Okay, I realize I may have gotten a little carried away with the Ruby Tuesday demolition post yesterday. When I stopped to think about it, I realized that with almost 1,000 locations in the United States, they probably aren’t going to decide to blow up one in a fairly prime location like right in the middle of the Valley View development or at the corner of U.S. 419 and Brambleton Avenue.

Still, it might have been fun. I think it still will be fun to watch the show online, so I still plan to tune in at 3 p.m.

The entry has sparked some interesting discussion, though. Some of you say the new decor is kinda boring and has no personality. I didn’t mind the old decor all that much, really. In fact, I loved those Tiffany lamps and I wish I’d had some opportunity to buy one of the old ones because I would have seriously considered hanging it in my dining room. Does that make me stale? Who cares.

What’s stale is these chain restaurants whose menus are all basically the same and who cannot really compete, in either quality or service, with a lot of the independently-owned restaurants in our corner of Virginia. I have nothing against chain restaurants that offer up great service, but every time I went to Ruby Tuesday, the service completely sucked.

One time, when our table was mucky and my dad asked the waitress to wipe it off, she handed him a wet dishrag and walked away. Yeah. It was that good.

I do, however, really like their salad bar because I’ve always been a fan of nice salad bars and they seem to be one of the only places left that still has one. I hope they keep it.

Since it doesn’t look like a Roanoke Ruby Tuesday will go up in a ball of smoke and glass, let’s fantasize that some other restaurant we dislike will be the one to go.

If you could blow up a restaurant (without anyone inside, of course — Sheesh, we aren’t barbarians), which one would it be?