Outback seems to be shifting into less of a nice chain dinner stop into a more expensive version of Applebee's. My wife and I were surprised when we arrived last night and our host encouraged us to put our order in on electronic machine rather than with our server which made the whole experience feel a little less date night. I guess it's convenient for some people but just felt a little more casual than we were hoping for.
Asked for more bread which never came. Ordered my steak medium rare but it was a heavy medium. My wife's tilapia was the most rubbery filet either of us have ever tasted. Potatoes were warm at best. Happy hour drinks were rang in at full price.
Aside from the rubber fish, any one of these other things probably wouldn't have bothered us that much but all together it's probably enough that we will find some place else next time.
Update: outback contacted us and gave us a gift card to "try again". The service was much better and nothing was cold. Steak was cooked right but I was amazed at how much pepper was on the steak. I mean, I'm all for a bit of seasoning but HOLY COW. I had a large pile of excess pepper that was able to scrape off which made it mostly palatable. Likely won't be back but I suppose someone else may still like this place.