Outback Steakhouse Consumer Reviews - Page 2

SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA -- On our way home from a family vacation in Washington, DC we passed through Springfield, VA and decided to eat at Outback Steakhouse. We usually go to the one in Greenville, SC so we were happy to find one on the way home. When we went we had a rude waiter and a few other things happen that really got me angry. Not the service we are used to from Outback. Well, when I got home I decided to let the company know because I would want to know if it was my business. I didn't think anyone would care to tell you the truth. I just did it to make myself feel better. Well, was I wrong.

I immediately got a phone call from the proprietor at the Outback in VA. Her name was Donna Rambler and she was the nicest woman I have ever encountered. Wonderful manager! She seemed to really sympathize with my story and truly gave me the feeling she was sorry it happened. I was surprised she seemed so upset by the incident. She apologized for what happened and assured me she would talk to the people who were rude and I believed she would. I hung up the phone not angry anymore, thinking it was just a bad night.

Well, 4 days later I received a box in the mail and it was filled with cookies and brownies, beautifully packaged! I was SHOCKED to see it was from Outback! In it was a letter apologizing again for the service. I also received a comp ticket to go back to Outback on them. Unbelievable! I have never had a company make me feel truly appreciated. We went tonight to dinner and sure enough, everything was perfect. It really made up for the last time.

I thank Outback for having such wonderful customer service and am truly surprised. You don't think companies out there care anymore but this one does. My hats off to Outback for realizing that I will be a customer for life and will tell everyone I know what a great company they are. I wish more companies had customer service like this!

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- Ate at Outback Mission Valley, San Diego, California today (April 1, 2009), and the joke was on me. Ordered the basic pasta off the value meal $9.99. There was a chicken add on option of 2.99 more. Asked, how much more for Salmon, was told just $1.00! I said, "that seems too cheap, even if it is $3.00 (the price of the chicken) I am OK with this, however, if it is any more, I do not want the salmon. Instead, just bring me the basic pasta." When the bill arrived, I was charged for the basic pasta plus $14.99 for the Salmon!!! What happened to just a buck. I brought it to my server's attention, and was told that he rang it in this way to save me money.

What???? This did not save me, he apologized and I was told he would correct it. He came back, and took $2.00 off the bill. I told him this does not make it right... he said any more and his manager needs to make the correction. His manager came by, only to tell me that it was my fault for ordering salmon, and that the correct price is an additional $14.99. Then he went on to say he would correct it just this once. He came back with a new bill, that took $7.49 off the bill, but it was still not correct. I paid the overpriced bill, and decided to cross outback off the list of fair good value restaurants.

I do not need to get upset, nor do I need an idiot manager to tell me what the price is, when his servers are ignorant and give out the wrong price. I told the manager to educate the server, but he felt the need to tell me his pricing. In any event, Outback Mission Valley San Diego is over billing - a form of stealing. I overpaid and am totally not happy, that is why I wrote this blog. I know that Outback lovers will continue to go there, so remember to check your bill, and when you are over billed, that is the price you pay for enjoying Outback. There is no value there, they will cheat you if they can - with a smile.

TURNERSVILLE, NEW JERSEY -- On 3/6/09 I went to the Turnersvill, NJ Outback Steakhouse with my wife, daughter & her husband to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I'm a 54 year old, semi-retired male. We first went to the Road House Restaurant but the wait was too long. We decided to go to Outback instead. We had to wait almost 30 minutes to get inside. Right away the problems started. They seated us at a table that was too small for 4 large adults. Also it was unstable and it rocked. I asked to be moved but they said "no other tables were available, take it or leave it."

The start of things to come on very poor customer service. We finally got our food after 20 minutes and my mashed potatoes were ice cold. I waited for a waiter for a few minutes, nobody came, so I took my dish back to the kitchen. After 5 more minutes of watching my family eat without me, they finally brought back the mashed potatoes and they were only semi-warm. The lady told me they have given me the old batch of potatoes first, like I wanted to really hear that comment.

As we ate the table rocked back and forth every time someone cut their steak or chicken. I was so upset, I hardly ate anything including the semi-nuked mashed potatoes. No one came buy to offer any apologies or attempted to remedy the situation.

My daughter was so upset, she walked out of the restaurant crying. I then asked to see the manager and his name was **. Where did you get this guy at? He was and is the worst customer service person you could have hired. I told him of all my troubles and he only offered me 2 free appetizers on my next visit. I said "next visit, I'll never step foot in another Outback restaurant again in my lifetime." I said "the least you should do is comp the dinner free of charge and give my family another free dinner on the house. Then maybe I could re-evaluate this chain."

He then told me I have a rotten attitude and to stop talking and listen to him. He didn't want to hear my side of the story. He said we are done talking and to leave his restaurant. I was so upset when I got home I called the restaurant and asked to speak to ** again and I told him I was contacting my Chase Credit Card company and reversing the charges of $95.00. He started hollering at me again and said never to come back to his restaurant again. You seriously have to investigate this manager and provide counseling and therapy. How can you ever hire a cruel and demeaning person like this in the public eye?

NASHVILLE - RIVERGATE AREA, TENNESSEE -- Last night, my partner and I went for dinner at Outback in the Nashville, TN Rivergate Area (Madison). We were seated in the smoking bar area. As soon as we sat down and ordered a beer, the table of two men beside us started making crude comments about gays. We are both professionals and were dressed as such. We weren't being "gay", flamboyant, or causing a scene. But the comments continued and increased in intensity as the minutes passed and we became more and more uncomfortable.

The salads arrived, the waitress asked if we needed anything else. Not wanting to provoke the table next us, we quietly said "yes". Anyone in the restaurant would have known otherwise as the table beside us had already raised everyone's brow more than once or caused bar patrons to turned around to see who was yelling such slanderous remarks. At one point the man primarily responsible, turned around and looked at me and asked if I was using my fork and could he have it. For why, I do not know. But I said I was going to use it. He turned back around and said "**!" No one from the Outback staff ever approached the table or asked them to keep their voices down.

The comments continued from the table beside us. (At that point I unlocked my cellphone and had 911 ready to dial.) Before we could finish our salads, the man next to us yelled "G.D. Homosexuals" across the bar and a young mother, who was taking her child to the restroom, gasped in horror and snatched her child into the restroom. Just about that time our waitress came by and we told her to ask the Manager to meet us outside.

Leaving our beer, salads, and undelivered entrees behind we went outside and waited. When the Manager finally appeared, we informed him of what happened. He said this is the first he had heard of it. We told him that the verbal gay bashing had gone on for nearly 40 minutes and it was escalating to the point we became fearful, didn't want to provoke a hate crime and decided to leave. He had no excuse for his staff nor did he seem to care much. In hindsight, we should have probably filed a police complaint, but I'm glad we didn't stick around and become a hate crime victim.

WAYNE, NEW JERSEY -- My Husband and I normally go to Outback once a month and spend an average of 60 dollars with tip. We are always happy with the service and the quality of the food. Last night we went and were both surprised at the lack of taste in the food. We ordered the Buffalo Chicken Strips as a appetizer. The strips were very greasy, and the sauce was Chalky, as if it was a dry mix they added water to. The blue cheese dressing tasted like sour cream. Our bread came out cold and very hard (Normally it comes warm).

My potato soup was very salty and watery. It no longer comes with the bacon, cheese and chives on top. I asked the waitress when she brought the soup, where are the toppings? She stated that they no longer include this on top of the soup. I had asked for a new piece of bread for ours was rock hard, she took the bread back into the kitchen. Our steaks came out and I had to check that they brought me the right cut of meat. I ordered the Victoria's Filet, as I always do and normally get a nice 1-1.5 inch thick cut of meat. The piece they brought out to me looked more like a minute steak, less than a ½ inch thick.

When my waitress came around I checked with her, and she said I did get the correct piece of steak. However when I cut into it, it was very tough. Filet should taste like butter, however this was like eating leather. It also was lacking their seasoning. It had no taste to it at all. When our waitress came around again, I asked if they changed their seasoning on the meat. She had said no. I asked to see the manager, and after waiting 15 minutes no one showed up. I ended up paying the full bill and leaving.

I love outback and was totally surprised at the food quality decline. I do not know if they got a new meat supplier or if I got the incorrect piece of meat, but it was not what I normally get. I would like to go back again however I do not want to pay 60 and have a repeat of my last nights dinner. I would like some sort of coupon to try the outback experience again. Thank you for your time in reading this.

44124, OHIO -- I've been going to the Outback in Lyndhurst, OH, for a while now, since I live in the neighborhood. They have consistent problem with preparing well done steaks and it seems that there is no cure for it. For some strange reason, it's always "bleeding" and red and rare/medium rare, but never well done. Looks like their cooks have serious issues with comprehending what well done means. And this time we went to celebrate my birthday, and it was a disaster (as usual).

I had to return my steak, and then I waited for 15 min, and then they bring my steak back and it's all burned. And I ordered a 16 oz steak, and what they brought back was about 8 oz (I guess the other half of it burned completely). By the time they brought it back I wasn't hungry anymore anyway, so I canceled the whole order, and the waitress got all mad. So we had to wait another 20 min for a desert.

Everybody else was OK since they ordered pasta and chicken, and I was all upset since I ended up eating bread and salad. And I have to deal with this pretty much every time I go there. Why cannot you leave the steak on the grill for a few extra minutes and get it done right the first time??? Oh, and try to make sure you don't hire psycho waitresses, that would be helpful too!

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- My wife & I recently went to Outback for dinner. It was about 730 on a weeknight and much to my surprise, the restaurant was very crowded. No problem. As we waited to give our name to the Hostess, the people in front of us were told it would be about 25 minutes for a table (non-smoking). My wife & I both smoke. When I asked approximately how long the wait would be for smoking, the Hostess became surprisingly rude and stated she had no idea!

She advised me that smoking is first come-first serve. In other words you have to stand around the people eating in the smoking section, wait for them to get up and then run to the table! This is what the Hostess actually told me! I advised her that's really not fair -- Let's say someone has been standing around hovering for 20 minutes and just happens to look away for a second when someone gets up and then I speed over to a table ahead of them. She just shrugged.

Are all Outbacks like this or just here in Nevada? Are there other restaurants that do this? To me, it's an absolutely ridiculous policy. If I was sitting having dinner, I sure would not want people staring at me -- waiting for me to get up.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA -- My husband and I visited your Anchorage location back in January. We hired a baby sitter for our 2 children and went out for a nice dinner. After brewing over which restaurant to go spend our evening out alone in, we decided on Outback. We had not been to Outback since we lived in San Antonio, TX 2 years ago and we were really looking forward to a delicious meal.

The service was fine, but our meal was less than mediocre. We started with a blooming onion of course. My husband had prime rib and I had pasta with crawfish and shrimp in it. The prime rib was overcooked and dry. My dinner was o.k. It was so much less than what we were used to in our trips to Outback prior to this. It was very difficult for me to pay the check that evening. Typically, it is not difficult because the trip is well worth the money. I did not complain about the meal that evening because we were trying to have a good evening out. The more I thought about the quality of our meal, the more I thought I should let our voice be heard.

KEY WEST, FLORIDA -- First of all the wait staff was great. My wife and I ordered steaks which we both like well done (on the menu well done is described as no pink showing). Our meal came out in no time, well seasoned but when we check to see if it was cooked all the way through we both had a medium well cooked steak. No problem, we call our wait staff over and explained. She agreed and remember how we ordered our steaks.

About 15 minutes later the manager brings our steaks to our table. Both steaks are cooked about the same almost looking like car tires and wanted us to check it to see if that was cooked enough, with just short of a smirk on his face. It's sad because, we eat at Outback everywhere and this is the only Outback that we have had problems with. We live here in Key West. This manager just think steaks should be cooked to his liking not the customer. We'll still keep going to Outback but not in Key West.

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE -- I went to Outback Steakhouse on Union Ave. on August 24, 2013 around 3:00 pm. My mom is a pastor so as our church members told us about the Restaurant so we gave it a try. My mom called a day ahead to make sure they could accommodate a large party. They said "yes" but that was totally not true. We had to move several times in the Restaurant.

The first waitress took so long with our drinks and when she finally got them they were watered down not good at all then we had to move to another table and this young lady was OK but the same issue came up. Took 45 minutes to bring our bread and took an hour to bring the food. Some had meat on the plates with no veggies like I had wings and ribs. The wings were hard but the ribs were OK. After they finally got our veggies on the plates our meat was cold or eaten up. I will never send anyone to Outback. The worst time ever. Don't come especially if you have a large party they will not enjoy themselves.