Rant: Inconsistency at Outback Steak House.

Ted Campanelli said:

Needless to say, we will not be going back to that particular Outback
again and I am notifying the main office about what happened.

I had the same experience. I never had any desire to go to Outback's, but
my daughter and SIL treated me to dinner there. I was pleasantly surprised.
Enough so, I treated my neighbors a few weeks later. The same place and
this time it sucked severely! Never again.

As for notifying the head office, it's been my experience big chains
couldn't care less.

nb

notbob said:

Ted Campanelli said:

Needless to say, we will not be going back to that particular Outback
again and I am notifying the main office about what happened.

I had the same experience. I never had any desire to go to Outback's, but
my daughter and SIL treated me to dinner there. I was pleasantly surprised.
Enough so, I treated my neighbors a few weeks later. The same place and
this time it sucked severely! Never again.

As for notifying the head office, it's been my experience big chains
couldn't care less.

IMO: They're ususally in a state of upheaval and cut costs
at the restaurant level to justify their own bloated
salaries.

sf

Ted Campanelli said:

Last week my wife and I stopped at a local Outback for dinner.

First mistake. I have been talked into eating there a couple of times
- each time I literally pooped my pants. They claim they don't use MSG
- I have no doubt the do. Nasty place, it is.

-L.

Quoted message said:

Needless to say, we will not be going back to that particular Outback
again and I am notifying the main office about what happened.

I had a similar thing happen at a TGI Fridays and the manager comp'd my
whole meal I was invited to come back for another free meal. I never
did though beacuse I had three bad experiences in a row at two seperate
TGI Fridays and I just wrote the place off as awful. It wasn't nearly
as bad when I was in college or at least it seemed that way.

Chris

"Ted Campanelli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Last week my wife and I stopped at a local Outback for dinner. The
salads and soup were EXCELLENT. The steaks, not bad, but nothing to
write home about (we had the 14 oz rib eye - Rockhampton ?).

Tonight we stopped there again. The soup and salad were inedible due to
the excess of pepper and the steaks could have been used for resoling
the shoes (14 oz rib eye dome medium - dark pink in the middle).

When we complained we were told "We make our soups and salad dressings
from scratch. We use the same recipe and they do not vary from day to
day. I find it difficult to believe the steaks are tough. They are
choice cut and tenderized to insure they are not tough (don't ask me
what they 'tenderize' them with)." When I asked for replacements that
did not have all the pepper I was given a run around and FINALLY told
they would be replaced, but we would be charged for them. The same with
the steak.

We left. As we were leaving the manager said if we didn't pay he would
call the police. He got "quite perplexed" when I asked if he would like
my home address and phone to give to the police. Been 3 hours now and
no call from the police.

Needless to say, we will not be going back to that particular Outback
again and I am notifying the main office about what happened.

Wow...that's pretty bad. I've had service like that at Chevy's (which is why
I never go there anymore) but not at Outback. I've had problems there, don't
mistake me, but they were well handled by the manager when the time came.
For example, I ordered a strip medium. It came out well done. I informed the
server that it was overdone, and she argued, saying that she'd told me when
I ordered that it would have a dark pink center. I showed her the steak and
challenged her to show me any shade of pink. She stomped off with the steak
in hand and returned ten minutes later with the SAME STEAK. They'd cooked it
even more, and returned it to me. I laughed myself silly and in-between
gasps for air, requested the presence of the manager. He apologized
profusely and offered to personally make me another steak. He also offered
dessert for everyone at the table, and then proceeded to bring me 2 gift
certificates for $20 each. Now *that*, my friends, is a manager.

kimberly

Nexis said:

It came out well done. I informed the server that it was
overdone, and she argued, saying that she'd told me when I
ordered that it would have a dark pink center. I showed her
the steak and challenged her to show me any shade of pink. She
stomped off with the steak in hand and returned ten minutes
later with the SAME STEAK. They'd cooked it even more, and
returned it to me.

This would be illegal for them to do, at least in California.

Steve

On 9 Jan 2005 06:23:20 -0800, "Chris" <[email hidden]> connected
the dots and wrote:

~> Needless to say, we will not be going back to that particular
Outback
~> again and I am notifying the main office about what happened.
~
~I had a similar thing happen at a TGI Fridays and the manager comp'd
my
~whole meal I was invited to come back for another free meal. I never
~did though beacuse I had three bad experiences in a row at two
seperate
~TGI Fridays and I just wrote the place off as awful. It wasn't
nearly
~as bad when I was in college or at least it seemed that way.
~
~Chris

You mean back when you had a cast iron and chronically empty stomach
and hollow leg? Most food tastes good to the starving<G>.

We won a dinner for 4 at Outback, and while the food was ok, wouldn't
go back there. Not our style, the huge slab of meat/Aussie yammering.

I like Aussies, but these guys were a bad imitation.

maxine in ri

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005 12:56:19 -0800, "Nexis" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Wow...that's pretty bad. I've had service like that at Chevy's (which is why
I never go there anymore) but not at Outback. I've had problems there, don't
mistake me, but they were well handled by the manager when the time came.
For example, I ordered a strip medium. It came out well done.

Chevy's has steak? They have steak fajitas, but I'm not
aware of a true steak on the menu. My husband says that
they have a steak that we order at an El Salvadoran
restaurant (can't remember what it's called) that is
marinated in cilantro and a bunch of other stuff. It's very
thin, so we don't even try to tell them what "doneness" we
want - they cook it and we eat it. I usually order it with
grilled garlic shrimp (Salvadoran surf & turf), cut the
steak into strips and eat it with the shrimp rolled in a
tortilla. YUM!

Quoted message said:

I informed the
server that it was overdone, and she argued, saying that she'd told me when
I ordered that it would have a dark pink center. I showed her the steak and
challenged her to show me any shade of pink. She stomped off with the steak
in hand and returned ten minutes later with the SAME STEAK. They'd cooked it
even more, and returned it to me.

I think she (or the kitchen crew) was too used to people
complaining about the slightest bit of pink and ran on
automatic after that.

Quoted message said:

I laughed myself silly and in-between
gasps for air, requested the presence of the manager. He apologized
profusely and offered to personally make me another steak. He also offered
dessert for everyone at the table, and then proceeded to bring me 2 gift
certificates for $20 each. Now *that*, my friends, is a manager.

All's well that ends well!

Speaking of sending things back... don't get me started
about eggs benedict! My family cringes and always tries to
disuade me from ordering it when I see it on the menu,
because they know there's a good chance there will be a
"problem". Hey, why put it on your menu if you can't make
it right? I'm not even talking about the sauce (which is
usually wrong)... who on earth wants a HARD egg benedict?
SHEESH.

sf

"Steve Pope" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Nexis said:

It came out well done. I informed the server that it was
overdone, and she argued, saying that she'd told me when I
ordered that it would have a dark pink center. I showed her
the steak and challenged her to show me any shade of pink. She
stomped off with the steak in hand and returned ten minutes
later with the SAME STEAK. They'd cooked it even more, and
returned it to me.

This would be illegal for them to do, at least in California.

Steve

Why? Just curious...
It happened in California, in fact. San Diego, to be precise.
It's happened more than once there too, but not going from well to
leather...it was from rare to medium well.
kimberly

Quoted message said:

"sf" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005 12:56:19 -0800, "Nexis" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Wow...that's pretty bad. I've had service like that at Chevy's (which

is why

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I never go there anymore) but not at Outback. I've had problems there,

don't

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

mistake me, but they were well handled by the manager when the time

came.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

For example, I ordered a strip medium. It came out well done.

Chevy's has steak? They have steak fajitas, but I'm not
aware of a true steak on the menu. My husband says that
they have a steak that we order at an El Salvadoran
restaurant (can't remember what it's called) that is
marinated in cilantro and a bunch of other stuff. It's very
thin, so we don't even try to tell them what "doneness" we
want - they cook it and we eat it. I usually order it with
grilled garlic shrimp (Salvadoran surf & turf), cut the
steak into strips and eat it with the shrimp rolled in a
tortilla. YUM!

I was referring to service, not steak 🙂
Chevy's service, IMHO, sucks big time, at least 90% of the time. And the
salsa just isn't what it used to be.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I informed the
server that it was overdone, and she argued, saying that she'd told me

when

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I ordered that it would have a dark pink center. I showed her the steak

and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

challenged her to show me any shade of pink. She stomped off with the

steak

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

in hand and returned ten minutes later with the SAME STEAK. They'd

cooked it

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

even more, and returned it to me.

I think she (or the kitchen crew) was too used to people
complaining about the slightest bit of pink and ran on
automatic after that.

Probably, but not a very good excuse. She was just tuned out from the
beginning and it was all downhill from there.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I laughed myself silly and in-between
gasps for air, requested the presence of the manager. He apologized
profusely and offered to personally make me another steak. He also

offered

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

dessert for everyone at the table, and then proceeded to bring me 2

gift

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

certificates for $20 each. Now *that*, my friends, is a manager.

All's well that ends well!

Speaking of sending things back... don't get me started
about eggs benedict! My family cringes and always tries to
disuade me from ordering it when I see it on the menu,
because they know there's a good chance there will be a
"problem". Hey, why put it on your menu if you can't make
it right? I'm not even talking about the sauce (which is
usually wrong)... who on earth wants a HARD egg benedict?
SHEESH.

sf

LOL....you would get along with my husband...he shares your sentiments on
eggs benedict. He loves the dish, but can rarely find a decent version of it
in restaurants. The last time he did, it was a waffle place outside of Coos
Bay. Everything we had there was divine. The waffles, his eggs benedict, his
brothers omelet, all of it. And personally, I absolutely loved their triple
berry sauce that was served with the waffles and pancakes. Raspberries,
blackberries and strawberries. Yum!

kimberly

Nexis said:

"Steve Pope" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Nexis <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

She
stomped off with the steak in hand and returned ten minutes
later with the SAME STEAK. They'd cooked it even more, and
returned it to me.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This would be illegal for them to do, at least in California.

Quoted message said:

Why? Just curious...
It happened in California, in fact. San Diego, to be precise.
It's happened more than once there too, but not going from well to
leather...it was from rare to medium well.

Well, if they actually put it on the grill, and returned it,
then that is illegal because they cannot take food that has
been delivered to a table and then process it again in the kitchen.
They theory is that is has been out of their control. (When
they weren't looking, the customer may have sprinkled the
steak with poison or spores or something... or maybe they
coughed on it or touched it with their unwashed hands... and therefore
the restaurant risks infecting their other customers by doing this.)

Steve

Steve Pope said:

Nexis said:

"Steve Pope" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Nexis <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>She
>stomped off with the steak in hand and returned ten minutes
>later with the SAME STEAK. They'd cooked it even more, and
>returned it to me.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This would be illegal for them to do, at least in California.

Quoted message said:

Why? Just curious...
It happened in California, in fact. San Diego, to be precise.
It's happened more than once there too, but not going from well to
leather...it was from rare to medium well.

Well, if they actually put it on the grill, and returned it,
then that is illegal because they cannot take food that has
been delivered to a table and then process it again in the kitchen.
They theory is that is has been out of their control. (When
they weren't looking, the customer may have sprinkled the
steak with poison or spores or something... or maybe they
coughed on it or touched it with their unwashed hands... and therefore
the restaurant risks infecting their other customers by doing this.)

Steve

What happens when you cut a steak and it is not cooked enough? Are you
telling me they cook an entirely new steak? BS. Mine comes back with my
knife cut in it.

jim