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Shrimp on the Barbie…

Wifeyâ„¢ and I went out to dinner this weekend at the new Outback Steakhouse that recently opened near the mall. We’ve only been to one of these places once before and decided to give it another try. Typically, we stick to our favorite places where we can get seated quickly and have dinner served promptly, but every now and then we like to try something different.

We arrived and there was already a group of people waiting outside—not a good sign, but we thought we’d see how long the wait would be before deciding. We walked up to the front door to be greeted by a guy taking names and handing out those vibrating buzzer things. We asked what the wait would be and both Wifeyâ„¢ and I heard, “fifteen minutes”. We repeated it and he shook his head, so we put our names down.

We patiently waited outside people watching and eavesdropping on conversations. One group that had just eaten, left the restaurant giving their own review of the service as, “they’re rude and untrained”. Not a good sign, but we figured that maybe they were hard to please.

Fifteen minutes passed and then twenty, and we decided to check on the status of our table. We asked the guy at the front door that took our order and he redirected us to a flurry of girls standing at the reception desk. At this point, we asked about the status of our table, that we’d been told “fifteen minutes” to which one of the girls in a frustrated tone responded, “FIFTY. FIVE. ZERO.” We explained again that we’d been told “fifteen” and again we were told, “NO. FIVE. ZERO.” Ugh.

At this point, we’d already been standing around for about twenty-five minutes, so to leave and go somewhere else would probably cost us more than twenty-five minutes. So we stuck around. They’d told us we’d be called in around 7:07PM. As my watch struck 7:07PM, we were called up. Seriously.

Our table was near the entrance—a bit cold because they kept opening the door up every five seconds. Wifeyâ„¢ and I quickly decided what we wanted to order, as we’d had FIVE ZERO minutes to look through their menu and make a decision. Our waiter, who looked very new and very unexperienced, took our drink and food orders and promised a bread tray while we waited. The drinks arrived, but no bread. In fact, we had to request the bread from the guy that came to refill our drinks and drop off our salads. And we didn’t see our waiter again until after our bread was gone and had been cleaned off our table.

The waiter finally arrives and let’s us know that he’s going to get us some bread. Erm. No need, we’ve already eaten it and it’s gone. Another fifteen minutes or so pass by as we chatted and people watched, and then the food finally arrives.

Wifeyâ„¢ ordered an Outback Griller, which looked like a skewer with your choice of filet, chicken, salmon or shrimp. It comes with grilled pineapple, whole grain wild rice, grilled veggies and, of course, the side salad. I ordered their Alice Springs Chicken dish, which was grilled chicken topped with bacon, honey mustard, mushrooms and Jack and Cheddar cheese. The menu also lists that it’s “served with aussie chips”.

As the server is serving the dishes to the table, we notice that mine doesn’t have any “aussie chips”, but just a piece of lonely chicken in the center of this large plate. Certainly someone would notice something missing. We brought this up to the server, pointing to the actual menu that read “served with aussie chips”. Her response seemed flustered and argumentative, “It’s optional, you have to ask for it.” Erm. So we asked, “What does ‘served with aussie chips’ mean then?” Again, “It means that… well, if you want them I’ll go get them”. Um. Well, I AM paying for them, so sure, I’d like what my whole meal, thankyouverymuch.

All this time, we still hadn’t seen our original waiter until after we’d been served. And when we explained the situation, he apologized and made up some excuse like “some people are limited”. Ooookay.

The meal itself was mediocre. The bill came to about $40, and both of our meals were tough to swallow. My chicken was tough and hard to cut through, even with a steak knife. Wifeyâ„¢’s meat was also tough and she had a hard time swallowing some of it. And after all of the hoopla surrounding the fries, when they arrived, it looked like the scraps from the bottom of the bag. Very few of the fries were larger than 3/4 of an inch and I actually had to eat them with my fork because they were so small. The Coke was tasty and the honey mustard sauce had a nice flavor.

Overall, our experience—food, service, ambiance—rated about a five out of ten, which is probably generous. Now, it could be opening pains, afterall, they have a brand new staff and a new location. However, as a chain restaurant, there’s an expectation that they’d have this under control at this point. Some people won’t ever go back after a bad experience, we’ve decided to give them a few months to work out the kinks and then try it once again. Of course, if it’s bad the second time around we won’t make it back for a third. There are better places to spend our money and it’s a bit of drive to have a mediocre meal.

Tags: outback+steakhouse, dining, food

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