You might find this hard to imagine, but until just a few days ago, I had not set foot in an Outback Steakhouse for about 12 years. It had nothing to do with the restaurant itself, because I’ve always found the quality to be great and very consistent (which you can’t say about all restaurants) — but they just don’t exist in Germany. So when I received an email inviting us to come check out the newest Outback in Naples, FL, we just had to go.

outback-east-naples_outsideWhat I didn’t realize is that Outback has really “grown up” in the last decade or so. This new location is beautiful inside and out, and sort of has a feel of a ski-lodge up in the mountains…although it’s clearly flat as a pancake down here in Southwest Florida!

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Everything was shiny and new in the restaurant, and one of the most interesting parts of the experience was that we actually had a chance to see a few of the inner workings of the company. Since we’re entrepreneurs ourselves and just love businesses and processes, it was great to have an opportunity to ask a few questions of the trainers and management who were floating around.

As it turns out, Outback Steakhouse brings in trainers from all over the country, most of which have been with the company for years. They help the trainees get used to the menus, ask all the right questions when taking an order, process the orders correctly and even give them advice on how to carry everything out and serve it. We were really impressed with the fluidness of the learning process and you could tell that even in that hour time frame that we were there, the trainees had learned a ton.

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What we never new before is that when Outback Steakhouse opens a new location, they invite a bunch of human guinea pigs and all of the new staff members for a Family and Friends Day (or two.) During that time, the staff members (from hostesses to chefs to servers) get to practice a few “dry runs” on people are going to go a bit easy on them…and in turn, we got to sample the menu for free. Luckily we didn’t see any trays dropped or unhappy guests anywhere — and by the time we left, most of the staff had stopped shaking and sweating due to nervousness.

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We started out with Shrimp on the Barbie — one of our all time favorite appetizers. As usual, they didn’t disappoint and I could just take a bath in that dipping sauce!

Mackenzie had the chicken fingers from the kids’ menu and they were really good. I think I even noticed a hint of malt vinegar in the batter which I thought was an interesting touch. She is a chicken fingers eating machine and really liked them. The chicken also tasted good a few hours later when they were cold. 😉

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Stefan tried the Victoria filet which was perfectly cooked (medium rare) with a great sear. The steak was very tender and flavorful. Absolutely delicious really. Just the way we would have made it at home.

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I decided to try one of the newer dishes, the Parmesan herb-crusted chicken breast which was also very good. In fact, it was one of the most tender, moist and flavorful chicken breasts I’ve ever eaten — especially in a restaurant. The veggies were also tender yet firm.

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Since we were heading out with friends for a bit of boating right after our lunch, we didn’t get to have dessert…but to be honest, we didn’t have any room left either. An appetizer, meal and big Foster’s beer were just what we needed before an afternoon on the water.

Overall, these food snobs were really happy with the experience and would definitely go back. It’s nice to see more and more quality restaurants opening up in South & East Naples since the city is expanding by leaps and bounds in that direction. I know a few friends of ours that live down there are looking forward to going there soon and there is no way that they will be disappointed!

Note: I did receive free food and drinks from Outback Steakhouse but all opinions expressed in this post are my own.