Oooooh, let's all point and laugh at Stefanie for reviewing a chain. Har Har! Yeah, I went to a chain and now I'm reviewing a chain. Suck it.
Why did I go to the Outback? Because I was with my in-laws. That should be enough explanation. I'll throw in a little something else though: eating anything besides fried bar food is highly exotic to them. There was almost no other choice. I was secretly pouting inside the entire time. Life is too short to eat at chains.
It wasn't entirely terrible. My food was at least edible. The steak was cooked a little bit longer than I would have liked but still, I ate it. The "shrimp on the barbie" was pretty blah. I do enjoy their bread. No bloomin' onion on that visit though. I wanted to be productive the next day.
Service wasn't too bad. I have a few gripes in that department though: I hate having to ask for a water refill or any kind of refill really. My water sat empty for quite awhile and I was getting parched. Server boy also forgot my son's drink altogether - but he brought it out and apologized profusely.
A few good things about the Outback though: they have a real, live gluten-free menu. Which, you know, is mostly the same stuff they already serve but it's seperate and offers handy dandy tips on what to avoid -- like certain sauces and dressings. Kinda nice, right?
Also, on children -- they have a kids menu and the server offered to bring my child's food out ASAP. That was really sweet of him because my kid's head was getting close to spinning around Linda Blair style. Props for that, mates.
That said, I could survive quite nicely without ever having to set foot into that rugged "Australian" joint again.