Outback Steakhouse — Restaurant in Westlake

Not the bday experience i was hoping for. We reserved ahead of time, arrived at the time reseved for and waited about 7-10 mins till we were even greeted by someone, not because they were busy with other guests they were not at the hostess desk. The entire one 1/3 of the restaurant was closed off. After waiting an additional 20-30 mins we finally got seated at a small tiny booth. A couple was immediately seated next to us in a much bigger booth. We ordered our beverages and appetizer immediately. Th3 couple next to us ordered their food after our appetizer arrived. We got the loaded cheese fries and they honestly were not loaded. Side salad arrived missing the croutons. Took about 15-20 mins to get a refill of my pop. Waiting waiting waiting for our food. My daughter and I both ordered filets med rare. Our food finally arrived after about 40 mons from the time we ordered it. The couple next who ordered about 10-15 after us got there food immediately after our was recieved. Our food was Luke warm and the steak were cooked to well done and not med rare like requested, my side of shrimp also was forgotten. The manager had to come out and talk to the table in front of us the people across from them were also frustrated as they had been waiting for awhile and there meal still hadn't arrived. Both those tables ended up leaving due to slow service most likely due to being short staffed. The manager came over to check on us. He went back and recooked new steaks for us and put new shrimp on for me. Arrived at 810 seated at about 845 steaks had to be recooked and not recieved till almost 10pm which is the time they are supposed to close. Manager did give a complimentary dessert for my bday probably only cuz we had to wait. But it would have be nice if something would have been deducted off the bill due to the wait. We didn't leave till almost 1045. The recooked steaks were fresh and cooked perfectly but with the wait and them not cooked correctly the first time and the loaded fries not being loaded. It was a pretty disappointing bday meal. I was really disappointed in the slow service and the delay and remaking of our food but I did tip the waitress generously as she looked very exhausted and due to the fact two of her tables left before they even recieved there dinner. I may give this location one future try but kinda...

My girlfriend and I didn't have a particularly pleasant experience.

The waiter was friendly enough but clearly did not want to be there, to the point it was kind of depressing. The main issue for us personally though came down to the food.

Ordering two meals (which included.a protein of your choice, potato prepared as you'd prefer, and a salad - our choices anyway) and an appetizer of french fries with cheese on top came out to ~$65, so effectively $80 after tip. For what it's worth, she and I both had water to drink.

I don't mind paying $40/person for a meal, but if I'm paying that much money, I expect to be a little bit impressed, or at least leaving with a smile on my face and thinking "man, that was great".

We were sat at a table that didn't even have enough space to hold all of our plates, despite 50-60% of the restaurant being empty at 6pm on a Sunday; our server clearly didn't want to be there, but that said, he's just doing his job, and I'm sure it can be hard to stay positive in a situation as such; but most importantly, our $40/person meals weren't all that great.

My girlfriend got the pork chop and said it was fine, but the appetizer of french fries covered in cheese was 3/5, the steak I ordered was honestly hard to eat even with all of their seasoning 2/5, and the baked potato I ordered tasted rancant, although I couldn't figure out exactly why or what on it had expired.

I used to come here often with my family and would have easily rated it 5 stars, but taking my girlfriend to a place I thought would leave a good impression on her and having such experience was awful.

2/5, would not recommend. Plenty of better and cheaper options nearby.

EDIT:

Since posting this, I received the response you see below, a phone call from one of their managers, and an email followup from a different manager that's regional.

I am blown away by their customer service efforts to resolve this. They additionally sent me a very generous care package, handwritten and all.

Review has changed from 2-4 stars as a result of exemplary customer service. Can't say I've seen anything like it after the fact in a very long time.

I appreciate your responses, follow-up, and care...

If I could give 0 stars, I would. We went out to celebrate my mother’s birthday and my mother in laws birthday this past weekend and put our names down for the waitlist for 6:30pm (we put the names down around opening time). We only got sat down at 7:15-7:20. We then were told they were out of prime rib which was the main reason we chose Outback for dinner. We ordered drinks and my sister in law ordered an Arnold Palmer. The waitress left and came back and told us were out of lemonade so they couldn’t make an Arnold Palmer. I ordered a Sangria which was good, and I went to give my mom a sip when I noticed a long blonde hair deep into my drink. I knew it wasn’t any of my family as we all have black hair and my mother in law has short blonde hair. I was immediately grossed out and complained to the waitress which she apologized and made a new drink. Our food took too long to come out. We placed our orders fairly quickly including an appetizer which was placed with the drink orders. It took about 30 min for a bloomin onion and we waited over an hour for all our entrees. We had to wait about 30-45 min for us to get silverware as well. Most of our dishes were too salty, but we were so hungry by the time we got our food, we didn’t complain. We received our food by 8:30pm. My mom was missing some of her dish and my dish was not cooked all the way I requested as well as it being cold. Again, we ate it as it had been almost two hours we had been at Outback (6:20ish arrival). Once the bill, I saw that we were still charged for the drink with the hair in it. I asked the waitress about having the drink comped and was met with “We remade it for you” and no sympathy. I was dumbfounded as remaking the drink is what they should do for a hair in it, and comping it is the least they should do for the drink. They was also no acknowledgment as to the long wait for any of food. I will never come back here again and was extremely disappointed as my parents drove out of state to celebrate combined birthdays with us, and the dinner and experience was way less...