The Stomach-Turning Texas Roadhouse Steak That Left TikTok Disgusted

It's one thing when a steak tastes a bit fishy, but quite another when it is mimicking the texture of pâté. Unfortunately, a TikTok user recently experienced the latter via a takeout order from Texas Roadhouse, and they were understandably alarmed. They posted a video showcasing the unappetizing meat on the social media platform, and let's just say if you aren't currently feeling queasy, you might after seeing what the restaurant served.

@kimmyk561

@Texas Roadhouse For the record we absolutely love Texas roadhouse, I've never had one of their steaks. I always get chicken and salad, I'm just needing clarification because this is not normal.

♬ original sound – ❌𝕂𝕚𝕞 ℂ𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕤 & Ⓒⓐⓝⓢ❌

Needless to say, that is certainly not a steak anyone wants to see grace their plate. One comment summed up how many probably felt watching the video, saying, "Who else just became a vegetarian?" Some commenters compared what they saw to refried beans and canned pet food, and others offered their two cents as to what may have gone wrong. Theories ranged from the meat being lab-grown or 3D printed to possibly not being beef at all. Yet, what appears to be the most popular guess is that the mushy texture was a result of the cow having cancer or an abscess that was left unchecked.

Now, far be it from me to claim to be an expert on steers, but something doesn't sit right about that speculation. Sure, there are definitely some odd-looking parts of that steak that could possibly represent an abscess, but would that cause the entire steak to turn to mush? I'm just not buying it, and apparently, neither is Texas Roadhouse.

The Takeout reached out to Texas Roadhouse to see if perhaps the restaurant had an explanation for what might have happened, and this was the response: "Our meat cutters hand-cut steaks every day in our restaurants so guests receive high-quality fresh product. We spoke with the guest and explained that these steaks were over-tenderized. When the over-tenderized steaks sat covered in the to-go pan, they continued to cook until they were very overcooked. It resulted in the soft texture seen in the video."

As someone who worked for years cooking steaks in a steakhouse, this makes much more sense to me than a cancerous cow being to blame for the off-putting texture. There are plenty of methods for tenderizing beef, like marinating steak in milk, adding sparkling water to marinades, or using enzymatic fruits that tenderize meat, like kiwi, papaya, and pineapple. Yet, with any of these techniques, the meat can't sit around too long, or it gets mealy and too soft to cook properly. When the TikTok user indicated the steak had a "funky" smell, that, to me, was a dead giveaway that some kind of tenderizing marinade was still lingering within the meat (whatever Texas Roadhouse uses, it's a company secret it keeps close to the vest).

Even Texas Roadhouse's best-selling steak could be ruined were it over-marinated and then left to continue cooking slowly in an enclosed foil box. Now, I'm not by any means defending what was sold to the TikTok user — as most commenters agreed, it was a sacrilegious steak abomination. However, like many things on the internet, people tend to jump to the most heinous conclusions, which often don't represent the truth of the matter.