Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Jacksonville

1 star given only for the manager making things right. Went for my husband’s birthday on a Thursday evening. No wait, far from crowded. First, they tried to place 6 grown adults in a small booth. After asking, moved to table. After getting our drink order, we noticed our waiter (Jesse?) was then sat with another large party of 11. Awesome. We then waited almost 20 minutes before another waitress brought our waters and had to track down the bar drinks. Orders placed. 3/6 (and of course) the most pricey meals came out wrong. A porterhouse & 12 oz sirloin cooked MW vs MR. Lobster placed on a plate with a bloody rare steak, which was the wrong plate anyways being it was for a pescatarian and the waiter asked if they could just swap plates...Um no. While 3 waited for their recooks, the other 3 finished their meals and nearly 35 minutes later the MR steaks and lobster come out...MR steaks take all of 10 minutes to grill?! Again while we ordered another round and had to have our waiter again flagged down to check on them, after he leaves our table he goes to sing happy birthday to another waiters table. Server 101, if you’re in the weeds, you’re too damn busy to sing HBD to another crew. Period. By this time, we had been there going on 2 hours. The female manager came out and advised she comped the 2 steaks and apps. We were ready for checks. She brought the bill altogether and it appeared the steaks were doubled up and then showing a comp... she came back out and looked confused herself when trying to explain. We asked them to be separated. Again. Checks came back out and only apps were comped as we thought. We told the server and he said he would go have her reprint. 10 minutes later he comes back, checks still wrong. At this point, we politely advised him how disappointed we were and how service can nearly ruin a special occasion like this if we weren’t in good company. He made a face that screamed he didn’t care and sarcastically said sorry, to which he was told to get us the right checks and get the hell away from our table. The manager then came back out as if there was a fire she needed to attend to and told us to have a good night, checks were just wiped clear. From start to finish, this was a terrible experience. Customer service just seems to be plummeting...

Mother's Day 2025: I showed up with my family in an effort to show my Mom some Mother's Day love. We arrived at 6:15 and checked in with the host. She stated the wait was longer than usual, (45min) which we understood. We got called up in 20 min and it gave me some hope that the evening would be top notch. The service started normal we received drinks and ordered our food we even ordered an appetizer. Yes we got the onion. the onion came out in an appropriate amount of time. My family started eating and everything was going well. Drinks were refilled and we kept moving forward in the experience. Then the service changed the waitress stopped visiting and I didn't even see her. When I finally saw her I had to initiate contact and ask where the food was and how much longer she said she would check and that it was Mother's Day and they were running behind.During this time, I noticed that two other families that came in after us had finished and were leaving.The waitress didn't return with an update. I waived her down again and said it has been an extreme amount of time and we needed to see where we are in the process. The current time was 7:40. She said, she would go back and make sure we were moving forward at 8:pm I said look if I have other places to be, My nephew has school in the morning and has to be home at a designated time. she said let me check. At this point the manager came over and apologized . I told him and the server if the food isn't ready to go we have to leave. No one returned. I got up and went to the door where the Server came up as I was walking and said sorry, your meal still isn't ready, I said ok, well we have to leave. The manager came running up from the back with some gift cards and apologies. We left and I took my nephew home. I did finally eat, I had a bowl of rice around 10:30. I guess, 40 dollars in gift cards makes up for the special evening with my Mom. I don't believe I will...

We went on a whim to Outback for dinner as my daughter and husband were craving steaks. They were super busy so the wait time was roughly 30 minutes but we didn't mind. Once we were seated our server came over and immediately got our drink order in. I wish I could remember his name but we were sitting in the far right corner next to the bar in the back. He was super polite and was so nice to our daughter. He was genuinely surprised when she picked broccoli as a side for her steak. We got the blooming onion for an appetizer and it was really good. My husband got a house salad with his steak while I got the baked potato soup. My soup was awesome. I ended up sharing some with my daughter as she was complaining about being cold because she forgot her jacket. She loved it and said next time she's going to order it. Our main course did take some time to come out but as I mentioned they were super crowded with people so we expected it. In fact the wait time for our food actually helped us all clear our plates. My husband and I had the Victoria's filet mignon, while our daughter had the kids steak. My husband got a baked potato with his while I had a sweet potato with mine. This has been the first time in a while all three of us cleared our plates. Usually, our daughter and I are bringing home to-go boxes. Our server kept checking on us whenever he could. He cracked some good jokes and was overall very courteous and well mannered. He was quick on the refills and removing any empty plates. Overall we had a really great dinner there! Definitely will come back but maybe next time we'll go when it's a little less packed. I think the football games going on contributed to the...