The Good: Good food, Fine atmosphere, Reasonable prices.
The Bad: Very limited menu options.
The Basics: My first Outback Steakhouse experience was delicious and fairly priced for the quality of the food, making it easy to recommend.
Last night my wife and I were out spending time together and we decided to beat the dinner rush by eating early. As we went through the lists of restaurants in our area, my wife pretty much vetoed everything I shot out or saw as we drove along. When, however, I mentioned Outback Steakhouse, she said she liked it and asked my opinion of it. When I told her that I had never been, she made it her mission of the night to make sure I had an Outback Steakhouse experience. It's hard not to love my wife, which is why I don't even try not to!
Outback Steakhouse fills the same niche in American dining as Applebee's and markets itself as being different because it has an Australian theme to it. From a consumer standpoint uninfluenced by advertising campaigns, Outback Steakhouse succeeds because it fills the niche of steakhouse, bar and grill with reasonably high prices (for a chain) by actually providing food that is exceptionally good. So, if Applebee's seemed overpriced (pricey without culinary cause), Outback is high priced with good food that justifies the price.
For a once-in-a-while dining experience, I can justify that and given how it is a chain of restaurants, having a place with consistently high food quality makes Outback Steakhouse worth recommending.
Location
Outback Steakhouse restaurants are located throughout the United States. As one who travels a lot, I have found them all around the U.S. from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Las Vegas and even California. Outback Steakhouse has a decent market penetration and I have often found in freestanding locations near strip malls or shopping centers. Because they serve alcohol, I've never seen one in a mall setting, at least in New York.
Outback Steakhouse tends to be organized like a pretty neutral bar with televisions around. Ours features alligator heads and photographs on the walls from the Australian wilderness regions. My wife and I were seated in a very comfortable booth under a single light and despite the fact that there were many other tables and booths around, it felt very intimate (at least until the place started to fill up). Part of this might have to do with the high, hardwood dividers between each booth.
Outback Steakhouse tends to be modestly decorated. They usually have tables and surprisingly comfortable booths. The walls tend to be decorated with Australia-themed artwork, mostly color photographs. There were three televisions in the location we visited, all with the same American sporting events on.
Waitstaff
Outback Steakhouse uses traditional waiters or waitresses. The waitstaff at our Outback Steakhouse was younger, in the mid-twenties. They were oddly imperceptive for hostesses, however. While we were greeted quite nicely at the door, we arrived for dinner at about 4:30, which is only a half hour after our Outback opened for the night. In other words, it was pretty much a ghost town when we visited. It remained pretty unfull until we left. As such, it was utterly ridiculous that the hostess sat every customer together in the same area instead of spreading us out so we could actually enjoy our meals, conversations and privacy.
That said, our server was kind, attentive to the food quality and generally fast with the service. Where she lost serious points was in continually forgetting to bring my wife her refill. She asked for a second beer three times before our server remembered to actually bring it. Still, the service was friendly and we were left alone to enjoy our meal and dishes were cleared in a timely manner.
Food
Outback Steakhouse is American fast food, despite claiming to be Australian, but the sit-down meals took ten minutes for the appetizer and an additional fifteen for our entrees. Immediately, our dining experience was distinctly different from the Applebee's disappointment from the drink prices. While Applebee's milked her for the beer, Outback Steakhouse offered her the same-size domestic draft (in a near-freezing glass) for less than half the cost of the competitor!
My drink was a smoothie that was coconut and berry flavored. It was appropriately cold and a thirst quencher, but it overwhelmed on the berry and was not very coconut flavored. Still, it was not bad and until I got down to the giant ice cubes at the bottom, it was satisfying to suck through the straw!
We began our meal with the Bloomin' Onion, which - I am told - is an absolute requirement for those eating at Outback Steakhouse. Given how filling it was, one might want to only order the Bloomin' Onion when they go. The Bloomin' Onion is a giant onion which is battered in a spicy batter (more peppery and salty than hot spicy) and then deep fried. It is segmented almost down to the very bottom so it opens up to look like an orchid. One eats the Bloomin' Onion by pulling off the battered onion petals, dipping it in the sauce that comes with it and popping it in their mouth. I like onion rings about once a year and this satisfied my craving for onion rings for about the next three years. It was delicious and as uncouth as it may be to mention, I am absolutely stunned that I am not gassy today from it.
As for the entrees, I went with a sandwich and my wife had the Alice Springs Chicken. The Alice Springs Chicken was a grilled chicken breast covered in bacon, mushrooms, melted Monterey Jack and Swiss cheeses. It was served with Australian fries (which are a seasoned french fry) as well as ketchup and a honey mustard sauce. For "purely review" purposes, she allowed me to bogart a couple bites. The chicken was well-grilled and flavorful, but definitely dominated by the cheeses and bacon. This only became problematic in that the bacon was overcooked (at least for my tastes). She is still raving about it.
For my entree, I went with the Filet Focaccia Sandwich. This was a few slabs of steak fillet, Swiss cheese (I went with the only sandwich I saw that wasn't made with American cheese, which made me wonder: is there Australian cheese?!) melted upon it and served on a thick focaccia bread. The bread was remarkably well-seasoned and was delightful on its own and the steak managed to overwhelm it. The cheese balanced the meat and the bread made for a perfect sandwich. This came with an au jus sauce for dipping, but I quickly discovered this overwhelmed any taste from the actual sandwich and just made it taste salty. Like caviar salty, so unless that is your thing, go with the sandwich without dipping it! This entree also came with Australian fries and it was quite good.
Ultimately, my wife and I were too full to order dessert, so the full experience might have been lessened, though the restaurant had a pretty minimal dessert menu.
Overall
Outback Steakhouse is a good restaurant, especially for a chain. Two adults were able to get truly stuffed for $45.00 including the tip and the biggest complaint I had about anything actually food-related was that the menu was exceptionally limited. This restaurant is a steakhouse that had only about two-dozen dishes, but it appears to make them very well. The atmosphere was conducive to conversation and camaraderie, but the lack of choices make it a place to go only when you want one of the few things they actually offer.
That said, it is a nice retreat for adults who want a good steak, rib or meat meal at a fair price.
For other restaurants, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Cold Stone Creamery
Cracker Barrel
Long John Silvers
7/10
For other food, drink and restaurant reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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