Author: jean komatsu
Last saved by: ENU

Outback Steakhouse 
Chain restaurant: this review for Outback @La Quinta Inn, Danbury, CT
http://www.outback.com/restaurant/locations/CT/Danbury/Danbury/index.aspx 
Review date: May 2012

The West Point graduation on Memorial Day weekend was exhausting, both from a scheduling standpoint (lots of driving) and stiffness quotient (either standing for long periods of time, or sitting for hours on uncushioned, backless metal/concrete. In addition, the day of the ceremony turned unexpectedly hot, sapping everyone's energy. None of us had gotten a full night's sleep since we first arrived, so after the Big Event, everyone was tired, physically and mentally.

With the group splitting up, we headed east towards Old Lyme CT. I thought it would be fun to stop overnight and play tourist. I chose Danbury as it has an interesting little military museum I hoped Carlos would like (and he did). 

Ergo, the hotel selection followed the tourist attraction. Dinner was going to be one of two nearby places. Danbury had a well-rated pizza parlor, as well as a new tapas restaurant that has garnered praise from Yelpers. I had every intention of trying one or the other.

But we were dog-tired. The thought of going into the car and driving around again wasn't appealing. We looked at each other and shrugged. "Outback it is," we agreed, and went through La Quinta Inn's connecting door.

You've seen one chain steakhouse, you've seen them all. A mix of small- and medium-sized booths, with a couple of large ones, or tables that can be pushed together for larger groups. Dark wood, semi-atmospheric lighting for a fake antique bar look. The serving staff is always young, enthusiastic, and cheerful. They are also better trained than many independent restaurants, which adds to the value proposition. 

Carlos has been pigging out on prime rib and seafood just about every day we've been here. Meat and potatoes is taken seriously in most of America, metropolitan Northern/Southern California's flexitarian propensities notwithstanding. The lobster tails are big, the steaks are bigger, and the prime rib/Delmonicos (the East Coast term for a boneless rib-eye cut) are downright massive. Baked potatoes with sour cream and butter are everywhere. Instead of the single red-meat entree you find on California menus, out here at least five or six different beef cuts are offered.

Outback being a steakhouse, it has over a dozen different beef entrees, if you count the three different sizes that certain cuts come in (6 oz, 12 oz, and 16 oz). He ordered a cup of clam chowder to start. It was a little salty, but had excellent flavor and lots of tender, well-diced pink clams.

The 12-oz prime rib was a large end cut, beautifully trimmed. I told him I'd never seen a prime rib trimmed any better, in fact. Carlos still thinks Townhouse/Emeryville has the tastiest prime rib, but this Outback came very, very close. All entrees come with two sides, so along with the chowder, he selected the mixed vegetables, which were steamed a little longer by his request. He liked them much better this way, and afterwards said he wished he had ordered a double side of this. 

I chose the sirloin with coconut shrimp. A 12-oz sirloin was beautifully grilled: salted just right, cooked perfectly, tender and juicy. There were four shrimp in the usual coconut-shred flour batter. They had been properly deep-fried so the batter was crisp but the shrimp weren't overcooked. They come with the usual clichéd orange marmalade-based sauce, which Carlos slathered all over the one shrimp I gave him for tasting.

I chose sweet potato fries (battered; just okay) and grilled asparagus for my two sides. The asparagus were thin spears, so they were a tad oversalted but had nice grilling marks. I ordered an iced tea, which the waitress warned me wasn't sweet. This is something to remember; out here iced tea is usually sweetened, just as a 'regular coffee' is expected to be drunk with cream and sugar.

Going to a chain restaurant still depends on the cook. In the hands of a good cook, even simple food of decent quality can be terrific....just as a bad cook can ruin good ingredients with sloppy execution. This is a chain steakhouse, but we were fortunate to run into one of their good cooks.

Two people, dinner: two entrees, three beverages, with generous tip was nothing short of phenomenal to us – a mere $69.