Today was my son's pick for lunch and he was procrastinating on the decision like it was an assignment for his high school. He had narrowed it down to Applebee's or Outback (which really are not terribly different), and since we seem to go to Applebee's quite often we were able to convince him to select Outback Steakhouse. Since it is a bit of a drive down to the nearest location on Lindbergh just south of Lindbergh High School, that would give us plenty of drive time to chat on such a drab, cold December day. We noticed the parking lot was substantially more crowded today than it had ever been before for a Saturday lunch, and we could not understand why. The Floor Trader next door was having a liquidation sale, but we could not believe that many people were interested in flooring. Luckily we were still able to find a spot close to the door and we did not have to wait for a seat (although the restaurant was considerably more crowded than usual.)
We were seated at a large booth which gave us plenty of room for our party of five, even if I was seated next to my teenage son who likes to stick out his elbows. The dining area is always quite dark, and they played an assortment of older pop music from the 1970's through 1990's like Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind" which I recognized but had probably not heard in several years. I do not believe that song was from Australia!
Our server attentively took our order and asked us if we would like some bread. We agreed and in a few minutes she returned with the standard small loaf of dark bread for the 5 of us with some butter on a cutting board. I like that dark bread quite a bit, but I can never understand how they expect that small loaf to be cut into five pieces for five living human beings. The supplied knife always smashes the bread down and the small fifth of a loaf that each person receives barely has room enough to spread anything. Our salads arrived shortly afterwards, with three of us ordering the "premium" Blue Cheese Pecan Chopped Salad (which we love), with my daughter ordering a Caesar salad and my mother-in-law ordering the house salad. One odd thing we noticed was that the "premium" salad was actually a smaller sized serving than the "non-premium" house and Caesar salads which cost $1 less. Plus my daughter noticed something strange tasting about her Caesar salad and chose not to eat too much of it, so my wife and I both tried it out of curiosity. Its dressing had a stronger anchovy taste than normal and did seem odd. At least our small blue cheese pecan salads were delicious as always.
After we had been working on our salads for a while our waitress brought another loaf of bread which was also quickly separated and devoured. Our entrees arrived a few minutes later, with my wife ordering the chicken artichoke flatbread, my mother-in-law selecting the Coconut shrimp, my daughter choosing a steak and shrimp combo (with a baked potato), and my son picking the Alice Springs Chicken Quesadilla. I had perused the menu for a while and had decided on the Aussie Steak Tacos.
The tacos came on a frame that supported them and I realized it might be a bit of a mess to eat. Sure enough I had little bits of taco innards falling down my sleeves and into my lap, but I really did not mind. What I minded more was that the tacos did not have as much flavor as I had hoped and had been a little dry. I was expecting more sauce, or liquid or something to hold them together a little more and a little bit more zip. The steak in them was good and flavorful, but the "slaw" and salsa had almost no liquid at all. The taco shells were good and held up well, but I was hoping for more flavor from the ingredients inside the taco.
I also tried my wife's flatbread, and it was rather mild and bland. My wife likes milder flavors herself and she thought it was bland as well. My son did enjoy his quesadillas, and my daughter liked her steak and shrimp. My mother-in-law ate a few of her coconut shrimp but thought they were too rich so she took most of it home (along with her salad.)
Overall, it was a fairly good lunch at Outback, and I was glad we had a 15% off coupon to help pay the bill as well. The blue pecan salads and the bread were usual highlights, even if both of them are handed in out in rather scarce portions. My tacos were just okay, and I will probably not order those again there, probably sticking to something there with more flavor like their Baby Back Ribs. That is what I get for always trying something different!
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