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1/8/2012 4:37:39 PM

food sucks and is overpriced

1/8/2012 4:39:49 PM

I think it's pretty tasty TBH and people who hate it are deluding themselves. Not the best steaks I've ever had but a pretty good steak is still pretty awesome.

[Edited on January 8, 2012 at 4:41 PM. Reason : But my family has like 20 gift cards, so maybe if we ever had to pay I'd have a different opinion]

1/8/2012 4:40:07 PM

i eat there sometimes and don't complain about it

1/8/2012 4:40:43 PM

That bread is fucking delicious.

1/8/2012 4:41:54 PM

I love their green beans.

1/8/2012 4:43:05 PM

cheese fries mmm......

1/8/2012 4:45:35 PM

Quote :

"I think it's pretty tasty TBH and people who hate it are deluding themselves. Not the best steaks I've ever had but a pretty good steak is still pretty awesome"

That's my take on it too. For $10-$20, their steaks/sides are an excellent value.

1/8/2012 4:46:09 PM

Not high end food, but I don't think that is what they are shooting for. Good value on decent food.

Cheese fries and Bloomin' Onion are nom.

1/8/2012 4:48:56 PM

Tad over priced for pretty decent food. Nothing overly special, nothing overly terrible.

1/8/2012 4:52:41 PM

pretty good for a chain. But then again, steakhouses are a little bit of a weird category. You can easily make as good or better of a stake at your house.

1/8/2012 4:53:31 PM

I almost always get the Sirloin "Special" with veggies and a wedge salad. Very nomalicious for $14 or whatever.

1/8/2012 4:55:14 PM

its pretty good food, i got a curbside takeaway a couple weeks ago...steak, shrimp, baked potato

but there are people who think going to Outback is on par with going to Morton's or Ruth's Chris which its not

1/8/2012 4:55:54 PM

Quote :

"You can easily make as good or better of a stake at your house."

I can wash my car better than the place i take it...doesn't mean I want to do it all the time.

1/8/2012 4:56:42 PM

here are some stakes i made at my house

1/8/2012 4:58:54 PM

Ate there last night. Had the ribs, which were pretty good, along with the seared ahi tuna appetizer, which was delicious!

1/8/2012 4:59:11 PM

I like that brown bread they give you

but other than that, if the restaurant went under I wouldn't miss it

1/8/2012 5:03:46 PM

it's OK. my favorite thing to get is a baked potato and salad. steak & chicken dishes are mehh... the bloomin onion is fantabulous if you enjoy death by calories

1/8/2012 5:05:03 PM

My only complaint is that most of the time I go there is a 30-45 min wait for a table. I hate waiting for tables at places like outback, all the people milling around near the front door getting pissed off, etc. The food is decent but not worth waiting around for, obviously some people feel differently

1/8/2012 5:11:33 PM

It's a little pricey, but I like the convenience of having someone cook me a decent steak and pour a draft beer. I'm also a fan of their wedge salad and steamed broccoli.

1/8/2012 5:21:26 PM

Damn good food! Seasoned well. A bit overpriced.

1/8/2012 5:24:33 PM

One of my top 5 restaurants... love the wedge salad, bloomin onion, and alice springs chicken...
I'll usually get that or the ribs..

i'm not a big steak person so out of the ~100 times i've been there in my life, i've probably only gotten steak 5 times..

I hardly ever have to wait, but then again I eat dinner around 5-530 and call ahead anyway

1/8/2012 5:54:23 PM

Quote :

"My only complaint is that most of the time I go there is a 30-45 min wait for a table"

Eesh have you never heard of Call Ahead Seating? I've used that most whenever I've went, and can't remember ever waiting more than 5 mins.

Quote :

"It's a little pricey"

Quote :

"A bit overpriced."

Really? It's a great value, as many have confirmed in this thread. $14 bucks for a good (for the money) steak, and two sides, with good bread...pricey? See what $14 buys you anywhere else when it comes to steaks...i've never had anything that compares.

1/8/2012 6:06:49 PM

don't go to chains.

1/8/2012 6:08:34 PM

^ care to elaborate?

1/8/2012 6:09:14 PM

Foods typically bad; mediocre at best. Sure you get a lot for your money but I'd rather just cook the same at home for much cheaper. If I'm spending the time to go out and get food I'd rather go to someplace you can't find anywhere else where the food is actually good, the menu doesn't have 100 different items on it, and specials change based upon what the cook has in supply. Not to mention the quality of the food at places like this is questionable at best.

I'm not saying go out and spend $40 on a steak but there's almost always local restaurants that offer better food for similar prices.

Now if it's a matter of where you live then fine. I'd have to drive out of the way to find an Outback Steakhouse compared to the dozen or so better local restaurants in the area.

Plus if I'm going to go out and spend $20-30 on dinner I'd much rather support a local establishment where I know exactly where the money is going, the management lives in my neighborhood, and I get treated like an actual human being.

1/8/2012 6:17:33 PM

it's decent. i used to like going to Lonestar on wake forest road for a middle of the road steak, but they closed that location and the others seem to have gone downhill.

1/8/2012 6:18:29 PM

Good food for a "cheap" steak. Love the Wallaby Darned drink and the bread. Caesar salad is pretty good too.

1/8/2012 6:30:34 PM

If you view it as a "nice" restaurant, you'll be disappointed and are missing the point.

Sure, maybe there are some local restaurants that are better bang for the buck. There are plenty that are way worse, too. If you are somewhere that you aren't that familiar and want a sure thing, or if you live somewhere without one of those restaurants, then Outback makes sense.

I view it as a chain restaurant like a Chili's or Friday's or whatever, where I can spend a couple of bucks more than those places, but get much better food. Bonefish Grill is another one like this and probably an even better example.

1/8/2012 6:34:08 PM

if they wanted to class the place up a little, they'd stop serving chicken or sirloins

1/8/2012 6:38:18 PM

Bonefish is run by the same company that runs Outback.

Quote :

"Really? It's a great value, as many have confirmed in this thread. $14 bucks for a good (for the money) steak, and two sides, with good bread...pricey? See what $14 buys you anywhere else when it comes to steaks...i've never had anything that compares. "

it's a decent price for a steak, but they're typically $2-3 more expensive for the same dish I would get at Lone Star (when they were still in business) or Texas Roadhouse.

1/8/2012 6:39:19 PM

Lonestar was pretty good as I remember. There was a Texas Roadhouse in New Bern when I lived there...I went a couple of times, and it was fucking terrible. I mean, standout awful. I don't know if they were an exception or what, but I haven't been back to one since.

1/8/2012 6:49:37 PM

I think they over-salt their food but I really like their drover's platter - grilled bbq chicken breast and a rack of ribs + 2 sides for ~$13. not bad imo

1/8/2012 6:49:48 PM

^^^ also same company that runs flemings. So they already have a more high end steakhouse

[Edited on January 8, 2012 at 6:51 PM. Reason : .]

1/8/2012 6:51:26 PM

I love Outback!!!

But I don't eat there very often cause it always leaves me feeling stuffed and ripped off. But I really do love it.

1/8/2012 7:06:26 PM

Went there 6 years ago. My friend had a gift card. I enjoyed myself.

1/8/2012 8:46:03 PM

I don't particularly care for any steakhouse. I can do a steak much better on my own grill. Now there are times I don't want to go through the hassle of all the side items and we'll go to one, and generally they're all the same.

Meh.

1/8/2012 8:46:17 PM

It's a chain.

And their portions steadily decrease while prices steadily increase.

Fail.

1/8/2012 8:48:05 PM

Quote :

"Foods typically bad; mediocre at best"

You seem to stand nearly alone here...as far as this thread is concerned. It seems pretty short sighted to say the food is typically bad at most chains. Sure a lot of them do suck, but a lot of them are pretty decent too, especially some of the smaller regional chains go.

Quote :

"Sure you get a lot for your money but I'd rather just cook the same at home for much cheaper"

Some people like to go out to eat But bravo to you for being able to duplicate most chains food at your house for less on demand.

Quote :

"Not to mention the quality of the food at places like this is questionable at best. "

It really depends on what you mean by quality here. Sure the beef isn't grass fed or anything, but it's not advertised to be. The bread is damn good, veggies always fresh and crisp, and the steak (the one i order) is always tasty, for the price. They've got their formulas down, and it works pretty well imo. If you wanna talk about how the beef was farmed or if the veggies are organic or not you'd be in the minority of restaurant goers. Sure I go to local restaurants much more often than Outback or national chains, as I do like supporting local businesses, but for the occasional meal there it's pretty good imo.

Quote :

" but there's almost always local restaurants that offer better food for similar prices."

Fill me in...where can I go in Raleigh and spend $14ish bucks and get a better steak with 2 better sides?

Quote :

"I view it as a chain restaurant like a Chili's or Friday's or whatever, where I can spend a couple of bucks more than those places, but get much better food. "

Yep. I think when people are like RAWR RAWR RAWR CHAINS ARE SHITTY they should be referring to the Applebees, Friday's, Olive Gardens (a few may argue that one) and Chili's of the world, not Outback, Bonefish, Sullivan's, Alladin's Eatery (place near my house), Chipotles etc of the world. They're not all the same.

Quote :

" I can do a steak much better on my own grill. "

I don't see the need for people to continue pointing this out. Yes we can all cook better steaks at home than like every steakhouse in Raleigh (yes, some on this board have claimed this). Sometimes you don't always have the time, or are invited to a event dinner, or are on the road etc where that's not an option. If you always have that option available, bravo.

1/8/2012 9:31:09 PM

^ LOL. U MAD?

Which is exactly why I also said:

Quote :

"Now there are times I don't want to go through the hassle of all the side items and we'll go to one, and generally they're all the same."

Don't be an asshat.

[Edited on January 8, 2012 at 9:33 PM. Reason : *]

1/8/2012 9:33:11 PM

haha yeah i'm mad about an outback thread. you're not the only one who posted that...don't be so defensive

but seriously. bravo to all of us for our superior steak cooking abilities. let's move on.

1/8/2012 9:36:58 PM

Bravo to you for being a high and mighty... wait for it... ASSHAT.

1/8/2012 9:43:11 PM

I consider Outback to be pretty average. Since they are a steakhouse and beef is their specialty, I think they're stuff is better than the steak you get from Applebees, Ruby Tuesdays, etc. That said, it's not leaps and bounds better.

The wedge salad is money. I usually get a potato, and it's hard to screw that up. The onion is good, but when you try to be health conscious, you have to stay away. The bread doesn't blow me away..don't understand all the love. Affordability is meh. Sure, you can pay $14 and get a steak and two sides, but it's a sirloin. To get the better stuff (ribeye, t-bone, strip, filet), you have to pay more than that. At the price I'd have to pay to get the better cuts of beef, I'd rather get a steak myself from the store or pay extra and get something from Rey's or Sullivans.

I won't say that I can make a better steak at home. I feel that the best steaks are put together when you have broilers that can reach at least 700 degrees, and I don't have any tools that come close. That said, if I had the choice of a decently prepared sirloin from Outback versus an angus NY strip I picked up from Harris Teeter and cooked myself, I'd go with the strip. Maybe I've just had some bad sirloin steaks, but when I compare them to a t-bone or a ribeye, there's just no comparison.

1/8/2012 10:00:36 PM

Quote :

"Affordability is meh. Sure, you can pay $14 and get a steak and two sides, but it's a sirloin. "

In my experience when you pay $14 at restaurants/bars around town, you get what they call a "strip" but the quality and taste i worse than outback's sirloin. I truly would like to find a place in Raleigh that serves <$20 steak entrees that are worth a crap.

Quote :

"The wedge salad is money."

Yep. Blue cheese, onions, bacon, balsamic reduction, blue cheese crumbles. I think I'll start requesting the blue cheese dressing on the side, but it's pretty damn good.

Quote :

"pay extra and get something from Rey's or Sullivans. "

That's a lotta extra

1/8/2012 10:05:30 PM

^ If I wanted to pay around $20-$25 for some steak, I'd recommend the Peddler.

More often than not, I'm opting to get the $7.99 per lb ribeye from HT

[Edited on January 8, 2012 at 10:15 PM. Reason : .]

1/8/2012 10:10:45 PM

^ same here...though I'm usually a strip/filet kinda guy.

1/8/2012 10:12:32 PM

No thanks.

Don't really go to a lot of chains but if I was with some people who really wanted to go there I wouldn't make a pretentious fuss about it.

I would just quietly judge them and dream of tofu and Tecate.

1/8/2012 10:28:59 PM

Quote :

" It's a great value, as many have confirmed in this thread. $14 bucks for a good (for the money) steak, and two sides, with good bread...pricey? See what $14 buys you anywhere else when it comes to steaks...i've never had anything that compares. "

Five years ago, you could get a 9 oz. outback special (sirloin) for $9.99. Now they have a 6-oz. special for $9.99 and the 9 oz. is $13.99. I agree that compared to non-chain restaurants, this is a deal, but their price inflation over the last few years has been ridiculous.
Outback hit its peak a few years ago, and now they are just looking for ways to increase profits and be greedy.

[Edited on January 8, 2012 at 11:02 PM. Reason : :]

1/8/2012 11:01:25 PM

The only thing I like there are the cheese fries...which I can get somewhere else

so my thoughts are it sucks

1/8/2012 11:04:27 PM

Some chick on my FB feed got engaged at an outback not too long ago. Ring was hideous.

1/8/2012 11:07:30 PM