Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Florida

I would like to preface this review with the facts that I: 1) work in the service industry, specifically a hotel restaurant and 2) rarely write reviews. However, my experience at this restaurant has left me so infuriated, here I am. We wanted to take our friend, preparing to move, out for a nice dinner. We anticipated a busy Saturday night restaurant scene, but told our friend we would save her precious packing time by going to a restaurant near her- Outback. We were told it would be about a half an hour wait for our table (and it was), but that was totally fine with us. My friend, also a seasoned server, and my husband and I talked about her upcoming move- essentially we were completely fine with this wait. We were sat, and our server Rachel was friendly. We waited a few minutes for drinks, but nothing I would categorize as extreme. We gave an appetizer order, and then a few minutes later she came back for our entree order. I was a little concerned all our food would come out at once, but gave the benefit of the doubt she knew the timing of her restaurants kitchen better than I, so we ordered. It took a while for our appetizers to come out, but again, at this point we are still understanding of the staff and content with enjoying each others company. The appetizers (blooming onion and wings) were not great just ok, but at this point we are starving. This is where things took a turn. We waited over AN HOUR for our food- two steak dinners and an order of cheese fries. Rachel came over to let us know our food should be out shortly. Then later came back and apologized and said surely our food would be next. Then on her next lap around, after avoiding us, she apologized prophetically, almost in tears. My friend assured her it was ok and it wasn't a problem, but meanwhile I am resenting the fact I picked this restaurant. Finally our food comes with the manager. An older gentleman with glasses came to our table and simply says he "wants to be honest, and that they lost the ticket- that's all." They lost the ticket, and he is sorry. I could appreciate the honesty and the apology, but then I looked at our food and it became apparent the food had been prepared when we ordered and sitting on the line under heat lamps for the hour the ticket was "missing". My loaded mashed potatoes were melted and pooled out onto my plate, and the sour cream was a melted, drippy, liquified pool of sour cream soup. My broccoli and cheese was essentially inedible. Sitting under heat had caused the cheese to bake through the broccoli and crust the bottom of the dish like an angry aged orange scab. And that brings us to the steak. I prefer my steaks medium rare, and this thing was hard as a hockey puck and cooked through. I was so sad, as I had been very excited for my nice steak dinner out hours before, and this food was disgusting. Also, I feel like my friend's fries were the only part of our order refired, as the fries would have looked even worse than our entrees, and only took a couple minutes to remake. I pick at my food, check the clock (which says 7:40, my bed time as I get up for work at 4:30 am). At this point we all just want to pay and leave. We saw Rachel one time after we got our food. I saw her do multiple laps in her section, check on other tables, chase down someone to buss her tables, but she would not come to us. I also tried flagging down the manager, who too seemed to be unable to see us any longer. We finally were able to stop a random employee to beg for our bill. We had been patient and understanding, but I was expecting some kind of compensation for our horrible experience, and there was none- none! We paid full price, over a HUNDRED dollars to be at a restaurant for almost 3 hours to receive greasy appetizers, entrees that were not edible, and then after a night of waiting, were forced to wait even longer to pay full price for the "experience". Diner beware. I will never go back to ANY Outback because of this...

Yesterday round 1pm, I decided to treat and reward myself for a great job done in my profession and out of the nice restaurants in Viera, I decided to Outback. I was quite as I approached the door, the door was opening by the hostess there who seated me at my table, I noticed it may have been 10 people there perhaps. The hostess was very nice and generous; she asked how my day was going etc., I’m sorry I didn’t get her name, but Thanks. Before the hostess left me, she said “Brittany” is your waiter and will be here shortly to take my order. I pretty much had it set in my mind I wanted a bacon cheeseburger and french fries; after looking at the menu, I also ordered mozzarella sticks as my appetizer. Brittany, came by and ask if I was ready to order, yes replied and place my order. Sometime went by and then my mozzarella sticks came along with my sprite. Finally, my main entrée with all sides; however, I noticed there was no bacon sticking out of my burger, so I further inspected and exactly not bacon. I brought this issue to Brittany attention; she ran to the kitchen and return a couple minutes or so later with two strips of bacon on a saucer wow I thought. I’m not sure who to blame here, the chef or the waiter for not confirming that I was receiving the order I requested. Needless to say, I placed the bacon my sandwich☹. Despite everything, the food was delicious and fulfilling. I eat half of my meal and took the in containers for later. But wait one more thing, its not like I never been to Outback before and not aware of certain perks. So, during my entire stay there, I would see Brittany and other waiters taking the famous hot bread roll and butter they give you at the beginning of your seating. Guess what, I kept thinking my turn was going to come, but it didn’t ☹. So, the manager I believe who had check on me to see if the mozzarella sticks were okay, was walking by me and I asked hey I noticed other customers received their bread, I wondering why Brittany didn’t bring mines? She apologized and asked if I wanted it. I said no, heck by then, I was almost finished eating half of my meal. She said you can have it to go, I said okay. Despite the terrible experience, the food was delicious. I give the food 5stars, Hostess 5 Stars, Brittany 3 Stars, the manager who was diligent with following up guests to make we were happy 5 Stars. And guess what, despite all what had happened, I still Bless Brittany with a...

My significant other it went to Outback on Saturday night arriving around 9:00 p.m. Shortly after arriving, the fire alarm started blaring, which no one was able to turn it off until a good 3/4 of the way through our visit. (I will say they tried their darndest to muffle the sound.)

My significant other and I ordered the same thing the ribeye and shrimp combo rib eyes medium rare with the coconut shrimp.

When the food arrives, mine had the wrong type of shrimp, which was fixed promptly. However, my significant other steak was severely undercooked and legitimately cold to the touch.

When our waiter, Eric, checked in, we told him about being undercooked and he said he would get it fixed. And about 1 minute later, he brought back a warm steak. Cutting it open, thought, you could clearly tell it was microwaved and now was medium well and tough. (My significant other used to be a girl Master another Steakhouse and can recognize this sort of thing.)

Not wanting to be "those people" he resigned the fact that he was going to have a bad meal and proceeded to the restroom. At that time, I flagged Eric over to discuss this.

This young man showed genuine concern that the steak was not properly cooked, again, and offer suggestions to rectify the situation. Not only did he bring my significant other back a full meal, but the steak was seasoned and cooked to perfection! I mean, it was better than mine (and mine was great).

I also heard him speaking to the manager or someone else regarding the situation and he made sure that our night was not ruined. Here it is, almost 2 days later, and my significant other and I are still talking about how that young man turned our night around. In this day and age you don't see a lot of customer service like he portrayed that night. He went above and beyond the Call of Duty and it really, genuinely meant something to both he and I.

I truly hope this young man gets recognized for his customer service, for he is someone who deserves it.

Eric if you get a chance to read this Tiffany and Dan thank you for what you did and we will be sure to return to Outback in the future, all...