Where Is The Biggest Texas Roadhouse In The World?

In 2023, Texas Roadhouse made news for opening its biggest outlet in the world. The approximately 12,000-square-foot restaurant is significantly larger than the company's usual 7,500-8,000-square-foot, 300-seater format. It is also fittingly located in the chain's biggest market in terms of outlets — its namesake, the Lone Star State. The record-holding Texas Roadhouse in Lubbock, Texas, sits at 6101 Slide Road near the South Plains Mall, signaling the relatively young steakhouse brand's burgeoning footprint. In just over 30 years, the Louisville, Kentucky-based chain has leapfrogged competing steakhouse staples like Longhorn and Outback, both of which have been around for longer. A network that is over 800 outlets strong domestically now covers every state, barring just one that doesn't have a Texas Roadhouse. Internationally, you can find it in 10 countries along with its sister brands, Bubba's 33 and Jaggers. 

The Lubbock branch replaced an outlet that had served the city for over 20 years and had started falling short of capacity. "We kind of used it up. We kind of ran out of space; we couldn't grow anymore. We're out of parking and out of grill space, out of seat space," the managing partner at Texas Roadhouse Lubbock, Michael Smith, told Everything Lubbock. The new outlet takes up a former Babies "R" Us location, and has 20% more seating and 50% more grilling space. The bigger parking and waiting areas, including a heated outdoor porch, hint that the upgraded outlet expects to keep running at capacity during busy times despite being the world's biggest Texas Roadhouse.

As special as the "biggest in the world" tag sounds, Lubbock's new Texas Roadhouse stemmed from a genuine need to accommodate crowds that the old branch couldn't. However, just a few years on from its opening, the location seems close to falling short of capacity again. "Plan ahead and put your name on the waitlist or prepare to wait, no matter the day or time," says one Yelp reviewer. A Lubbock resident, @Arklelinuke, echoes the feeling on Reddit, but also brings up an unfortunate side-effect of the restaurant's scale: "Texas Roadhouse is [...] constantly packed even though we have the biggest one in the nation and you can barely hear yourself think in there as a result." While not anticipating the loud atmosphere is a rookie Texas Roadhouse mistake, several guests have specifically noted this outlet's constant din. "We've eaten at other locations in different states, and the music was loud, but not obnoxiously so. Today the music was way too loud," said another Yelp reviewer.

As for keeping up with burgeoning crowds, when asked by Everything Lubbock why he didn't just open a second Lubbock outlet, Michael Smith stressed the need to focus on a single branch and get things running smoothly. "The plan will be to have two [locations]," he predicted at the time. The fact that the chain is a dinner-only concept on weekdays also adds to the potentially long wait times. The online waitlist can sometimes let you skip the queue, but otherwise, be prepared to use its sprawling waiting areas when visiting the world's biggest Texas Roadhouse.