Outback Steakhouse

I don’t get it. I’ve tried this place twice and both times I was totally underwhelmed. Doesn’t even compare to the Texas Roadhouse or even the cheap steaks at Ari’s Best Steak house down the road.
My brother and I got the Steak and endless shrimp. Shrimp were tasty, but refills are very slow coming. So although they are endless, you’ll leave before you get a refill because your butt starts aching in their awful benches they call booths. The steak was cooked med rare perfectly, but was devoid of flavor. Lame.
$ 3 for a Coke?
Server was very good. Nice girl, very attentive. Not her fault Outback sucks.

Quality food. Generally prompt service. Price is fair enough. Everything’s good, nothing’s great really. A local favorite, but a bit boring.

Great starters. I like bloomin onion and yummy chicken wings.
And I ordered grilled chicken sandwich ie ok

One of those places I choose like once every three to five years but friend wanted to go.
Service was very good.
Steaks where both good.
Sides /​Salads /​Bread — all good…
So why only an OK? .. . price to quality is only an OK here. .. I expect a $ 20+ steak dinner to be worth $ 20+ dinner — Outback is very very close to deliver that product /​value IMO. However. .. that is only OK. Needs to be good or better to bring me back more frequent and /​or give a better rating. There are better steak house nearby that do offer that. .. so that becomes a standard to compare the chain steak house to. There are better but this is OK

It’s been about 10 years since we’ve been to Outback for dinner and it was the sweet memory or coconut shrimp that lured us in tonight. We just choose not to frequent corporate dining rooms…
We ordered the coconut shrimp ASAP and that was as awesome as we remember it being and that dipping sauce they send out with it is astonishingly good.
We tried the much ballyhooed Pick 3 — soup/​salads, entrée with side, dessert. We both had the same thing. The chopped salad was OK but way over-​dressed; the sweet potatoes were perfect; my steak was sour-​tasting and had an odd odour to it. The problem was remedied without protest and in short order and the replacement steak was good.
They were out of one of two possible dessert selections but this too was handled to our satisfaction.
Our server was super-​friendly and professional, knowledgeable about the menu and gladly answered questions, and contributed much to our Outback experience.
It was an OK experience but its unlikely either of us will exclaim «let’s go to Outback!» soon.

Good steak. I’ve had better or you can say I make better steak.
Ribeye is good here. If it aint bleeding it’s not good steak.
Tuna Tataki is GREAT!!!
NOT RECOMMENDED:
Onion wedge, very salty, huge, oily and greasy. Seasoning is over 9000 !!!

There was definitely a change on Outback or a change in my taste about 6 months ago. I always had steaks (NY Strip, Porterhouse or Ribeye) whenever I came to Outback. Until one day… my wife let me try a piece of the Sirloin. I have not had a Sirloin at any steakhouse for along time. Much to my surprise, it was good and not chewy as I thought any sirloin would be. Another surprise was the sweet potato fries with honey glaze. It was amazing. Please let me know if there is another restaurant within 50 miles radius of Mpls/​St Paul area that has this dish. I would love to try it out. Anyway, for $ 9.99, you get 6 oz of sirloin and two sides. I do not think there is better deal than this. I let my wife persuaded me to have the 7 oz sirloin at Applebee’s. I would never be fooled like that again.

I have been to this Outback several times over the years when visiting my parents. Prior to this visit, I would give it 4 stars or so. What was noticeable this visit was a decline in the food quality, namely the steaks. I ordered the 6oz classic steak, my dad ordered the 9 oz classic. A friend ordered the 6 oz classic, medium well done. Her steak was nearly rare in the middle. Both my steak and my dad’s was filled with gristle, and impossible to chew. To the credit of the manager, when I asked to have my steak replaced he was right on it: I was offered a bowl of soup and well as replacement steamed veggies and a new steak (which was perfect). My dad just put up with the gristle. Kudos for customer service at this branch. Otherwise the veggies were done well, and the salads appeared smaller than prior visits.
It seems that the steak at this visit was just not up to par, which is disappointing with the cost of the food. We will bypass this Outback next time and eat elsewhere.

Well when we last went to Outback they informed us no more King Crab legs. I am so sad and will no longer have a reason to go there. Sounds like a corporate decision so pretty sure it will impact all locations.

While we were out picking up some new shoes at Maplewood Mall, my BF and I decided to stop for lunch. We had eaten at Outback before, and I wasn’t real impressed, but we decided to give it another try, since he was in the mood for a steak.
Our visit this time again wasn’t up to par. Maybe it is just me, but the food is all overly seasoned. Good steak doesn’t need a ton of pepper. Chicken and shrimp were also crusted with overpowering seasonings. My pasta was okay.
The service was pretty bad. The place was dead. We sat in the bar to watch the Twins game. About 6 staff members loitered around the bar, including our server, chatting and eating food. Yet we sat with empty drinks despite our table being in plain view of her. When the server returned to ask if we would like boxes, she snatched a french fry of a coworker’s plate on her way over. As she walked over, she stuck it in her mouth and began speaking to us as she continued to chew. Seriously… How unprofessional, gross, and hello– against health code!
Being a server myself, I may notice things about the service I receive that others may not, or may not be bothered by. But if you can’t give me top notch service when your restaurant is practically empty, I won’t be back to see what it’s like when it is busy.

Great food, consistent quality, decent service, and fair prices… what more can you ask for from a franchise restaurant? I love the steaks, salads, appetizers and cocktails! Check out happy hour for an even better price–

I would like to start off by saying hostess was friendly and we were seated pretty quickly. I asked the server what were her recommendations. I went with the Classic 9 oz steak, garlic potatoes, and salad. Everything was really good and was satisfied with my order. I really liked the fact that the server refilled my beverage before I even had a chance to ask. Overall good service and will come to this location again. The only thing I did not like was that we felt a little rushed to leave at the end by the server.

Had a $ 25 Gift card to spend here and original plans for dinner somewhere else foiled so just eating here worked out. Thought it was kinda weird that the hostess took two people to sit and told us we could go sit in bar seating, lol I was like, uhh, i think we will seat in the area you are seating them. Really strange.
Waitress comes over and scoots in and sits in the booth to take our order. hmmm weird, lol the kids thought so too. And the menu has definitely changed, although i haven’t eaten there in over a year, i could still notice its changed. The waitress said no it hadn’t, but then the says she has only worked there for like 3 months so its possible. At some point i guess she did ask around because she came back and told that yes it had changed 6 months ago or so.
I order a steak chop thingy with mash taters. (which i left my leftovers-​lunch at home this morning, and not too happy about it, lol) I asked if green beans came with it because i saw it listed on a few other choices but not this one, she said yes and sure enuf they bring it out and there are none. So i said, oh i guess they dint come with this meal, and the girl that dropped off the food said no, and i said well she said it did but that’s OK, But she said no, if she said yes, then yes, i will get you some. so yes they did bring them out. Our real waitress never mentioned the mistake to me when she came back at all though.
The kids had cheeseburger and a fish thing with dip. They ate it all so i guess it was good.
Overall, it was good.

This outback always has excellent service and great food!

I like the place but hey I don’t like that if you are a non-​smoker you get choked out at the outside dining area. If they can’t split that in half so everyone can enjoy a nice night outside, that get rid of it all together.
Non-​smokers should be able to eat outside without smelling like they’ve been smoking.
another issue, be careful ordering, when you order medium rare, it will generally come medium. Sent enough steaks back to know. :(

Outback Steakhouse turned out to be a good choice to take my sister out to dinner for her birthday.
My sister ordered a margarita and our sever asked if she wanted an extra shot of Tequila. She instantly became a fan and even had a second one. We know where to go from now on when we want a «great» margarita. My bil ordered two beers for one as it was their happy hour. He also ordered at the second round time for a total of four beers.
Dinner started with two loaves of dark, warm bread that was good.
On to the entrees: the ribeye steaks my husband and sister had were undoubtedly very tender and delicious. My sister had the french fries and veggies and they did her fine. My husband had ordered veggies and he said they were nicely buttered and and lightly steamed. My husband and I both ordered a side salad that was very good. I iordered the NY strip that had peppercorns and a brandy cream sauceand it came with roasted potato wedges. Everyone else scarfed the potatoaes down as I became full, but they only got to look at my steak wistfully. It should be noted that I can’t remember exactly what my bil had, but it was shrimp on top of something and he chowed on it. We realized that we were hungry but we would have found this food to be good no matter what!
In Chainland, this was hard to beat. Now to arrange another time to go back and try a couple of those Margarita’s myself…

I’ll start off by saying the I am not a fan of corporate restaurant chains and that I am a Chef, so I’m biased twice.
That being said, the Outback in Maplewood has never been a disappointment. They serve consistantly good food, have knowledgeable well trained servers and always provide a great value for the money.
Last night we went at 5:00pm. We always go at that time because the place gets packed quickly. Others are catching on to our scheme– by 5:30 there was a huge wait.
We started off with the ubiquitous blooming onion. What can I say? it was great. Grease and crunch are two of the basic food groups to me and this covers the bases nicely.
My wife had the lump crabmeat stuffed shrimp and adored them. I had the Ahi seared tuna. This is becoming a menu standard everywhere, but I think Outback’s is tops. The small is only like $ 5.95 and it’s 8 pieces of perfectly seared spice crusted ahi, presented beautifully on a long, thin heart of romaine. The tuna is chilled and while crusty on the edges, is bright red rare and creamy like butter in the middle. It’s accompanied by ginger soy sauce and wasabi vinaigrette. This is an amazing appetizer. For $ 8.95, the large could easily serve as an entrée.
I had the Wedge salad with Roasted Filet for an entrée. It was great! A crunchy fresh wedge of iceberg with blue cheese crumbles, bacon, grape tomatoes and rare roasted tenderloin on the side. It had an excellent Balsamic glaze and blue cheese dressing. It was one of the best salads I’ve ever had! The dressing was perfect– a thick goopy blue cheese would have hidden this salad’s light goodness.
My wife had a caesar for dinner, and she swears they have the best caesar in town. The garlicky dressing is perfect. It’s not too dressed, plenty of shredded parmesan and an icy chilled plate.
The kids had Fish and Chips and a burger. Both were done nicely. Nothing fancy, but like everything else, no flaws. I generally look down my nose at Tilapia– I consider it a cross between a sunfish and a carp– but this fish and chips was excellent!
This establishment is run by Steve Parr, who happens to be an old friend. I am completely unbiased as far as that goes– but Steve knows how to run a restaurant. His staff is well trained, the place is clean, and he works the room with care and respect to his customers.
Don’t let the corporate name fool you, this Outback is outstanding in every way.