Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Joliet

I normally don't write bad reviews, but in order to protect the health of others, I must write this one. My best friends and I went to this particular Outback Steakhouse in the evening of January 4th, 2025. We were excited to eat some good food, especially since it was one of my friends' first time at Outback Steakhouse. That excitement was soon extinguished because of the following events:

Our waiter was inept. He was also ignorant of the menu. One of my friends -- the one who came for the first time -- had asked him what foods had contact with fish because she has a fish allergy. He recommended the Caesar salad as a safer option. My friend also ordered a “well-done” burger. She had to eat it without fries because they were fried with the same oil as the fish, which should not ever happen because of cross-contamination. The waiter said he would make a note of my friend's fish allergy on the order. However, when my friend tried to eat the Caesar salad, her mouth started to itch and burn. She decided to return the salad. My friend’s burger was also medium-rare instead of “well done” like she clearly asked, so she had to return that as well. Overall, we were a bit irritated with the waiter, but it did not seem like he was 100% at fault. So we asked for a manager.

Callie the manager was extremely disrespectful. My friend decided to POLITELY state how she had an allergic reaction to the Caesar salad even though she was told it was a safer option. Callie responded with “Well anchovies are a common ingredient in Caesar salad. Most people know that. And YOU should know that because you have a fish allergy.” We tried to remain respectful as we responded, “We didn’t know that. Lots of people actually don’t know that.” And Callie became condescending by cutting us off to state how Caesar salad is made with anchovies. Again, none of us knew this, not even my own mother who cooks. It is NOT common knowledge, but she spoke to us like we were stupid and that it was my allergic friend’s fault she didn’t know that. Again, my friend was VERY polite the entire time, despite becoming more and more anxious with Callie’s aggression. My friend responded with, “if I knew there were anchovies in it, I wouldn’t have ordered it”. Callie responded with, “Oh I get it. So both parties were wrong. Because I was told you didn’t know you had a fish allergy.” There was more back-and-forth and Callie continued to be rude and condescending. She eventually left the table and my friend and I decided to respectfully complain to one of the other employees about her unprofessional behavior. They gave us the amazing Manager Tammy who was the polar opposite of Callie. We told her our awful experience here and she tried to fix it, but the damage was already done. We left feeling disrespected and my allergic friend was still starving.

Food poisoning. Not only was my friend’s first burger under-cooked, but so was the ribs my other friend and I consumed. My friend vomited in a Target bathroom. I also felt nauseous as well for the next two days. During the entire night of January 5th, 2025, I was vomiting and experiencing diarrhea. I lost count of how many times I vomited throughout the night, and I was extremely exhausted. It’s the Afternoon of January 6th, 2025, and I’m still feeling nauseous and my diarrhea has gotten worse. I am still spilling so much on myself that I fear I might infect other areas of my body. In fact, I had to take breaks while writing this review because I’m still very sick. I’m literally crying because of my pain. I’m a healthy 22 year old with NO food allergies, but I feel like I’m an 85 year old right now. Because of this violent diarrhea, I have showered 3 times before 3:00 p.m. I was hoping to move on from this overall poor experience, but I can’t because I’m still physically dealing with the aftermath of dining at Joliet Outback Steakhouse. If you care about the health of you and your loved ones, DO...

Outback used to be one of my favorite low-mid steak chains to visit. The prices weren't outrageous, but they weren't the cheapest either. They really just matched well with the quality of the food. The seasoning is what truly set it apart, and unfortunately, the first thing I learned when looking over the menu is that the seasoning has changed.

All of my party ordered steak or steak combo meals. Mine was a 13 ounce ribeye, and when it came it was maybe half an inch thick, which to me is lower quality cut. It was somewhat tender but not the best or worst. The seasoning was decent but nothing compared to the older one. No one from my party had major complaints, but the kicker is that the prices are getting high enough that the quality of food no longer matches. My ribeye was almost $30, and all of the steak combo meals (chicken, shrimp, etc) were over $30. Not the priciest, but the quality was not worth the price in my opinion.

As for service, I've had worse, but there were some notable issues. First, when we entered, we were asked if we would be fine with a booth. We said no that we would prefer a table. It's important to mention that the restaurant was practically empty. There were 5 of us, and 3 of those people are nearing 70 years old, one of whom is recovering from a broken femur, surgery, and physical therapy. As the host led us to the seating section, he asked if we would be okay with a partial booth/table combo. This was as he walked us past multiple open tables that would suit our needs. We figured that since the option he stated had 3 chairs and a booth side that it would be fine. Unfortunately, the chairs were too close together, so one of our party had to shift to the booth side after a few minutes at the table. Could we have asked to switch at that point? Yes. But moving after getting settled wasn't a lucrative option either, so we just stuck it out.

Our waiter did not make too many stops at our table outside of taking our order at the beginning, checking in once after we got our food, and bringing our bill. The food was brought by someone else who could barely manage the effort of putting food near the person it belonged to, and she even set one of the plates down on a pile of silverware. When we were finished eating, our check and a box was brought to the table, and all of the empty plates and dishes were left in front of us for the duration of our visit while we sat and chatted. Though I don't know the exact timing, I would say this was about 45 minutes to an hour's worth of time, which is far too long to go without having a mess cleared.

Like I said at the beginning, it was not the worst dining experience I've ever had, but the price of the food far surpassed its quality, and the service was lackluster. If you want to get value for your dollar, go...

I am just going to start off by saying if you read this and reply you are an idiot. My second statement is I do not understand the level of subversion that is needed to eat here. There are so many small, non-chain places that have much better and cheaper food 20 minutes away. I feel the only reason they get business is half of the people HAVE to come here because they accidently received a gift card from someone (out of spite). We came to eat here because we had a $50 gift card, the only reason, and we had it for 10 years or so but just wanted to dump it. I ordered the BLOOMIN burger, Wife got a salad in which she enjoyed which was good for a vegan, and the kid ordered the chicken sandwich which he seemed to enjoy. The sandwiches were $13 which is silly, but whatever. The BLOOMIN burger was just boring. It says it comes with spicy pickles but they tasted more like cucumbers with vinegar. The fries were over seasoned yet mediocre. Son ate his chicken sandwich, not sure if it was good or not though, same boring fries. I did not finish the burger which I do not enjoy not finishing food but it was like eating corporate America. We then unfortunately had money left over on the the gift card so we ordered desserts. Butter cake with A SINGLE Strawberry and sauce, and the tim tam cake. They took quite a while to come out and being that the dishes they were on were cold, they are clearly made ahead of time and sitting in the fridge, as you can tell by the dried out edges on the butter cake. The butter cake tasted like sugar and butter which I guess if that is what you are into, good for you. The whipped cream was ok and the single strawberry (not including the ones in the sauce) was good. So, there is that. Kid ate the Tim Tam cake but I would REALLY REALLY suggest looking at the nutritional menu before eating at this place. Bloomin onion 1620 calories, Bloomin burger 1140, Tim tam cake 1500 calories COME ON!. 130 GRAMS OF SUGAR, that is a D battery, or close to the weigh of a baseball of sugar. You wouldn't eat that. Literal quarter pound of sugar. I find this place amusing.

As a note, the server Rain? was pretty cool. Nothing above and beyond but I feel like working here has to suck the soul from you but he was very pleasant and...