The Outback Steakhouse Deal Employees Wish More Customers Knew About

If you're at Outback Steakhouse enjoying a Bloomin' Onion (or any of these other under-$20 menu items), don't pay your tab just yet. You might not know about an interesting deal that's available at some locations: You can get a take-home meal for $10 with the purchase of any adult entree. It's similar in concept to Olive Garden's $6 hands-down affordable take-home meal, in that you can tack on the additional item after you're done eating.

$10 is a good deal, considering all the items on the discounted lunch menu, which are available until 4 p.m., are generally over $10. The take-home meal deal includes your choice of Alice Springs Chicken (which features chicken breast topped with mushrooms, bacon, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses and served with mashed potatoes and a honey mustard sauce), or you can build your own meal. The build-your-own meal option includes a choice of bases (or sides) such as mac and cheese, fettuccine Alfredo, seasoned rice, or salad, which you can top off with your choice of center-cut sirloin, grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, or grilled salmon, and your preferred selection of sauce (which depends on your base/side).

In a thread on Reddit, Outback employees say that while they are obligated to let customers know about the deal, it doesn't happen as often as it should. (Heck, I was just there and nobody told me about it.) And there's one version of that take-home deal that's actually a steal. As one employee commented, "If [the] guest is [a] seafood lover the easy sell is the salmon. Show them the $10 price versus menu price i believe it's over $22." For reference, the Outback location by me sells the full salmon meal for just over $27.

That same Reddit user mentions that it's also the full 8-ounce portion of fish, too. This means you're almost getting the same amount of entree food (minus one side) in your take-home meal for less than half the menu price. Of course, the servers do have quotas to fill on upsell-type items like this, which, in part, is why they wish more customers would know about it. 

But it does help that in relative price terms, the take-home meal is a good deal (or a great one, in terms of the salmon). If you don't feel like asking your server but are still curious, the employees mention you can simply interact with the portable digital display (called the Ziosk) placed at each table to see if it's available during your visit — it should be visible after you place your dine-in order.