Outback Steakhouse Glenwood — Restaurant in Sydney

(update on 14th July 2023). Disappointed me again. By the same manager, Laura who tried to cover the person who forgot to pack the steak sauce for three takeaway steaks I ordered, by pointing the finger at me.

When I realised after reaching home that the sauce was not included, I rang the restaurant, but Laura was adamant that they had packed the sauces and implied that I was making up a story. Then finally she said “I will give you the benefit of the doubt and refund the cost of sauces”. I find this response quite offensive and inappropriate. First there shouldn’t be any “doubt” if the persons who packed the order admitted their mistake instead of questioning the honesty of the customer. Then I like to point out that a refund of $8.85 is not a substitute for sauce. When some items of the meal go missing, the meal becomes useless. I hope you will understand that refunding money will not fix your mistakes or make the meal complete. Also note that If I wanted to have my money back, I wouldn’t have ordered the meals in the first place.

When I kept refusing a refund, Laura finally agreed to give me the missing sauce but still refused to deliver it to my place. Therefore, I had to drive all the way back to the restaurant to pick up the sauce. Having got stuck in traffic due to road works, I finally reached home after 11pm by which time it was way too late for dinner. I wasted time from 8:30pm until after 11pm, we had to order food from a different place, and the food worth around $150 was wasted because of the poor attitude and lack of professionalism of few people.

I hope the organisation’s management will provide appropriate training to the staff including the managers to make all the good work everyone puts in to bring a great customer experience is not negatively impacted by few such people who question customers honesty and integrity instead of providing a good service. I also suggest the management view the CCTV footage of the food preparation/packing area to see who is telling the truth or otherwise. (Staff do make mistakes as they are human too. I have no issue with that. However, I do not like to see dishonesty and inconveniencing the customers to cover such mistakes)

Original review on 15th March 2023…….. My previous rating was five stars but today reduced to one for food and service.

As we do every week, we bought three steaks on 15th March 2023. They were completely burnt (see photograph). Tasted to see if we can still eat them but they were quite bitter. So, they ended up in the bin.

Not having any dinner on the table was bad enough but a worse experience came when I rang Outback, Parklea to inform (within 10 minutes of picking the food and bringing them home).

The first response from the manager was “I don’t work in the kitchen”. Of course, I did not expect her to be the chef while managing the restaurant. Then she said that she can give a refund. I told her that it does not solve my problem and its too late to order from any restaurant as it was already past 9pm. But unfortunately, the manager thought giving my money back would correct their mistakes and solve all my problems. By the way, I never received the refund. This type of responses defies even the basics of customer service training where you learn to empathise and understand the situation from the customers point of view without trying to defend yourself.

I am writing this with the intention of seeing an improvement of service and most importantly the attitude of the management toward customers whom they take for granted. Hope it will be five...

Very very disappointed! My daughter booked this for my birthday at my request. The mains were fine but we had a very poor experience overall.

The entree cheese fries was very poor (see photo), with barely any bacon and cheese on the fries.

The 2 coke no sugars were flat with no gas.

The water we requested came out and was warm. We had to request ice to make it possible to drink.

After these issues I felt I needed to speak to the manager which I did. She was very understanding and showed her concern, immediately apologising for the cheese fries she could see, taking them away and returning with another plate which was presented as one would expect.

Now all these issues can happen and I’m not too hung up on water being served which isn’t cold etc but what followed here after was just down right appalling customer service.

My partner arrived to join us after driving 30mins following finishing work for dessert as planned as it was my birthday (my daughter stipulated the occasion as she knew there was the traditional happy birthday sung and a little dessert arranged). We were left alone for the next 30 minutes with not one of the waitresses coming to see how we were going or if we wanted dessert. (The manager had come by previously when mains were served to make sure all was ok which it was at that time). It was now nearly 945-10 so we decided to go as it was obvious we weren’t going to be offered dessert let alone have the traditional small chocolate cake come out for my birthday (another table did though). We got up to leave but I couldn’t go without having asked with the 3 waiters/waitresses who were having such a fun time laughing up near the bar area (?). I expressed my disappoinmwnt and did ask if the manager was free but was told she had gone home however there was another person on duty still who was a manager. I saw her up where we paid but all I got was a sorry. It was so blatantly obvious no manager or staff cared about the treatment we received. Seriously to not be offered dessert nor have the happy birthday sung for a dinner we all gathered for was so so disappointing. I felt the 1st manager should have been wise enough to make sure we were looked after but it was anything but the case. We were instead left alone completely for well over 30mins with not a waitress in sight ( but plenty of laughter as they gathered near the kitchen). It’s one thing to make mistakes but it’s how you rectify it that’s leaves the impression and defines the customer experience. Well I can assure you our group were all left very embarrassed and disrespected to be ignored like we were. I myself felt awful too for my partner who made the trip over late just so we could all celebrate my birthday with dessert. (I saw the manager as she walked past earlier in the night as we finished up our mains to see if it was ok to add a chair to the table (which she duly said yes too) We ended up paying the bill (as we were told yeah sorry about that) and going to Messina Norwest for ice cream.

I would appreciate a call to discuss this appalling experience.and the fact the Outback staff we had on this night at Parklea just do not care about their customers which is an appalling...

Outback Steakhouse - A Masterclass in How to Ruin a Meal

Let me start by saying this: Outback is usually a half decent place to eat. Not great, not terrible, just comfortably sitting a notch above the likes of Rashays, HogsBreath, and Lone Star. That’s not exactly high praise, but at least you could usually walk away satiated without a total disaster. Until today.

This visit? Absolutely shambolic.

First off, explain this logic to me: why was I served my side salad before my entrée even arrived? Who on earth thinks, “You know what will really set the mood? Let’s slap a salad on the table 20 minutes early.” What’s next, dessert before the mains? And the salad itself? Let’s just say if the cucumber had any less care put into it, it would’ve been served still attached to the vine.

Now let’s talk drinks — this one still has me fuming. I order an alcoholic beverage and what do I get? A half empty glass of Ice and a splash of Shiraz. No exaggeration, half-empty (wish I photographed it, photo attached is after the bucket of ice was emptied into the glass). I’ve literally ordered it a hundred times, and this was the saddest excuse I’ve ever seen. When I questioned it, the waitress apologised, took it back, and came out with the “fixed” version: same drink, just buried under a mountain of ice. Translation: 20% alcohol, 80% frozen water. An absolute insult in every form, plain and simple. And it wasn’t just once — every drink after was the exact same scam. If I wanted a glass of overpriced ice, I would’ve asked for it.

Finally, the steak — the thing this place supposedly builds its entire reputation on. I asked for medium rare. What I got was medium well, bordering on well done. At that point, just don’t even ask me how I’d like it cooked. Flip a coin, roll some dice, and surprise me — because clearly the kitchen’s doing whatever they want anyway.

So here’s my conclusion: This visit wasn’t just disappointing, it was insulting. Ice instead of alcohol, overcooked steaks, and salads with the timing of a bad comedy sketch. Negatives aside, when the person I assume is the owner is running the floor, this place operates near flawlessly, smooth, attentive, and hard to fault. It’s almost like stepping into a completely different restaurant. Will I go back? Of course yes. Everyone has an off day, and I can only hope this night was just that: a bad day, not the beginning of a downward spiral in service...