Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Town of Vestal

I have not been at outback steakhouse so I was looking forward to trying it with a group of friends when they invited me. The first thing that struck us was the chili we ordered was actually large chucks of some sort of meat which had to be cut up with a knife and fork. The flavor was good and the meat was tender enough but this was not chili. Then the main course I ordered (took over a half hour to prepare and serve) 8 oz. serloin was completely burnt on one side and properly medium rare on the other. So my medium rare steak was actually medium well if you looked at one side of it. I did not send it back because we had already waited too long and I figured that was just their style of cooking. 🤷 On top of that the steak was half deeply veined gristle which I could not eat! Also, the steak seem to have no flavor other than what I would add at the table. The side dishes were flavorful and well prepared however. The servers were pleasant enough but but seemed like they were spread too thin around the tables or else they had other tasks they were doing when they were not at our table. I asked for a couple of additional paper napkins instead of the cloth which never arrived so I was wiping my mouth with an old napkin I had in my pocket. We asked for our check and that also took about 25 minutes to a half hour to receive. My overall experience with this restaurant is: for the premium prices they charge one would expect top-notch service but instead I would have been better off getting a steak at a greasy spoon restaurant! I would...

I'm a portly guy. Had to squeeze into tight booth. The wife and I were kicking feet the whole meal. Service was good. Steak was cooked to order but dry and tough. French fries were Luke warm. Lobster mac and cheese was pretty good. Wife had to pry me out of the booth to leave. Bathroom was a mess. Had to figure out where to get hand soap. Paper towel dispenser was out. Wife's meal was ok. Nothing special. Informed waitress of problems. She was apologetic and offered to re fire meal. I turned her down. She got her 20%

Update 4/9/24 Should have asked for table. Forgot about tight booths. Asked for steak with pink. Got well done. French fries were hot and tasty. Chicken very juicy. Seasoned well. Broccoli was very good. Pumpernickel bread good. Waitress on the ball. Wife happy with pasta and chicken. Waitress got 25%

Update 6/17/25 Got a good table. But it was dirty. Waiter wiped it down explaining that big party just left with wild kids. Everything was going good. Received my salad but then noticed no utensils on table. I stole them from other table. Brenda's chicken was great. I ordered a 8 ounce sirloin with chicken Alice. I ordered the steak a little pink. It came out over well done. Waiter offered a new one and I accepted. The manager came over and confirmed the hockey puck. I finished the chicken and fries and manager came out with fresh steak cooked perfectly. Later the waiter told me the manager cooked it himself. So everything was...

Came in to the Vestal store, with my 2 sisters. We were there for an early dinner, so it's was about 5pm. 1 table was filled in an otherwise empty restaurant and where does the hostess seat us? Nearly in the laps of that 8 person table. We asked to be placed somewhere else, since there were so many options. She grudgingly escorted us to another table that was still pretty close to the other, had no tableware. She was really remarkably sullen. The waitress came to our table and she was delightful. Her name was Kim, and she was the best of the entire experience. There was an unpleasant smell at the table. I was the only one who picked it up, at first, so I didn't make an issue. But eventually we all identified it as the smell of a really filthy dishcloth, dripping with dirty water, used to wipe the table to "clean" it. And that's when we decided we'd just finish our drink and then go somewhere else for dinner. We left a nice tip for Kim (and I regret that she probably had to share it w/ the wooden, stone cold hostess. Why, I wonder, has this girl been placed in that position, and why did she stay there for more than a single minute?). We all made sure to wash our hands when we got to Chile's, which was proved instantly we'd made the right choice, the hostess greeted us with such good cheer. Food there was very good, drinks were great, and Becky, our waitress, was so friendly and fun. So go to...