Gluten Free Restaurant Review - Outback Steakhouse, Monroeville, PA

By Christine Emmick

The Outback Steakhouse is well known chain that is recommended by some Celiac groups. We went there about a year ago and have not been back since, and this story will tell you why.

It was a celebratory dinner and family get together. I was told that Outback would be sensitive to my dietary needs. I found out much differently. We walked in, it was very busy and raining cats and dogs. We had to wait almost an hour for a table and by this time our children were starving. We were seated and waited on by a very nice, but very busy waitress. She took my order, and even answered questions, all with grace and ease under the circumstances.

Then our food came. A man "helping out" served me a salad with croutons on it. I said, "Sir, I cannot eat these croutons." He actually said to me, "Well then why did you order them." When I said, "I didn't." He actually said back to me, "Yes you did." Then the sweet waitress came by with something else for our table. She immediately noticed that someone else at our table had my salad. He had served me the wrong one.

Then came the steak, oh my, it was the worst piece of meat I have ever eaten. They purposely did not put any seasonings on it, and I could not even chew it. They must load their steaks up with MSG or something to make them taste good, because this certainly did not. I am also allergic to soy, so it may be some type of worcheshire sauce. It was literally the worst steak I've ever eaten. I also got the baked sweet potato, without the butter and sour cream. Don't do this. It was soggy, like the consistency of pudding. Yuck.

Please let me know in the comments if you've had a better experience at the Outback. This experience led me away from some of the more, shall we say, particular restaurants. We eat at all sorts of establishments, fast food to fine dining, even with my food allergies, and have had great success. Check back soon for a review of Eat'n Park, one of our favorite family establishments.