Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Madison Heights

The service was good. The restaurant was clean. However, the first thing we were served was our appetizer, "The Blooming Onion. We cautiously ordered this because of very bad past experiences. It had been years since we have been to Outback because of such poor food quality. But we decided to give it another chance. Bad decision. The fish that was brought to our table did not resemble the Blooming Onion we once remembered. We are not the type of people to complain, so we reluctantly ate the Blooming Onion. It looked withered and soaked in grease, with a dark brown, extra crispy coating. If it were not for the dip they served with the appetizer, it would not have been edible. As we tried to eat it, the coating fell off. The plate was left with a pile of burnt, deep fried breading. I began to regret my choice of dinner entree. I can't recall the name, however it was a breast of chicken that was also breaded and deep fried. My dish was also served with the same dark brown, grease soaked, breading. It was difficult to cut and tasted burnt. I ate a couple bites and could not stomach anymore.i was very grateful for the salad that was served before my dinner because I would have left the restaurant hungry. I overheard the table behind us ask for a manager and also had a complaint about their food. We still did not say anything. As we were waiting for the waitress to bring our bill, we could not help but notice a fabulous looking appetizer being served to a table near ours. Our waitress brought our bill at the same time so I asked her what the dish was that they just served to the table by ours. She told us that it was a Blooming Onion. I could not keep silent any longer. Our dirty dishes were still on our table so I pointed out the pile of burnt coating that had fallen off our Blooming Onion. I told her there was nothing on our plate that even closely resembled what was served to the table next to ours. She apologized and then asked if I would like a box to take my leftovers from my chicken dinner. I said no, as I pointed out the tough, burnt, dark brown coating. She then asked us to excuse her for a minute. When she returned, she handed us our bill. She had the Blooming Onion removed from our bill. We thanked her and paid for our bill and left. As I stated in the beginning of my review, we had not frequented this particular restaurant in over 2-3 years because of the poor food quality. I would also like to point out these bad experiences were from different locations. Therefore we will not be returning to this business ever again. For us, going out to dinner is a treat, it's a privilege. It costs a lot of money. It's supposed to be a happy occasion. Nobody wants a special night out to be ruined by a bad meal. Nobody wants to spend $75 on a dinner out and have to go home and make something to eat. So...

Disappointed. Usually this is my preferred location but tonight, it wasn't it. I arrived at 8 pm, 2 hours before they closed and didn't leave until after they closed due to how insanely slow the service was and neglect from our server. The dining room was so cold. We were sat at a booth by the windows and it was the biggest cold draft. I spent the whole time with my jacket on, trying to eat dinner. My legs, hands and face were ice cold. I felt a wave of heat maybe twice. There were only 3 people in my party and a table of 2 and 6 were seated after us. Their orders were also taken before ours. We were asked for our drink and appetizer order. We were also asked if we were ready. My friend needed just one more minute and then our server didn't come back for a good 20 minutes. Once our order was taken, it took over 30 minutes to get our food. By the time we got our food items on our plate was cold. Since we got our food around 9:35 pm, I wasn't going to complain about it because I know if we did, it would take even longer for a new meal and it would probably would have been rushed to be made. My sirloin was pretty salty. I had to cut the outer part and only eat the inside. My fries, I asked for cheese and bacon to be added, like the Aussie fries appetizer. It came out luke warm. The cheese should be melted and soft, not hard as a rock, as if it was microwaved too long. I stuck a fork in my fries and was able to pick the entire chunk up. Fries were just covered in salt. My broccoli was cold so overcooked that I was able to mash the stem of it, without force. My coconut shrimp was the only thing on my plate that was decently warm. Now I don't know why the mark was missed but the restaurant was not busy while I was there so I don't understand why the meal was cold. My friend's ribeye was also cold. The waitress came back and checked once before we barely got a chance to start eating and then she came back with our bill. By that time, it was 9:50 pm and they were getting ready to close up. I wanted to just pay and leave but it took another 15 minutes for our server to come back. I've never experienced such horrible service at this location. Not 100% sure...

What I wanted: Meatloaf, chili, and the fancy old fashioned.

Smoked cinnamon pecan old fashioned - The drink came in an urn with a lid. The smoke was smokey, but didn't add much other than presentation. The drink itself was basically just a big standard old fashioned with a mediocre whiskey. Couldn't really taste the cinnamon or pecan. The ice was melting so fast that the whole thing was diluted.

So yeah, ordering a fancy cocktail at a chain restaurant gave about the experience I expected. (Partner for the rosè. Also meh, but it's wine, it's fine)

They were out of the meatloaf.... And they were out of my second choice, the Prime rib sandwich... So I got a burger. Chili on the side instead of fries.

Chili: Not terrible, not awesome. Decent size for a "cup". Good flavor, but the meat was super stringy. I don't regret getting it! But I doubt I'll get it again.

Burger: I ended up with the Bloomin' Burger, which was basically a standard burger but with a couple of their Bloomin' petals and the Bloomin' sauce. The burger was overcooked. The bun was soggy. The lettuce was terrible. They forgot to put the Bloomin' petals on. Brought me some when I asked, but instead of the regular petals they just pulled an eighth of a Bloomin' onion and put it on a plate. Asked for blue cheese on the burger, and got plenty, which was tasty!

General: Getting refills was very difficult. Staff seemed very overloaded. Staff was really nice! But busier than one might wish. It took over half an hour from asking for boxes to get them, and then another 15 minutes to get the check. We wanted desserts, but figured it would take way too long.

Comments from my partners: "This is a much smaller chicken than the picture. Smaller sweet potato, too." "My steak is way too pink" "These mashed potatoes are great!" "The fries are sub-par." -every table on this side of the restaurant had a problem with the sun in they're eyes, as the window blinds are woefully inadequate.

We spent over two hours for what should have been a one hour dinner. Not impressed with...