Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Knoxville

I want to start this review by saying I love outback, just not this location and if you are wondering about going to this one, do yourself a favor and just drive an extra 15 minutes to the one on north peters road. I have never left a one star review before so that being said I am going to go into great detail on why you might wanna think twice before going to this location. First things first HEALTH AND CLEANLINESS. Out of all the things in a restaurant the main thing you don't want there to be issues with is there cleanliness. foods not great? Too bad. Bad service? Better luck next time. right? But food poisoning and sick stomachs are no joke which is why I believe it's the most important criteria. So first off the floor was super sticky, not like a little, but like really really sticky. Also the table was sticky too which I thought was way worse than the floor because you aren't eating off the floor 😅 after sitting there noticing these things I started looking around the restaurant and I noticed something gross ( I work in maintenance so it's my job to notice things😂) in the back corner above a table on the black ceiling tiles there was orange stains which i thought could either be splattered food, or worse and more probable, Mold 🤮 maybe it was nothing but either way it looked disgusting and that paired with all the stickyness I was loosing my appetite quickly. The final straw was when our bread got brought out, the man who brought out my bread honestly smelled like he hadn't showered in weeks and he worked in the back, he was not a waiter, also the bread was old and bad tasting. All these things combined I started thinking, if this is how the front looks where costumers eat and this is how the staff present themselves who knows how disgusting the back is. I was not about to risk food poisoning so I can't really say how the food is for obvious reasons😂 now they do have a good health score so I geuss they clean up good enough when the health man is in town lol I'm not too sure how all that works. But that's my honest review, so don't risk it just drive to the other one. I gave that one a five...

Ok. SO.... stopped on way home from Pigeon Forge. Long story short: 4 adults, 2 year old, 5 month old. Around 1:30 in the afternoon. NOT crowded, PLENTY of seating available. All 4 adults are BIG PEOPLE. Not 500 lbs., but we all have hips and bellies. Seated us in a 6-person booth, right next to bathrooms. The babies with mom n dad were 5 minutes ahead of me and my sister (she's the gramma). Had I gotten there first, there is NO WAY we would have sat there. Put the baby's carseat in a sling, and IT BLOCKED HALF THE DOORWAY TO THE BATHROOMS. Not our fault! You put us here!! Drink orders, took her about 10 minutes to bring them. Place is NOT BUSY. She had to blahblahblah and would be back to get our orders. ALMOST 40 MINUTES LATER, she gets our order. We've been here AN HOUR now and just placed our order. DID I MENTION THE PLACE IS NOT BUSY?? Another nearly 40 minutes go by aaaand we finally get food. 2 year old has been fine until now, but he's done. Starts fussing, eats a few french fries but starts crying and screaming. Not his fault! The infant has had his bottle, but he's teething so now HE'S screaming. Mom n dad are TOTALLY flustered, trying to eat. My sister and I are helping as much as we can, but its useless. We get to go boxes, outta there. 2+ HOURS WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HALF THAT. NOT BUSY. NEXT TO THE BATHROOMS. BIG PEOPLE IN A BOOTH. Take heed, Outback. TEACH your staff that a family with small children should NOT be in a booth, all the way in the back, right next to the bathroom. Young parents want to make a fast exit if the kids get fussy. AND people with babies should NOT be in a booth where if the 2-year-old loses a shoe under the table, it takes a contortionist to pick it up. No idea why the waitress was so bad. She was nice and apologetic, but it is inexcusable that she took so long to wait on us. There was plenty of staff there, running here and there so she was not overwhelmed. Won't go...

*UPDATE- We were contacted by email AND phone to apologize. We were invited back & we did go back. It was a busy night & had not told the managers we were coming in that night. Service was great! The food was really good as well!!! We spoke to the manager afterwards and introduced myself. This was the service and food we were use to having before!!!

*Original comment- Seating was quick for a Friday night & that was the only positive thing. 5 minutes after being sat, we finally met our server. She started off asking if we would like something to drink. Almost 10 minutes later someone else brought our Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, & kid's Sprite. We told her we were ready to order. We ordered a kid's grilled cheese, a cup of soup, & an outback burger w/ fries. After 35 minutes our server stated she talked to the Expo & our food should be arriving soon. 10 minutes later, it arrived. It took 45 minutes for a grilled cheese, cup of soup, & a burger. The soup & grilled cheese were cold. The burger was very well done & very dry. Shortly after our meal arrived, the table behind us received their steaks & they were seated LONG after us. We asked for the check because at this time, we were disappointed & wanted to leave. After 10 minutes, we told our server our payment was ready. Even though it was sitting at the end of the table with money sticking out of it. She stated she forgot she had not processed our payment yet & it was at this time I asked her to put in my phone number for the rewards points. I have never tipped less than 20% before tonight & even then tipped 18%, against my better judgment. At no point did we see a manager walking around. At no point, did a manager come speak to us. For a not so busy Friday night, we were there for 1 1/2 hrs. Receipt # 0395a on 4/14/23 @ 7:30p, table 79. Tonight's service & food was awful. Unfortunately, we don't want...