They make it look so easy, the smooth-stepping dancers in cowgirl boots working the angles of a Leann Rimes tune:

“You got nothin’ better to do, got nothin’ better to do…”

Those of us without the line-dancing skills are content to watch from the sidelines in the bustle of Renegades, the country bar and grill that’s cowgirl central on, well, just about any night. We’re content because we’re sharing a batch of fresh-made potato chips ($4.95). Hot and crispy, these are russet potato chips that are hand-sliced thin, fried and nicely seasoned.

These are the chips I’d order after a late night of line-dancing, if I were a line-dancer. But tonight they make a delicious starter to our hefty meal at West Palm’s rockin’ country spot.

Renegades has been partying up a storm for 12 years now, first on Okeechobee Boulevard, now on Village Boulevard in a former TGI Friday’s locale, where it’s been for the past year and a half. A hub for live music, country dancing, mechanical bull riding, and daily happy hour specials, it’s a sprawling place anchored by a huge dance floor and fringed with deck seating (cooled by a new misting system), a billiard area, bar, and dining tables.

As for the menu, it offers some respectable options. The Rodeo Wings ($9.95 for 10), for instance, are juicy, crispy and flavorful. They’re first baked, then fried and served with a choice of three wing sauces with varying degrees of heat. The mild Buffalo sauce proved to be a good choice, as it didn’t overpower the chicken. Instead of sauce, I could taste the toasty finish of wings cooked just right.

I did wish for more sauce in the City Slicker Sliders, though. I sampled a trio of the beef brisket variety ($8.95) – you get a choice of ground sirloin, Buffalo chicken or brisket – that desperately needed a hit of gravy or barbecue sauce. They weren’t lacking in flavor or filling, but they seemed bare, plain slices of brisket on buns that were just average. The crinkle cut fries on the side added little pizazz. (The homemade potato chips are definitely a better choice as a side.)

But then came the Southern Country Fried Chicken ($12.95), a juicy chicken breast that was amply seasoned and breaded, fried to a golden crisp and ladled with creamy chicken gravy. We enjoyed it with an abundant green salad and a side of country red smashed potatoes. The potatoes, bland and unadorned, did nothing for us. But the chicken proved to be decadently good, a guilty pleasure, to be sure.

We wished the same of the Camp Fire Sirloin Steak ($18.95), a 10-ounce sirloin filet that is one of Renegades’ signature entrées. But while it was tender beneath a nice char, and grilled to a perfect medium-rare, it was salty and heavily over-seasoned. It was as if there was a rub atop the steak rub.

Little did we know that the best of our meal (the wings, chips and fried chicken) was behind us when we ordered the a dessert called the Cheesecake Fondue ($7). A sweet flour tortilla is stuffed with cheesecake filling, deep fried, dusted in cinnamon and sugar and served hot in bite-size pieces alongside three dipping sauces (raspberry, chocolate and caramel). The fried cheesecake wasn’t bad – until it was dunked in one of the overly sweet sauces. Not worth the calories.

A word about the specials at Renegades: terrific. Happy hour deals run every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with three-for-one drinks and half-price appetizers. On Wednesdays, “Family Night,” kids eat free with the purchase of an adult entrée from 6 to 8 p.m. (and there’s a kids line-dancing class from 6:30 to 7 p.m.). Ladies night happens on Tuesdays and Fridays, when ladies drink free of charge from 9 to midnight.