Anyone disappointed in Outback lately?

[bicker]

I just posted this reply in the other current customer service thread... you might want to follow the link back to TaraLee4's full message, as it contained a lot of very relevant info...

on my own little vent...i don't understand how anyone at a corporate level could think for a minute that ANY restaurant could operate on a Saturday night with ONE cook. completely absurd. and yet, my district manager and regional director think this is completely okay. GRR.

It often goes deeper. Why would a corporate manager put that forward? Because the directors of the company pushed specific financial expectations on the manager? Why did the directors of the company do that? Because investors want quarterly returns even in this economy? Why do they want that? Because the economy sucks and they see their comfortable retirements circling the drain.

In the end, root cause of the "blame" for things like this is always very widely distributed over the practically everyone in the general public. Ranting is cathartic, in some ways, but it poisons us in other. Some people begin believing their rants -- begin believing that the people and companies that they rant against really are either evil or idiotic, when nothing could be further from the truth. They are often doing their job as well as they can be expected to in light of the circumstances they are forced to do it.

 

[Jennabeth]

We've noticed this too. Outback used to be our "we deserve a nice meal" restaurant. Lately we've noticed the kid's portions are half their size but the same price. We used to get 3 meals out of my dd's mac & cheese, now it's 1 1/2. My dh ordered the rib-eye last weekend and it was nasty. A very thin cut with lots of fat on the edge. He said it tasted okay, but not $18 okay. I don't go there for the steak, I go for the bread and salad and I order the smallest steak. If I want good steak, I grill it myself.

We've recently started going to Texas Roadhouse. They have the best prime rib I've ever had. When we first went there a year ago, the place was dead. Now it's very busy, I think word is getting out and a lot more people are getting frustrated with Outback.

 

[2BigKIdz]

We used to love Outback as well but ours began declining several years ago and we rarely go there anymore. I did pick up Victoria's filet on the way to work about a month ago because I had a gc, and the server brought me a $10 gift certificate and their new menu for my next visit. The prices went up, the same steak I picked up that night went up $3 on the new menu. I make a much better steak at home for a lot less money. I can even make cheese fries with Outback ranch at home which is one of our favorite things from there.

I thought it was just our local Outback but apparently not with all of these replies. The last time we dined in was the beginning of January. The service was horrible and the waitress was actually a girl I went to HS with and has been an excellent waitress for many years. I guess they have cut back on wait staff and this was a Friday night so it was packed, we don't have many places to choose from here.

We also loved Firebirds Rocky Mountain Grill, but their prices have gone up as well and the steak last time was not good at all so we have crossed that off our list of places we enjoy as well.

I do like Bonefish, I just love their bang-bang shrimp.

 

[IluvKingLouis]

I sent this threads URL to Outback Corporate. They had the local manager call to see what he could do. I had mostly hoped that Corporate would "get" that there's a problem that is not created at the local level.

One thing I did learn, is that I can still order the early bird menu items. And they will make the Ahi salad per request. Now this might just be our local manager, but it might be a good idea to ask.

Oh, and he said they would still do shrimp on the barbie (per request). We'll give them one more try.

I will add, that I thought their new wedge salad was awesome.

 

[legalsea]

We actually stopped going to Outback a few years back because we did not like the waiter sliding into the booth next to me or my wife. At our first visit we thought it was simply that one waiter; however, over the next few visits each time we sat at a booth the waiter would come up, greet us like relatives that owe him money and have come to pay, and sit down next to us.

We finally decided it was a 'friendly' thing the restaurant pushed the waiters to do. The last straw was once while we were eating our entree; the waiter comes over, slides into the booth next to my wife, and starts asking how everything was. I immediately told him to get up and never sit down uninvited again (my wife is prone to anxiety and fears strangers as it is).

 

[SydneyBristow]

Yes, seriously. I was charged for tap water at the Outback's in Clermont, FL.

Same Outback I got the hairy cheese fries from.

 

[SnowWtch]

DH went with his parents Friday night to our local Outback and it was one of the worst meals he's ever eaten. They did away with the french onion soup, one of his shrimp still had legs on it and they changed the seasonings, then they burnt his square steak to the point that he couldn't cut it and he had to send it back. He said all the steaks were square like someone took a big one and just cut it up. Needless to say, they're not going back there again. That's sad b/c we had just rediscovered it and were going there for french onion soup and salad a lot.

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

We actually stopped going to Outback a few years back because we did not like the waiter sliding into the booth next to me or my wife. At our first visit we thought it was simply that one waiter; however, over the next few visits each time we sat at a booth the waiter would come up, greet us like relatives that owe him money and have come to pay, and sit down next to us.

We finally decided it was a 'friendly' thing the restaurant pushed the waiters to do. The last straw was once while we were eating our entree; the waiter comes over, slides into the booth next to my wife, and starts asking how everything was. I immediately told him to get up and never sit down uninvited again (my wife is prone to anxiety and fears strangers as it is).

I would have just said, that since he is so friendly and now part of the family, that he should pick up the check, and that you don't tip family for doing favors like bringing food!


hehehehehehe

 

[Muushka]

I sent this threads URL to Outback Corporate. They had the local manager call to see what he could do. I had mostly hoped that Corporate would "get" that there's a problem that is not created at the local level.

One thing I did learn, is that I can still order the early bird menu items. And they will make the Ahi salad per request. Now this might just be our local manager, but it might be a good idea to ask.

Oh, and he said they would still do shrimp on the barbie (per request). We'll give them one more try.

I will add, that I thought their new wedge salad was awesome.

Interesting.

For Outback execs, my cockroach incident was in Durham, NC.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I sent this threads URL to Outback Corporate. They had the local manager call to see what he could do. I had mostly hoped that Corporate would "get" that there's a problem that is not created at the local level.

One thing I did learn, is that I can still order the early bird menu items. And they will make the Ahi salad per request. Now this might just be our local manager, but it might be a good idea to ask.

Oh, and he said they would still do shrimp on the barbie (per request). We'll give them one more try.

I will add, that I thought their new wedge salad was awesome.

Just a heads up, I got an e-mail from Outback today. I get one from them once in a blue moon. They have a new menu, 15 under $15 starting at $9.95. I haven't had a chance to look at it, but the descriptions sound better than what they had.