Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Pleasant Hill

While we previously had good experiences at Outback, I hope today was anomaly. We had reservations for 5PM for early Valentine's Day Dinner for two.

We arrived 10 minutes early and we're seated on time at 5.

A server brought their bread loaves and small plates. However, we waited over 10 minutes for someone to bring napkins and flatware.

Another 10 minutes for a server to ask for our drink and appetizers order. We ordered mushrooms and small crab cakes. Mushrooms appeared in 5 minutes but even more time for cold crab cakes.

I forget how long before a server returned to ask for our Entree order which we had already stated was the Valentine's Dinner for two.

Much later our entrees arrived but they gave my rate Filet Mignon to my wife and her well done Filet to me.

We ate less than half each and asked for takeaway boxes which again took forever.

Dinner included cheesecake for two which took more time.

BTW, another couple who were seated after us had a different server and left before our entrees even appeared. We had an assortment of servers, table attendants, and bus persons few of which were attentive.

At least one of them took the cold crab cakes off our check.

In the past the store manager came to each table. Not tonight.

The final problem was the self service terminal at our table would not accept my valid smart card so we had to wait for our original server to process my card in the back which worked fine.

All I all, a very...

Having not been to Outback Steakhouse in more than a decade, my husband and I opted to dine here while visiting from out of town.

We each ordered a seafood meal with a small lobster tail, two crab cakes, two shrimp skewers and two sides. My husband selected a loaded baked potato and garlic fries (starch!) and I picked their mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese thinking I would take mine in a to-go box to eat for lunch in the hotel room. At $32.99 each with additional for the "upgraded " side of mac and cheese, it was definitely one of the priciest meal options.

While the seafood was adequate, other than the the crabcakes which were not good, it was just.... well, adequate. For the price we could have had adequate at a fast food joint. The garlic fries tasted NOTHING like garlic although we did discover a speck of something that could have been garlic but added no flavor.

The dishes did however look exactly like the picture in the laminated menu, particularly the loaded back potato. The food was simply not very flavorful, perhaps overly ambitious but most of all entirely too forgettable (and my reheated mac and cheese was no picnic, plain with no flavor, but better than the inedible mashed potatoes that were only semi-cooked with decent sized chunks of raw potato, raw, not homestyle).

The saving grace was the cocktails. Their blended margarita has an indiscernible ingredient that kicked up up a notch above the...

I'm not sure there's a better steak for the price in the SF Bay Area. Outback will deliver on fast friendly service and plenty of delicious signature bread and butter. I wonder how places like Outback are able to turn a profit with skyrocketing beef prices, especially and higher cost of food in general? One place where cost-cutting appears to be occurring is in the size of the add-on shrimp. May favorite menu item is steak and shrimp. The shrimp were small. The 4 shrimp I got with my steak were size 20-24's at best and maybe even smaller, (20-24 shrimp per pound). Everything else in my meal was perfect. The steak was cooked perfectly medium, the baked potato was on point, and the salad greens were fresh and crispy. Which steak? Don't worry. Any steak is good. So is the fish and pork chops. We're in California, so of course there's a decent wine list.

I would have been happier with 4, 16-20's, or in a perfect world 4, u16's, instead of the 4 tiny shrimp, but I understand that the price point simply does not allow for such extravagance. The tiny grilled shrimp were tender and delicious, but maybe there would have been a greater perception of value if I had elected the fried coconut shrimp add-on instead?

Regardless, Outback features an authentic steakhouse experience at a price cheaper than you'd expect to pay at the higher end, fancier places...