Aus-some!
Written: Jun 24 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: delicious and hearty portions
Cons: no reservations, often a wait to be seated
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| ceylona's Full Review: Outback Steakhouse |
Ok, I've visited Australia--as far as I can tell there's no such thing as Australian food. Just Australian cooks cooking the same food you might find here. Well, not entirely true--I've eaten kangaroo in Australia, which I don't find in America. Nor do I find it at The Outback. A shame--it was wonderful. Regardless, The Outback is a fantastic steakhouse.
I demand a few things from a chain restaurant. The obvious--tasty food--tops the list. Coming in a close second is consistency in that tasty food! I want my favorite meal to be as good during my visit at The Outback in the neighboring town as it is in mine. And I want my meal to be cooked perfectly every time! One over-dry chicken entree may ruin me for life on that entree or even that restaurant. Also important are appetizer and entree selection, and portion size. Service, of course, matters, but I'll not rate that here, as I don't believe poor service is necessarily indicative of a bad restaurant chain. Just of a bad management at whichever one you're complaining of. Just for the record, I've always had good service here.
Everything I've tried at The Outback has been delicious. I'm addicted to the Bloomin Onion appetizer with it's light flaky breading and tangy sauce. Another appetizer, Shrimp on the Barbie, is so flavorful in it's spices that I don't hesitate to eat up the brown bread they are served on knowing the buttery, garlicky spice has soaked in! The Cheese Fries are piled amazingly high, and smothered in real cheeses (you'd better be a cheese lover if you order these, and expect not to finish unless there are 6 at the table).
The salads are either Caesar or Garden variety. The crispest lettuces are used and the portions are so big as to force me to eat only some to save room for my dinner. Sharing a salad would be a reasonable idea.
I often order the same entree--The Victoria Filet, cooked to medium pinkness--and each time it is cooked to just the right level of doneness that I've requested. It never tastes even slightly different than I remember (sometimes a feat when spicing food to never over or underspice). The beef is lean and approximately an inch or more in thickness for a 9 oz filet. I often order either a loaded baked potato or the steamed vegetables as sides. I'm very impressed with the veggies. The large chunks of broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and snap peas are never oversteamed to mushiness nor crunchy. They are very buttery flavored, maybe with a hint of lemon, I'm not sure and forever trying to guess, they are so delicious!
I'm also familiar with the prime rib, which is never served overly fatty as I've found at lesser restaurants. This comes in a choice of sizes, I believe 8, 12 or 16 oz. My husband often orders the largest, which is a plate filler and up to 2 inches thick!
The baby back ribs (cute Aussie name forgotten) have a great barbeque sauce--tangy and on the hot side, not overly sweet. The meat falls off the bone.
I've had the chicken Entrees as well, and they were good, but not overly memorable, therefore I won't tax my brain attempting to describe them. This is a steakhouse, and the steak is what I usually come for.
The Outback Steakhouse also offers a fresh catch of the day entree, pasta dishes, and I'm pretty sure a lamb entree. There are also more appetizers than I have mentioned. I've only talked about the foods that I've ordered and stand out in my mind. The desserts are delicious if you manage to have room. Often we don't.
As for atmosphere, expect noisy. This is a casual-dress, family restaurant that seems to encourage boisterousness. I think it's part of the Aussie theme. I don't mind, as I have a noisy infant. The last thing I want is to take him to a quiet restaurant! If you're looking for quiet, look elsewhere.
Other things of note:
There are no reservations at The Outback. It's seating as available when you get there, and it's not uncommon to wait 20-40 minutes to be seated in my area. For this reason we sometimes choose its take-out service. You call in your order, drive up, and a server brings your huge bag of food directly to your car! Nice touch, and no wait.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ceylona
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Location: Florida
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 8 members
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