The tables are jammed so close together that if you turn around you could take a bite of your neighbor's food. Unfortunately we all tried the all you can eat ribs. None of us asked for a refill. The meat was tough and ill prepared. Under seasoned. And the barbecue sauce it's pretty bad. No tanginess, no spiciness, just a strangely sweet sauce. They are severely understaffed with servers for the amount of patrons, and we saw our server only once after we ordered. I had to flag somebody down to get the bill.
It takes a lot for a place that I have enjoyed dining at in the past to go from a place that I gave a five star rating two years ago to a place that I feel rightly deserves a one star rating but today, they managed to do that. I was meeting family from out of town at the Stockyards and since I am a frequent visitor to the Stockyards and since I have eaten at Riscky's a number of times, I felt that was a safe place to choose for a first time experience. My family wanted to watch the cattle drive and they asked if we should watch the cattle drive first and then go eat. But I said that Riscky's has a patio that we could sit at and eat while watching the cattle drive. All seemed to be going to plan, until right before the cattle drive. We were seated on the patio and we were already taking pictures of the herd lined up, waiting for the cattle drive to begin. At, literally, the worst time, one of the wait staff came by and said that they were going to put down the wind screens around the patio. We mentioned that we were trying to watch the cattle drive and he promised us that he would wait until after the cattle drive. I wasn't a big fan of sitting next to this plastic barrier while we ate, but I figured that as long as they waited until after the cattle drive, it would be okay. But within a couple of minutes, he and another guy were back, putting down the screens. Again, we told them that we were there to watch the cattle drive, but this time they refused to leave them up, because someone had claimed that her children were getting cold. The irony is that there was about twenty children just outside sitting on the sidewalk, wearing T-shirts and they didn't seem cold at all. The staff assured us that we could still see with the screens down, but as soon as they went down, it was obvious that it would be impossible to take pictures. At best, we would see a blur that looked a little like a longhorn as they walked by. So, very short on time, rather than continuing to fight a losing battle, we went outside to be on the other side of the screens. Our intent was to go back in and eat. One of my family members decided that he had time to go back in and explain what we were doing. I wasn't party to that conversation, but I was able to see through the screen that they cleared the table. After the cattle drive, we went back inside. When we spoke to the hostess, her expression and her tone as she asked, "Are you the people who had a canceled order?", made it clear that she wasn't very happy with us. We stepped to the side and someone went to get one of the managers. As we stood there, it became very clear that may family members were not wanting to eat there, after the way we had been treated. We offered to pay for the drinks, which was the only thing that had been delivered to our table. For that matter, we would've paid for the canceled order, if they had asked us to, but the dining experience was ruined and we weren't going to be comfortable eating there. The manager (assistant manager?) told us that we didn't have to pay, so we just left. While that gesture is the appropriate thing to do in that situation, its a far cry from what should have happened. First, when someone complained about the temperature on the patio, instead of offering to ruin the dining experience for other guests, they should have offered to more the complaining group to an inside table. Second, even if they agreed to put the screens down, they should have told the complainer that they would wait until after the cattle drive. But what happened happened. While I don't know that I will never return there to eat, I think it is unlikely that I will anytime soon, even though I usually visit the stockyards once or twice a month. It is, however, very unlikely that I will ever again feel comfortable recommending that other people eat there. Maybe if I see signs go up that say, "Company policy is that screens will remain up during the cattle drive," but even then, I doubt it. And frankly, I'm kind of sad about it.