Like A Boomerang, I Keep Returning! Outback Steakhouse
Written: Sep 22 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Service, pre-meal noshing, main courses, reasonable prices.
Cons: Occasionally sub-par side dishes
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| driver4t5's Full Review: Outback Steakhouse |
Restaurants are one of the toughest rackets in which to be successful. Competition is cutthroat, fads are fickle, and one bad performance can destroy years of good will. One of the more phenomenal success stories has been Outback Steakhouse. Born around the time of the brief 1980s Australia fad that brought us such lasting fixtures as Yahoo Serious, the chain has grown to encompass virtually every metropolitan and quasi-metropolitan market and has even spun off an Italian Chain - Carrabba's. The success of Outback is no mistake and no fluke, yet their secrets remain largely unreplicated by the competition.
The mystique of the Outback nears that of McDonalds in that I will drive past a half dozen steakhouses to dine there. Every, and I mean EVERY Outback location I have entered (and this numbers over 20) anywhere near the dinner hour has a considerable wait for tables. Patrons are actually WILLING to wait for an hour or more to eat at what is not the fanciest or poshest restaurant in town. What IS it about this place? Why can't Lone Star, Longhorn, or Roadhouse compete?
The first secret - they understand their market. With the uppercrust restaurants, the food is a selling point, but the main reason for patronage is that it's an EVENT in itself. Nobody goes to Le Chateau Snobbeaux because they're famished and want to grab a bite. The other end of the spectrum is McDonald's, Wendy's or KFC where it's largely a case of stuffing face. In the vast gap between is a spectrum of restaurants that are a step up from the feeding troughs, yet make no pretentions about being fine gourmet dining. The average patron wants to feel more upscale than at White Castle, however, they're usually near starvation and want SOME form of instant gratification while waiting for the main event.
Outback capitalizes where other restaurants slack off. Many mid-level establishments either commit the sins of inadequate preliminary food or worse, none at all. Many of us have slogged through tepid bowls of soup, bland and tasteless salads complete with a plastic carafe of institution-grade dressing, or a box of crackers and melba toast that was served to us while waiting for the main course. The Outback instead serves up a hot loaf of pumpernickel bread and has the foresight to include a salad with most of their meals (you baby-back rib-lovers have to order this separate, alas), and the salad by NO means is an afterthought! Besides lettuce and tomatoes, they add onions, cucumbers, croutons, and probably the most critical, two kinds of cheeses on top. The cheeses really set the salads at the Outback apart from the competition. Amazing what 5 cents worth of topping can do! They also serve these up within 5 minutes of taking the order so there is little downtime. The instant cravings can be satisfied while the order is being prepared.
In addition to what is included with the meals, several tasty appetizers are available. As nutritionally void as the Bloomin' Onion is, I can't resist ordering one if I'm in a party of more than two. I haven't even made it to the other items, such as the mushrooms or the cheese sticks, which also looked excellent. I can't peel myself away from that onion.
The next secret is that the dinners are well-prepared and top-notch. Beef dominates the menu, but there are also some chicken dishes available. The menu isn't particularly vegetarian-friendly, then what the hell's a vegetarian doing in a steakhouse? Get your tofu elsewhere, and leave this lone bastion of politically incorrect, artery-clogging red meat to those of us who revere such fare! Uh, got carried away, mate. Anyway, vegetarians CAN make do with the salads, which they should find to their liking. Steaks are primarily sirloins and filets. They're not on the grade of Ruth's Chris, but they do come out juicy, well-seasoned, and tender enough. The baby back ribs are also excellent despite no free salad (hint, mates!). I have tried their chicken twice - Alice Springs, I believe - and found it to be good, but when I go to the Outback I have a steak or rib mentality so rarely do I cross over to the chicken coop.
If the Outback does have an Achilles Heel, it would be the side dishes. While usually palatable, occasionally I get a bad spud or the cinnamon apples that accompany the ribs are too sweet. When the potato is right, though, it can't be beat. They roll the exterior with salt and I eat it skin and all.
All is not perfect down under. I have noticed that the portions have been creeping slightly downward in size, particularly the side dishes. It's not readily noticeable since I generally stuff myself with bread and salad before being served. Nevertheless I have detected this by sight and by stomach as I used to be unable to finish a meal and salad in the past. Now I can plow through all of that as well as a complete loaf of bread. Another thing I noted is that the steaks have followed the unfortunate societal trend of "dumbing down". In other words, they cut back on the seasoning they used to put on the steak, apparently to appease the sensitive crowd. I hate when a restaurant steps away from something that helped make it work in the first place. This, fortunately has a workaround. Just tell the server to have the cooks add extra seasoning to the steak. I have noticed this works 4 out of 5 times.
Service is almost always friendly and despite the crowds, expedient. Waits are long anywhere near the dinner hour. To beat this, either arrive before 5 PM or scrounge for a table on or near the bar, which is first-come, first-serve. I have saved many a wait by going to the bar.
The hours of operation are a bit odd as they only serve dinner. This is a deliberate move as generally lunches are either break-even or loss-leader items to entice patrons to come in for dinner. Apparently this old-line strategy is not necessary as full houses at the Outback can attest.
I have dined over 100 times at this restaurant, and while there's been the occasional rude waiter or misprepared item, on the whole the experiences have been highly pleasurable and the food and service remarkably consistent throughout the various locales. I continue to drive past Longhorn, Lone Star, etc. to take another stab at the Outback. Is it the fanciest in town? No, but you CAN bring a date here. Is it the quickest? No, although the bar IS available. Is it the best bang for the mid-level buck? Oh yeah!
This is Epinion #100 for me. I thought about some kind of "General Comments" look-at-me epinion to mark this. Thought about it a little more, though, and realized that I do many of my celebrations at The Outback, so what more appropriate category in which to celebrate this little milestone?
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
driver4t5
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Jon Harney
Location: Lake Mary, FL
Reviews written: 147
Trusted by: 223 members
About Me:
2000 - 2001 Epinions Fixture...Now living off of my Eroyalties Millions
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