Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Torrance

TL:DR - Kitchen had major issues with inventory the night we went. Wait staff service on par with previous experiences.

Full review: I started writing this review while waiting for our food on Sunday - one hour into meal service and still waiting for our entrees, two hours since we arrived. Now, the issue with the low review is not with the food quality or the wait staff, as they have been pleasant, cordial, and seemingly genuinely apologetic - although upon being seated by the host, while passing out cloth napkins a server who was attempting to squeeze by with a tray of mostly consumed drinks ran into the host and spilled the contents mostly onto the host with a decent amount being spilled onto both my and my father's legs. No immediate apology was issued which upset my father, and a few minutes later the server came back to apologize to my father.

Live update: 74 minutes after being seated our entrees are finally out

Back on topic. So this location is the new location that's just opened up a few weeks ago after the old one was closed over a year ago to make way for this one. This new one is more modern and deviates from the standard Outback theme at other locations, with an updated menu to match. It feels like an attempt to bring the restaurant a bit more upmarket.

As of writing, they were out of all mashed potatoes, baby back ribs, lamb, their new meatball appetizers, and I'm sure I overheard the server say to another table another item or two but I can't be sure of what I heard. We were told when we ordered that they were out of any kind of mashed potatoes so we chose other sides. It wasn't until after we placed our order that our server came back to inform us they were out of baby back ribs. Another 5-10 minutes goes by and he comes back again to tell us they are actually out of the lamb as well.

The appetizers arrived and no share plates or silverware had yet been provided until we requested them. When asking for some paper napkins as well, we were provided a stack of trifold paper towels one usually finds in the restroom.

While we were waiting for our entrees, we notice that nearly all the tables in the restaurant are empty, even though we assumed the night was busy due to the hour wait to have our party of 6 seated. Once the entrees arrived, the food was on par with what one might usually expect from this chain - with doneness of the meat inconsistent from what was ordered for 2 of the 4 steaks, but having sat for an hour already we let it slide. One issue was the Queensland Chicken and Shrimp Pasta ordered by two members of my party - the menu lists the pasta should be fettucine noodles but both plates came out with elbow macaroni.

At this point, we still had not yet received any bread (that usually comes in advance of the appetizers) so we asked for some and the server gladly obliged. Another table was seated and they were just told that now the kitchen is all out of potatoes and they might have some in 30 minutes or so.

All in all, I'm not sure if this is a new franchisee for this new location or what was going happened with the person(s) responsible for ordering and securing adequate food inventory for the day, but the experience left much to be desired. I'll probably try this location again in a few months to see if the issues have been worked out.

On a positive note, they now serve Wagyu steaks. Although the menu doesn't list the breed of cow or country of...

My girlfriend and I ate here 7/19/19. We decided to eat outside in the patio area. Our waiter Jacob was decent but quite slow for us being one of 3 tables out there and no one else really there at that time (slowly more trickled in) but was downhill from there. We asked about happy hour he showed us the menu and we placed our drink and app order using the happy hour menu he provided however he came back a little later and said happy hour was already over even tho he told us it wasn’t and he had us place our order. You’d think a waiter or waitress would know their own happy hour times. We took a moment to look at the actual menu while he went and finally got our bread. When he came back with it the two plates both had food on them so requested new ones. He obliged but with slight attitude regarding it. We ordered the Queensland chicken and shrimp pasta to share. Once the food arrived it was quite cold and the sauce looked like someone just threw it in the middle of the bowl and didn’t bother to give a damn about presentation or anything. We asked for another same size bowl and while we waited we discovered the food wasn’t even warm which implies it had been sitting back there awhile. When he came back with a small plate (yes asked for same size bowl and received a small bread plate). He again asked for another same size bowl and tried to tell him our food was cold but he walked away thus we had to wait again. Once he returned with same plate and a bowl which was dirty he gave strong attitude regarding it being just a little bit of food. I don’t give a damn little food or someone’s left overs on it, it’s a restaurant and asking or wanting clean plates bowls utensils isn’t really asked much when it’s me spending my hard earned money to eat at your establishment. It’s literally your job and if you don’t have provide in it you should work there. He then offered the same plate he still had in his hand which had what appeared to be Mac and cheese sauce all over the bottom of it. I explained that one was worse and we just wanted a clean bowl to eat out of before he left we told him the food was cold and he expressed we shouldn’t have waited for another bowl to get started eating. Had Jacob not taken his sweet time getting us a plate we possibly could have eaten not even luke warm food but now it was quite cold so we just sucked it up cause he was quite rude and neither of us felt like causing a scene then and there because we have more respect than that. I will be cross posting this review on multiple platforms (google, yelp and trip advisor). Unfortunately this outback has gone downhill over last few months for some reason and I should have spoken up regarding it before but try to remember everyone has bad days but I’m not gonna pay hard earned money to eat on dirty plates nor get attitude which I ask for something clean to eat...

"You never know who's watching and who's listening" When I worked as a server our managers would tell us this every time our shift ended and we wanted to lounge at the bar. I never got it until last night-- MY GOD. When I got to the bar it took about 10 minutes for someone to greet me which is awful considering... I'm at the bar! There were 3 bartenders! That should've been my cue to leave but I stayed.

Finally I got a drink and at them same time, servers that were now off of their shift were to my left getting their shots. And they were LOUD. I could hear conversations about the other servers, how bad they were, weaknesses they had-- everything. They each got at least 3 shots and then sat and cackled with a customer.

All of this while I had waited close to and maybe more than 20 minutes to place my order for food because my server/bartender was walking around like he never saw me there. I got my food in and I noticed he never went to the terminal to put the order in. He comes back FIVE MINUTES LATER to ask me to repeat what I had ordered. WHY did you wait 5 minutes? what have you been doing? Finally, he gets the food in and vanishes for another 20.

All the while, the servers are still at the bar... getting drunk. It wasn't until they FINALLy left an hour later that I felt relaxed because the volume at the bar had finally gone from 1000 to 10 and I could hear myself think.

The Happy Hour food took about an hour to come out which was shocking because a couple next to me ordered the exact same thing I did, got there after me, and got their food before me-- They had a different server of course.

Now I am ready to go and again, no server for 30 minutes. I had to go to the host stand where I waited to pay, and the server never noticed I got up from the bar! All in all-- travel to a better Outback if you can. The Happy Hour wasn't worth the stress. It takes a lot to tick me off because I served for years and even this...