Busting my Outback cherry

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
From what I can tell, there must be major quality differences between Outbacks. I've only been to two and food was decent but not great. Not where I would choose to eat steak, but not terrible.

Try the sirloin. At least, if it's not that great you didn't spend as much as you would with the filet.

And I'm pretty sure "Buca di Bepo" is italian for "We're just a little better then Olive Garden"

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I don't like Buca at all. I think Olive Garden, however is pretty good and really good value.

[RiverTheNuts]

what the [censored] is up with everyone hating on outback, is that the cool thing to do nowadays?

I like the bloomin onion, the bread, the salad, the loaded baked potato, and a fat steak cooked medium rare.

So yea, Bloomin onion followed by 12 ounce special with mustard viniagarette salad, loaded baked potato, and medium rare steak

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
Everyone in this thread is smoking crack. Outback is fine. Get a steak, any steak. They're all decent. Obviously, you get what you pay for, so it's not going to be the meal of a lifetime. Still, the food is decent.

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[hobbes9324]

Hey you [censored] potatoheads - he asked them where THEY wanted to go, and THEY picked Outback.

There's some sort of kid involved - he's lucky he's not going to Chuckie Cheese, for chrissakes

[fatmongo]

*RANT*

Outback pretty much has the worst french fries I have ever eaten. On the other hand it is also the home of the best burgers I have come across. My favorite burger is the Mad Max burger. Another route you could go is to order the No Rules burger and build it yourself from scratch. The bloomin' onion is highly overrated. It's pretty much for outback rookies who've seen commercials or something. Granted, it is better than Chili's or Texas Roadhouse's version. My favorite appetizer on the menu is the Bushman Shrooms. Even if you don't see it on the menu, you can order them. Trust me. And I'm not even a mushroom guy. The first time I really dug mushrooms was this particular dish, and only now at 25 am I beginning to appreciate them. Daryn likes the crabcakes and the shrimp appetizers, I'm not a seafood guy so I'll take his word on that. For a main course, my staple for years was the Prime Ministers Prime Rib. Beautiful cut of meat, always cooked to perfection. Every year I go to the Outback on my birthday and get a Prime Rib that is as many ounces as I am years old. The largest they offer on the menu is 16oz I believe. You can add an ounce to any steak for $1/oz. Another nice bit of knowledge. I'm not a fan of the bread. It was much better 5 or so years ago, before restaurants got too involved in the bread wars. Now I dont even touch it when it comes out. The side salad with honey mustard dressing is superb, especially for a simple side salad. If you want salad for a meal, you must order the queensland salad. Its a load of chicken salad on top of a regular salad. It is so good it is able to be eaten without any dressing, in my experience. Alice springs chicken is the chicken dish that everybody talks about. Instead, I would reccomend the Cyclone chicken. It's not on the menu anymore, but you can still order it. They have a version of it on pasta, but believe me, you want the dinner version, the old school way. Its a chicken breast covered in all kinds of good stuff like alfredo-like sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, and other goodness. For side dishes, I already said I hate Outback's fries. If you want a starch , go for the loaded baked potato. Or even better, I think, is the steamed vegetables. Sure, they're covered in butter, but man are they delicious! Desserts at Outback are top notch as well. Go for anything involving ice cream and a chocolate brownie.
I know I don't write much anymore here, but Daryn brought this thread to my attention saying he was pretty upset with all the Outback hating that was going on. And who better than fatmongo to set everybody straight on such a good chain. Yes, Outback is a chain. A large chain. But that doesn't mean you have to hate it. I've only been to one Outback in my life that didn't live up to my standards. If you're curious, it is in Methuen, MA. It pretty much sucked and offered nothing other than the big screen plasmas. But every other Outback I have been to has been of good quality. 2 years ago after Caribbean Poker Adventure I was quoted as saying that the Bahamas Outback was THE greatest meal of my life. That still holds true to this day, even though it was not as impressive when we made our return trip last month.
Sorry that was long. Though, if you read it all, consider yourself well educated on the subject of the Outback menu.

*END RANT*

[banditbdl]

[ QUOTE ]
From what I can tell, there must be major quality differences between Outbacks. I've only been to two and food was decent but not great. Not where I would choose to eat steak, but not terrible.

Try the sirloin. At least, if it's not that great you didn't spend as much as you would with the filet.

And I'm pretty sure "Buca di Bepo" is italian for "We're just a little better then Olive Garden"

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny, around here it's Buca's that has the patent on quality differences, it can be anywhere from above average to terrible.

[UncleRemus]

[ QUOTE ]
For a main course, my staple for years was the Prime Ministers Prime Rib. Beautiful cut of meat, always cooked to perfection. Every year I go to the Outback on my birthday and get a Prime Rib that is as many ounces as I am years old. The largest they offer on the menu is 16oz I believe. You can add an ounce to any steak for $1/oz. Another nice bit of knowledge.

[/ QUOTE ]


Great move. I'm usually too lazy to cook, I love prime rib, and I live 5 minutes from Outback, so I probably pull this move way more often than I should. But hey, if you can't enjoy six or seven pounds of rare steak a month, what's the point in living.

[molokoman]

Ok, I only read that first sentence. It was a long rant, had it been paragraphed I suppose I could have read it entirely. You are insane, the cheesefries are great. That is all.

[sushijerk]

Outback restaruants must vary in quality throughout the nation, because I've been to two Outbacks near me and they are both crap.

Blooming onion is like 30% onion and the rest is fried up batter grease. This dish has been good 1 out of the 4 times I've tried it. The onions were rotten or something because there was a very bitter taste even the dip couldn't mask. It's $5 for a friggin onion and you can't even use fresh material? Fail.

The bread is embarassing. It is edible within the first 2 minutes because as soon as it gets cool it becomes a lump of wood. Considering every single chain italian restaruant can offer half decent bread now, there's no excuse for this.

Finally, I just don't find the steak that good. At my Outback it is usually cooked okay but the meat is never hot when it hits my table. I also have to drown it in sauce to get any flavor, and you just shouldn't have to do that with decent steak. I don't expect a $16 steak to melt in my mouth, but it's not even tender.

A basic steak meal with appetizer and a drink will usually run $20 a person. I feel I am getting maybe $10 worth of food quality. However, these Outbacks are consistently packed for dinner everytime I go so maybe I am the food snob. But mostly likely it is because most people have absolutely no standards for good steak.

[Dudd]

Outback is a fine cheap steak, and a very good burger. It's not fine dining, but if you expect it to be, that's your mistake. Blooming onions are good, and the garlic mashed potatoes are much, much better than their fries.