This evening, my family and I ate at Outback and experienced a serious service failure and safety concern. The waitress spilled our drinks over me and broke a glass on me, leaving my clothing soaked and broken glass inside my Uggs. I was drenched in water and pink lemonade, and the situation required immediate, attentive management response.
Instead, the manager offered a single apology and then did not return. No proper follow-up, no meaningful resolution, and no appropriate effort to make the situation right—yet I was still required to pay approximately 90% of the meal. That is unacceptable.
As a Director/Manager, I understand mistakes happen—what matters is how leadership responds. The response here showed a lack of professionalism, urgency, and sincerity. I remained calm and composed, but I am extremely disappointed in how the employees and manager handled this incident. I will not be returning, and I do not recommend dining at this location. Absolutely disappointing!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Brian Zink
Food and service great! Riley is the best!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lisa Smith
Food was good
Vincent Lehmann
For a chain restaurant I feel that the service and food were great. Appetizers were a little slow to come out but we were warned about it prior. Main dish were the teriyaki steak skewers which were delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Michael Cameron
Server was great. Food not. Blooming onion was very well done. Told waitress but she said cook wouldn't be happy. Prime rib had the most gristle I've ever had on prime rib. Wife ordered ceasar salad and loved it. She also loved the green beans. Wife took me where I wanted for birthday. I'll not make that same mistake again.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Michael Gans
Ordered online, great experience and food.
Food: 5
Service: 5
Steve Hatley
The delmonico ribeye is one of the greatest pieces of meat in history. The steak was perfection and I pray outback consistently prepares this steak the way I had it. Oh man. I’m still thinking about this. Greatest meal in history.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Woody Bachman
This chain has been on a steady decline for the past several years. Poor service, poor Food Quality.
Mateo Wallace
Unfortunately I have to write a bad review because my girlfriend got a bad case of food poisoning Tuesday evening 11/11/2025. We both had the sirloin steak, she has a sweet potato and I had baked. She ordered 1,000 island dressing and I had ranch. She started feeling sick when she went to lay down that night. As of today, Friday, she is still not feeling well. She is a retired nurse so she knows exactly what she is experiencing. We have both eaten at Outback restaurants throughout our lives and haven’t had this problem before. Not sure if anyone else had similar issues from Tuesday.
My steak had way to much seasoning as it was burning my mouth. My waitress was the sweetest! She has moved to Hickory from Ohio and was so pleasant and helpful. In fact she was the best thing about my experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
Tey Sessor
The staff did a great job. My two toddlers loved the staff. The steaks were perfect. We got two 6oz center cut sirloin.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Amber Karr
Went on Veterans Day: NEVER AGAIN! We even was on the wait list. Came early and was told to come back closer to our time. No problem. When we checked in we was told it would be another 20 mins. After, 35 mins we started inside and got the text our table was ready. We ordered our food. We got our appetizer. We waited an additional 35 mins for our salad and soup. While others around us got served food. The salad i started eating until I found multiple turned and black lettuce. The server apologized and asked if I wanted another. I declined. When the main meal came the steak wasn't medium it was rare. My spouse's food wasn't cooked all the way. The broccoli wasn't even steamed it was still hard as a rock. We tried to eat the food and the more I tried the worse I felt. I got my dessert to go. It took forever to even do that.
We did speak with a manager on duty- Riley. Who told us she would make sure the food comes out better between the appetizer and salad. She did bring the main meal out. But that didn't stop the black lettuce salad.
Needless to say: I don't live in Hickory so on our way home I started feeling so sick. I will NEVER go back here. With having health issues this wonderful food poisoning will make the next few days horrible on me. Upon checking the dessert the i had no chocolate syrup or chocolate shavings as described in the dessert. My spouse was going to try it but the spoon wouldn't cut through the brown it was so hard.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 2
Teresa Clontz
We came to OutBack in Hickory, NC tonight to celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary. Joey was our waiter, and Riley was the manager. They were awesome, and we had the best dinner tonight!
Very good food and service
This evening, my family and I ate at Outback and experienced a serious service failure and safety concern. The waitress spilled our drinks over me and broke a glass on me, leaving my clothing soaked and broken glass inside my Uggs. I was drenched in water and pink lemonade, and the situation required immediate, attentive management response.
Instead, the manager offered a single apology and then did not return. No proper follow-up, no meaningful resolution, and no appropriate effort to make the situation right—yet I was still required to pay approximately 90% of the meal. That is unacceptable.
As a Director/Manager, I understand mistakes happen—what matters is how leadership responds. The response here showed a lack of professionalism, urgency, and sincerity. I remained calm and composed, but I am extremely disappointed in how the employees and manager handled this incident. I will not be returning, and I do not recommend dining at this location. Absolutely disappointing!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Food and service great!
Riley is the best!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was good
For a chain restaurant I feel that the service and food were great. Appetizers were a little slow to come out but we were warned about it prior. Main dish were the teriyaki steak skewers which were delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Server was great. Food not. Blooming onion was very well done. Told waitress but she said cook wouldn't be happy. Prime rib had the most gristle I've ever had on prime rib. Wife ordered ceasar salad and loved it. She also loved the green beans. Wife took me where I wanted for birthday. I'll not make that same mistake again.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Ordered online, great experience and food.
Food: 5
Service: 5
The delmonico ribeye is one of the greatest pieces of meat in history. The steak was perfection and I pray outback consistently prepares this steak the way I had it. Oh man. I’m still thinking about this. Greatest meal in history.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This chain has been on a steady decline for the past several years. Poor service, poor Food Quality.
Unfortunately I have to write a bad review because my girlfriend got a bad case of food poisoning Tuesday evening 11/11/2025. We both had the sirloin steak, she has a sweet potato and I had baked. She ordered 1,000 island dressing and I had ranch. She started feeling sick when she went to lay down that night. As of today, Friday, she is still not feeling well. She is a retired nurse so she knows exactly what she is experiencing. We have both eaten at Outback restaurants throughout our lives and haven’t had this problem before. Not sure if anyone else had similar issues from Tuesday.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3
Restaurantji Recommends
My steak had way to much seasoning as it was burning my mouth. My waitress was the sweetest! She has moved to Hickory from Ohio and was so pleasant and helpful. In fact she was the best thing about my experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
The staff did a great job. My two toddlers loved the staff. The steaks were perfect. We got two 6oz center cut sirloin.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Went on Veterans Day: NEVER AGAIN! We even was on the wait list. Came early and was told to come back closer to our time. No problem. When we checked in we was told it would be another 20 mins. After, 35 mins we started inside and got the text our table was ready. We ordered our food. We got our appetizer. We waited an additional 35 mins for our salad and soup. While others around us got served food. The salad i started eating until I found multiple turned and black lettuce. The server apologized and asked if I wanted another. I declined. When the main meal came the steak wasn't medium it was rare. My spouse's food wasn't cooked all the way. The broccoli wasn't even steamed it was still hard as a rock. We tried to eat the food and the more I tried the worse I felt. I got my dessert to go. It took forever to even do that.
We did speak with a manager on duty- Riley. Who told us she would make sure the food comes out better between the appetizer and salad. She did bring the main meal out.
But that didn't stop the black lettuce salad.
Needless to say: I don't live in Hickory so on our way home I started feeling so sick. I will NEVER go back here. With having health issues this wonderful food poisoning will make the next few days horrible on me. Upon checking the dessert the i had no chocolate syrup or chocolate shavings as described in the dessert. My spouse was going to try it but the spoon wouldn't cut through the brown it was so hard.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 2
We came to OutBack in Hickory, NC tonight to celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary. Joey was our waiter, and Riley was the manager. They were awesome, and we had the best dinner tonight!
Great service great food
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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