I've dined at many steak houses on both sides of the Atlantic but I was surprised to realize recently, that I had never had a meal in an Outback Steakhouse. And I had even worked for an Australian company for 6 years! It seemed like it was about time...
In case you don't know, the Outback is an Australian themed steakhouse restaurant. Although beef and steak items make up a good portion of the menu, the concept offers a variety of chicken, ribs, seafood, and pasta dishes. They emphasize consistently high-quality food and service, generous portions at moderate prices and a casual atmosphere suggestive of the Australian Outback.
Interestingly, the Outback is part of the same company that operates the considerably more upmarket and expensive Fleming's Steakhouses, of which we have a local branch in Walnut Creek. I wondered how impressed we would be with the Outback considering the low price-point of most menu items.
Sylvia and I visited their Pleasant Hill location quite early on a Friday evening and already the restaurant was almost full. We had not made a reservation and we were fortunate to get a table. This is a very popular restaurant and I would definitely make a reservation in the future.
In many ways, the Outback is not that dissimilar from many other steakhouses with its subdued lighting and a shortage windows etc. Where it does differ is that it is clearly a casual dining establishment as opposed to fine dining and the clientele spans a wide range of age groups. While we were there, we saw numerous families and quite large groups as well as couples and smaller parties.
Neither Sylvia nor I wanted an appetizer. Not that we weren't tempted but we wanted to leave room for dessert.
For our main courses, we both chose steak dishes. Sylvia had Filet Mignon with Wild Mushroom Sauce. The menu described this as sliced filet and she was expecting fairly thin slices. When it arrived, it turned out be quite sizeable thick slices of steak that were tender and tasty and covered in a generous portion of a marsala and mushroom sauce. Quite impressive!
I opted for one of their seasonal specials, the Prime Rib and Crab Cakes combination. Was I glad I had skipped the appetizers! The two crab cakes were delicious and would have made an excellent appetizer in their own right, while the 8 oz slow roasted prime rib would have been a very satisfying main course, even without the crab cakes. Full of flavor and exceptionally tender. Both dishes came with vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes but they happily substituted "Aussie Fries" for the potatoes and they were also cooked just right.
We ended our meal with a shared New York Style Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce and this totally came up to our expectations. So as you will have realized by now, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Outback and we will be back again before very long.
One thing to note - the wine list could be more interesting. Not that this was an issue for us as we often take our own wine to reaturants. In this case we took along an excellent bottle of Chardonnay, for which they charges a meager $5 corkage. That is the lowest I have ever heard of.
You can read more about The Outback and read complete menus on their website at www.outback.com.
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