Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Carmel

Rarely would I give such a low rating to a well-established restaurant chain, but the experience of the 3/22/2025 was, at best, awful, and I'd rather not say the worst. We had a party of 9, five adults, 4 children 5 thru 13 (plus a toddler). Let me start by saying that the staff were not inattentive and were very friendly, none stood about, and all seemed busy, though I failed to see more thasn half-dozen in the restaurant.

We called ahead and asked for a table to seat 9 with a high chair, with respect that was only giving them 20 minutes notice. When we arrived at 3:20pm, the restaurant had, perhaps 4 or 5 covers seated, and we waiting 5 minutes for the table to be prepared. Initial service was a little haphazard, and after 10 minutes we received 7 of the 9 drinks ordered. After asking twice more, the remaining 2 childrens' drinks were served, and we were asked for our order, consisting of 9 entrees only, no starters.

The free gratis bread arrived, and was very nice, whilst we awaited our meals. and waited, and waited, until 45 minutes later when 4 of the 9 meals were served, then 5 minutes following, another 4, some missing ordered sides. The one remaining, we were informed would be an extra five minutes as it was the Prime Rib sandwich. Of the other orders, one Chicken Tenders for an adult, and one for a child, both with fries and the adult one with Broccoli. The adult plate arrived first with 3 chicken pieces, fries and broccoli, 5 minutes later the childs plate arrived, with 6 chicken pieces, but no fries (apparently they were out of fries - so had to cook more). The fries for that plate arrived with my Prime Rib sandwich (which had no broccoli either).

No substantial complaints regarding the food itself, barring the Prime Rib sandwich was 50% gristle/fat, but for the price, perhaps expected. The whole meal was ~$200, and a formal tip was provided.

We finished the food in half the time it took for them to serve it. Obviously, we didn't order desserts, given the amount of time we had been there, and some of the party with the children had some distance to go.

As mentioned above, I rarely slate any place I comment on, but this required something in an effort for Outback to sit up and listen to their customers.

I have been to Outback (and this Outback in particular for lunch) a number of times and was always quite satisfied, thus I was the one that suggested Outback for the family meal. That, I add with some regret, will be the last time, I felt embarrassed to have made the suggestion, though we did pay for the...

We arrived at the Outback on Michigan Road a few minutes after 2:00 pm on Sunday, October 6, 2019. We ordered promptlly. We ordered a bottle of wine. My wife ordered ribs and a baked potato and I ordered a fillet and lobster with a baked potato and mixed vegatables. We sat at the bar. A gentleman was eating an appetizer and no one else was sitting at the bar. There were a couple of tables occupied in the bar area, but those tables already had their food. We had been there 30 minutes after ordering when the gentleman at the bar ordered a fillet and lobster. Our food arrived 20-25 minutres later. We advised the delivery person (not the bartender who took our order) that we had been waiting for our food for 50 to 55 minutes. My wife asked if our delivery person if our food had been setting in the kitchen. She said, "no, it just came out." No apology was offered and the kitchen had forgotten my veggies. We advised the bartender that the veggies vere missing and he just nodded his head and disappeared into the kitchen. The gentleman at the bar got his food within a minute of us receiving our food. My vegetables were delivered by a manager (I believe she said her name was Jessica), who asked "How have things been going?" In an exasperated tone, I said that I had definitely had better service. She then apologized and asked if there was anything else she could do for us which just made me more annoyed (no mention of a comp).

We ate our food and were given our check. No comps. No apoligies. And we had to demand to see a manager. When he (a different manager) arrived I asked why our food was so late. He responded, in what I can only describe as smug, "It could be any number of factors." My wife asked if we were going to recieve any comps. He said, "l'll se what I can do." No apology and a demeanor of absolutely no concern.

The manager disappeared into the kitchen. After 10 more minutes, I handed a credit card and I said, "just ring it up, we have things to do today." The manager showed up and gave us a 25 percent comp. Again a total lack of concern. The bartender disappeared. By the time we checked out and got to our car, it was five...

I would first like to start this off by making it known that this is the first review I have ever written, so please bear with me.

My family and I were traveling through Indianapolis on our way back home and decided to stop at Outback despite our previous bad experience at a different Outback restaurant, we were a little skeptical to be transparent.

Myself, my wife and our three children sat down and were instantly greeted by our server named Angel. Not just "greeted," but she spoke to us (and the whole time may I add) as if we were family and she had known us her entire life.

She knew when our glasses were empty before even we did, we would just look down every time, and there was a new full glass. And every time we dirtied a plate it was gone instantly.

Our children who are normally quite shy (and I think Angel sensed that), she had them laughing and conversing with her trying to make sure they were having fun even before we even got our dinner. Quite honestly, I'm not even sure how she found the time as she was very busy with other multiple tables.

Im not very good with words, so I know I am not even coming close to describing the kind of service we received from her.

When we were leaving, my wife briefly told Angel of our previous bad experience at a different Outback and how much we appreciated her that evening. Angel's response was "I am so sorry that you had such a bad experience, that's because it wasn't our's" she said jokingly, and then humbly followed with "I absolutely adore just about everyone I work with here, I am pretty positive you would have had just as good an experience had you sat with any one of our servers".

If we did not live so far, I would absolutely try to recruit her to work for me at my company. If could put more than five stars, I would.

Angel, you probably don't remember us, but keep doing what you're doing.

Thanks again from the...