The Best Steak at Texas Roadhouse, by Four Different Measures

At $22.99 for 16 ounces, this works out at $1.44 per ounce — the cheapest beef on the board by that measure. The 6oz version of the identical steak is $2.25 per ounce, which is 56% more for the same meat cooked the same way.

The reason is structural. A fixed portion of any entrée price covers the two included sides, the plate, the labour and the table, and none of that scales with steak weight. Every additional ounce costs only what the beef costs.

This makes it the correct order for two people willing to share. A 16oz sirloin split between two, plus an extra side, delivers more beef for less money than two 8oz sirloins — roughly $23 against $32.

Ribeye carries intramuscular fat that renders during cooking, and that rendering is where steak flavour largely comes from. It is why the 12oz ribeye is 960 calories against 460 for an 11oz sirloin — nearly double the calories for slightly less meat.

It is also the most forgiving cut on the menu. That same fat protects the meat as it cooks, so a ribeye ordered medium-well is still palatable in a way a sirloin at the same doneness is not. If you do not order steak rare, this is the cut that will disappoint you least.

At $1.92 per ounce for the 12oz it is mid-table on value, which is a fair price for what it does.

Filet comes from the least-worked muscle on the animal, which is exactly why it is soft and why it costs $21.99 for six ounces — $3.67 per ounce, the most expensive beef on the menu and more per ounce than the 23oz Porterhouse.

The honest caveat: tenderness is all you are buying. Filet has almost no marbling, so it carries less flavour than ribeye and benefits more than any other cut from a sauce. Plenty of people order it expecting the best of everything and find it milder than they hoped.

And if you order steak well done, the filet is the worst possible choice — you are paying a premium for a texture you then cook away.

At 250 calories it is the lightest steak on the board, and lighter than most starters. Sirloin runs roughly 42 calories per ounce against ribeye at about 80 — so for a fixed calorie budget you can eat nearly twice as much sirloin.

Pair it with green beans at 100 calories and you have a complete steak dinner around 450 calories, which is not a figure most people associate with a steakhouse.

The interesting overlap: sirloin wins both the value question and the calorie question. Those two answers rarely agree on a menu, and here they do.