Roadster Diner just launched a brand new menu and I was the first to try it out on Saturday at their new Hazmieh branch. The new menu rolls out on Thursday and will contain over 30 new (and revisited) items, out of which I tried around 20.
Just to give you a brief summary:
– There are four new appetizers, three new salads, three new sandwiches, seven new burgers, one new platter and one new pasta dish and nine new desserts!
– A lot of the old items were dropped, including the 220 burgers, the all-fit menu, the onion rings and others.
– The presentation of the dishes has drastically changed and fits RD’s new look.
– Pictures of the items were re-added to the new menu.
Since this was just a tasting session, I will go through the items I tried and give you my first impression. Let’s start with the appetizers:
The “Legendary” Starters
1- Loaded Fries: Fries and cheddar with a creamy mushroom gravy served with ranch dip on the side. You can’t really go wrong there!
2- Chicken Gravy Melt: (Freshly baked whole-wheat baguette loaded with char-grilled chicken strips, covered in warm mushroom gravy and topped with our melted cheese): I enjoyed the mix but it’s a bulky dish. I would rather have separate crunchy toasts with that mix on top.
3- Blooming Shrimp (Seasoned char-grilled shrimp): I’d rather order them as an add-on to salads or platter. The blooming chili dip was good.
4- Ranch Chicken Rolls (Also known as egg-rolls): I’m not a big fan of egg rolls but they were okay. I wouldn’t mind sharing them with someone.
Fresh Crisp Salads
1- Kale Caesar (The old Caesar Salad revisited with fresh avocado and Kale): If you like RD’s Caesar, it just got better and lighter.
2- Kale Chicken Wasabi (Char-grilled chicken tenders coated with a wasabi sesame seeds on a bed of crisp kale, sprinkled with crunchy peanuts, tangy cranberries and tossed with sesame balsamic dressing): This is my new favorite salad at Roadster. I loved it!
3- Red Rocket Caprese (A colorful mix of market fresh lettuce, red rocket leaves, basil, avocado and cherry tomatoes, topped with char-grilled chicken tenders and fresh baby mozzarella, tossed with basil vinaigrette dressing): I didn’t try that one.
Signature Sandwiches
1- Philly Steak (Old item with a new recipe): The sauce is a bit lighter. It’s a good Philly steak sandwich.
2- Smoky Chicken (Char-grilled chicken, crisp rocket leaves, sautéed onions and mushrooms, layered into freshly baked baguette with melted cheddar cheese, mayo and our signature BBB sauce): I hate mayo or garlic in chicken sandwiches and you could barely taste the mayo in the Smoky Chicken (good news for me). It’s a delicious and juicy sandwich, I would add corn to it if possible.
3- Shrimp Avocado (Fresh meets a spicy zing with flame-grilled shrimp hot off the grill, crisp romaine lettuce, ripe avocado and arugula, layered into freshly baked baguette and spicy avocado mayo sauce.) I didn’t try that one yet.
Prime Angus Beef Burgers
As I stated at the beginning, the 220 burgers as well as the burgers from the all-fit menu are gone. I’m gonna miss the BBB 220 but the all-fit burgers had to go. As for the new entries, here are the three that I enjoyed the most:
1- Mad Dawg A hotdog made out of char-grilled prime Angus Beef, melted cheddar cheese, crispy tortilla chips and relish sauce. This is the perfect meal to have on your cheat day 😀
2- Nutty Betty Peanut butter surprisingly tastes great with chicken and meat. Deek Duke introduced a peanut butter sauce few months ago and now RD is adding peanut butter to one of its burgers and it’s a great addition!
If you like classic burgers, Flaming Cheeseburger and Cosmic Burger (with Bacon) are good choices. The Swiss Truffle burger is interesting and I love truffles but I can’t stand aioli sauce.
There are two additional burgers under a new section called “Divine burgers”, the Cajun Chicken and the Low Cal Mushroom Burger with a new recipe. My favorite low-cal RD burger is still the Fit n’ Burger.
RD burgers are always good for me but I wish they wouldn’t grill the patty that much but the majority of people here in Lebanon love their steaks and patties well-done (which I will never understand) so it’s not really their fault.
Original Platters/Home-Style Pasta
There’s a new recipe for the casual steak and a new Chicken (or Shrimp) Ginger Twist pasta. I didn’t try any of them.
Irresistible Desserts
There are 9 new desserts to try out:
1- Lotus Cheesecake: Lotus is great with anything. I’m eager to try that one.
2- Crème Brulée Cheesecake: A classic cheesecake mixed with crème brulée and drizzled with caramel. I have to try that one soon as well!
3- Cheesecake Sundae Explosion: (Strawberry cheesecake ice cream drizzled with strawberry sauce, topped with a burst of fresh forest berries and buttery biscuit crumbs. It means an explosion of taste in every bite.)
4- Brownie Temptation: I like my brownies to be crunchy from the top, and the inside to be moist and fudge-like but RD brownies are not like that.
5- Grand Lazy Cake (NEW RECIPE): I’m not a fan of lazy cakes.
6- ROADSTER SUNDAE: These are perfect treats after a long day at the beach.
Super-sized Pancakes:
There are three super-sized pancakes to choose from, my favorite so far is the Oreo lover which comes with maple syrup, but they are all great!
1- Chocolate Tower: A tower of warm super-sized chocolate pancakes, drizzled with a rich chocolate sauce and topped with your choice of marshmallows or fresh forest berries.
2- Oreo Lover: Our super-sized pancakes with Oreos mixed right into the batter topped with even more Oreos, vanilla ice cream and maple syrup.
3- Lotus Madness: Our super-sized pancakes topped with an unbeatable combination of chocolate, bananas, Lotus caramel spread and biscuits, all drizzled in a rich chocolate sauce.
All in all, change is good and I think it’s about time Roadster revisited its old menu. I was told there won’t be an increase in prices and that’s where I replied back that there should be an increase in fries not prices haha!
Anyway, this is just a quick review of the new items that will become available starting Thursday. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
