I’m not sure if this is supposed to be here or IMHO, but anyways…
I was reading the Herald-Sun this morning (a Melbourne publication) and came across an article about these franchises popping up all around the U.S. I liked some of the names on the menu:
Jackaroo Chops
Melbourne porterhouse
Botany Bay fish o’ the day
Chocolate Thunder Down Under
What a crackup… Are these places really as tacky as they sound?
Got the same article here :).
we got those damn things all over the place. and their f*ing commercials! judging by them, you must be on your laptop while at the beach barbequeing and doing the limbo, right? let me ask you something, do you have really annoying commercials for american themed companies (ok, i have never heard of such a thing myself, but obviously it’s news in australia that there’s australian stuff going on here, so who knows?) yea, i ate there. wtf is with the “bloomin’ onion” anyway?
I hate all that corporate bullshit yadda yadda, but the commercial was funny…the first time. The one where the kid gets a barbeque sauce noogie. Though, not as funny, IMO, as the Mike’s Hard Lemonade ads.
What are the commercials like?
Re: Annoying American Stereotype commercials, I’m sure there have been a few, but none come to mind right now… Can any other Aussies remember any?
Bloomin’ onion haha yeah they mentioned that. It’s an “outback Aboriginal”!!(??) Didn’t ya know??
they play this horrible song sung in a bad australian accent while showing people bbqing on the beach at night with tiki torches and beer and limbo. it’s indescribably bad, really.
[bad music]Outback, Steakhouse\ blah blah blah, blah blah blah\ Outback, Steakhouse…[/bad music]
They do have good food, even if they give it a silly name trying to make it sound more “Australian”. I don’t think it’s tackier than any other theme resturant.
I don’t find it nearly as tacky as other theme restaurants I’ve been to. I like the food and eat there somewhat regularly.
I don’t find them overly tacky. At the same time, there are usually better restaurants in the towns I visit for work. For the most part Outback seems to have pretty basic food, nothing too fancy, and not too expensive.
Their website does have some tackiness issues, I think, but at least there’s no annoying music.
I’d say it’s a step above the typical chain restaraunt. I’m not a beef eater, so I can’t speak for the steak, but their chicken is some of the best I’ve had. Most people I know have only good things to say about Outback.
I dunno about the commercials, but God bless 'em!! Outback Steakhouse is one of the only places a white boy like me can get a good western meal here in the wilds of Seoul (deep inna heart of the Mysterious Orient)!
Here’s to them, I say!!
I love Korean food, but once in a while I needs me a big slab of colon-blocking red meat! Smothered in A-1 sauce, with a side of taters and other veggies…
Mmmmmmmmm…
Well, I’ve never been to an Outback Steakhouse, but lord knows I could; there’s one at every turn, seems like.
And the commercials really are annoying. If I were Australian, I would resent the hell out of it. And I’m just talking about the radio ads, which all are based on a stereotype that I think could best be described as Extremely Australian Dork. The TV ads are probably beyond imagining.
Heh … I remember asking this high school coach that I knew about Outback Steakhouse. His wife is Australian. I asked him if the restaurant bore any resemblance to Australian cooking. He just rolled his eyes.
I love Outback Steakhouse and I’m not afraid to admit it.
My husband and I, when we want to escape the pretentious, dirty, business of the city, drive out to almighty Schaumburg and eat at the Outback…and I mean eat.
Once I was so full that I actually lay down in the booth and closed my eyes. the waitress thought I’d passed out.
And the big, giant glasses of Fosters? Now that’s living.
jarbaby
Eaten there maybe twice, typical fried fare mostly and it can get kind of noisy and crowded. Nothing for Australia to be especially proud about, fortunately for them it got started here in W. Florida where the founders have their fingers in many community pies. The Outback Bowl in January routinely draws teams like Auburn, Penn State, Florida etc.
Their Mother’s day radio commercials are moderately endearing, starring what I call the “All-Exaggerated Australian Caricature Men’s Choir”: "Nao one ever loved ya like yer mum … mum … Even when she hit ya on yer bum … bum … "
I think that “Outback” really blossomed after the “Crocodile Dundee” movies. I don’t know whether they had already been around or that was the inspiration, but that’w when I first remember them.
I go their just about every week for the cheese fries, the best I (a true cheese fries connoisseur) have found.
Occasionally, I hear radio blurbs for Outback (typically announcing a special Sunday lunchtime opening for Easter, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day), and those are pretty bad. The guy speaks in a fake Aussie accent, and sometimes sings. Here are some lyrics to one song (done to a Men-at-Workish sorta tune):
Koala climb high to the tippy-tippy top,
Hungry for a taste that he just can’t stop.
Mmmm, blooming onion! Or, if you’ve got Lone Star Steak Houses near you instead of Outbacks, the Texas Tumbleweed. (I saw a bunch of cutters and packaged mixes at the grocery store recently for making it yourself.) It’s a great big onion (a vidalia, I’m pretty sure, though I’m not placing any bets) that’s been cut in segments, only not all the way down, so the layers and wedges spread out like a flower, and are still connected at the base. Then they batter and fry the whole thing, and serve it with this sauce–you pull off the “petals” and dip them in the sauce, and who needs steak after that?
Well, I do. Outback and Lonestar aren’t exactly five star, and are pretty tacky, but it takes talent to mess up grilling a steak.
Isn’t that one for TGIFriday’s? It is funny…the BBQ sauce noogie. Is the guy some celebrity I should know? I don’t get the other one, though, with the guy cutting up the other guy’s steak and asking for a boatload of napkins for “Mr. Sloppy”.
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I hate that one. All their ads are rather annoying.
But I do like their food. That cheesy/oniony soup (Walkabout Soup?) is really good. The Bloomin’ Onion (which has been copied by every other chain…Chili’s has the Awesome Blossom) is quite tasty.
Their steaks are always good, too.
I’m pretty sure most of their restaurants are franchises.
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Ha ha… I love the noogie commercial… And the star is Dan Patrick, I think he’s some kind of football guy (announcer, maybe?) and it is for TGIFriday’s.
Outback has really good food. My favorite thing, and I apologize to the Aussies of the board, is the “Alice Springs Chicken”. Basically, it’s a chicken sandwich, with bacon, ham, cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms on it. They put bbq sauce on it, and top it off with lettuce and tomato. It is SO good. Yeah, it’s kind of a schlocky restaurant, but not so much as some of the places that I have been.
And the bloomin’ onion??! I love this… Especially the sauce that they give you. I never really consider this an “Australian” restaurant, but they do have good food.
Outback Steakhouse is pretty good, if you like chain restaurants. I don’t eat there very often, because my husband prefers Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse, which, in my humble opinoin, is the exact same place, except it’s ‘Canadian’ and not ‘Australian’. They have a big anamatronic moose head that talks, some ‘mounted’ fish that will start flapping randomly, and talking pine tree. Classy, classy place.
Rose