Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Toledo

I had the absolute BEST experience there today, from service to food, to my interaction with my server (Brandi) and the manager there ('m sorry, I couldn't remember your name). I didn't really expect much and only went there because my husband was given a gift card. The reason being, I had previously went to Outback in Ann Arbor, MI and had the WORST possible experience and swore off Outback - long story. I want to focus on Monroe, St, Toledo, OH Outback. Initially, after being seated, we did have to wait awhile for someone to ask for our drink selection. I began to think, "well, here we go again." To be fair, it was dark, we were wearing black, sitting in a booth with a high top and we're of small stature. Brandi came by and asked if we had been helped. She not only took our drink order, but then also went ahead and took our dinner order since we were ready and had already waited for our drinks. Someone walked by and told her that her table was seated - evidently we weren't even her assigned table. She said, she was already halfway through the order and she was going to finish. From then on, everything went SOOOOO well, so quickly - but not rushed - perfect! The food was EXACTLY as it should have been, prepared perfectly!! Brandi frequently stopped by to see if we needed anything, how everything was, etc. I told Brandi, she literally saved this visit for us. I was on my way of have yet another bad Outback experience, and she saved it. She was awesome!! I asked for her name and told her I was going to speak to the manager about how great a job she did. The manager came and I told him everything, including the details from Ann Arbor, because I wanted him to know the low expections I had when I came in and how Brandi really made ALL the difference. She is an OUTSTANDING waitress, and should be commended. He went on to tell me more about Brandi and it sounds like he is WELL aware of her customer service, among other pretty great employee attributes. I appreciated the manager taking the time to talk with me and obviously takes great care in how his restaurant is being ran. Yes, it's unfortunate we were initially missed, but like I said, it was understandable. Even so, the manager was very apologetic about that, and that it shouldn't have happened. The food, again, was prepared PERFECTLY!! I can't say enough about this particular Outback. I give it a SOLID 5 stars for EVERYTHING! Brandi, I give you a SOLID 10!! I hope you stay in this line of work, albeit I'm sure you will continue to climb the ladder - you deserve it! I hope you are able to inspire and teach others how to provide EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE, because you would be a GREAT mentor in this regard. Thank you, thank you! Brandi, you saved the day, making this a VERY ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE! Manager (so sorry again that I forgot your name), great job with your staff!! Never let Brandi leave, unless she gets her own store one day, I guess, but I'd miss her. I'm no longer taking Outback off my list, as long as we go to Monroe St in Toledo, OH :-) BTW, Alice Springs Chicken is AWESOME!! If you've never had, try it! FYI, this review written by...

First thing she noticed walking in the door was the name Jacob "Proprietor", our son's name is also Jacob. We used the "save your seat" feature on the website to make sure we wouldn't have any issues and it asked what the special occasion was... Her birthday. So we get seated 10 mins before we had reserved due to low occupancy on a Friday evening thankfully. And immediately greeted by our server and our experience has begun. First we ordered drinks and bread. Brought out at different intervals due to how busy our server was despite the lack of patrons and excess of servers and bussers standing around. Despite the efforts of our server to make our dinner great, she could've used a hand from the others. Then the kids meals came out and they absolutely love Mac and cheese but they refused to eat it after trying it. It tastes like it was boiled in broccoli water. I appreciate your efforts to sneak the broccoli in but my kids are hip to those tricks. By the time my kids finished their meals our dinners had arrived. And my meal was good. No issues. Her steak was over cooked. So she asked for a replacement and when she was approached she stated " usually I don't complain but it's my birthday and I just kinda wanted things to go right for once" and within a few minutes the chef came out with a beautifully prepared sirloin. Sliced it open and she was happy. We are and waited another 15-20 minutes before our tab was finally closed out. And that's where I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth. Why mention it's a birthday and not get offered anything for her birthday. No song or dance or free dessert. Something. She didn't even get a happy birthday from anyone until the "Proprietor" came out to apologize for the overcooked sirloin. At which point he had the opportunity to offer anything if they had a program for that.

At the end of the day it was ok. There is great potential here. And I was happy. She wasn't. Spending $100 for a family of 4 to eat and momma bear isn't happy, not a good thing.

Update: after seeing the canned response you gave for my review. I will see to it that this is reported to corporate your clear disregard and lack of concern for patrons. You do not deserve a...

It was just oddly bad experience. My party was seated very quickly, which was nice. But, we waited over 20 minutes to get our drink orders placed. Our drinks were simple- water for everyone. Our server Steven kept stopping by to say that he would be right back and that he is a rookie (repeated that over 15 times), but never once grabbed our drink orders. After 20 minutes, my mom was ready to go because it was getting frustrating watching him stop at every table but ours giving out checks, refilling drinks, chat up the table, and etc. I convinced my mom to stay, and he FINALLY took our drink orders. It took a while to get the complimentary bread (Over 30 minutes after being seated. I wish I was joking), and we finally got our waters. At this point, we were starving and tore through the bread quickly, and drank our water fast. We ordered a blooming onion, and took some time to go over the menu. Our waiter, Steven C, never took our cups or plates that were dirty, so they were piling up. We never were asked if we needed refills on water, we received refills on accident (waters were brought to the wrong table). The blooming onion was greasy and extremely salty, so we were able to not pay for it, which was nice. We all ordered, and it took over 40 minutes for our food. Refills were slow, service was awful, getting food and drinks took forever, getting our boxes took forever, then Steven added everyone onto the same bill without discussing it first. Why you may ask? Well Steven told us he would bring our check from several tables away! Didn't ask if we wanted dessert, another drink, or anything like that. I can't get over how bad the service was! We had to stop someone running food for to go orders to ask for boxes because we were done eating for over 10 minutes and never received a box. Steven C said it was his second day alone, and I feel like he shouldn't have a large section on his second day. All of my sides were cold, macaroni was gross, my brother's chicken breast was dry, my mom was given the wrong baked potato. We were in the restaurant for almost 2 hours, and it wasn't because the experience was great.. He never even asked how the food was. We had a manager...