The Texas Roadhouse Tradition Customers And Employees Wish Would End

Texas Roadhouse does a lot of things right. That's why it's the most popular casual dining chain, by sales, in the United States. The steakhouse chain has surpassed its steakhouse competitors, including Outback and Longhorn, as well as other casual dining chains, such as Olive Garden and Chili's. While the steaks are often highly regarded for quality and value, that doesn't mean everything is fine and dandy at Texas Roadhouse.

In fact, the chain has a few traditions that both customers and employees wish would simply go away. Topping that list is the frequent line dancing. If you've ever visited Texas Roadhouse, you know how it works. Basically, at various times depending on the location, all the servers stop what they're doing and "entertain" guests with a two-minute line dancing routine. Whether you want to watch line dancing or not, you have no choice once you've been seated at a Texas Roadhouse location. The same goes for employees at some locations, where it's one of the 10 rules employees are required to follow. Yes, Texas Roadhouse employees are required to learn how to boot scoot their heart out when the time comes.

While some customers might enjoy their T-bone with a side of side stepping to a Kenny Chesney song, many others flat out hate it. One snarky Redditor described the line dancing this way: "Sure, let's have everyone stop what they are doing every 30-40 minutes, turn the music up so ... loud you can't hear your partner talking to you from 12 inches away and not be able to bring food or refill your drinks because you're too busy dancing." Another Redditor agrees: "We don't want to see it. Your employees clearly don't want to do it. And, it's in the way when we need to get to the bathroom."

Customers aren't big fans of the line dancing at Texas Roadhouse, and neither are many former employees. "Most of the employees don't enjoy it either," one commenter on Reddit says. "I worked at one of the top performing stores and we would have to dance once every 45 minutes or so during peak times." Another former employee agrees. "I was trying to be a server there and the level of anxiety this company tries to push you to is awful," they said.

Why do so many Texas Roadhouse locations force their employees to dance in the middle of service? Reddit's theory is that the chain purposefully does the line dancing every 45 minutes or so to keep customers from "camping" at the tables. This also gives the kitchen a couple minutes to catch up on tickets without new orders coming in. The noise level also has its purpose, according to a Redditor who says they worked at Texas Roadhouse: "They turn the volume max when dancing. It's also a moment of realization for people when they've seen servers dance twice. Like 'damn, how long has it been?'"

Maybe Texas Roadhouse has heard some of the complaints. Some commenters report that the line dancing has stopped altogether at some locations. While it seems the steakhouse chain has good intentions in creating a fun environment, hopefully it will continue to realize that the line dancing isn't appealing to many customers and some employees. Overly loud music is annoying enough, but adding in "forced fun" like line dancing is just a bit too much.