Outback Steak & Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Branson

We were in town for a quick weekend trip from St. Louis. This restaurant came highly recommended by a friend. We came in June 17,2022 and loved the decor. It was a neat restaurant and decorated aptly so. The location was easy to get to, and we had high expectations for the food. Jonnathan K (according to our receipt) was our waiter and let me tell you, this young man was a phenomenal server! He was so friendly from the moment we sat down, he never let our water get below half full. I’m no food critic by any means, but I ordered the spinach artichoke dips as an appetizer- it was bland, needed some seasoning- but I’m from the south, so I get that this happens. I don’t complain… I order a ribeye, Aussie marinated per Jonathan’s recommendation and my husband orders the catfish platter. He liked the catfish, I ate a hushpuppy and let me tell you… this was the best hushpuppy I’ve ever eaten. This restaurant needs to change its slogan to “famous hushpuppies” as far as my steak… I ordered medium.. it came basically beef jerky. Jonathan looked at it as he sat it down and was like do you want me to send it back? Again- I’m not one to complain…. I was like no, baby it’s a recession, we’re not wasting meat… I’ll eat it. The steak was less than meh… not even the fact that it was over cooked it just was absolutely flavorless. But again I’m from the south and we season our paper towels before throwing them away… Jonathan apologized so many times. The restaurant was busy, he was busy he did an outstanding job. The only reason I’m leaving a review is Jonathan actually- he gave us recommendations on must-see places and we even did them. Jonathan if you see this, you made our Branson trip worth it! You were amazing! And to anyone else, try Outback, they maybe just had an “off” night when I experienced it. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t $100...

In the past I have assumed that this restaurant was affiliated with the Outback restaurant chain. A friend of mine at work told me that it was not. A few days before our trip, I decided to check it out online and then proceeded to call and ask them some questions. To my delight I found out that they were not a part of the chain. I also found out about their history and their specials. We arrived for our dinner right at 5:00 p.m. The parking lot seemed full but to our surprise inside there was plenty of room. There must have been more parking beyond what I could see. We were seated at a table near a window where we could look out and see some beautiful trees. I ordered the KC strip with baked potato and salad. My wife ordered a petite filet with asparagus and a salad. The steak was cooked to our liking, my baked potato was nice and hot and my wife's asparagus was delicious. The salad was good. We also shared a piece of key lime pie which was very good. Our server, Katie was fabulous. A member of management, whom I wish I could remember his name, greeted us and asked us how our experience was. He gave us a card for a complimentary Aussie onion with the purchase of an entree at normal price. I highly recommend dining at this restaurant. I plan to return each time I want a steak in...

We ate here twice in one week in July on vacation when they were packed both times and the food and service were great which is why we came back today. Got here around 3:45 and place was near empty. Terrible service. Took probably 20-25 minutes to get a chips and salsa and Aussie onion appetizers and we have waited an hour for our entrees. And they didn’t bring my dads food out because another server took it to the wrong table. Andrea is our waitress and when I asked the hostess to ask her to send her to our table to ask how much longer our food will take she came to the table with an attitude and asked what do we need. And now here we are almost 10 minutes after our food was delivered and my dad is still waiting for his food since they gave it to another table. Highly unlikely we will be back again and from this visit I would not recommend. It’s a shame because our July visits were great. Guess that’s what happens when a place isn’t busy and they either understaff it or the people working don’t really care about their jobs. I’m adding to this review … 15 minutes and my dad still doesn’t have his meal and 2 of our family ordered the all you can eat catfish and they have been waiting for our waitress to come back to ask for more. Horrible service and nobody seems to want to...