Review of Outback Steakhouse

I love my local Outback. They are fabulous about dealing with allergy & gluten issues, including making dessert substitutions when I can't eat what's offered with a deal (which they absolutely don't have to do by policy, so I think it rocks that they do). If something is wrong (like a steak being the wrong temp), 99% of the time, a manager brings the food out to check on you & make sure it's correct.

I think I've had 1 unfriendly server there (which is pretty amazing these days at most places), and I love the management team. Overall, the store is always very clean (though I'd love to see them do away with the air freshener in the bathroom because it can be cloying & it makes it tricky to breathe inside).

The reason I'm not giving them 5 stars is because of something another review points out: the lack of the GF fryer. They had one, and they had amazing fries. I frequently bragged to people that our Outback had gone above & beyond corporate's GF menu & had purchased a GF fryer out of their store budget. Unfortunately, it broke earlier this year, and as of a couple of weeks ago they still had not replaced it. I understand that it is an extra expense, but I was truly hoping they'd replace it. That fryer was often the deciding factor for us if we were debating between a couple of restaurants, because it was one of the few places I could get fries. Since they've not replaced it, we've not eaten there as often as we had in the past, because some of the point of spending the extra money to go to the nicer restaurant was so I could have something I really miss.

Given how amazing the store is with allergen info & avoiding cross-contamination, I highly recommend going. The GF menu is pretty impressive, and the food is always great. I'd be back to giving them 5 stars again if they would replace that fryer.