Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Maplewood

The Host was amazing. He sat us and was very friendly. The server came and got our drink order as well as our appetizer order which was the blooming onion. The server is supposed to bring the bread with butter to munch on while we wait but did not. She comes back with water and says the drinks are being made and the onion is cooking and takes our food order. A while later she brings us our drinks and then comes back with a blooming onion setting it on the table and leaves immediately. I look at the blooming onion and it looks very dark. I grab a piece to eat and it tastes burnt and is extra extra crispy and the onions inside the burnt batter are so over cooked that they are flat. We push it to the edge of the table hoping she would see it. Over 10 minutes later she still never even came back to check to see how the appetizer tasted. Another server brought out our food so we told her and she looks at it and agreed that even looking at it you can tell its way over cooked. 5 minutes after that our server comes back and asks us if we want a new one. Hello? We are already eating our main course and if we take it home it will be soggy. So she takes it off the bill. Meanwhile I am eating my food. I ordered the Ribeye and shrimp dinner and chose coconut shrimp. When I picked up my shrimp to eat it... IT is dark and way over cooked too!! I was pretty upset by then. The waitress comes back and asks us if we want more bread. I looked at her and said you never brought us any to begin with. She said sorry and ran off again. So I am eating my steak, Broccoli and sweet potato and just start getting angry that this many things can go wrong in one trip. She finally comes back and gets a box and bill for us. After putting left overs in box I put my payment of gift cards in the bi-fold she gave us and waited and waited and waited. 15 minutes later she came back took my payment and came back because the gift cards did not cover alcoholic drinks. My boyfriend was pulling out his wallet to hand her his debit card and she walked away. So we waited and waited and waited. I am highly frustrated at this point and just want to leave. I finally stood up and waved the bi-fold in the air and 5 minutes after that she came back to grab the payment. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I drove an hour south to have date night with my hubby and it was a disaster. Not sure I will ever go back. The waitress should have seen that the food was burned and said something to the cooks and fixed it before bringing it to the table. I know, I used to be a waitress. My night, my date...

Our waitress was inexperienced but with some time she'll be great. No one should think this review is a reflection of her potential skill. I liked her and the pace she set with our table.

The establishment was winding down from what appeared to be a busy night. They informed us it would be ten minutes for a seat...and it was. One other couple was before us, one was after us...they would seat is in the opposite order of arrival. Couple number one we not pleased about this and asked to see a manager as we were being seated.

During the ten minutes we waited to be seated, we watched four employees gather and talk around the hostess podium. They discussed the best way to clean the window and then went on to discuss their social weekend. Fair enough.

But if...you have time to lean, you have time to clean...and you probably shouldn't be having a social conversation before customers.

When we were brought back to our table there were know tables that needed to be cleared...so...maybe there wasn't time to lean? Especially with those customers at the front.

Waitress was fine, again. She took our order, hustled to get silverware (that wasn't rolled) and did what she could to keep our table happy.

Apparently the lead cook brings food to the table? I'm going to guess her night wasn't good. She scowled at us, she slammed our food on the table. When asked if she knew where one of the dishes we ordered was, she snapped at us and then stomped to the kitchen. She spilled one of the plates on our table.

We watched the same behavior go on with another table.

The food itself seemed overpriced for what it was. It wasn't cooked with care, it was done unevenly (one side of a burger was rare, the other was medium well). The dessert was... Just not right.

We're not impressed. It's been about a decade since we went to Outback... And I'm pretty sure it will be at least that long before...

I have tons of childhood memories at the Outback. Memories aside, I’ll give an honest review. One thing I will say right off the bat is to keep in mind that the Outback Steakhouse IS a chain restaurant, so there are more locations that will probably have similar feeling to this one.

This specific outback I’ve been to almost my entire life. Many of my own birthday parties were hosted here among other things. The atmosphere here is very good, fits the restaurant theme well. The restaurants are typically good sized with plenty of good seating and a bar. The decorations and other little things like music and the lighting in the building have always been on point.

The service is usually pretty good. I mentioned earlier that this is a chain restaurant, but the service is still great. Servers are always polite and welcome to special requests and the waiting times for food are usually good (more on that later). With chain restaurants, the service is bound to be impacted, but that’s okay because mistakes are infrequent and quickly solvable.

The food is very good here. I usually get a sirloin, usually an 8oz, as the steak tends to be the highlight of the menu. Sometimes, your steak won’t be done to the temperature you like, but as long as you’re okay with asking for your steak to be cooked a minute longer if it’s not done enough for you, you should be just fine. There is a ton of good sides to choose from, and a large drink menu. One of the most notable foods I’d recommend for the outback would be the Blooming Onion, essentially just a bunch of small onion rings with a REALLY good sauce. They do have a kids menu to order from as well.

Overall, this is a great spot to go. The food isn’t too pricey, and it’s good quality. Going with friends and family has always been...