Former Outback Steakhouse employees share the best things to order — plus what to skip

• Three former Outback Steakhouse employees shared their favorite and least-favorite menu items.
• The chocolate-based desserts and the restaurant's wings are apparently top-notch.
• But a few of the appetizers and steak plates aren't always as enjoyable.

Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed restaurants that serve items such as surf-and-turf dishes, alcoholic drinks, and desserts.

Business Insider spoke with Eric Bush, who worked at an Outback Steakhouse in Texas, and Michaela Mutell and Audria Lee, who both worked at an Outback Steakhouse in New York. 

Here are some of their picks for the best and worst things on the menu.

One former employee said some steak dishes stood above the rest

"I don't think I ever ate a steak at Outback without the roasted-garlic-butter topping," Mutell, who worked as a server for four years, said. "Once you try it, you will never eat a steak there without it again."

The former employee also said the "king of steak" at Outback is the bone-in rib eye.

"I don't think I ever had a customer send one back for being too tough, too marbled, or being unsatisfied with it," she told BI.

She also recommended ordering the garlic topping, which costs $3, on the chain's mashed potatoes.

The Kookaburra Wings are a big hit at the restaurant

The wings are a signature "Aussie-tizer," or appetizer, that comes in mild, medium, or hot spice blends. 

"The wings are unlike any other wing I've had," Lee, who worked as a host and then as a server, told BI. "That isn't to say they are the best wings I've ever eaten, but they are the most unique, and they are delicious."

The former employee said she particularly likes how the wings have "a lighter fry and a butter-based sauce."

Mutell agreed, telling BI, "Surprisingly, Outback has some of the best wings I've ever had in my life."

She recommended dipping them in Outback's spicy-ranch dressing — though she's typically a fan of blue cheese.

You don't want to miss the chain's bread service

Mutell said the restaurant outdid itself with its honey-wheat bread.

The complimentary starter is served alongside whipped butter. 

The restaurant's side dishes were always a solid choice for customers

Outback's sweet potato topped with honey butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar always impressed Montell.

Lee is also a fan of the chain's side dishes.

"The loaded mashed potatoes are literally everything I've ever wanted from a baked potato," she said. "How can you not love having chives, cheese, and bacon piled on top of a mound of mashed potatoes?"

The former server highlighted the pecan-blue-cheese salad with a blue-cheese vinaigrette and cinnamon pecans as another great choice. 

"I've never had another salad like it — it's sweet, salty, and amazing," Lee told BI. 

Outback's rich, chocolaty desserts are worth it

Lee said the Chocolate Thunder from Down Under, a pecan brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, warm chocolate sauce, chocolate shavings, and whipped cream, was never a bad option. She also appreciates that it's naturally gluten-free.

Bush, who worked as a prep and fry cook, said he prefers an upgrade of the classic chocolate treat.

"The best dessert to order from the menu was Thunder and Lightning because it featured chocolate, strawberries, and more chocolate," she told BI. 

It's a mashup of the Chocolate Thunder from Down Under with butter cake and fresh strawberries. According to a representative from Outback, even if the Thunder and Lighting isn't on the main menu, people should still be able to order it on request.

Mutell also said the restaurant's salted-caramel cookie skillet left her dreaming of the divine

There's one dessert that Mutell always goes back to — the salted-caramel cookie skillet. 

"If you are in luck, it will arrive to you warm and chewy, with bits of pretzel and toffee, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and drizzled with some caramel," she told BI. "It truly tastes like angels are dancing on your tastebuds."

On the other hand, Outback's famous Bloomin' Onion was pretty difficult to make

"I didn't like the Bloomin' Onion because we have to take a whole onion, cover it flour, submerge it in soda batter, put more flour on it, and finally put it into the deep fryer and hope that it will come out intact," Bush said.

He explained that sometimes it would fall apart or come out burned. 

"Most of the customers ordered these three to five times during a shift," he told BI. "On the weekend we're pushing about 10 at a time."

Lee said she wasn't sure the Sydney Shrooms were worth it

Lee wasn't a fan of the marinated and deep-fried Sydney Shrooms

"The problem was that they were served in a dish way too large, so it seemed like you were paying $15 for three mushrooms."

A representative from Outback told BI that menu prices can vary depending on the location, which may have been the case in Lee's experience in New York. The dish is typically $9.

Lee said the prime rib was every server's nightmare

"Prime rib is such a specific kind of meat that should only be eaten by people who know what it is," Lee said. "Our prime rib was slow-roasted, which meant it never touched a grill. When you slice into a piece of steak that hasn't been seared, it looks raw even when it's cooked medium-well."

She told BI that most of the time, people sent it back to the kitchen. 

"It was a nightmare as a server and worse as a guest because getting a piece of meat that looks like raw meat sets a bad bad tone for the rest of the meal," Lee said.

The representative from Outback said guests who prefer a more "traditional" steak can order the Outback-style prime rib that's seared after being slow-roasted. 

The Toowoomba topping for the steak never looked great to Mutell

The $5 Toowoomba topping features seasoned shrimp, mushrooms, and a creamy creole sauce.

"I have seen the orange tone of the sauce range from traffic-cone orange to the color of a saltine cracker," Mutell said.

The Outback representative told BI that color variance is "rare," but it could be due to the fact that each location makes the sauce in-house from scratch.

This story was originally published in July 2023 and most recently updated on July 2, 2024.