Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Dothan

Went to Outback Steakhouse last week for dinner. Party of 6. Luckily they weren't very busy. Now I know why they weren't terribly busy on a Friday night.

We all arrived between 6 and 6:15. We all ordered around 15 or 20 minutes later. Nothing out of the ordinary. All three adults ordered a variant of the special, a steak and wings or shrimp, plus sides. First, our server was very nice and kept our tea filled, which is important to me. But, beyond that, every request had to be made twice. Remember, the restaurant is not busy. She just forgot as soon as she walked away. I'm forgetful but seriously?

An example: My wife asked for ranch with the blooming onion because she doesn't like horseradish. Twice.

Now, we have to fast forward an hour and 10 minutes or so, when we finally get our food brought to us. Well, 5 of us got our food. The kids' meals and one adult meal was correct and complete. My steak and shrimp was missing shrimp. Steak wasn't done as ordered but was still pretty good. Potato was overcooked. When the last order finally arrived, her steak and shrimp was missing... you guessed it, shrimp. Wth? Really? Had to ask for that twice also.

I really don't like to complain, and I know how difficult food service is. I do not want to work in that business, but if you do... this isn't the way.

By this point, we are all a bit agitated. My friend asks to see the manager. She explains the problems we've encountered and asks what is going on. Maybe there is more to it than we know. He is cordial and polite and says he'll check on it. After this, we see him standing around a few times, but no follow up that we see, or hear about. He does not return.

We have now been here around 2 hours and the kids are getting a little restless. We ask for to go boxes. Twice. We also ask to see Mark, the manager, again. When asked if he had any idea why we had such a long wait he says that he showed a wait time of only 22 minutes. Seriously? Ok whatever.

We ask our server for a bag because we have several to go containers. After waiting a while and seeing her wandering aimlessly, we give up and decide to go. About then she passes our table, abruptly turns around and goes back to the back and returns a minute later with a bag. Yeah.

We pay and leave a tip far above what she deserves based on service, but it will be a very long time before we go back to an outback steakhouse. Oh, I should mention that our bill showed an aarp discount of 10% for our inconvenience. Hey Mark, I am an aarp member. I could've gotten that regardless. Thanks.

Next time we want steak, I think I'll fire up the grill. Or go to one of the other 723 restaurants in Dothan.

Btw, the Nashville hot chicken sucked. The blooming shrimp was ok. The steak was decent though not cooked to my preference. (Neither wad mmy friend's.) The broccoli was...

Dined on Sunday, got to the store a little after 12 15. We came up to the host stand where the hosts were talking to each other at first and then said "how many?" We answered 2 and they lead us over to a booth. Though it wasn't full by any means it very much seemed like the FOH staff was overwhelmed. We were in Johnathans section however after 5 minutes or so another waitress saw us still sitting and asked if she could get our drink order. She walked away after that and had her own tables to tend to. I assume why it took so long to get the drinks (between 10-15 minutes afterwards) was the strawberry lemonade was made at the bar. The other drink was water with lemon. (the lemon never made it to the table). He dropped bread off and apologized for the wait, saying something about how it was the kitchens fault or something like that and then came back around and we ordered appetizers only. Coconut shrimp, blooming onion, Mac and cheese bites, kookaburra wings and a house salad with dressing. While we were waiting on our food, a table sat down in his section across from us. After 10 minutes they left without even being greeted. I'm not sure he even knew they were there. He seemed to be splitting a large party or at least a large table where he couldn't see us or the other table. I sat without a refill of water until the food came out because in-between ordering and the food we didn't see him again. After a while, (he told us a few times the kitchen was backed up during the whole service)the wings, coconut shrimp and blooming onion came out. He said the Mac and cheese bites out be out shortly. The wings were good but not very spicy even though I ordered Medium if I got them again I'd try hot, the blooming onion was as expected and the coconut shrimp were edible but we're over done And way too firm. Finally the Mac and cheese bites came out and he asked if we needed anything else and I asked for my salad because otherwise I didn't think I was going to get it. He brought back and then we didn't see him for a while. And we sat there until he finally came by and asked if we needed anything just some boxes and the check. They apparently run the payments table side now which is fine but it didn't give me a receipt that has a survey code at the bottom like most blooming brands receipts so I have to write the review.

He asked if everything was good. And he could tell I wasn't really wanting to answer. But I said some of the food was overdone. I didn't want him to have a bad day or be stressed about something that may have been a manager decision to give him a huge section. But his section was too large, or at least he should be able to ask for some help. Still deserved 20% because he's a human being. And I wish him all the best. I hope this makes whoever is in charge aware of something bigger they...

This was my first time at Outback. It will be my last. I did not have a good time and the service was the worst I’ve ever encountered. I’m a server, so for me I know that serving isn’t the hardest thing in the world and even if it is for some peopl it’s not hard to be nice. The host was rude and the server didn’t give us good service. We were told 20-30 to be seated. Took an hr and never did they try to assure us or anything we had to ask how much longer so we could leave. Even though a party that came after us sat were told a wait time and got sat accordingly at a table my party could’ve got at. One we finally got sat. A server came for drinks and automatically wanted appetizers like we had time to look at them. We sat for abt 15 minutes with our drinks because we never got straws and they had an attitude when we asked for them. We sat for at least another 30 by then with our appetizers and side salads w no forks and they were even nastier when we asked for that. We asked our server and he walked off took abt 3 tables orders and never brought our silverware even though we were looking at our food that we couldn’t eat. So, we asked the person who was supposed to give them to us in the first place and he responded nastily “yeah we trying” like we were wrong for needing silverware. One person at our table watched us all drink our drinks and never got hers. We ended up being at outback for 3 hrs and not because we ate and didn’t leave. Because of the terrible service. Not to mention we waited an entire hour for our food BUT IT CAMD OUT COLD!!! Not only was all of our food cold, one person ordered steak w pink idk the correct terms. It was cooked completely. Two people had burnt steak. The lobster was so stiff and cold even the fires were cold. So, you can imagine the disappointment. There was no point in sending it back cause it would’ve took even longer. I understand you have bad days, but everyone shouldn’t be nasty acting. I get you can be behind but every single table that came and ordered after us shouldn’t have received their food. Servers shouldn’t have walked past us with an attitude because they didn’t give us what you get in general when you get sat. Being there for hrs and for us to have such bad service and wait forever for our food it shouldn’t have been cold. I will never return...