Ruth's Chris Steak House in the United States has managed to garner accolade after accolade for its fine food and service. When William Ko, the Californian entrepreneur who brought Ruth's Chris, as well as Trader Vic's, Swensen's and Round Table Pizza to Taiwan, first bought up the rights to license franchise Ruth's Chris for the greater China region over four years ago, his first Taipei outlet was a success. 

Since then, the place has gone down hill. I was shown to a table which was covered with a table cloth which looked like it had been on there for weeks. I was going to ask the waitress to change it, when I saw that all the waitstaffs' uniforms were equally dirty. Must be a bad week or the boss is trying to save a few dollars on their laundry bill, I thought.

The restaurant sells U.S. prime corn-fed, Midwestern beef imported to Taiwan chilled to maintain its flavor, and cooked in custom-built broilers at 1,800 degrees to sear in the juices and flavor. 

My medium-rare ribeye (NT$1,390) arrived sizzling on a hot plate and initially just a tad overdone, as the outer meat was a bit dried out. A word of advice here if you like your steaks rare: Because the plate is so hot, it continues to cook the steak as you eat it. So unless you tolerate well-done steak, or can wolf down a 16oz. piece of meat in a few minutes, it's advisable to order on the very-rare side.

That aside, the question arises: is a piece of meat costing a thousand-plus NT worth it? That depends on how much you like steak. I rarely regret paying the bill after a meal, but at Ruth's Chris, I was cussing myself for stepping into the place. I've had much better and cheaper steaks at a number of restaurants around Taipei. 

Ruth's Chris baked potato (NT$160), however,  loaded with butter, sour cream, bacon and chives was a different story as it was melt-in-the-mouth scrumptious. 

Though ordering a la carte can make dining at Ruth's Chris expensive, the restaurant also offers a set menu starting at NT$1,390, which includes steak, aperitif, soup, salad, potato, dessert and tea or coffee.