Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Melbourne

What a visit!

Sadly, Hurricane Ian has wreaked havoc on so many. Most of us were very fortunate, but others....

The Review. Sorry, it's a long one.

I sense everyone is unwinding post Ian. I busted my backside today doing a 6-hour clean-up. Just me. Wash up and head out for a late dinner, I chose Outback because I knew EXACTLY what I was hankering for. I wanted an 8-ounce sirloin with the add-on Blooming Shrimp, baked tater and salad. Excellent craving.

Swung that big door open, walked through that little airlock between two sets of doors. I was greeted very cordially. Then came a sincere "We have a limited menu tonight due to our provisions truck was wiped out by the hurricane!" Wow!

She started to show me the limited menu, but I just gave her my verbal order aloud. With each menu item I spoke, she nodded Yes, we have that. So, I'm in.

I got served by one of those rare servers. I can't really explain it, but she just instinctively knew my needs. It was good chemistry. Her name is Ashley. She's from Indiana. Shout out girl!

My food was EXACTLY what i had envisioned! The appearance. The portion sizes. And now the big test. Drum roll.

First bite, I bit into one of those Blooming Shrimp. Imagine a Blooming Onion but ADD in a sweet shrimp surprise. Man oh Man! Mwahahah! Su-weet!

My steak was perfect temp of mid rare. The seasoning rub truly enhanced the natural flavors of the meat without inducing chemical overload. A very good marriage made in the kitchen.

Baked tater. Yep! As usual. Salad. Yep! As usual.

Here's an ironic twist. I'm glad I was there. Imagine sitting in an Outback Restaurant. Any Outback. A commercial enters your mind and you keep hearing the Aussie accent. G'Day, Mate! Now, imagine hearing that same voice, but it's coming from a dining table 12 feet away. A table of 4 guys. The guy farthest away but facing my way is the one I hear. In a baritone accented voice. Definitely Australian.

Suddenly, I feel like I've dissolved into a virtual recurring Outback commercial! I'm eating in Outback. Hearing a guy talking. He sounds just like the spokesman in their commercials. This is a hoot! I post about it to my friends. I query them if I should ask that guy to say, "No Rules, Just Right!"

Knowing me, I sorta did just that. I got up, walked over to them, excused my interruption. Told them about this phenomenon I was experiencing. They loved it! We talked for probably 20 minutes. Joel, a cool blonde server, took a selfie of the guys with me. I was at the end of their table. She got a great shot!

These guys are pilots and are here for a quick training, then off they go. It was a once in a lifetime encounter, one which I will truly cherish. And that certainly includes my 360 dining experience at this Outback. Many Thanks to Ashley, Joel and C.B., the manager. You all flew this night to...

Outback Steakhouse - More like Outhouse Setback. TLDR; Waited over 1hr and 45 minutes for cold food on my mother’s birthday after the manager said it would be ready in “just a few minutes”.

This is the second time I’ve dined at this specific Outback Steakhouse and had a bad experience. The first time, my parents and I sat in the main dining area during lunch (12pm-2pm) and waited 45 minutes for our drinks and the bread that never came. We saw our waiter once to give us menus, he said he’d be right back and he never returned. Needless to say, we left and went to Smokey Bones next door which not only served us as soon as we entered, but were much friendly wait staff.

We went in for dinner at 6:30pm on 2/20/25 and it was busy, which we anticipated for dinner time. This and waiting are not a problem. What is a problem is waiting 30 minutes from after our appetizers are served to get refills on drinks. After we finally get our drinks, we waited another 15 minutes (45 at this point) for our food. We ask our waitress (who was very kind in the whole ordeal) on where the status of our food is. She tells us not once, not twice, but three times that it’s almost ready and will be out ASAP. After a full hour has passed, we asked for the manager because this was the third time she told us it was almost ready. The manager came over and said it was still on the grill and would be out shortly. We waited 20 minutes and he came by again to say some of our food was on the window and waiting on one more item.

Finally! The food arrives, but as soon as it’s sat down, none of the steaks we ordered are hot, the fries are tepid at best, and was overall unacceptable. If the food was “almost ready” and “on the grill” then why did it come to our table cold? When I say cold, I mean those steaks had been sitting on the window for a WHILE. Literally nothing we ordered was hot. If I want cold food, I would just go to a deli. For the prices that these restaurants charge, I would expect the food to be hot.

After waiting an additional 10 minutes for Mr. Manager to come back around (not to mention him watching our table from the Kitchen and constantly popping his head out. Receding only when he noticed one of us trying to get his attention by waving), he tried to tell us he was having a new order sent to the kitchen to be hot for us. We told him after waiting practically an hour and 45 minutes, we aren’t going to wait another hour for him to fix the food. We’d already lost our appetite and nor did we want any of the staff spitting in our food.

To say the least, avoid this Outback Steakhouse if you can. There’s a Smokey Bones BBQ next door and Shells Seafood. Your money is better spent there than at this...

My boyfriend and I wanted to take my brother to dinner this past Saturday night and decided that outback was the perfect place. We have been many times and if we don’t go in takeout is our other route. We got seated and met our server, I will say that my boyfriend and I are both young in our early 20’s and my brother is newly a teenager so I always give a little grace when being treated differently. The stereotype of our ages being young and dumb definitely makes itself known. But the server was just rude. He came to take our drink orders and rushed us to order, cut me off while I was speaking and could not even make eye contact with us. Not a big deal I can understand being shy but it continues and as we watch him with his other tables he did not rush and he talked to them like people. Our drinks were empty for a while. And while bringing over our appetizers he accidentally brought over the wrong one when we told him it was incorrect he said swore. A mistake is a mistake not a big deal but I don’t appreciate bad language in front of small ears. My food and my boyfriend’s food was great. But my brother got pasta and it was all stuck together in clumps so the middle was not fully cooked all the way. He is picky and did not want to eat it. So we told him he is big enough to order his food you need to express when you are unhappy with it as well. Not a small task for a young kid. But he did he said it was under cooked which we could all see and showed the waiter. He offered another plate but my brother declined. The waiter huffed and grabbed his plate and pushed the fork on the table with an attitude that even a kid noticed and walked away without another word. Overall the food was great and I know mistakes happen. The food industry is not easy but I do not appreciate rude behavior towards me or the people around me. I would not recommend or be served by...