November 05, 2003
Outback Steakhouse is advertised as “(offering) high-quality food and
service, generous portions at moderate prices and a casual atmosphere suggestive
of the Australian Outback.” While the atmosphere is perhaps more suggestive
of a theme-park, tourist’s dream of Australia, it is casual and friendly.
This evening we were seated rapidly, which is to be expected of a weeknight.
All of the people at this location are friendly, talkative, and willing
to lend a hand.
This night, Myshell was our greeter and Michael was our server. Myshell
greeted us at the door with a bright smile and was extremely eager to make
sure we were seated and had every thing we needed before she left. Michael
is extremely attentive, sociable, and speedy in his service. He made sure
our drinks were filled shortly after they were emptied, and offered us
coffee after our meal.
We had the Bloomin’ Onion appetizer, Baked Potato Soup, House Salad,
and Steamed Vegetables. While the batter fried onion is fairly common fare
in restaurants now, I believe that it was Outback who pioneered this item.
It comes in a large portion - enough so that two of us used it as part
of our main course instead of as an appetizer. The dipping sauce that comes
with the onion is fairly spicy. Coupled with the spice from the batter
that the onion is fried in can make for a hot dish if you are not used
to spicy food. Ranch dressing is an alternate sauce that you can ask for
that tends to tone down the spice of the batter, making for a cooler taste.
The soup is smooth and tasteful. This reviewer did not particularly care
for the bacon added to the soup as it tended to add too much of a pepper
taste to the rich buttery-ness of the soup. The salad had fresh lettuce
and the dressing (bleu cheese) was delicious. The bleu cheese dressing
that
Outback serves is not made with mayonnaise for those of you who are health
conscious, but is still extremely creamy with large chunks of bleu cheese.
The steamed vegetables consist of broccoli, carrots, oriental snow peas,
and squash. They are slightly seasoned and steamed so that they are still
crisp. The broccoli is especially flavorful, but the carrots seemed to
be a little bland. The squash was not too soft and had a fresh flavor.
The snow peas were crisp, but not as rigid as those you would find in some
oriental dishes.
Overall cost for the meal : $20.19
Outback Steakhouse
110 Dunbarton Drive
Florence, SC 29501
(843) 679-0055
Proprietor: James C. Pruett
Hours of Operation
Mon-Thur: 4:30-10:30
Fri: 4:30-11:30
Sat: 3:30-11:30
Sun: 4-10:00