Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Florida

'No Rules, Just Right' has come full circle. In a great way! Buckle up and come along for a long-winded ride...

I was one of those, like some other reviewers, that had experienced multiple problems over separate visits at this location. Service failures, ordering issues and food quality concerns. This really bothered me because I've been going to Outback since the very first location opened in Tampa.

Only recently did I find another Outback location that brought back some promise of my ultimate return as a frequent customer. And the door to healing was opened. My return has also been tied to bribery! Yes, bribery!

I received an Outback gift card for my birthday in June. That 'bribed' me into taking the plunge and returning to ANY Outback after a 3-year hiatus. Happy to report that return engagement went splendidly, although it was at a different store, as I mentioned earlier.

The bribes continued. I got ANOTHER gift card for Christmas! I'll not mention the person who was giving me these, but I assure you he does NOT work for the chain. He just knows what his dad likes. Wait! I just gave my benefactor away. LOL

Yesterday, I was REALLY craving something Outback. That dang gift card was burning a hole in my pocket. But I did NOT want to drive a long distance to get some Bloomin' satisfaction. And that, my friends, is how I ended up back in the Spring Hill saddle again.

As I approached the front door, I took a deep breath, stood tall and walked in from the cold/hot/cold/hot Winter-what? weather our area teases us with. My worries were quickly allayed as I was warmly greeted then seated.

First impressions can make or break a business. Any damage done in those initial moments is hard to reverse. Luckily for this Outback, the bubbly Anne Marie was in charge of dusting off the negatives and putting a shine back on my mind. The boo was slowly turning to Woo Hoos....

I tested fate, in a way, which ultimately could have shattered this dream. I had ordered a Special on my first/latest visit to the other Outback. That Special was not available, but a very similar one was. The current Special is the Sirloin and Tasmanian Shrimp. I didn't want the spiciness of the current Special, so Anne Marie listened patiently and wrote down exactly what I was looking to order. She got it right! So, here's another NO Rules Just RIGHT!

I am here to tell you that my meal was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I had a Med Rare 8-ounce Sirloin with the melty goodness of seasoned butter dripping over the edge. Add some Bloomin' Shrimp (Think Bloomin' Onion with Shrimp sweetness!) Round the meal out with a nice salad and a loaded baked potato and I'm back home. All for just $18.99 on Special.

My meal was perfect. Anne Marie was extraordinary. I was impressed that I had several visits from two managers. The Front of the House Manager Colleen as well as from Belle. All of this combined to make me excited...

To be quite honest this was a big disappointment. The manager seems to be unqualified for the position she holds. She is running the place by the seat of her pants. The night we visited two large parties came in at the same time. One party of eleven was seated at 5:40 pm and we arrived at 5:20 and we're finally seated at 5:45 pm. The first party also celebrating a birthday were served their food and was in and out within 90 minutes (1 hour/30 minutes), our party of thirteen celebrating a birthday was there closer to three hours. The main issue seem to arise because the hostess assigned our wait staff additional tables which were given priority over us. Working in food service and as a former restaurant manager and owner I was appalled. Being seated at 5:45 pm we should have immediately had our drink orders taken and even perhaps selected our appetizers, but no they let us sit there for additional 50 minutes before taking drink order at 6:39 pm and they arrived at 7:19 pm (40 minutes later), the bartender was not that busy, believe me we pay attention to such things. Our appetizer orders were taken around 6:10 pm and arrived around 6:45 pm. Our food order was taken at 7:10 pm and arrived at 7:40 pm. When the food arrived it was ice cold and the asparagus was way overcooked. We told the waitress that and we sent our plates back, however they nuked the plates and sent out the same overcooked asparagus. Showed us total lack of customer care when it came to food preparation. We called the manager to our table three times. The first time she assured us we would be taken care of and however obviously she never oversaw our orders through the kitchen. The second time she said she would make it right and lastly she credited us for one meal on most of the other table tickets and comped the appetizer and offered free dessert to the birthday boy. We tried to reassure the wait staff that the problems were not her fault however she seems to have an attitude when we told her our food was ice cold. Her facial expression told the story...not one bit happy to be accommodating her customers, despite what she verbalized. (included a picture of my fresh ice cold food---should have taken a picture of it after they nuked it). To say we were disappointed is an understatement. We had other plans at 8 pm and we're not planning on being there over three hours. Don't understand how the other table seated just ahead of us was in and out before we even received our cocktails. We don't eat at chain restaurants very often and you can see why. Suggesting to our family and friends to eat local from here on out at mom...

Tonight had to be the worst experience I have ever had with Outback Steakhouse...honestly! First, let me start by saying we called and placed a $109.40 order over the phone to be picked up as we were celebrating my mom and fiancee's birthday. They told us over the phone to pick up the order in a half hour and we placed the order approximately at 8pm. We arrived at Outback's curbside pickup at 8:30pm and we paid the bill to the gentlemen who came out to the truck at 8:38pm. We were told our food would be out shortly and we waited patiently till 9:43pm when it finally arrived at our vehicle. We tried to be as understanding as possible being that it was a Saturday night and it was busy, but to wait over an hour for our food that we were only picking up was absolutely ridiculous!! The gentlemen that brought the bill out to be paid and the food, knew we had been waiting too long so he had offered us a drink. We still tipped him $10 because it wasn't his fault the food took this long and he seemed to genuinely care, but this was the longest time I've ever waited for a pickup order. As we arrived home and we handed out the food to everyone, we all took notice how the food was cold and undercooked. My mother also noticed how her dinner looked old like it had been sitting on top of the oven for awhile to stay warm. Also, when I opened my side order of asparagus that cost me an additional $3.99, what I got was pathetic at that price. Not only was it also cold but there was barely anything in the container. I'm not usually one to complain, but our whole birthday celebration dinner was ruined and with the amount of money we spent you would think a little more effort and attention would've been given so we didn't receive cold and undercooked food to begin with. I usually love Outback and love their food but this had to be the one time I wish my mom and fiancee would've picked somewhere else to spend our hardworking money and get food that was worth every cent. Below I attached a picture of what a side of asparagus looks like for four dollars...u tell me if that's worth it? I'm very disappointed in this Outback Steakhouse and seriously question ever returning there after this...