I don't know if any of the rest of you like Outback Steakhouse or not, but Leah and I have been fans for quite some time. It's always seemed to us that it's a fun, reasonably priced place to get a pretty decent steak. Then came our last two visits. I'm pretty sure that there must have been some significant changes at a corporate level in the past couple of months because the food quality and service quality have declined significantly. Honestly, we gave them a break after our first bad experience since it was Valentine's Day, but after going through the same thing last night, I've got to say that I probably won't ever go back without some guarantee that things are back to normal. Let me know if you've had a similar disappointing experience at your local Outback, and read the letter that I just posted on their feedback site below:
To Outback Steakhouse:
I have been a longtime fan of Outback Steakhouse. My wife and I have considered the cheese fries to be the best available for at least the last 10 years, and we have always enjoyed the quality of your salads and steaks. Really, it's the little things that matter to us when we visit Outback, like the unique taste of the croutons in the dinner salad, the salt on the baked potato skin, the seasoning on the steak, and the crispness of the cheese fries. As fairly frequent patrons to the Outbacks in Garland, Plano, and Dallas, I can say that we've almost never been disappointed. Almost never.
Our last two visits have been to the Garland location and the Dallas (635 & Greenville) location and while the service and quality were consistent in both visits, it was noticeably lower than in any past visit.
Initially, I excused the service and food quality at the Garland location based on the fact that we were dining on Valentine's Day and the restaurant was very crowded, but after the exact same experience with the exact same order at the Dallas location, I wonder if there are not changes at a corporate level that are pulling down the quality of the chain.
Specifically, my family and I ordered cheese fries that we would normally expect to find hot and crispy. Ours were soggy and covered in rubbery bacon bits. For our meals, we ordered our usual Outback Special which is generally a great value for steak. It might seem nitpicky, but one of the things that I look forward to in the Outback salad that comes with this meal is the unique taste of the croutons and ranch dressing. Neither of those were present in either visit. Sure, there were croutons and ranch dressing, but they were both just plain, not all the way they should taste at Outback. As a matter of fact, I was so disappointed that I didn't even finish mine. Next up, the steaks. First they were delivered incorrectly. Mine to my wife and hers to me. Not normally a big deal, but what are the odds of that happening twice in a row and at two different restaurants? Next, they were cooked incorrectly. Mine was way too overdone and hers was not done enough. In both cases we ordered medium rare for me and well done for her. In both cases we got two medium well steaks. The only way that we knew the orders were placed on the table incorrectly is that we had different condiments on our potato. Speaking of which, what happened to putting cheese on the baked potato? Outback has never been big on loading a potato full of cheese, but I've at least been able to tell that there was some in there. In these past two visits, I've searched and searched to find only the tiniest bit buried under a small dollop of butter in my mini potato. Because one visit was on Valentine's and the other was squeezed between two meetings, we did not send our food back for fear that it would take another 45 minutes before we were able to eat. In the interest of time, we just slathered on the A-1 (a detestable thing to have to do to a steak) and finished our meal as best we could.
Thinking that I may have been alone in noticing these changes, I have asked other family members and friends if they noticed any changes at Outback Steakhouse in recent months and nearly all of them have confirmed the same experiences and disappointments with no prompting from me. Please note that your former customers have noticed the changes and we are not pleased. Honestly, I'm happy to see a Texas Roadhouse being built a few doors down from the Outback in Garland so I'll have a new place to find a reasonably priced steak dinner.
3 comments:
I noticed the change when the comercials went from sounding like a bar room full of 'mates' singing to fru-fru southbeach singers. Maybe they are trying to cater to a new breed of clientele to come into their restrauants? Fortunately for me I have access to a Steak-n-Ale and Roadhouse in my neck of the metroplex. That being said, the best steak ever comes off the grill that is in my backyard!
yes, you know I had the same bad service my last visit to the Outback...and it was my date night! Our cheese fries were horribly soggy and I don't think the ranch was as spicy as usual....I normally love the ranch at the Outback, but it was terrible and our croutons were horrible also. We order the Outback Special like you, for the same reason, and ours left much to be desired. Also, we were there for 2 hours total before we were able to leave. Very disappointing. you can put this on their website too!
The Outback in Tyler has always been terrible on service but the food has always been decent until out last visit...Everything was terrible and our cheese fries didn't have bacon at all! Bubba said he will starve before he would go back there.
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