Anyone work for Outback Steakhouse (OSI Inc)

[syciprider]

$100 budget may've been a little high, but typically a dinner for two, including drinks out the door (tax, tip) will be at least $60~70 if we're eating steak at the midprice steak chains: Outback, Claim Jumpers, or Black Angus. More if we have a few drinks.

Of those three I rank Outback as the lowest in terms of value, quality, and ambience.

Haven't been to Ruth's Chris but I've heard it's in a higher price bracket and I don't want to compare apples and oranges.

I've got a local steakhouse I go to when I want to eat well on special occasions when the budget can clear the century mark -- typically only for anniversaries or such.

I know there are pleanty of other choices for good eating at the $100 price point, but the topic is Outback, so I tried to stay on topic.

To me Claimjumpers is like TGIF. Not really good at anything. Black Angus is okay.

 

[syciprider]

I don't really like going to steak houses, I can usually make a better steak at home.

Agreed. Since my mother is a butcher she get steaks very cheap. We got 2 New York Strips for $1.46 a piece. At $1.99 a pound.

Anything you cook at home will be cheaper and/or subjectively better than dining out. But dining out involves more than just dinner. It's about leaving the house and enjoying time out in town with folks you care about.

I will absolutely pay $100 for a good steak dinner out.

+1. I probably won't pay that to eat by myself but will gladly pay more if I have company I enjoy.

 

[Unrepresented]

To me Claimjumpers is like TGIF. Not really good at anything. Black Angus is okay.

Claimjumpers seems to have a decent variety of prices and fare that cover a lot of territory. You can get in and out for $10 for a sandwich or drop $40 a plate on red meat.

TGIF is definitely a step down from them IMO, they're a step down, closer to Applebees and Chilis as chains go.

 

[rezin]

i went to outback yesterday and they didn't have the boneless buffalo wings appetizer anymore

that's just insane, those were amazing

 

[syciprider]

Hooters has good buffalo chicken. Among other things.

 

[kserg]

Steak houses suck, throwing a bbq in the back yard is just so much better....

 

[richnota]

Strip House, Peter Luger's, BLT Steak, Smith & Wollensky's, Mortons: Steak as an artform.

Not sure if you could do the same thing on a barbeque on a back yard grill unless you got a line on aged steak.

 

[bigfatbass]

I avoid McRestaurants at all costs. Fast food has it's place, but you can keep your boiled freezer bag, trucked-in, pre-fab, GARBAGE, especially if I'm paying for a proper sit down dinner.


The lemming-kibble chow line is all for you guys, thanks.

 

[Way Off Bass]

Actually all food at outback, except the cheesecake, is made in-house from scratch. Potato soup only comes out of a bag because the prep guys put it in there.

Yeah, the Tassies Boneless Buffalo Wings are gone. Tis a sad day indeed

 

[DudeistMonk]

Bonefish? That sounds like a place I want to eat at...NOT.

OMG that place is amazing. If I could afford it I would eat there all the time.

 

[MatticusMania]

I don't really like going to steak houses, I can usually make a better steak at home. There are a few that I have been to that are really good, but you are talking $50+ per person for the meal and they weren't chain places.

lowsound

I'm with lowsound. I can make a better steak dinner and have a better date at home for like $20. Having a pool and a jacuzzi only add to the ambiance.

 

[rezin]

I avoid McRestaurants at all costs. Fast food has it's place, but you can keep your boiled freezer bag, trucked-in, pre-fab, GARBAGE, especially if I'm paying for a proper sit down dinner.


The lemming-kibble chow line is all for you guys, thanks.

do people ever punch you when you stick "mc" in front of words when you don't like certain things?

i'm genuinely curious

 

[john turner]

i like outback and carrabbas both - i love using some of the ricardo sauce as a salad dressing at carrabbas. when it gets cold from the salad it starts to coalesce, very tasty, and doesn't take that much to really douse a salad.

 

[bigfatbass]

My beef, no pun intended, is that these clone restaurants provide nothing you can't find in a locally based place, and usually far better/cheaper. And the profits stay in your town, instead of flowing off into the bottomless money canyon of some global monster corp like a Beatrice or a Yum Brands.

One of the perks of being a full time player is that I get to go all over the place and experience new things. As I said, fast food has it's place, I'm not gonna cry if I have to go to a mega-chain if that's all that's available. Many of them are reasonable enough and serve edible chow (although, how on earth did they ever get the second Red Robin open? Bottomless fries does not make up for greezy/tasteless food, and decor reminiscent of a love child between a sports bar and a chuck e. cheez. I digress...). But, why on earth would anyone CHOOSE to go to one of these cookie-cutter plate factories when there is something, ANYTHING, else available???

 

[Bard2dbone]

The catch is that they are really not that consistent at all from one restaurant to another. The Outback that used to be on North Collins here in Arlington was great. It was the first one in the city and their quality was very good.

But they leased the building in stead of owning it. And the owners sold the land and tore it down. So that Outback was gone. But there are others, right? Let's just go to them. After all it's a chain. They're all the same, right? Right? Wrong.

I've been to three different Outbacks in this area since the first one was torn down. One was pretty good. The other two are 'meh' None even approach the level of the original now-torn-down one.

I miss the cabernet sauce that the first place had. The last time I got any it was salty and kind of gross. I really miss the soup that the first place had. The potato soup disappeared off the menu for a while. But they had an onion soup that was basically gravy with a lot of onions in it. I ordered potato soup. So they got the onion soup, cut up a baked potato, skin and all, and garnished with everything you would put on a baked potato.

It was manna.

You can't get that soup anymore, either.

 

[Marlat]

My beef, no pun intended, is that these clone restaurants provide nothing you can't find in a locally based place, and usually far better/cheaper. And the profits stay in your town, instead of flowing off into the bottomless money canyon of some global monster corp like a Beatrice or a Yum Brands.

One of the perks of being a full time player is that I get to go all over the place and experience new things. As I said, fast food has it's place, I'm not gonna cry if I have to go to a mega-chain if that's all that's available. Many of them are reasonable enough and serve edible chow (although, how on earth did they ever get the second Red Robin open? Bottomless fries does not make up for greezy/tasteless food, and decor reminiscent of a love child between a sports bar and a chuck e. cheez. I digress...). But, why on earth would anyone CHOOSE to go to one of these cookie-cutter plate factories when there is something, ANYTHING, else available???

I agree with this man.

 

[rezin]

Yeah, the Tassies Boneless Buffalo Wings are gone. Tis a sad day indeed

that's just lunacy

i'm a boneless buffalo wings fanatic and those were by far my favorite

 

[Way Off Bass]

more menu changes. you should check them out

also, i like how people make assumptions about the mechanisms of restaurants without actually working at them

 

[CrispyDelicious]

If I had $100 for a steak dinner I'm going to Ruths Chris.

If I had $100 for steak, I would go to my butcher, grab four porterhouses, and do them better than any steakhouse could manage.

 

[steve21]

I got the 20 dollar steak at outback last time I went. told 'em i wanted it rare. it came perfectly and was a damn good steak.



and YEAH, i coulda made it better... but that's not the point mang