Sunday, August 8, 2010

An Outback Steakhouse Birthday Party

When I made my families reservation at Outback Steakhouse in Rochester, MN for my sister's 19th birthday meal, all I could think was, "Well, the waitress is going to work hard for her money with this table!" Four of us at the table (half), had some sort of food allergy, the birthday girl and I both being dairy, egg and gluten free. I feel like anytime my family goes out to eat we send that poor waitress back and forth between our table and the kitchen with a zillion questions just to ensure we don't get sick. Eating out is not much fun! Outback Steakhouse was a different experience for us. They were great. They had gluten free menus for us and for our other allergies the waitress had a card in her apron with most of the answers. My sister Melody, the birthday girl, told the waitress she was also allergic to garlic when trying to decide what to have off the menu. The waitress did a great job writing down our allergies and remembering them. The waitress informed us that the BBQ sauce that came with the chicken we ordered contained garlic. When I got my dish I had the side of BBQ sauce, since I'm not allergic to garlic. When Melody's order came, no BBQ sauce. Melody requested the BBQ sauce from the waitress, in which she replied "It has garlic in it." Melody still got some anyways since that allergy isn't a real sensitive one. My family could only laugh though with the waitresses reply since we'd never eaten at a place that was so considerate of our allergies and wasn't even going to let Melody cheat on garlic by eating BBQ sauce. Outback was also very accommodating by allowing my mom to bring in a gluten, dairy and egg free chocolate cake for dessert! We even sent a little piece of it back with the waitress for her to try, which she said she did. Melody's birthday dessert from Outback wasn't one she could have, ice cream with toppings, but she was a good sport and still got it anyway. My husband enjoyed her ice cream instead. Listed below is what Melody and I ordered at Outback. It was a bit spicy but tasted great!

Grilled Chicken on the Barbie with a side of sauteed mushrooms and strips of bacon (to resemble an Alice Springs Chicken since we couldn't have the honey mustard sauce from the Alice Springs)
I got green beans without butter or seasonings for my side.
Melody got a baked sweet potato without toppings for her side.

All in all it was an eating out experience that went pretty great!

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