American

Racks Downtown Eatery & Tavern (Boca Raton)

Posted on September 18th, 2010 · American Boca Raton

***** Racks Downtown Eatery & Tavern, Mizner Park-402 Plaza Real, Boca Raton, Florida 33432, (561) 395-1662.

Just had dinner at Racks Downtown Eatery & Tavern…a terrific-casual-moderatley priced American-Style joint, which opened in Mizner Park about 3-months ago. Based on this first outing…I will definitely be back for another go-round. Now if you-can…think The Cheesecake Factory with-shall we say–s t y l e…and you got Racks. Better yet, check www.grrestaurant.com for menu/prices/pictures and you’ll get a real good feel for what’s going on at this joint.

First things first. Racks has indoor and outdoor patio seating. There is a full bar and the guys who own this joint—must have spent a fortune decorating inside and outside. Check the photos on its website and you’ll see what I’m belly-aching about.

This evening, Phil was our waiter…and the guy was good. He knew the menu cold—and took our order without writing down one single item…and yes, everything ordered, showed up—cooked right and on time. He also made sure that water glasses, soda glasses, coffees were always filled.

A taste test-in no particular order-of… garden salad, caesar salad, bacon cheeseburger, french fries, crabcakes, macaroni & cheese, wood oven roasted chicken, filet mignon, key lime pie—like I said, I will definitely be back. The food was delicious…absolutely nothing to complain about—-EXCEPT…Racks should know better—the ketchup & mustard which were served in “old” fashioned yellow and red plastic squeeze bottles were COLD. I don’t know about you… but this Brooklyn boy knows…that french fries are suppose to be drowned in room temperature ketchup not COLD ketchup. I also know that sauerkraut on a Nathan’s hot dog is suppose to be hot and that no one in their right mind would ever put ketchup on a hot dog!

I really enjoyed Racks… stylish, yet casual. It’s got a great vibe, but be forewarned, someone in the cd-department loves to play Led Zeppelin and The Romantics…to that someone, you are playing the “music” way and I do mean way—too loud.

Racks is open 7 days a week 11:30am-2am.

19 Comments to “Racks Downtown Eatery & Tavern (Boca Raton)”

  1. Cold ketchup, gross!!!!

  2. Mr. seltze says...

    jeff,
    my wife and i ate at racks last week.
    have to agree with you, it’s a great looking upscale restaurant.
    like you we had burgers and fries. we also tried the mac & cheese appetizer.
    the burgers were very good and mac was delicious, but the fries were kind of limp and should have been crispy.
    we didn’t use ketchup on our burgers so no comment on cold ketchup, other than to say, cold ketchup on anything is a NO NO.
    you also mention music, well we also found it very very loud and hard on the ears. they got to turn it down if they ever want to see us again.

    • ggf says...

      food, service and ambiance just right.
      the music level makes it a very uncomfortable place to dine.

  3. AA says...

    Sorry Jeff, the food is only fair, and the music is deafening.

  4. Linda S. says...

    My husband and I and another couple had dinner at Rack’s a couple of weeks ago.
    It is a very attractive restaurant.
    The menu is limited but there are enough choices so no one will go hime without eating.
    The service is good.
    Prices are fair but by no means cheap.
    The food is good.
    The one big problem that all four of us had was the constant loud music piped through the restaurant. At times we couldn’t even hear ourselves talking.
    The music alone makes sure that my husband and I won’t be back.

  5. Bob Stein says...

    your comments are one of the few positive ones that i’ve heard.
    i live in the mizner area and racks’ has quickly gotten a repuation for having just overpriced just ok food.
    based on YOU i’m going to try racks.

    • Jennifer says...

      I have to agree…major overpriced for very mediocre food at best. I would say it stunk! Max’s Grill is much better.

  6. LG says...

    I came across you unexpectedly—but you are the best at talking rest–I go by your vibes-!!!-!-I have been to many of those you wrote up and you are right on the money—we ate at Racks last night—food good–drinks NOT_give you zip—but you are so right on your critiques-I tell everyone to go on computer to Jeff Eats-where should we go 14 girls from Boca-for fun etc—saw Calypso in Pompano—But over 60 but GREAT—and we are FUN!!!

  7. JeffEats says...

    LG: Just had a chance to read your post.

    I think that you girls might enjoy http://www.floridalips.com.

    Thanks for reading…

  8. wa says...

    drinks are too expensive……….

  9. po says...

    racks is way overpriced.

  10. gs says...

    good food. good looking place. a bit on the pricey side.

  11. SS says...

    Last night I had trout almondine. It was delicious. My wife has a house salad. With a couple of beers, with tax and tip the bill was 60 bucks. I think Rack’s is too expensive.

  12. JO JO says...

    Sun Sentinel agreed with you today. Gave them 3 1/2 stars.

  13. Michelle Hill says...

    Over priced? Too expensive? Seriously????
    The food and service is excellent-and prices great? How do you people expect him to pay his rent????

  14. Mark T. says...

    Love their roast beef sliders?

  15. chewy says...

    nice semi upscale restaurant.

  16. Ron G says...

    Jeff saw your column on sister restaurant 42. You didn’t do a review but you had an issue of a service dog situation. You are correct that a restaurant can’t question a person. I eat at racks pretty regularly. I really enjoy its food. I will mention that some of their young hostesses aren’t too charming. Racks should get some real pros to run their restaurants because customers are hard to get and even harder to keep.

  17. FordT says...

    I think that Racks’ Table 42 should invite you, your wife and Jiggy the dog for dinner.
    I’m hearing that this guy GaryRack is a real putz and has plenty of money but no idea how to really run restaurants. Based on Table 42 story hope he crashes nf burnsc

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