Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Virginia

I ordered a basic filet, baked potato and a salad. I chowed on the tasty salad and the complimentary bead until the steak and potato arrived. I cut into the meat on the edge (which was fine) but after a few cuts I realize the medium-rare ordered is actual quite rare inside. I would have lived with a normal "rare" steak to NOT have to send it back for fear of coming back out medium, and the added time (to go back) is a disincentive because I want to eat the meal all together as intended, but this meat was essentially raw inside! I almost never send food back for many good reasons, but I could not eat this raw meat.

I called over the bartender. She had a quick look and agreed with my assessment and took the steak away for more cooking. Okay I understand, stuff can happen, at least its fixable and not an over-cooked problem, which I most likely would have lived with. Meanwhile I now have my potato and salad and bread that I am eating, and hoping it wont take long to cook the steak to med-rare. Well it turned into about 10-12 minutes and I ate most of the sides by the time the steak returned. The second grilling of the meat looked fine on the outside (as it did before) and I took a slice from the edge, and it looked okay. But then on the next deeper cut I see the inside is really the same "raw" meat as it was on the first round, just the outside was a little browner. I am usually very low-maintenance, but I admit getting a bit irritated. I’ve now had the sides for some time and am almost done with them. I feel like my dinner was now pretty much ruined, as I prefer to eat them at the same time.

The bartender was again very nice and understanding and asked if Id like to talk to the manager, sure okay. A young lady comes over and says she is the manager and I share the story. This manager has a ready excuse… says she only has 3 people in the back cooking. Now I have no clue if that number is one cook down, two down, three people down….. no clue, so this excuse, as to why Ive been served raw steak twice... means nothing to me. I’m not wild about excuses, plus I also detect some attitude pointed my way (as if I am the problem). After a few back and forth’s of me not understanding how it’s possible to send something back and come back just as raw inside as before.... and this manager is saying for a 3rd time that she only has 3 people in the back, as if I should know what that means (and maybe that I shouldn't complain?). I have lots more I want to say, (but don’t) like why don’t you go back and help them and then there will be 4 in the back? Or why do you have attitude when your customer is having a real issue not a minor problem?

Now I am looking at another 10-12 minutes to get the steak cooked a 3rd time. Manager doesn’t offer any Customer Service type consolation for this situation (like, how about a desert on-the-house, etc)… she takes the steak away for more grilling. I was not fishing for free-things, I had just wanted my meal right, and somebody should WANT to know whats happening in the kitchen and resolve it so the next person will not go through this experience. At this point probably 35-40 minutes after arriving and eating what I could, I was done with dinner. I asked them to bring a box for the steak when finished. This 3rd grilling they did start with a fresh uncooked filet so I guess that was the offering for the very poor cooking control. I do think this manager needs some more training in what customer service should look like.

Two friendly management tips. (a) when something is sent back, make sure it gets fixed... and it should get a priority to get back out to the customer as quickly as possible. (b) don't make the customer wrong when they have a real problem.

You can do better, Springfield VA...

Horrible customer service with mediocre food. Made a reservation for 2 this evening for a celebration at the Springfield, VA location. Upon arrival, the host booth was vacant, and the restaurant maybe a quarter full. We noticed a couple young men near the back standing around talking. After a few minutes, one of the young men came over and asked my husband ‘How many?’ I told the host I made a reservation and gave my name. He never looked at me or seemed to notice I was even there, and continued to only address my husband, and made certain I was not worth his time or consideration. We were seated at a booth an almost immediately a server came over to take our order. We didn’t even have time to look at the drink menu..let alone food. Not a good start. To keep this from getting too lengthy, I’ll just hit the big issues. We arrived at 6:30 pm. Appetizer and drinks ordered about 6:40. Beer was brought in about 5 minutes…it was the wrong beer. Appetizer ordered and bread came out. Entree order placed about 6:50…Filet mignon (med rare) with garden salad and baked potato and Shrimp plate with baked potato. Appetizer showed up about 7:10 and we expected our entrées shortly after. At about 7:35, my salad was brought out complete with pieces of brown and slimy lettuce. By 7:45, still no sign of food and hadn’t seen our server in awhile as well. By 8:00, we’d had enough waiting for our meal and asked for a check to pay for what we ate and drank. It took 2 different attempts for the manager to get the correct amount, and then couldn’t even be bothered to come out an apologize for the horrendous delay. Our celebration dinner was ruined. Outback will not be getting any future...

I hate to leave a bad review. First, let me say that our server was very friendly, just know thorough. We were there 3 and a half hours. We wait almost an entire hour simply for our orders to be placed. She had the nerve to ask, "Are you guys ready to order?" Which shocked the heck out of me. My uncle ordered an appetizer (shrimps and sids) as his, and it came out as an appetizer. So, of course, he had to eat it. Get this. We waited, and the entire hour for our food to be ready. The place barely had any people in it as we went before 2 pm. We were celebrating my wife's graduation, so there were 6 adults and 2 children, but not enough to be this slow. It was crazy.

So, we noticed the pattern of how long it took to get things, so we decided to order dessert to go while we were eating. The server goes, " I can't put your desserts in right not because the Brownie comes with ice cream and we're not allowed to hold dessert in the back once it's made." It was so strange to hear this! After we ate we ordered dessert to go and of course had to wait again. It was a mess. My family and I were visiting from Philadelphia, so we don't have to worry about this location, but geesssh! It's was a not great experience.

Btw, I'm a culinary student graduate, and I'd bet my last dollar that my Filet Mignon was not Filet Mignon. It was flavorful, but it was not what I paid for. They may have run out and given me what they had, but because I waited so long, I did not feel like the fuss.

I'm sorry, Outback, for this, but this was my experience.

Atmosphere: Extremely outdated and unkept.

Server: Nice but slow and not attentive.

Food:...