For my daughter’s 23rd birthday, she wanted to go to the Outback Steakhouse in Kennesaw, GA.  We called ahead and were told we’d be able to get right in, so away we went.

The Outback Steakhouse we went to is on Ernest W. Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw GA, just west of I-75 in the parking lot behind the Target shopping center.  They’re currently open 11am-10pm during the week, and open until 11 on Friday and Saturday.

I should have noticed something was wrong when I called ahead and was told there would be no problem seating us. At 7:15pm, everyone usually has a line out the door.  If only I had trusted my gut.  But, it was my daughter’s wish, so off we went.

So we drive down, and the parking lot is half empty. There were 7 of us in a couple of cars, and we parked right in the front.  It was only 7:30pm and the parking lot was nearly deserted.  In retrospect, we should have left right then.

But we were here, so we went inside.  It was instantly obvious that the place was no where near capacity.  The scarcity in the parking lot was definitely matched inside.  We tell the hostess that we are a party of 7 and we sit down to wait.

For nearly 25 minutes.  In a mostly empty restaurant.

When they finally came back to seat us, all they had managed to do in the last 24 minutes was to push two small tables together (the kind that is good for 2, but crowded for 4), and had us crowd around these two little tables. It’s amazing the things that you can persevere when catering to your children.

Once seated, the waitress took our order quickly enough and delivered our drinks quickly.  But then another wait set in, and at one point I had to wonder if they were actually butchering the cows that they were going to feed us with.  It took nearly 30 minutes for our food to arrive.

Sadly, every single one of us had a similar issue with our food. The meat was completely over-spiced. As if someone shivering was applying the seasoning.  It was the same for steaks, burgers, whatever form of beef we had, they were all over spiced. In addition, my steak was completely burned on top and my baked potato was overcooked and dry. I asked for A1 when the meal was brought out, and about 15 minutes later the waitress brought me heinz. When I pointed out the difference, she left again and came back nearly 5 minutes later with the correct bottle. My steak was almost completely gone at this point.

So, while we were eating, another party came in. It was 4 adults, and 3 small children. They put them at the two tables right next to us. Except these tables each had a 12 inch folding eave on opposite sides, making each table a full 2 feet longer. When they did this for both of the tables, these people (almost half of which were under the age of 6), had TONs of room while my party hardly had room for our plates to set next to our drinks, and we were constantly elbowing the person next to us. When the man in the new party said this is nice and spacious, our waitress told him that they like to keep that table available for parties his size. REALLY? We had the same number of people, and were crammed in like sardines. They had so much room (practically another table and a half on top of what we had), there were empty spots around the table they didn’t even use. The question begs, why wasn’t our party suitable to sit in this table? And why would the server make the brain-dead mistake of saying such a thing right in front of us?

When the bill finally had racked up to over $120, and I would have rather eaten fast food.  It probably would have tasted better, for sure.

Let’s break this down into pros and cons:

PROS:
– We didn’t get food poisoning.

CONS:
– Long wait when the restaurant was practically empty.
– Sat at a table we didn’t really fit at.
– Food was not spiced correctly. Mine was burnt and overcooked (a $16 steak).
– Order took FOREVER to come.
– Items asked for when food was delivered was brought nearly 20 minutes later, when the need for them was nearly moot.
– Smaller party sat right next to us, with 30% more room.
– Waitress makes comment making it seem that my group was not important enough to sit at the bigger table arrangement.
– Expensive – paid a HEFTY amount for substandard everything. Bad seating, bad service, bad food.
– Overall, we spent nearly 90 minutes in the restaurant, which was probably 89 minutes too long.

Outcome:
I’ll never eat there again, that’s for sure.

And, am I surprised? In retrospect, no. I should have realized something was wrong when the parking lot was halfway empty at dinner time. It seems that no-one else wants to eat there either.

Explanation of ratings:

Cleanliness:  This place looks nice, but dated.  It did not present itself as dirty.

Politeness:  The waitress was polite, if inattentive.  Until she basically told the new party they were more important than us.

Knowledge:  The meal was cooked poorly, and the waitress was not effective.  No-one seemed good at their job.

Value:  Expensive.  This alone would not be an issue for a good meal, except nothing about our experience was good.

Integrity.  Low grade here.  I don’t see how they could believe they’re doing a good job.