Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Hagerstown

We went here for my daughters 18th birthday. She chose it because they had lobster, which is a favorite of hers. We went online & got on the waitlist adding that it was a special occasion of a birthday. The issues began after we were told our table was ready... it wasn't. So we stood there waiting for them to clean one off, seriously? Once we sat down the server was polite & nice, but seemed to be very absent minded. After ordering we figured we would get napkins & silverware, because they hadn't yet given us any. Nope, I had to ask the server for them... then I had to ask a second person when he didn't bring us any. This was after we got our wing appetizer & really needed them! Finally we got napkins. Then we got salads... except mine. But we just sat there looking at them because we still had no silverware. I had to ask, again for silverware & my salad because I still hadn't gotten it. Someone finally brought us silverware ( 6 sets instead of the 4 we needed) & I again asked for my salad from the server. He finally brought it saying he was surprised that I didn't get it. Well we could of told you if you checked on us. It was drenched in dressing & apparently had sat in it for awhile as the bottom was just a soggy mess, so gross. So I asked someone to please get me a new one since our server had one again disappeared, but they didn't come back. A very nice women came out with our entrees & I asked her about my salad as well. She immediately went & got it which was so very nice because I was really tired of having to flag people down to get things!. Now for the food, flat out: a waste of money! My blooming chicken breaded sandwich was no joke as thick as cardboard! It looked like a McDonald's sandwich. It was so pathetic & overpriced & it was the same for my daughter's burger, so thin! My daughter's & husbands lobster was overcooked & underseasoned. They poured my daughter's butter for the lobster over her rice. The rice was very bland & my daughter's said was like eating cardboard. The butter for the lobster was heavily overseasoned & had a weird taste to it. My husband's filet was undercooked & underseasoned as well. (he got the filet & lobster tail combo.) They asked of we wanted the bill & I had to remind them... again that it was my daughter's birthday & she would like the sundae. Got that after asking for it & both my kids didn't even finish half of it, why? Because it was half melted & all you could taste was the whipping cream. No one ever came to ask us how the food was ever, like I said I had to just grab people as they passed to get everything from napkins & silverware, to my food! I saw a manager, some bald guy just talking away with another guy about 10 feet away the ENTIRE time we were there. Doing nothing but talking, ON THE DINING ROOM FLOOR! UNPROFESSIONAL & LAZY!! He didn't bother to ask how our food or service was either. It was the worst service & food we have ever gotten at a restaurant that we can remember. My daughter, the 18 year old, even apologized to us for picking it! THEY RUINED MY KIDS 18TH BIRTHDAY DINNER! To top it all off it was alittle over 180.00 even with the meager 15% tip we gave, which he really didn't deserve!! We typical give alittle over 20%. We felt really ripped off & will never go here again. Our kids both said they won't go to another Outback Steakhouse as long as they both live. The only thing that tasted good was the wings. Unless all you want is wings & alcohol ( because my husband said his Castaway Cocktail was excellent) DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE, THIS PLACE IS AWFUL & stop calling me Mate!! This place is supposed to be on par with Texas Roadhouse?? They aren't even close!! We love Texas Roadhouse & go there all the time, the food is so much better there & IT'S CHEAPER!! Even Longhorns is miles better than this place. Bottom line is that Outback...

I generally do not leave poor reviews but this was an unacceptable experience. I visited this location on 12/28/2018 for my grandparents 55th anniversary. I had made call ahead seating for a party of 10 to arrive at 6:30pm. I checked in at 6:30pm and was told that it would be a 40-50 minute wait, which was fine because it was super busy. We were not given a beeper, but were told our name would be called when the table was ready. My mother noticed after about 5 minutes that they had the incorrect phone number associated but the correct email, so she went to the check in desk to correct it.

One hour later, we saw a party of seven get called and placed at a very large table that could have seated us, and we knew they had checked in at least 15 minutes after us. So we went to check the status of our seating. It was then that we were told they had removed our reservation from the list. Not sure why. They said that they had no record of us checking in, though we had checked in twice. Once with the initial check in, and once when my mom went to change the check in information. The hosts and the manager were rather rude about it, saying “Are you sure you’ve been here for an hour? We would have noticed if there was a large party waiting. We don’t have a record of your check in. We can add you to the list now but it will be a long wait because we just sat a large party.” The whole time, they were smirking like they found the whole situation to be some kind of joke. After relooking at their sheet, they found our name. No apology was provided, but we were told that it would be a few more minutes until we were seated. We had to wait another 10 minutes for a makeshift table to be created, and another 10 for it to be cleaned. The table was set up in an L shape, and the tables used extensions which were very slanted, making it very difficult to eat on. It was too slanted for a drink, and the L shape didn’t make sense because there was enough room to make it straight. It would have been appropriate to be offered a free entrée or at least a free appetizer for the inconvenience, but it was not offered, and was not requested by us.

After that, our service was extremely slow. It took 10 minutes before a server came to take our drink and appetizer orders and another 20 minutes before both came out. We then had to wait another 15 minutes before we could place our food order because our server said he would be right back and didn’t come back till much later. Our food took about 40 minutes after that, which was fine because I knew we were a large party and they were busy. But when the food did come out, many people had cold food and many of the steaks were very much too rare, but we were not checked in on for 30 minutes, and they did not wait for us to cut into the steaks to make sure they were cooked correctly. After our food was done, our plates were cleared, we asked for the bill. 20 minutes later, the bill was brought.

After driving an hour to get there (which I realize they have no control over), waiting to sit for over an hour (which is partly dependent on them), and then the extreme slowness and poor quality of the food and of the experience in general, on what is supposed to be a special celebration, I can’t say that I would recommend this place to anyone. Nothing about the experience makes me want to go back, and specifically the treatment by the host staff and manager on duty at the time left us with a bad impression. I will likely go back to an Outback, because it general, they are very good, but I will never be going back to the...

The food is typically good, the service is usually good, the wait for a table can be RIDICULOUS!

During our most recent visit, I learned (from the hostess) that if you use 'call ahead seating', the wait time is cut in half! My husband and a friend arrived before me and put their name on the wait list at 5:07 p.m.. They were told it would be about one hour.

I had put my name on the 'call ahead seating' list at 5:10 p.m.. The hostess I spoke with said the current wait was about one hour, but with call ahead seating it would be about half of that, maybe 30-40 minutes. I arrived and checked in with the hostess at 5:17 p.m. She said the wait was about one hour and ten minutes, but since I'd called ahead it would be about half of that. She told me they'd text me when the table was ready.

At 6:00 I went to the hostess stand to inquire as to the status. She said it may be another 30 mins. or so. I asked her why and explained that I'd called ahead, and was told it would be 30-40 minutes. It had been 43 minutes since I'd arrived, (50 minutes since I'd called). She explained that the 30-40 minutes doesn't start when calling, rather, after checking in. (In this case it didn't make a difference, but it would have been nice to have known that calling). Regardless, the 30-40 minutes had passed, and now she says it will be "30 minutes or so" (more), much to my dismay. We watched several guests leave, but the empty tables weren't bussed. The manager cleaned many tables himself, so they could seat incoming guests. There were now only three parties waiting, one of them being ours. My husband's name was called at 6:34 p.m., after one hour and 27 minutes! (Meanwhile, still no text for my call ahead seating. FINALLY I received a text that my table was ready, at 6:52 p.m. The wait that I was told should have been 30-40 minutes, actually took 1 hour and 35 minutes. I let them know I no longer needed the table.

Clearly call ahead seating does NOT cut the wait time in half! In fact, it may make the wait longer?!

Both my husband and I ordered the sirloin & lobster tail. The salads were excellent. My sirloin was good, my husband's was undercooked. Our waiter promptly brought it back to the kitchen, had them cook it longer. The lobster tail was small,  and tasted like rock lobster (vs. Maine lobster), so it was average, sadly not very flavorful. Our friend enjoyed his Porterhouse.

Our waiter was very good. He was quick, friendly, and attentive. He addressed our concern, to the best of his ability.

Overall, the food and the wait staff were fine. However, the fact that there's always a wait of at least one hour is the primary reason we opt to visit other steak restaurants in the area more often than this Outback. This problem CAN be fixed, simply by turning tables around more quickly. Perhaps they should hire more bus staff, (particularly on weekends). If they resolved this issue, we would definitely eat...