# Has anyone ever been to an "Outback Steakhouse"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 1, 2001, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830 "2001-07-01T09:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/41 "2001-07-01T22:24:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > \*\*I’ve eaten at Outbacks a couple of times. Not bad, not great… I honestly don’t understand why there’s always a line of folks waiting to get in. Then again, I can’t think of a single restaurant where I’ll wait 90+ minutes to be seated. > > OK, so I’m a grouchy old lady. So sue me… > > 😃 \*\* Make that two grouchy old ladies, then, FCM! I have eaten there a few times. On a scale of 1 to 10, I might give it a 5. But I wouldn’t wait in line longer than ten minutes unless Tom Selleck was going to be waiting on me in person…nude. I personally prefer Logan’s Roadhouse for my steak. Their prices are much better, and they give you a ton of food. Also, their atmosphere is more fun, and you can toss peanut shells on the ground, which is always a sure-fire way to keep the kids’ attention. Even if there is a line for waiting, it’s always been fast. ---
**Author:** ![cykrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@cykrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cykrider)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/42 "2001-07-01T22:26:05Z")
I’m a big steak eater and I think it’s a really good place to eat. I’ve had alot of friends work their and they make pretty good money. I’ll probably end up working at one of them someday too. Oh, and if you really like steak, here’s the inside info on Outback: Some wont admit to it, but they have an off-the-menu 35oz. Ribeye for about $35. Just ask for the BFR (Big F\*cking Ribeye) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/43 "2001-07-01T22:39:25Z")
[http://www.topsecretrecipes.com](http://www.topsecretrecipes.com) has the recipe for the bloomin’ onion, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/44 "2001-07-01T23:25:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SilkyThreat \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > > \*\* Then again, I can’t think of a single restaurant where I’ll wait 90+ minutes to be seated. > > > > OK, so I’m a grouchy old lady. So sue me… > > > > 😃 \*\* > > Make that two grouchy old ladies, then, FCM! \*\* One more grouchy old broad 😃 I love the place, and I won’t wait more than 5 minutes. If I can’t get there early enough to beat the crowds, I’ll order to go, or go somewhere else. When I go out to eat, I hate waiting for a table, no matter where it is. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/45 "2001-07-01T23:45:18Z")
We have Lone Star restaurants here in Sydney - thing to write home about. It cracked me up that according to the newspaper article there isn’t a meat pie, a Chiko Roll™, or pavlova in sight at the Outback Steak Houses. It also said that the portions are huge. Most of the US chains have pretty annoying ads. Mc Donalds stand out as the major offender (thank the goddess we’ve been spared Taco Bell ads to date). My favourite ever US chain was Sizzler - the food was excellent, the price reasonable, and the service impeccable. As far as I know, Cascade is still Cascade - although the article said the only “Australian” beer available at The Outback Steakhouse was Fosters (which is neither Australian, nor beer). ---
**Author:** ![blur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dbc845/32.png) [@blur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blur)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/46 "2001-07-02T00:23:36Z")
I’m not really a fan of Outback. I’ve eaten there a couple of times while away on business, and wasn’t impressed by any of them. ---
**Author:** ![cykrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@cykrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cykrider)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/47 "2001-07-02T00:26:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by reprise \* > \*\*We have Lone Star restaurants here in Sydney - thing to write home about. > \*\* Yeah! Lone Star is the best! (I’m a server there :D) ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/48 "2001-07-02T00:51:31Z")
I have eaten at Outback many times. I have enjoyed the food and the service. Once my prime rib (which I love) was under cooked. The waitress got the manager (without me asking) and he proceeded to provide me with a new meal! Never mind that I had devoured the potato already, but a fresh new plate with some of the tastiest prime rib I had had in ages. From the Bloomin’ Onion to the salad to the potato and a bit of the prime rib I was already full so I had dinner the next evening. I love the Bloomin Onion and have a recipe for it so I plan on making some soon for a family gathering. Anyhow, I never think of it as an Aussie place but a theme restaurant with good food and good service. Oh and yes the commercials are better left on the cutting floor. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/49 "2001-07-02T01:34:29Z")
Of the chain steakhouses I’ve been to, The Outback is my favorite. I feel silly ordering anything with a stupid faux-Aussie name. But their seasonings are good, and the Aussie crap can readily be ignored. On the Bloomin’ Onion, I’m of two minds. The first time I had one, it was heavenly. When I tried to have some of the leftovers, it was a greazy ball of crap. Now even the fresh ones seem like greazy balls of crap. It’s kind of like Krispy Kreme in that reguard. When you first try them, fresh and hot, they’re ambrosia. Then you spend the rest of your life failing to recapture that sensation. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/50 "2001-07-02T02:06:33Z")
Amati said … > [@](#): > > \*\* > 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 don’t think the United States has a monopoly on the creative romanticization of a culture in conceiving a restaurant theme. There’s a chain on diners in Australia called **Route 66** , or so I’ve heard. The chain is Australia-based, but American-themed. Several years ago, I read a newspaper article about South Africa’s emergence from apartheid, and the day-to-day lives of the white middle class there. Apparently, United States-themed restaurants are a big thing in the sprawling 'burbs of Johannesburg. The article, much as what was described in the Herald-Sun, focused on the “not completely grasping the concept” aspect of the chains. One had waitrons wearing football jerseys with inaccurate colors; i.e. a Buffalo Bills logo on a jersey with Miami Dolphins colors, for instance. Restaurants often combined cliche elements such as Elvis, baseball, the Wild West, and big cars with strange results. Dishes with names like “Cleveland Chips” and “Baltimore Braai” were common, as were old license plates on the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/51 "2001-07-02T03:04:50Z")
WTF’s a cheese fry when it’s at home? Blooming onions sound very American too. And Chocolate Thunder from Downunder? That sounds like a virulent attack of diarrhoea. Wishbone, Australian cooking is pretty multicultural but we’re certainly not US clones ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/52 "2001-07-02T03:59:51Z")
We were in Tenerife (Canary Islands) and down the hill from where we were staying was a bar called “Mississippi”. They had no clue about the name, but got excited when I showed them my driver’s license. I like **Outback** and it has many other things on the menu besides steak. I love the salad, but the sweet potato is too sweet. Good drinks! And the Fosters they serve comes from Canada for all that information is worth. What I hate is the long lines, so we don’t eat there very often. ---
**Author:** ![Mats\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@Mats\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mats_K)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/53 "2001-07-02T04:51:54Z")
Cascade and James Boag’s are two different beers, both brewed in Tasmania (although I think that Carlton & United Breweries own both names). The article also mentioned that: \*The chain was started in Tampa, Florida, by two Americans. \*They don’t use Australian produce. \*They try to stay away from big cities. And… why don’t they serve VB?? Now that’s a crime 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/54 "2001-07-02T14:26:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Weirddave_: > Personally, I think Outback is the best place to get steak without moving up to the Ruth’s Chris, Mortons of Chicago bracket, where the steaks are undenyably much better, but $50 will feed one person, not 3. **Dave** , have you ever been to Tom Sarris’ Orleans House? Good prime rib and salad bar for $12. ---
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/55 "2001-07-02T16:02:58Z")
What, you mean Outback _ **isn’t** _ a true representation of what life is like Down Under? Next you’ll be telling me Foster’s isn’t REALLY Australian for beer… 😉 My brother spent a semester down there and he told us about all the :rolleyes:s he got when talking about Outback Steakhouses. We like eating there and will put up with a wait by sitting at the bar and appreciating a twenty-ounce glass of Newcastle. We both like the Blooming Onion, but haven’t gotten one since sometime last year because neither onions nor fried grease are sitting well on Mrs. Tygr’s expectant tummy. I love the steaks and the seasoning they put on them, plus the fact that they’re about an inch thick - Makes it perfect for medium-rare. In fact, that has been a problem for Mrs. Tygr, because she takes hers medium well and has had it come undercooked a couple of times. But this most recent trip, they offered to butterfly it for her. She raved about how great it tasted. They’ve got a great Caesar salad with a lot of spice in it, though no olives. And I always get the sweet potato, because it doubles as dessert! **Mats K** : Y’know, you could _send_ some VB here… That’s one thing my brother enthusiastically praised from down there. Got me verrrry interested in trying some. (hinthinthint) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SilkyThreat \* > **Logan’s Roadhouse …you can toss peanut shells on the ground** Actually, you USED to be able to do that at Lone Star Steakhouse, until some idjit pulled a slip-fall-and-sue. Now they don’t even offer peanuts. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sengkelat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/56 "2001-07-02T16:30:12Z")
I like Outback Steakhouse. It’s one of the few places that makes steak that’s as good or better than the ones I make at home. The Melbourne (20 oz. porterhouse) is just right. Although recently my wife and I have been splitting it; it’s still enough food and it’s cheap that way. It’d be neat (and totally impractical) if they could import the waitstaff from Australia. I want to hear the accents. Heck, the waitresses they have can’t even pronouce “Melbourne” properly. The food is definitely not the same as the food I had in Australia. I visited Queensland, and every steak I had was tough, tough, tough. (Probably 'cause they’re brahma cows) Outback Steakhouse doesn’t use nasty Australian beef. It would be nice to see meat pies on the menu, and pavlova as well…yum! ---
**Author:** ![caircair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@caircair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caircair)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/57 "2001-07-02T18:33:44Z")
Spouse and I haven’t been to one – yet! Last couple times we tried, the line was huge and the wait time was at least 1/2 hour. We are definately going, though. And after reading these posts, I’d say I’m seeing more favorable than unfavorable comments. No, it’s probably not “authentic” but as long as the food’s good, who cares? Mostly, though, Spouse wants to check it out because he’s looking at purchasing some of the company stock. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/58 "2001-07-02T18:59:48Z")
Add me to the grouchy old lady pile. I have come to the age where I really don’t give a flying flip about the atmosphere, I don’t care if the food is authentic or not. We went to Outback once and vowed never to return. The steaks weren’t that good and the service was lousy. Of course, we were accompanied by our three kids, aged 12,10 and 4 at the time, and had waited like an hour to get in. Ruth’s Chris didn’t strike me either, I’ve had better steaks at home. ---
**Author:** ![big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_yellow_kingswood)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/59 "2001-07-03T03:57:34Z")
I’ve just spent a few minutes looking over the menu. What’s a shrimp? surely they could have said “prawn”. A small detail, but an important one… As has been mentioned there are many major faults with this menu… no meat pies (forget your steaks, pies are proper food!), pavlovas, lamingtons, milo, the list goes on. VB is essential. It is, however, good to see that the wines they have are slightly decent. I’ve been thinking about a few authentic names that they could have used (although most of them are trademarked): The Dame Edna (obviously a desert of some description… I’m seeing strawberries and passionfruit involved) The Victa (Pie’n’Peas) Hills-Hoist (vegetarian) The Mighty Kingswood (a 1 kilo steak…) Any other suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Mats\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@Mats\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mats_K)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830/60 "2001-07-03T04:49:33Z")
Good stuff, Kingswood. How about: The Great Ocean RoadKill (1kg of kangaroo) The Holden Commodore VX SS V8 Optimax Rocketfuel (a cocktail of whatever is behind the bar) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-to-an-outback-steakhouse/70830.md?page=4)