Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Sumter

I've been eating at this Outback since they opened many years ago, and other than the rare, visit where things were not up to par, this has been a great place.

But over the last few years they have steadily declined. Quality has gone way down and the subpar experiences have become increasingly more frequent. I can tolerate an occasional visit where things don't meet expectations because I understand that things happen sometimes, but has now gotten to the point where I expect to be disappointed more than I expect to really enjoy eating here.

I decided to write this review because my last visit (6/20/25) was bad enough to complain about the food and preparation, and it has to be way out of sorts for me to even mention it to staff, but this time I did make my server aware of the problems. (My server BTW was outstanding, just the food was bad):

1. Ribeye was not prepared to order I wanted Med Rare, but got purple meat inside) and was full of gristle. It was more like the quality cut steak you'd get at a Waffle House not a higher end steak house. It was tough and chewy and even though ordered "Pittsburgh Style" it had no "char' whatsoever.
2. I had 2 Caesar salads as my sides, one to eat at the restaurant and one packed to go. Both of the salads were full of brown lettuce. This is unacceptable for the amount of money that Outback charges vs. other steakhouses.

I was hesitant to point all of this out to my server, because it wasn't her fault, and I realize there are people who go to restaurants looking to find fault either because that's the way they are, or are trying to get freebies and didn't want to be one of those "complainers".

She did ask if we wanted to talk to a manager, but I told her no because I told her that I just mainly wanted someone to be aware so that perhaps these issues might be addressed. Again, I was not looking to be comped or get anything for free. That's not why I'm writing this review either, as I'm not looking for freebies. I don't want anything from this review other than maybe someone in management, who has the ability to do something about this decline, to address these things and start restoring this restaurant to the once fine place it used to be.

I will state again that my server couldn't have been any better, and usually that's the case. She was great! The problem was with the quality of the food and the poor preparation of it.

Since this has been pretty consistent more often than not over the last few years of me eating here, I've pretty much decided not to eat here anymore and go elsewhere. Outback charges too much for their steaks to be this poor quality, and I can get a better steak elsewhere, for less money.

I hope this gets read by management, and I thank you for the...

Hey there! I recently visited Outback Steakhouse and I have to say, I was pretty disappointed with my experience. I didn't get any bread and butter, my meal was cold, and I had to wait a long time to get my food and drinks. It wasn't the best experience overall.

But, there was one bright spot. The blonde beer was actually borderline mediocre!

Despite the issues I had with my meal, I will say that the menu at Outback Steakhouse is pretty extensive. They have a lot of great options for steak, seafood, chicken, and pasta dishes. And, when my meal wasn't cold, it actually tasted pretty good.

Sure, I can certainly add that in for you!

I want to give credit where it's due - our server really seemed to be trying his best to make our experience a good one. He was attentive and polite, even when we raised some concerns about our food being cold. I appreciated his efforts to make things right, even if the overall experience fell short.

However, it seemed like the manager was a little in over his head. The wait times were pretty long, and I could tell that some of the customers around us were getting frustrated. I'm not sure if it was due to staffing issues or something else, but it would have been nice to see a little more organization and efficiency from management.

All in all, while my experience at Outback Steakhouse wasn't amazing, I do appreciate the hard work and effort that our server put in. With a few tweaks behind the scenes, I think this restaurant could really hit its stride and provide a better dining experience for everyone.

Finally, the atmosphere of the restaurant is really nice. Even with the wait and the cold food, I still felt pretty comfortable and welcome while I was there.

Overall, while my experience at Outback Steakhouse certainly had its issues, I'm still holding out hope that a return trip might be better. I'd be willing to give them another shot and hopefully next time, everything...

BAD experience at a familiar place: often when traveling to Sumter and surrounding counties, my family (from Maryland) patronize the Outback on Broad street in Sumter, SC-dine in or carry out usually with satisfactory and at times great food and great service. NOT THIS TRIP. Sadly our party of 5 ranging in age from 82-32 are tremendously displeased with our experience on Saturday October 14 2023 at 7:30pm. Our server was too busy for our party: she only brought 3 glasses of water, one of the other beverages, no straws after we requested them more than once. Our total food order was not received i.e. Dad received his fries well after his meal was done, my niece was brought the ‘add on’ lobster tail after the rest of her meal was completely gone. To add injury to insult I ordered a bowl of potato soup, shrooms, and a pecan salad as my meal: I was served a cup of soup instead as an appetizer(rejected it gently), and later received a bowl of soup but the shrooms and salad came several minutes later. Sadly the shrooms contained a surprise substance attached to one of them. Our server Kat, in her ignorance or stupidity, responded, after going to the kitchen, “she said it was just something that came off the grill”. WHAT??? It actually looks like a piece of steel wool from a grill utensil that got deep fried with the orders…We paid our bill and left; resigned to no longer patronize the business. Yes Kat insisted on purging the shrooms from the bill since I could not eat them; however there was no quality assurance visit from a manager; which is unbelievable after such poor presentation of an Outback staple appetizer. We are not complainers, we are patient, and we expect respect and pleasant service when we patronize a business. Picture taken at the restaurant is included...