Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Lower Allen

Had a pretty mediocre experience last night at Outback, Camp Hill. Just as told by the host and hostess, there was a wait for a table, which we were totally fine. We were waiting for a table for one adult and a toddler, so 1 seat and a high chair. We got there at 6:40 for dinner and were seated around 7:20. Once seated it took almost 15 minutes for us to be spoken to, get drinks, and order and then probably another 10-15mins to get one little loaf of bread. We received our food around 8pm. Everything (finally) looked delicious and we began to eat. My sons meal was perfect- no issues. My meal looked delicious to start but upon eating, my salmon was luke-warm at best and the food was heavily salted. I started at the outer edge of my salmon and all was well, but once I made it to the thicker center, that thing was strait sushi RAW. Not just rare, but raw. I touched it and it was still slippery/squishy to the touch and cold. I am 7 months pregnant and would prefer not to snd should not eat such underdone items. Everything else on my plate was good (other than the heavy salt) rice, shrimp, veggies, but the salmon was extremely off-putting. When I brought it up the the waitress, her comment was that they like to undercook their meat and fish there, they like to make their meats and fish rare, or something along those lines. Oh… ok. Rare is one thing- not cooked and cold is another. She offered to get me another, which reluctantly I agreed to. I didn’t really want more, considering is was about 8:15 at night now, and I had to get my toddler home. I wasn’t sure in the moment what else to ask for, but I just went with it. Crazy enough, that salmon, cooked through much more, came out in about 5 minutes. I cut into it- it was good. I ate as much as I could, but I was still quite put-off by the underdone fish the first time, plus had enough from the edges and the rest of the meal the first time around. The manager on shift visited our table twice, with nothing to say about the food, which I know he was made aware of. I know this because I watched the waitress talk to him before he came to my table a second time. The waitress brings my receipt and I was charged for the 2 salmon meals. When I call her back over she said, “oh, did he not take that meal off of there” before I could even say anything. “I told the manager and he was supposed to take it off.” You don’t check for that? You already have an annoyed customer, who has been at the restaurant quite some time with a small child, and you don’t check to make sure that the check is ready to go to get the customers out? She got the check fixed and I paid. We did not leave the restaurant until 8:45. I also want to add that their was a young man who worked there- I won’t point out his position so as not to embarrass him- but he smelled STRONGLY of underarm odor. I get it.. YOUNG man… probably stressed with the lack of employees, wait times, trying to move quick, trying to keep cool with with the issues of working in a restaurant and keeping people happy (especially during tough times in the world)… again, I get it. Working in customer service is especially tough right now, but yikes, this boy stunk. Like bad. Every time he walked by it was strong and rough. The manager on shift was working closely with him- he HAD to smell it. Send the boy home for deodorant or give him a stick… your employees cannot smell like that in a restaurant. The new look of Outback is so sophisticated but the restaurant is anything but. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will return for quite some time. I might give it another shot in a few years, but not anytime soon. Lastly, to end this review, my son and I got home and had to use the restroom IMMEDIATELY. We were both not well after eating there. I hope that others have a better experience when they go but I also hope you are prepared for an experience like this through reading...

I had a hard time thinking about what I should write here without it sounding like a food snob.

My family and I come here to this location 3 times in the last month. My children have food allergies and this restaurant is very good with food allergies.

Last night was one of the worst experiences I've had in a long time. My husband and I thought we would come here for a date night, no kids. Exciting, only the service was very poor - well not there at all.

The very nice hostess sat us down at a table. Told us our waitstaff would be right with us. She even cleaned the table for us and made sure it was wiped down. We sat. We sat. We sat. Around 11 minutes My husband calls over the nice hostess who is cleaning off another table and asked if our waitstaff lost their way to our table. (A joke of course) and the hostess asked if anybody spoke to us yet. He simply said no. So she said she would be right back. I could see she went back to the back and she spoke to someone, but still nobody came to our table. The manager who is in a blue shirt, male with a ponytail, goes scrambling around. As I watched the entire time there are at least 3 other wait staff with no tables and two waitress that I could clearly see serving tables and taking orders. Still nobody at my table.... 4 minutes go by and my husband and I go to leave. As we are getting up and walking out the door, please remember nobody has came to us or even spoke to us, the manager simply said wait.... and I was angry and said 15 minutes and not one person came to speak to us. He said he was aware.

Let me tell you... 1st and foremost it should only take up to 5 minutes at the most before a guest is spoken to. 2nd if you the manager know there's a problem. Step up! Grow a pair... come speak to your customer. Tell your customer, I'm sorry about your wait, we are understaffed, but can I take your drink orders or food orders for you.

Again as I said we have been here 3 times in a month because of the food being allergy friendly, but I can promise you, I will NEVER be coming to this location ever again. It's only a 10 minute drive from my house and I would rather go an 1/2 hour out of my way to avoid your establishment.

I hope your company sees this complaint. I hope the management learns from this experience and I truly hope it never happens again. I doubt that will be the case as I know for a fact we weren't the only ones last evening to not be waited on in a timely manner.

I wish I could...

3 stars for the host and because not everything in the dessert was bad also one person enjoyed their meal. Host was very personable when we went in and were seated. A little bit extra wait til we were greeted by server, she was accommodating with our requests and answered the questions. After food was brought to the table she didn't come back to the table to check our and if our food was to our liking until we were almost done with our plates. Someone needed a drink refill, so I asked the man who I think was the manager. The table had an issue that needed addressed. After I asked the man for the drink, the server appeared. The cheese in the French Onion Soup had an odd taste, like a chemical. So the person fished it all out and had it piled on the plate, there went half the soup. Another had the beef dip sandwich. The french fries were dead cold fries, tasted like they were setting. The beef in the dip sandwich was tough, dry and looked like the cut up pieces left over from yesterday's or day before. Then to cover this up, the meat was thrown on the flattop or in a fry pan, because the hard crust was obvious. We've been ordering this sandwich for years and never had a more dryer disappointing experience. First question to is, why not say something? My answer is, to who? The person I asked for our water refill didn't ask about our meals, when you go to a table and they're talking displeasure, you don't inquire because ....? No pre bussing was done. She came to table to ask if we wanted dessert and we got the flight fondue, also asked if she could take dishes then left without them No bussing was done at all. Lucky we were able to put our dirty dishes at the other end of the table. Gross salad and soup dishes the whole meal on the table. Fudge sauce and butter cake were the best on the fondue flight, it's said strawberry and pineapple, but must have been out of pineapple, should have filled the bowl more with the...