OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE ~ Syracuse (DeWitt) NY

JULY 2012

LJ and I went for BBQ for early lunch, and then spent the rest of the day outlet mall shopping. It was hellish. Not only do I not enjoy shopping, but the temperature was scorching, many of the stores didn't seem to have a/c, and walking the giant area felt like a death march. By the end of the day we were so tired, exhausted and crabby that, well we weren't in good moods. We went back to the hotel, went swimming (also a terrible experience with tons of annoying kids running around, running out of towels and, well kids).

photo courtesy of Google street view

By the time we finally went for dinner, it was late. We had a hard time deciding where to eat and while I had done some research of where to go, nothing seemed to work. We drove up and down Erie street and we finally accepted to go to the chain Outback. LJ had been to Outback before, but I had not, and I had not heard great things. But it was open, and I was starved.

 It was getting close to close to closing time, so the place was dead empty. Outback reminded me of the Canadian chain Montana's, but instead of cabin themed, this was all Australian themed with its boomerangs and didgeridoos. The place had an unpleasant cleaning smell to it, and I was not feeling the place.

Our server was Craig, and he was a good waiter. Friendly, patient and looked after our needs (for me, many many free refills on pop). I appreciated this, as I was not in a great mood. We ended up getting a ton of food to feast on, but I lost momentum for reviewing very early on. So while we had several dishes, here are the few I did actually take photos of.

Complimentary bread (like a pumpernickle?) - it was warm and to two very hungry people, scarfed down quick.

I know Outback for two things: steak and bloomin onions. So we had to get a Bloomin' Onion ($6.99). Crispy onion in a batter with its Bloomin's sauce (mayo/horseradish based). I don't think you can go wrong with this.

We also had our meals, which I didn't photograph. I had a ribeye, but it was boring and I just didn't enjoy it. LJ had  the Alice Chicken with mushrooms, bacon and cheeses and fries. She liked, I again wasn't crazy about anything.

I also had the wings.

"Tossed in a savory blend of secret spices" these wings are then deep fried and tossed in sauce. There were 10 wings in an order.

The wings were medium sized all around. They looked tasty, they looked crispy. They were crispy, but they were also oily/greasy.

They came with a nice big container of blue cheese dip. It was very creamy and chunks of blue cheese, but it was very . . . artificial tasting? Does that make sense? I did not enjoy the dip.

I went with hot as the sauce. I didn't really find it hot, but I wasn't expecting hot. The sauce was very buttery, but as mentioned before very oily. It was too savoury and too salty. I mean there is potential there, but it was too strong a flavour and not enough heat flavour.

FINAL SCORE:  The good things going on with these wings were the crispy dusting, the tenderness of the meat. The downsize was the overpowering oily/buttery hot sauce. The other food was either decent or not decent. Our server was great, but there was nothing about the experience that would want me coming back. 4.5/10

Outback Steakhouse
3112 Erie Boulavard East, Syracuse (Dewitt) NY, USA (and other locations)
outback.com