Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Spokane

This is going to be a long review, sorry. My birthday was March 12th. I had been 'salivating' for a few weeks as this was my favorite restaurant ... I could already taste the Victoria's Filet, the lobster tail, the melt in your mouth steamed broccoli. The day came and I was on my way. Oh oh, the first 'hiccup' of the day - they closed and moved locations 4 days before my birthday! Odd that the only notice was a wet, weathered piece of paper on the former front door. Not a big deal, the new location was in the Northtown Mall, not too far away ... and I had heard rumors of a move coming anyway, so all was good. We got to the new location easily enough, parked easily enough, and then walked in the front door. That was the end of my good Birthday. All downhill from here. The new 'atmosphere' is horrible. The new décor is like the Chuck Wagon buffet from the 80's, bland and lifeless - more 'how many people can we fit in here for the least amount of money' rather than the former authentic 'Austrailian outback' theme. Although no one was waiting, it still took the two, yes two hosts almost 10 minutes to discuss back and forth how and where to seat us. Finally they began to take us back, but wait! Nope, another hostess comes and takes everything away from them and says "No, that's wrong" and then, finally, seats us. Whew! So then we wait, and wait, and wait, let a passing server know we haven't been helped, wait, and wait ... after 30 minutes someone finally comes over, takes our order, we ask if there is any leftover Clam Chowder from Friday (Friday is Clam Chowder day) and they say they'll check right away ... and we wait, and wait, and wait ... nothing. I get up and talk to a manager. They apologize, check on the chowder, and we wait, and wait, and wait. Finally, after an hour, we get the chowder. We ask for crackers. They don't have any. We say any kind will do. They say they don't have any whatsoever - that they were 'lost' in the move. Okay then. The chowder looks, tastes, and smells wrong. We don't eat it. So we wait for our dinner ... and wait, and wait, and wait ... I talk to a manager ... and we wait, and wait, and wait. After 2 hours and 20 minutes we have nothing except tired butts from sitting there for nothing. I am SO glad I waited to come here for my birthday, best choice ever right!!?? I finally get up and ask for the check because we had to get my daughter to work, and we assumed we would have had plenty of time. Thus, we end up leaving after nearly TWO and a HALF hours with nothing but growling stomachs. This new place, this new staff, this new everything is HORRIBLE. Don't go here, don't give them your business. Sad ... and this was my favorite restaurant ... and my birthday. Sad ... but wait! There's more! See my next review (much, much shorter) for the Spokane Valley...

Went there with family and ordered two apps, a martini, two steaks, lobster tail, sides, and a dessert. I already had a bad experience the last time I went to this location, but I thought I would use a gift card and get service from Brandy (said she was the manager on first visit). Let's start by they do not have a host at all times of the day. We waited and even grabbed Togo menus to look over while we waited. This was a problem our first visit too. We waited so long, even the phone rang twice. We had another couple join us in the wait before we got any attention.

The store was not busy in the recent visit. Including our table, there were five tables occupied. We noticed one server handling the table, but many workers walking around. There was a busser originally, but then I noticed the server clearing her own tables.

Regardless, our server was plain. She did the bare minimum. What can I get you? Cool. Be right back. Etc. That's fine.

The drinks came and our apps, fried mushrooms and cheese fries. They were good. We enjoyed them. The bread was hot and we got a replacement loaf when we finished the first one. All well and dandy.

Then we got our food. This is where we were disappointed. My mashed potatoes were cold. I could put my finger in the middle and they were barely warm. My mac and cheese was barely warm. The steak was decently warmed. The other steak was not seared on the top and bottom. It was also cold to the touch. The lobster tail was the hottest thing on both plates. When the server asked how the meals were, I started to explain that my food was cold and she started walking off immediately stating she was going to get the manager and maybe we can get something. I had to yell across the floor that I didn't need a manager. She never came back and addressed the problem again. A simple pop in the microwave would have sufficed. Honestly, my biggest complaint is how the issue was handled. She never got the manager or offered to hear us out. We got a box to take everything home. Once heated, the food was good.

As I said, this is the second time I visited this location. The service is the worst part of this establishment by far in each encounter. The experience is more important than the food in my opinion. Will not...

We chose Outback for dinner on 2/1 because we figured we would get a good meal at a good price in a fair amount of time, Boy were we wrong.

Dinner for 4, We were seated right away. Server came to our table promptly. He was informative about drink specials and was quick to take the drink order, as we were working with time we went ahead and ordered our appetizer. We waited and waited. A bus girl came up and said that our server Paul had cut his hand pretty bad but that he would be out to us shortly. 30 min no drinks no appetizer and no Paul , our appetizer came dropped at our table by who we were later to learn was the Manager on duty. We flagged down someone else and asked for more dipping sauce, It was clear that the cut to our servers hand had put him behind, other tables were complaining, they sere sending food back and waiting as long as we were.

Paul finally came and took our order, Corrected drink still hadn't come to our table, my friend actually went to the bar to get it for me. I decided that I would go and let the manager know that his server was in the weeds and could probably use some help. He seemed disinterested at best. Once I got back to our table our entrees had been delivered, I will say the food was cooked to perfection and tasted awesome, We did wait 5 min or so for requested condiments. No body ever came to check on our food, never saw the "manager" walk his section or any other section. We were never offered another drink. Once dinner was finished we again waited and waited for Paul to bring our checks , We are no 1.45 hr into our dining experience. My usual mild mannered Husband had steam coming out of his ears. He went to find the manager and was told he was on the phone. My husband waited and approached the manger explained again what had taken place. He did not apologies he took our check and "comped" a portion our check.

Long ago I was an employee of Outback , I know the time and attention they put into the proper training of the servers. Unfortunately this was not the failure of the server is was the complete disregard of management.

My hope that this review will allow you to do better...