Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

I visited the Outback Steakhouse, located on Nimmo Parkway, in Virginia Beach, VA, on a Friday evening, for an early dinner (around 4:30pm). While my family members were out of town.

The food was absolutely delicious.

Waitress, Chelsea was outstanding, immediately bringing warm bread, and soft butter right to the table. Coming to the table, at just the right intervals, and making sure I was happy with everything, and asking if I needed anything, and she also kept my drink filled at all times.

I started with the Steakhouse Macaroni and Cheese Bites, and "cudos" to the Chef, they were served hot, and the flavor of the homemade Ranch Dressing, was absolutely delicious. I could have made a "meal" out of these, on their own.

Outback Steakhouse, may want to consider bringing back the "Onion Petals" to the menu, because the "Blooming Onion" is just way too much, for the "single" diner. Thanks !

Then, I tried the NEW Carmel Mustard Glazed Pork Chops, (you get 2 8oz pork chops) and I also had a Baked Sweet Potato and Broccoli. Every item was cooked and served hot and to perfection. I really like trying new menu items.

I even had enough food left over, for lunch on Saturday. ☺️

There was one problem though, I had so much food, that I was too full, to order my favorite dessert, the Salted Carmel Cookie Skilet (that is served warm, and also served with vanilla ice cream on top). YUM 😋 Maybe, I will start with dessert first, next time. 🤭 And, there will be a Next Time, VERY SOON !

There were, however 3 small problems:

1. The hostess, wanted to seat me in the "bar area", without asking first, if I wanted to sit in there, but quickly moved me to a booth, in the main dining area, when I mentioned that I would perfer NOT to sit in the bar area. (Please, Note, it would be nice to ask customers, first, especially if the restaurant is not busy and not filled to capacity). Thanks !

2. My dinner would have been "JUST PERFECT", if you guys served PEPSI products, instead of COKE, (Just a personal favorite). HaHa 🤭 But, I know that this is more than likely a "corporate" decision, and nothing that a restaurant manager, has any control over.

3. Consumers Please Note, the TIP GUIDE, on the receipt, is a "little inflated". The tip, (if the Service And the Food is Good), should start at a minimum of 15% of the Food and Beverages, (and go up from there, depending on the Service and the Quality of the Food Served) and NOT INCLUDE TIPPING ON THE TAX RATE, and the tip guide is not quite accurate, so please check your receipt and tip accordingly. 🥰

And, just a "side note", it was VERY NICE, that Chelsea took the time to serve my dinner exceptionally well, (sometimes when you are a "single diner" the waiters/waitresses tend, not to give Good Service, because they feel that they will not be compensated well), and that is So Sad.

However, Poor Service and Poor Food, will in the end, affect the entire Dinning Experience, for the customer(s), and ultimately the servers tip. But, that was certainly not my case this evening.

Chelsea was so outstanding, she earned herself a 30% tip. YOU NEED TO KEEP CHELSEA, as a member of your team, for a long time, and give her a raise...she is a "keeper".

I would also suggest that you request Chelsea, as your server, if she is available, you will Not Be Disappointed !

Because of the OUTSTANDING SERVICE and OUTSTANDING FOOD, I (we) will be returning soon. ☺️

Thank you...

Worst service I've had in many years. We asked for waters to start while we check the menu. 10 minutes later she returns to take our order and mentions that we are still waiting on our drinks (water??). We ordered 2 drinks from the bar, an app to share and two entrees. When she returned with the bar drinks we still didn't have water. When we asked, her response was, "oh that's not my job, I'll ask about it.". A few minutes later someone from the kitchen brought us water. The same person brought us all of our food. Appetizer was great. Wife's meal was excellent. My prime rib was severely overcooked (medium at best but was really medium well when ordered medium rare). I waited for the remainder of the meal for the waitress to return to check on us to send it back. By the time she came by (20-30 minutes later), both of us were out of both our waters and bar drinks, and my wife had completed her whole meal. She seemed surprised that I just wanted to send it back at that point and have it taken off the bill instead of ordering a new one.

I must also add a few notes: 1) There were less than 10 occupied tables in the entire place with two other wait staff....the waitress wasn't busy she just chose to spend our whole meal standing at the hostess station talking to her friend. 2)I never have and never will blame wait staff for kitchen errors...I honestly wasn't upset about the overcooked prime rib...easy fix and we all move on. I was upset that she chose to ignore us for our entire meal and not come check on us even one time to see how the food was, if we needed more drinks etc. 3)Finally, I love (hate) the practice of handing me a credit card machine to select a tip while you stand over top of me. Having worked in restaurants before myself, I am nearly always a very generous tipper. I have taught my kids to do the same. But if you can't even pretend to do your job, how can you honestly expect any kind of tip? You got one (far less than my normal, far more than you deserved) to ensure the bartender and expediter were taken care...

It would have been nice to dine at this restaurant but we could not get seated. Not because it was busy, but because of the disorganization of the staff. My family requested a table for 3, and was told to take a seat for a minute. They did not take our names, but I was not concerned because there were a lot of open tables. Three more groups came in and were taken to a table before us. One of the hostesses came over and asked us if we had been helped. (The same one that asked us to take a seat five minutes earlier) We informed her that she asked us to wait and we still have three people wanting to dine. She said Ok. We moved to seats in front of the hostess stand, thinking they may have just missed us. Instead four more groups came and were seated in front of us. We gave up and told one of the hostess we were leaving.

The manager who was at the hostess stand during this time, told my wife, If we wanted to eat they would seat us now after my son and I left the restaurant"". To me the first two times we asked to dine with the Outback Steakhouse was more than enough notice of our desires. Who knew that you needed to request three times for a table?

The last time we dined at this Outback location the manager was offering several of the guests a free dessert due to some kitchen errors. It appears to me this place is not well managed.

My family went to Lucky Oyster down the street and was seated within one minute. ( They had a much larger dinner business than Outback, but we were still seated within a minute). We enjoyed great steaks and seafood. The waiter had the kitchen cook a non menu item for my son. Several wait staff provided us with outstanding service. So if you want a great meal go to Lucky Oyster (a local restaurant). If you want to hang out and study how a big corporation treats their customer go to this Outback. Remember you HAVE to tell the Hostess THREE Times you want to dine with them. Good Luck in...