I worked at outback and never again got assaulted and nothing was done not once but three times and got fired to cover their ass not a good place to work
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Outback Steakhouse Review: Please Don't Call This Food Australian
Consider the Bloomin Onion.
Two thousand calories.
One hundred sixty-one grams of fat.
PHOTO BY ANNE FISHBEIN
Outback's Bloomin Burger
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Outback Steakhouse
146 S. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91204-1308
Category: Restaurant > Steak House
Region: Glendale
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See more of Anne Fishbein's photos from Outback Steakhouse.
Crispy, oily, sweet, crunchy. A big slick of salt and grease. Slightly disgusting. Completely addictive.
The Bloomin Onion is an almost perfect example of the gluttony and fun inherent in the tradition of American fair food. The Bloomin Onion is a triumph of Americana.
You'll notice that I said "American fair food" and not "Australian." That's because, despite its marketing, nothing about Outback Steakhouse, home of the Bloomin Onion, is Australian. Don't be fooled by the guy on the ads with the thick Australian accent. Don't be fooled by the "Aussie cheese fries" or the "walkabout soup" on the menu. Outback Steakhouse is 100 percent American.
Lest anyone think me an unbiased observer, let me dissuade you of that notion. The whole concept of Outback Steakhouse is an affront to me. Australia is my country of birth, and I'll admit I'm touchier than most — many Australians are quite cheerful about their status as the funny drunk uncle of the world.
But that reputation was no fun for me when I arrived at an American high school with purple hair and a bad attitude right on the heels of Crocodile Dundee, the 1986 movie that depicted a brawny, endearingly clueless Australian crocodile wrestler. I wanted to talk about The Cure; people wanted to ask me about kangaroos. "Are you from the Outback?" kids at school would ask, snickering, and I'd think of my hometown, Melbourne, with its Victorian houses and old Italian cafés and leafy avenues, and sneer to keep from crying.
Just the name "Outback" makes me angry — in the cynical hands of public relations professionals, it's lost all meaning. The dry center of Australia is many things: an inhospitable desert, a wonder of nature, sacred land to our indigenous population. In America it's just a word attached to all things Australian to conjure a dumb guy in a funny hat who says "bloke." Given that I blame Crocodile Dundee and its Outback-flavored aftermath for ruining my adolescence, it's no wonder I'd never set foot in an Outback Steakhouse before.
And yes, Outback Steakhouse is in some ways a direct result of Crocodile Dundee. It was the film's huge popularity that inspired the four American founders to brand the restaurant, founded in Tampa in 1988, as Australian. None of those founders — Chris Sullivan, Robert Basham, Tim Gannon and Trudy Cooper — had ever been to Australia. Restaurant-industry veterans of chains like Bennigan's, Steak & Ale and Chili's, the quartet had one big idea: Contrary to popular belief, Americans were not looking for healthier options. Quite the opposite. They wanted steak. And fat. And, apparently, battered and deep-fried onions specifically engineered to pack as much fat and grease into every molecule of their being as is allowable by the laws of physics.
As a matter of fact, the owners of Outback specifically didn't visit Australia because they didn't even want to take the chance that they'd be influenced by its culture or cuisine. They just wanted to think of it as cute and fun and full of fuzzy animals and people who talk funny. If there's a better symbol for the way that most Americans have approached me over the years about my Australianness, I can't think of it.
I decided to take on Outback for all these reasons. Like any good nemesis, it had to be faced. I also was intrigued because people love it. Here's the thing about these successful chain restaurants that most food obsessives don't want to admit: There's a reason people love them. And it's not just price and familiarity and convenience, although those things play a big part in their popularity. There is also something about the food that humans with taste buds very much appreciate.
On my first visit, to the Glendale location, we slid into a booth adjacent to the bar, and I eyed the almost-Aboriginal art adorning the walls. As our waitress arrived to introduce herself (she didn't say "G'day," thank sweet baby Jesus, though I'm sure she probably was supposed to), the Men at Work song "Land Down Under" started to play on the stereo system. "Oh my God, this is awesome," my American husband beamed as he watched me try not to wriggle out of my skin with 23 years of pent-up disgust.
Asking someone for "shrimp on the barbie" was maybe one of the hardest things I've ever done. I've spent years railing against the very concept, declaring that I've never had a barbecued shrimp because it's basically made-up — no one barbecues shrimp in Australia. "We'll have the shrimp on the barbie. And the Toowoomba pasta. And the Bloomin Burger." My soul cracked at the edges with each word.
See also: Is There Any Such Thing as Australian Cuisine?
Yet it was hard to deny, when those shrimp arrived, that they were pretty good: well-seasoned, fat, cooked pretty much perfectly. The puce-colored dipping sauce accompanying them was salty and slutty and gross — or drunk-food delicious, depending upon your mood. You can say that about almost anything at Outback Steakhouse.
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38 comments
On sept 7 2013 we treated our family to dinner at the Outback in Newark Delaware. My son ordered boneless buffalo chicken bites for his meal. His third bite was a bad piece. He said this tastes yucky....spit it out and then threw up in his napkin. The waitress came over and asked if there was a problem....I told her what happened and she said the other bites should be fine but if he wants something else she would get it...he did order something else...
it took 20 minutes to get
Ate lunch at outback in Columbia ,south Carolina today after church. I will say my meat was red in the center the way I like it but it had absolutely no flavor at all! This is the first steak house I have ever been to that your one allowed side includes the salad,so if i want a potatoe and a salad its more money. I got my grandaughter the special and thought I got the same just 9oz instead of 6oz. Turns out mine when the bill came was a 22 dollar steak I would never have ordered even for dinner plus it wasn't worth a $9.99 price let alone $22. I cannot afford $22.00 for a piece of Flavorless meat and one small potatoe. I will never return there or suggest anyone go there.
I suggest going to Texas Roadhouse where the steaks taste good and you get a great salad with the meal and delicious rolls with real butter.
You have Outback Steakhouse's in Australia. We have California Adventures...in California. You shouldn't expect Outback to sell Vegemite Sandwiches, and I shouldn't expect parts of California Adventures to be gang infested and bankrupt.
A shocking, hard-hitting revelation that Outback does not serve authentic Australian cuisine. Congrats in advance for the Pulitzer, Ms. Rodell, well deserved.
Cute article, certainly. And I've long kind of laughed every time I stepped into an Outback in Canada or Korea. There's a chain here in Canada called Baton Rouge that pretends to be a Louisiana theme restaurant but offers nothing a typical Louisianian might find on his/her plate, unless that's ribs and burgers. That said, I think Canadians would be highly, highly amused, as opposed to culturally offended, if we stepped into an American take on Canadian dining culture: a velvet painting of Bruno Gerussi over a fake fireplace, waiters dressed up like red green, "eh" puns all over the menu ("Canadian ba-eh-con burger with eh-american cheese!"), Anne Murray on constant muzak rotation.
Wow, was the author butthurt much? I mean seriously. A two page rant about OUTBACK? LOL
If the food is not to your liking. Don't go. What you have shown me is that Crocodile Dundee is a better ambassador for your country than you are. Whiny, butt hurt, condescending and rude. In all actuality, it sounds like you DID enjoy your meal, but just tried to find something wrong with everything you ate. "I couldn't stop eating it" "the steaks are big and juicy and cheap". If all Aussies are whiny, annoying, thin skinned as you are. Please go do a long walkabout off a short pier.
Besha, you're way off. I've both been to Outback Steakhouse and met lots of Aussies and I can verify that Outback's food taste's exactly what I imagine my Aussie acquaintances eat.
It can be constructive to eat at places like Outback just to inform yourself of how much better the good restaurants really are. It puts life into perspective.
its no secret that outback steakhouse was founded by american businessmen who wanted to cash in on the crocodile dundee-fed aussie craze of the 80s in the US. i cant eat there knowing that so i'll never know how the food is there
"Asking someone for "shrimp on the barbie" was maybe one of the hardest things I've ever done." - wow, I envy your life!!!
"The steaks aren't very good. But they're big as hell and cooked right and incredibly cheap for something as inherently decadent as steak."
That's pretty much all I ate in Australia. That and Chinese food, which, shock; horror; is different to the food you actually get in China! Holy crap, give me a column and an expense account, I've cracked it.
Sorry but I disagree about "Shrimp on the barbie." I have had BBQ prawns many times, before Hoges' ad. That was the hook. We call them prawns. If you've seriously never had a BBQ prawn, that's un-Australian.
Congratulations, Besha Rodell, for writing a stupid, obvious restaurant critique which panders to the tastes of your core audience. Good journalism.
Olive Gardern is not real Italian food.
PF Chang's is not real Chinese food.
El Torito is not real Mexican food.
Congratulations on writing a story that pretty much everyone can write. Do you think you're special because you're Australian?
Bret and Jemaine were right about you people.
This reminds me of this video. It's a spoof of the Portlandia "local food" episode, set in "Applebuzz." Check it out: http://youtu.be/oi0Gm7j9GN0
@samunfiltered speaking of thin-skinned - you certainly got yourself worked up over a review that's not even about you.
Umm... I don't think so. Even the greasiest old time Aussie takeaway -even imports like Hungry Jacks (our version of "Burger King") or KFC serve this sort stuff.
@louispfreelyEl Torito may not be Mexican food but it is a reasonable approximation of it. The difference is they do not make Mexican food and call it Japanese. And you condemn a whole country because of one person's poorly written opinion? Canada is right about you people.
@louispfreely You condemn a whole country because of one person's dumb opinion? Canada is right about you people.
@bryanmaloney @peabody3000 i really dont think so. ive been to enough other chain themed restaurants to know that if somehow this one was the one that's worth it, i would be hearing things to that effect. i like good food.. i'll look for it elsewhere
@rob16a Canada is right about you people.
Is that supposed to make me feel bad? Because it doesn't. Guess I don't get as butthurt as you mate.
@rob16 Can you sit down? Because you must be butthurt.
Hmmmm......I reference a comedic show like Flight of the Conchords (that ragged o Australia more than I ever did) and you take it way too seriously. Quit being so serious. And reading the other comments, it looks like I'm not alone in thinking this was stupid.
@seahaeua yes yes..... if outback is some secret triumph of great cuisine, then alas, im missing out. otherwise i am in fact being discerning
@DerekTaylor No, just pretentious. If he were discerning, he'd have sampled Outback's food in order to discern a difference. Armed with that knowledge, he could only then form a preference.
@jexpat @rob16a @louispfreely obviously you have never worked in an Outback steakhouse. most are not open for lunch because everything is prepared in house - all dressings. pasta sauces, BBQ, fries are cut in house per order... they're food cost is the highest in the industry because you are paying for freshness. more so than many fine dining establishments i have worked for since leaving OSI.
Not sure what you do for fun, but the food at this place is revolting and the phony theme is tacky.
Seriously, if crappy pre-prepped commercial food is your kind of thing, you'd be better off at Red Lobster.
@louispfreely My butt is fine - thanks for asking. I also think this article is stupid and the writer clearly has a few issues about moving countries. A funny thing is we now have Outback Steakhouse in Australia, so we can go to an "Australian" themed restaurant based on what some guy saw in a lame movie from the 1980s, where they serve food we don't eat, and described in words we haven't used in 30 years. Its weird, but kinda fun anyway.
@louispfreely I think it's stupid myself. that article is embarrassing. the funny thing is that we now have Outback Steakhouse in Austraia so we can go to an Australian themed restaurant as imagined by someone who hasn't ever been there but saw a movie about it in the 1980s, to eat food we have never heard, described in words we havn't used for 30 years. Its actually kinda fun.
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