ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997 TAG: 9702280007
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: dining out
TYPE: RESTAURANT REVIEW
SOURCE: DOLORES KOSTELNI
When Kenny Rogers Roasters vacated its building at Valley View Mall in November 1995, a sibling restaurant, Round-Up Road House & Saloon, moved in a few months later. Roasters of Virginia is the parent company for both chains.
The new occupants gave the place a facelift to highlight their concept of a casual restaurant with a Western theme. They kept the rotisserie with its rows of flickering flames to give a warm welcome, especially during the cold winter months. They changed the dining area by adding customized booths, a full bar, wood-paneled walls, attractive horse blanket hangings, and strategically located television sets so just about everyone in the dining room has a view.
Round-Up's menu offers most of the pop foods available wherever you go to eat these days. And if you make careful menu selections, the prices are fairly reasonable. The differences and twists here have more to do with expectations and results.
In my four visits, Round-Up failed to generate even one appealing meal.
For starters, let's talk about the WOW Chicken Wings ($4.95), one of the seven appetizers ($3.95 -$6.95) on the menu. These came to the table in a white box that you are expected to turn upside down before opening so the sauce drenches each of the wings.
The menu described these as ``made the way you like 'em,'' but they looked more like something newly hatched from a Frankenstein test tube. The chicken was cooked, but it was pale white and soft and fleshy.
In a telephone interview later, Chris Whittington, one of the restaurants co-managers, told me that the wings should have been fried and the way I received them was a mistake.
This statement came as a surprise because at the restaurant, when I didn't identify myself as a food critic, I was told that they were supposed to be served soft and fleshy.
And indeed, on my next visit, the wings had been fried before their boxed sauce bath, but they were still ugly and unnecessarily messy.
The Round-Up Chops ($10.95) consisted of two lightly grilled cottony pork chops with sides of bread, salad, and a baked potato. The chops were, in my opinion, inedible.
``The chops arrive at the restaurant precooked and frozen,'' Whittington told me. ``Our chef heats them on the grill.''
The accompanying brown-tinged lettuce that I found hiding under a top layer of fresh, crisp greens, had seen better days.
On the positive side, I haven't enjoyed a better baked potato in ages. Wrapped in gold foil, this spud had been baked to perfection and proved delicious and moist.
As for the Beef Fajitas ($8.95), I couldn't believe the juices that oozed from the meat and congealed into a waxy pool on the dish. Both the onions and bell peppers were mushy, and the peppers had lost their color.
The Combination Beef and Chicken Fajitas ($8.95) also disappointed on all counts: dry meat, woefully soft, overcooked accompaniments, and flour tortillas that quickly hardened on cooling. The condiments were old: limp shredded lettuce, almost black guacamole, and tasteless pico de gallo, which tasted like salsa from a jar, was passed its prime, and lacked flavor.
The Round-Up Burger ($4.59) was better, but the accompanying fries were limp and greasy. Nor can I speak kindly of the chicken salad sandwich on a toasted roll ($3.95) or the soggy fries it came with.
The orange juice ($1.25) I requested was greatly diluted and terrible.
I will say the service I had was fast and courteous. My only complaint was with the sloppy appearances of the staff. Their food-spotted aprons were appetite depressants and their wrinkled attire was totally unacceptable.
My recommendation: Clean up the staff and go back to the drawing board in the kitchen. Round-Up needs a serious, unflagging dedication to great and total improvement.
Round-Up Road House & Saloon
1935 Valley View Blvd.
(540) 366-1580
Hours: Open seven days a week: Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. -11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.-midnight; Sunday noon-8 p.m.
Beverages: Full-service bar
Price range: Lunch $3.99 -$14.95; Dinner $4.95- $14.95
Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club
Reservations required? No
Non-smoking section? Yes
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB