Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Crystal Lake

Ordered at 5:10 PM with a specified pickup time of 6:00 PM. Arrived at 5:55 PM. Upon arrival an attendant asked for my name. I provided it.

He said " We have not received your order yet". Which I took to mean " your order was not received by us" nearly 45 minutes prior. I offered my email confirmation as proof of the order. He declined and said "I'm sorry, I meant that your order is not ready yet".

At 6:12 PM, with no further contact, I decided to call the restaurant. A young lady answered. I provided my name and indicated I had ordered at 5:10 PM, arrived at 5:55 PM for a scheduled 6:00 PM pickup, told her of my interaction with the previous gentlemen, and that it was now nearly 15 minutes past my scheduled pickup time which had been placed well on advance. She said she would check in it.

She placed me on hold to check on my order. Approximately 2 minutes later a different person picked up my call - no continuity - it was not the previous person who said she'd be right back to tell me what was going on. Instead this person answered as if the prior person had forgot me.

I re-explained my situation. Now being nearly 6:18 PM, they assured me my order would be right out. At approximately 6:20 PM they finally brought my food to my vehicle. It was 20 minutes past my scheduled pickup time and 1 hour and 10 minutes since placing my order.

At 5:10 PM when I placed my order, their website said I could pick it up as early as 21 minutes later. I chose to schedule it later.

They had plenty of time to process my order and prepare it. They knew when I was coming. I arrived early and didn't complain until nearly 15 minutes after my order was placed.

My order was nothing fancy. Alice springs chicken, a side salad, cup of soup, baked potato, a kids chicken fingers, and a kids hamburger.

My personal take is that my order was forgotten. They were not busy. Their parking lot was very lightly occupied. They had several to-go spaces open.

If I had not of called and pushed the issue I definitely feel like I would have waited there for a lot longer.

When they finally brought my food out they gave me a thing for a free appetizer next time. We don't really order appetizers - the entrees are more than enough food.

When I got home, I also realized that they forgot the beverages I had ordered as part of my kids meals. I didn't think of it at the time, because i was already so late getting home.

I rarely complain and focus mostly on leaving positive reviews, as my history will show, however this was a very sub-standard interaction and I don't feel like their response was adequate.

Given I had a hungry family at home and a lot of complaints about how long it was taking I decided not to push the issue further.

I'm not sure I'll return...

Outback Steakhouse in Crystal Lake, IL

We thought this place had changed hands and was under a new ownership with much better services. Not!!!

In the past couple of times we have been there, we walked away with not a great experience. Apparently, they are suffering from the low foot traffic and hence lower than expected revenue (the restaurant says they are NOT making the numbers). I realize it costs a lot of money to keep the doors open and the lights on, but the management has to pay attention to what is going on in the restaurant so that there are less errors, less food waste that is costly and that the staff is well trained, cares for the wellbeing of the business and the patrons and is efficient in the execution. It was apparent that staff coming and going through the kitchen door bring the food to our table did not care.

Here are the issues: It is apparent that the staff does not communicate to each other. One person brought a loaf of bread to our table. 2 minutes later, another person showed up with another loaf of bread at our table. We asked her to take it back (wasted). I got the French onion soup and it was not hot. My wife got the wedge salad. It came with the cutting knife's handle buried on the plate in the dressing and underneath the salad, a mess. The salad dressing, soupe, the main dishes were all way too salty. I ordered one thing (combo steak and chicken) but for one half of my order I got something else. When I pointed that out, they took the wrong food item back (wasted) and got me the correct item (had to wait 15 minutes midstream of eating the other half) but at the end, they charged me for the wrong item which was more expensive. I know my steaks. I ordered the 8 ounces steak, what I got was barely 6 ounces. The manager insistent that that is how their steaks look.

If this trend continues, we would not be surprised at all if this restaurant closed its doors in a few months. This would not be good. We like the Outback Restaurants and want to see you guys stay in business. You are losing patrons because they flock to Taxes Roadhouse on the other side road. That place is hustling and bustling. The owner of Outback should ask himself why??? Would not be a bad idea to have a visit at your rival and see what they are doing right.

We noticed that Adam, the bartender, is a very sharp guy and apparently the only person there who cares and pays attention to details. The owner should make Adam the store...

I’m actually shocked! We’ve been coming to Outback (different location) since 2005. We moved here in 2009, and have been coming to this location religiously every month. We have never, EVER had bad food, or even marginal service. It has been a wonderful experience every single time without question..until today. We came in for an early dinner. We were greeted kindly by the hostesses. They always seat us, tell us the specials, and tell us to enjoy our food. 5 minutes later we were greeted by, our waitress Cheryl H. I say greeted, but it was more like we were a bother. She immediately had attitude that I was holding the stack of coasters in my hand because I moved them when passing out the silverware. From that point forward we said thank you for anything and everything we asked for. She never responded with “you’re welcome” or even “no problem”. She was somewhat attentive. She did check on us, she did bring refills, and she was a halfway decent server. This didn’t make up for having no personality, no manners, and no customer service. I even asked the couple next to us if they were having the same experience, and they said, “oh yeah, we feel like we’re a bother.” So after barely being greeted, almost nothing said to us throughout our meal, zero kindness, finally the check comes. You give your card and wait for them to come back. EVERY restaurant you go to, it’s always, “thank you for coming in”, “have a great evening”, or something. No, not one word. Puts our check on the table, and walks away. She did the same thing to the table next to us. I’m sorry, my family is known for giving great tips in a few restaurants around town, this being one of them. Servers used to fight for us when we came in. We know this because our kids’ friends work there, and they told us we were known as the great tippers. We always believe in taking care of those who take care of us. People who work hard should be rewarded. Well, I am sorry to say…not today. Cheryl H got herself a very small tip. I couldn’t bring myself to leave her nothing. If it weren’t for the fact that the hostesses, the food, the fact that the other staff is always so wonderful, I wouldn’t come back. I can’t even imagine if I were a first time diner with her. We would’ve never shown our faces their again. I will be back in spite of how we were treated, but I will never sit in her section again, I’d she is...