Tony Roma’s

We are being spoilt with some incredibly lovely weather in Perth in the last week or so and often when I sit at my desk at work, I look out the window and I wish I could go out to lunch somewhere fabulous. Well I got my wish on Thursday, as there was a fellow from the office who was leaving so the finance team headed out for a farewell lunch. Sunshine and ribs…… we were heading to Tony Roma’s in town and as I’d only ever been to the Sydney restaurant so I was looking forward to trying out the Perth store. Since opening I’d heard from many folk that if you were in the mood for ribs that this was where to head, so couldn’t wait.

I did a quick google before we left the office to suss out where the Tony Roma’s all began. According to the website, “It all started back in 1972 in North Miami when Tony opened his first place. One weekend Tony threw some Baby Back Ribs the grill and the rest is history.” And now we have a TR’s in the West – good times.

It was blue sky wonderful when we rocked up and our group of 12 was taken to our table. There was quite a casual feel to the place, with a varied mix of people in attendance, with a slight bias towards corporates given it was a Thursday lunchtime and the TR’s is situated at the bottom of the Woodside building in the CBD. Despite this though, you can see that TR’s would definitely still be a family friendly spot. Plenty of room and a really big, spacious restaurant.

Once we were seated we were bought out some baskets of bread to enjoy while we looked over the menus. It was actually really lovely. Warm baguette slices served with a garlic butter. It was sort of a make your own garlic bread. Definitely got the appetite going!

I’d say about half the table had been to TR’s before and the majority of folk were keen to relive the magic that are TR’s ribs. A few ordered starters which were shared around the table. There were wings ( I didn’t try these but were told there were nice) came as either Carolina Honey’s Wings or Fire Wings. I’m told the fire wings had an appropriate amount of kick given the name. I did sample some of the Kickin Prawns – tender prawns fried to a crispy golden brown and tossed in a spicy, creamy sauce exploding with ($16.50). They were delicious!! A nice light batter and still a decent amount of heat in the creamy sauce. Think I could have comfortably knocked off an entire serve to myself…. but I knew I had ribs on the way.

So I stuck with Tony’s Recommendation and went for the most “dainty’ serve available, a half slab of The Original Baby Back Ribs ($32.00) – Tender, lean pork loin meat, basted with Tony Roma’s Original BBQ sauce. Around the tables the fellas favoured a Regular Slab for $38.50 or for those with an even bigger appetite you can get a Full Slab for $44.50. With the ribs you got coleslaw and then you choice of another side. I kept things easy and locked in the Beer Battered Fries, but other options were Rice, Broccoli, Mashed Potato, Baked Potato or Corn on the Cob.

The turnaround on the main meals for our table of 12 was actually fairly speedy and soon enough everyone was getting stuck into their ribs or steak for those that went for that option. Everything just looked and smelt so fabulous! I quickly sliced my ribs into more manageable individual pieces and had my first bite. They were incredible – such wonderful saucey goodness and pork that just melted in your mouth. For me I was happy with the Half Slab serving, was more than comfortable after I worked my way through the 6 ribs on my plate.

The coleslaw wasn’t too bad…. though did remind me of KFC coleslaw as it had that real sweetness to it, probably prefer my coleslaw to be a bit less sweet. The chips though were delicious and I was also stoked that some of the blue cheese dipping sauce from the wings had been left down my end of the table and it made a wonderful dip for the chips too!

Overall for a lunch for a bigger group, somewhere where you can make a little noise and it wont bother anyone else, Tony Roma’s fits the bill perfectly and as well as this will keep any meat lover smiling.

If you fancy ribs… this place really is worth a visit. Messy, delicious fun 🙂