We love Outback. I'd say in the 10-12 years we've eaten there, it's been consistantly wonderful. Except for the last few times we've eaten at this location. We did call ahead seating, which is always a plus. We had a party of 8 for my birthday celebration. The waitress was accommodating, but the food was lackluster-very unusual. Our knives weren't clean either. In a steak oriented restaurant, I think the knives should shine! Our cheese fries came out and were chewy, like they'd sat under a heat lamp for a while. And the blooming onion looked as if it had been found under the sea. What an unusually tiny onion. We took the appetizers as is, voiced our opinion and ate them because we were so hungry. The odd thing with out entrees was, our waitress tried to explain to us that a party of 8 had to have their order split in two. Therefore, half of the table got their food a good 5-8 minutes before the other half. Really? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. And mind you, this location wasn't busy. I assumed that they must be short staffed in the kitchen. That's still a dumb thing to do. The waitress was very attentive and we spent a lot of money tonight, and we tipped well. But I think unless we're desperate, we'll just go to our home Outback, located in Matthews. We only came here to help our parents not have to travel as far. Please Outback, stop screwing with a good thing. Stop messing with the menu and start incentivizing (sp?) employees to stay.