

As far as a casual American restaurant goes, this one has a pretty good menu selection and friendly staff. Our waiter was professional about describing specials and serving our meals (he actually identified which burger was which on my "Mini Trio" plate).

 Satisfying our cravings for steak and burgers (Photo: CathC)

The bbq wings in this "sampler" plate was spicy had good heat to it. The Asiago peppercorn steak was very tasty from the flame grilled smoky flavour. The blondie was just like a soft chocolate oatmeal cookie, which was delicious. The three miniburgers were: chicken, crab, and beef. The crab cake burger was my favourite and the sweet and sour sauce really went well with it.

One disappointment with our order was that this new location hadn't received their liquor licence yet (even though they've been opened for about 2 weeks!). I was flipping through the drinks menu, deciding between the selection handcrafted drinks and margaritas when the waiter told us they were still waiting for their license. He tried to sell us on the "zero-proof drinks" but celebrating with juice/pop didn't seem to be the same. So I decided to make my own Calpis Sour at home later in the evening.

(Photo: CathC)

But in the end it's nice to have another American restaurant for dinner options in the future. Today's dinner was a nice way to celebrate the start another year in HK. If the quality and serve stays the same as tonight's meal, then I think it's a restaurant we'll be coming back to.