The Steakhouse With The Best Side Dishes According To 30% Of People
What do iceberg wedge salads with blue cheese, thick and comforting mounds of creamed spinach, and thickly sliced beefsteak tomato salads all have in common? Each is a classic steakhouse side dish (via Martha Stewart). Over the years, steakhouse sides have expanded considerably to include what might be described as the "esoteric" (like Del Frisco's renowned cauliflower and Brie au gratin) as well as the "neo-classic" (like Outback Steakhouse's signature "Bloomin' Onion"). It's gotten so that steakhouse customers are now expecting their sides to wow them just as much as their steaks. And since, naturally, some steakhouses will excel at steakhouse sides more than others, the question becomes: if side dishes are a priority for you with your steak, where should you go for the best of the best?
Mashed asked that very question in a recent survey, to which 609 people in the U.S. replied. The steakhouses from among which they were asked to choose were the following seven: Morton's, Fleming's, Outback Steakhouse, Capital Grille, Longhorn Steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse, and Ruth's Chris. As it turns out, there is one national steakhouse chain in particular, whose "steakhouse sides" are considered to be the best of the best by nearly a third of our respondents.
The best side dishes may also come with the best steaks
Having attracted 30.87% of the votes from our 609 respondents, Texas Roadhouse is the clear winner here in our search for the steakhouse chain with the best side dishes. And that shouldn't be surprising to the 24% of respondents to a different Mashed survey, who ranked Texas Roadhouse as having the best steakhouse steak. Although congratulations are in order, in the interest of full disclosure it seems only fair to point out that in a 2021 Mashed survey to which 590 people responded, Texas Roadhouse was ranked as having the second-worst side dishes. Texas Roadhouse earned close to 16% of the vote in that survey, putting the chain at second-worst only to Outback Steakhouse, whose sides were considered the "worst" by 19% of those 590 respondents.
Can you guess which steakhouse chain's sides earned the spot of runner-up in the current survey regarding "best" side dishes? That would be Outback. In a stunning reversal over the course of just one year of Mashed surveys, Outback Steakhouse sides were ranked as "best" by nearly 25% of the 609 respondents to this current survey. After that, there is a 50% drop-off with Longhorn Steakhouse's sides garnering 12.81% of the votes, followed by Ruth's Chris (16.09%), The Capital Grille (7.22%), Morton's (5.09%), and Flemings (3.12%).