Outback Jack Bar and Grill

Location:Knox City Shopping Centre, Burwood Hwy, Wantirna South
Phone: 03 9801 6305
Time: Dinner Time
Price: Not exactly CHEAP
Cuisine Type:Steak House








What got dished out:

I ordered a medium rare angus porterhouse steak with potato and sour cream, mushroom sauce and it came with a side of salad.
The salad looked old and tired, something that looked like it had been sitting outside all day and screaming out "I need to be eaten.... like 5 hours ago" The potato was also a disappointment as I had expected something that was going to be fresh and hot, it was hot but it looked like it's salad friend... tired looking.
The steak fared no better, I have a tendency to order medium rare because some chefs have a tendency to dish out "nuked" when you order medium and I never want to risk that chance.. I'm not a big fan of well done steak, seriously if i wanted to eat something that was almost rubbery/leathery and broke my jaw chewing, I'd start cutting up my handbag.
Needless to say, the people at good ol' Outback Jack didn't give me a medium rare steak, it was VERY medium borderlining to well done.
I would have forgiven them had the mushroom sauce I ordered tasted less packet like, almost something you'd get from a packet of GRAVOX (except theirs was well stirred and no lumps.. because thats what mine usually comes out looking like with plenty of lumps). Needless to say the steak wasn't exactly all that inviting, it wasn't anything special, it was more dry than anything else, I always expect my steak to be succelent and juicy, of course I got none of that.

Then there was the steak burger and to be honest when it comes to steak burgers this one didn't top the list of "seriously want seconds", it was the average burger with extremely dry, borderlining old chips with the bun which mostly likely had seen better days. Had the chips been freshly cooked in that "oh so bad oil" and the bun been nicely fresh, this would have been a burger where i would have given a two thumbs up. except it scored a perfect two thumbs down. Nothing wrong with the steak per se but it's a steak burger therefore everything else with it needed to support the steak.

The biggest highlight of my meal had to be the serving of the corn which we had ordered as a side dish. It was freshly cooked, juicy and succulent. All it needed was butter to melt all over it and the whole thing would have been PERFECT. It was such a shame that Outback Jack couldn't implement it to the rest of what we had ordered.
Had I gone to a Vegetarian place to eat, I would have scored them 10/10 for the corn, but this was a steak house and the only thing they got right was this corn...
And so, I took my time to enjoy the corn and wished that my steak and potato had been as awesome as this.




My thoughts:
One of my pet hates is when someone advertises that they make the "best" steaks and that they have the "biggest selection of steaks" and then they don't deliver. I'm not sure if they do have the biggest selection of steaks, if it's not cooked properly then it's a mute point. You could a very small selection however cook it to perfection and you have a winner.

My other problem with the place was that, as I had mentioned, everything seemed to be almost "old", and not exactly fresh. The salad wasn't on the fresh side, the chips were probably a batch that had been cooked for 5 orders ago and frankly the bread was more or less a day or two old. Being an extremely busy place, you'd think everything they'd dish out would be extremely on the fresh side, but it wasn't... which leads me to the next thing, this place is in a shopping centre, so it was almost as if it was like "shopping centre" rubbish where the food had been sitting there for ages and ages and ages....(and then some sucker buys it), I expected more from Outback Jacks, yet it disappointed me so.



The worst bit about this was that what we ordered didn't even fill us up... and so I left not only disappointed but also hungry but too afraid to order anymore.
To be honest it was an upgrade from La Porchetta (not that theres anything wrong with their steak) and the alternative was having steak at Hogs Breath (I hate that place) but it Outback Jack surely wouldnt and couldnt compare to the likes of Squires Loft.
The most interesting thing about this is that Outback Jack is planning to open up a store in Docklands, i hope for their sake that it's nowhere in the vicinity of the Squires Loft chain (although the best store is still Toorak Rd), because the reality is, it might just die on its ass, sure the people down in Knox will be happy to eat it (considering the alternative is Hogs Breath) but I don't think the rest of Melbourne would...
Unless of course, you like the tacky stuff that Outback Jack's got going for itself (think TGI FRIDAYS) but instead you have this massive crocodile(or maybe alligator) hanging off the roof. If you like the novelty then you'd like the place, however novelty only works for about 5 seconds with me, if the food just can't deliver, they could have a real crocodile on show and I still wouldn't go back...

(yes thats a croc hanging off the roof, scary stuff... if you were a 3 year old and just woke up... from your nap)