Outback Steakhouse

On March 19 we went to outback to celebrate our son birthday. What started out as a celebration turned into the worst dining experience we have ever had. I have to admit that Outback was not our first choice we had actually went to Pedro's, Texas Roadhouse, Posados Cafe and Beaux Jax, but all of these restaurant were crazy busy. Customers were waiting all outside to be seated. Everyone of them had an 1:30 to a 2 hour wait time and it was already 8:30 pm. That is when we decided to go to Outback. We arrived at 9:00 pm to Outback the Bossier City location. We notice there were not a lot of cars in the parking lot so we knew the restaurant wasn't busy which was great for us because of what we had been through going to all the others that were busy and we also had other obligations. But also should have been a red flag for us with us being that it was a Saturday night and all the restaurants in Bossier were busy. But we stayed anyway. We walked in only waited a few min for a host. We noticed there were more people seating on the right so we asked can we seat on the opposite side in a booth. We were told by the host that it was slow and that server was sent home so she had to seat us on the right side. The host apologized seated us gave us our menu and walked away. We sat there for 15 minutes with a waitress passing back and forth but never stopped at our table. There were other customers sitting in front of us and another two customers behind us. We we were like in between these other customers that the waitress was waiting on but she never stopped at our table she continued to pass us by. I told my husband something is wrong why is she not stopping at our table. She is waiting on the people in front and behind us. I told him next time she pass I'm going to stop her. Before I could the host can over and told us that she was unaware that the server for our table had been sent home because it was slow so she has to take us to the other side. The same side we had asked to be seated in when we first walked in. That was another sign we should have left, but it was our son's birthday and neither of us had ate since breakfast trying to

save our appetite for his birthday dinner. By this time 30 minutes had passed it's now 9:30 the host apologized and lead us to the opposite side. We notice that the seats were dirty with food so she had to clean them before we could sit down. After the host is done cleaning our seats my husband asked her could he order a bear. Before she could answer another lady with a red shirt on shows up put 4 sets of silver ware on the the end of the table not even in front of us. She didn't say hello, apologized for making wait 30 minutes on the wrong side nothing. As she turns to walk away the host asked her could she bring my husband a Miller Lite. The lady which I would later find out name is Ella and she was one of the managers didn't even answer her she shook her head like saying okay turned and walked off but never brought the beer. At 9:40 a waitress finally shows up to take our drink orders. My husband ordered his beer, me, my son, and his girlfriend ordered our drinks. My husband then asked her can we just go ahead and place our meal order as well trying to cut back time she said yes no problem so we placed our orders. It's now 10:00 pm we have yet to get a drink not even a glass of water we are sitting and waiting. My husband decided to walk up to the bar to get his own drink because the manager Ella never showed back up. While my husband was at the bar the waitress (Candace) shows up and asked my son's girlfriend what was her drink order again. I guess she lost the paper that she took our order on. I asked her what was the hold up she told me that the bartender was only making 1 drink at a time. My husband shows back up finally with his beer. He said the manager lady Ella and the bartender were up there talking. He said the bartender was a little rude acted like she didn't want to serve him. We kept looking at each other knowing we need to leave but again we didn't want to upset our son so we continue to wait. At 10:15 Candace shows up with my drink which was wrong it wasn't what I ordered. I ordered a house margarita and my son girlfriend ordered blue lav lemonade drink. My son and my husband drink was not included. A few minutes later she appears again with my correct drink and my son's drink. My husband asked about his beer in the mug she apologized and said that the bartender was still only making one drink at a time. My husband didn't receive his beer in the mug until 10:20 pm. When she brought it the beer was not cold the mug was warm he had to send it back. He told her not to bring him anything back we had, had enough it is 10:30 pm they close at 11:00 pm we had been sitting since 9:00 pm. I got up from the table to look around for Candace or the host to tell them we were leaving to bring us our ticket for the drinks. I shouldn't have paid for my drink. Margarita I ordered for $7.00 was HORRIBLE. I couldn't even drink that mess what real bartender doesn't no how to make a basic Margarita. But at this point it didn't matter we were done with this place and just wanted to pay and leave. As I walked away from the table to look for Candace she showed up with the food. I had order a burger and fries the fries were soaked in grease and cold, my bun on my burger was hard. It looked like it had been sitting up for hours. My husband fries were the same as mines soaked in grease and cold. His chicken strips were cold and dark as if they were burnt. I asked Candace what is this we are not eating this. I told her to call her manager over. When Ella finally arrived I told her we are not eating this crap or paying for it. She was just looking down at the food shaking her head. I picked up one of the fries to show her how much grease. The grease was soaking in my hand just nasty. Their was no apology or nothing from her. I told her this the worst experience we have ever encountered and we will never come back here. She removed both plates and took them to the back. That's when her and the kitchen crew first stated standing by the entrance talking and looking our way. My son and his girlfriend food looked okay so they decided to keep theirs. I asked for two to go boxes from Ella before she walked off, but she never showed back up or told the waitress. We were standing up waiting for the boxes when I looked up and saw her standing at the entrance door of kitchen with other employees looking our way we knew they were discussing us. I had to find Candace who was rolling silverware up to get the boxes and our ticket. Candace apologized and told me she didn't no we wanted boxes. I told her I asked Ella and since she decided she wasn't going to bring them to us I assumed she told you. Candace stated that Ella never told her. As we were waiting on the boxes and our bill. I told my son and his girlfriend to taste there food before we go it looked okay but make sure it's worth the $28 for his and $24 for hers before we pay. They opened the cloth to get the silverware and the silverware was nasty it had old food on it from a previous customer use. I opened up mines and my husband and our silverware was the same. It was disgusting. When Candace brought the bill it was $81 and some change. After all we went through my husband told Candace to get her Ella back because we are not paying no $81.00. Ella wouldn't come back and speak with us she just took $25.00 off the bill we ended up paying $53.93. To me that still doesn't make up for what we experienced in this restaurant. This was the worst experience we have ever had. The only apology we received was from Candace and the host. The host even walked us out to our truck apologizing she felt really bad how we were treated. I will never ever go here again and I have talked about our experience, showed the pictures of our meal and the silverware to all my friends and followers on all my social media accounts, co-workers at work and told them not to go to this restaurant. I tried calling the complaint line to speak with someone because this is a lot to message but I didn't get an answer. I left messages and didn't receive a call back. I'm not going to say I will never go to another Outback because I hear the one in Shreveport is great. I do no I will never enter this one again. I don't want anything from you, no apology, no coupons are nothing. I just wanted to let you know how your restaurant is being handled. How rude and unprofessional your staff is especially your so call manager Ella. One last thing we were told before we left that the owner was there. Of course they wouldn't let me speak to anyone. I thought when the owner is in the building you make sure everything is perfect with no customer compliant. That tells you there is no respect in this place for customers or upper management.