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Posted
10 hours ago, Mittens said:

Had Outback a month or so ago (80yr old mom's favorite spot) and it couldn't have been worse.  On a slow Saturday lunch, w/ maybe 20% of tables sat, it took damn near an hour to get our orders and my ribeye was ass.  If I have to suffer that place again, I'll go w/ that smashburger.

Outback has always been proprietor-driven. If the proprietor is present and worth a shit, the Outback tends to be consistent and worth it. If not, the place sucks. I worked at the one near the Arboretum in the 90’s and that place was clean and terrific. Back then, they were pushing big on expansion and began watering down the talent and qualifications of who they let buy-in for new locations. It became hit or miss depending upon location. 

If I’m out in Katy for some baseball tournament or other terrible reason, they have a good one. The one in Sugarland is solid. Others in Houston suck and the one near the Arboretum sucks last time I went also. 

That said, my kids love visiting them every time. It’s the least expensive option for a potentially good steak available, in my mind. 

5 hours ago, Baboontyme said:

Wasn't the Mexican Martini just basically a margarita in a shaker with orange juice? No wonder they had to limit us at two. Man, I generally like our Generation but that was a bad era for us. 

Good Mexican martinis involve lime juice and little to no actual mix. It’s far less sweet than a margarita. Add olive brine and it’s an entirely different taste and experience. Orange juice may or may not make it into either ritas or Mexican martinis, depending upon where you’re buying. 

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Posted
2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I worked at the one near the Arboretum in the 90’s and that place was clean and terrific.

That location was my go to.  I feel like Outback was one of the first restaurants to embrace take out orders and that place was like a mile from my house.  The shitty one in question was in Live Oak - N suburb of SATX.

Posted
22 hours ago, Mittens said:

Had Outback a month or so ago (80yr old mom's favorite spot) and it couldn't have been worse.  On a slow Saturday lunch, w/ maybe 20% of tables sat, it took damn near an hour to get our orders and my ribeye was ass.  If I have to suffer that place again, I'll go w/ that smashburger.

Fam went with my dad a little while back because he had a gift card or something. I hadn’t been in a while (at least a few years) and it was awful. The “special” that was advertised was apparently not at that location, and I don’t even remember what I got. I just remember it was pretty unanimous from our group that every plate was not good. I had always thought outback used to be pretty reliably “fine”. Not amazing, but fine. Even my dad, who will eat anything, was like “that was awful. I’m not going back there.”  

Posted (edited)
On 8/15/2025 at 11:28 AM, SydneyCarton said:

There's a pretty interesting video interview with the CEO of Chili's you can find by googling. Basically discusses how he was able to turn Chili's around from being a punch line to having a huge resurgence at a time when most other restaurants are struggling. Seems like a pretty smart guy. 

https://slate.com/business/2025/08/chilis-menu-restaurants-food-tiktok-red-hot-mozz.html

Quote

But as I dumped fries into a plastic basket, Paquette pointed out an example of optimization even a layabout like me could appreciate. “We weren’t getting consistent seasoning on our fries, so we developed a little quality fix,” he said. He held up a shaker filled with salt and spices and pointed out the little holes on the shaker’s cover. “We call this the rose. The holes used to be pretty small, so we were having, like, 30 shakes on an order of french fries to get the right amount on there. That was a lot of shaking for the cooks. So we moved to this shaker.”

“It’s got bigger holes,” I observed.

Go To 11 Spinal Tap GIF

They simplified the menu (rip chili at chili's) and a lot of the processes to get your order taken, made correctly and out to you. 99% of the locations are company owned. Which mean they can respond to moments like the moz sticks going viral much more rapidly than needing buy-in from franchisees. It doesn't hurt that most people upgrade from the base 3 for me.

Edited by elfenix
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Posted

Funny timing. My wife and kids are at the oak hill location right now and the guy next to them is ordering a week’s worth of dinners to go. I can only assume it’s Brisket!

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Posted
23 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Funny timing. My wife and kids are at the oak hill location right now and the guy next to them is ordering a week’s worth of dinners to go. I can only assume it’s Brisket!

 

you're assuming wrong, that's for tonight and tomorrow 

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Posted
2 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

They’re dying out. They closed the 1604 location. I’d always stop on the drive to Midland because it’s on the way. 
 

Your order is top notch. I basically order that or pork chops and eggs every time. 

Pork chops there indeed go hard.

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