EVERETT – The people behind a new roadhouse-themed restaurant are hoping its peanut-shell-littered floors, cocktails in Mason jars and line-dancing staff will charm locals.
The Original Roadhouse Grill, near Airport Road and Highway 99 in south Everett, offers a menu loaded with gut-padding fare, including the restaurant’s signature bourbon tri-tip steak, roasted so long and slow it can be cut with a fork.
This is the second Roadhouse in the Puget Sound area. Don’t confuse this roadhouse with one of the many other establishments with similar monikers elsewhere in the country. The company that owns The Old Country Buffet also owns this one and 15 other Original Roadhouse Grill restaurants in California, Oregon, Minnesota and Washington.
The menu includes grilled ribs, chops, chicken and salmon as well as desserts and themed mixed drinks with names like Hilly Punch served in 16- and 32-ounce canning jars.
Popular items include Texas Egg Rolls, wontons stuffed with cream cheese and jalapeno peppers, deep fried and topped with jalapeno jelly. The restaurant serves beef raised in Washington and it employs a butcher, who hand-cuts the steaks and grinds the hamburger on site.
Lunch and dinner prices range from $4.29 to $21.99.
The atmosphere is casual, with kitschy tables with jean-clad legs, vintage gasoline signs everywhere and corrugated steel awnings mounted above some tables, as if customers were gnawing on their barbecue ribs sheltered from the sticky heat at some southern wide spot in the road, rather than Everett.
“It’s a Route 66 meets classic rock meets country feel inside,” said Chad Foust, the general manager.
He’s been busy training 125 new employees and making sure the restaurant is ready for paying customers. The robust economy made recruiting enough staff challenging, he said. The restaurant opened last week after the staff spent the weekend practicing on community groups by serving free meals.
Servers plunk a bucket of peanuts onto each table and, unlike home, it’s fine to toss the shells onto the floor. If customers feel shy about littering, the servers will dump the shells on the concrete floor for them.
Patrons can watch the cooks at the grill through clear windows near the dining area. They’ll blow the occasional fireball, Foust said.
“It gives a real wow factor,” he said. “The kids love it.”
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