GMaps
Aug. 28, 2018 By Tara Law
The Outback Steakhouse has permanently closed its Elmhurst location, the restaurant confirmed Tuesday.
The chain shuttered its Queens Place Mall location on Sunday, a restaurant spokesperson said. The chain–known for its Australian theme–had operated out of the 86-01 Queens Blvd. mall for 17 years.
The Outback Steakhouse, which is based out of Florida despite its Aussie concept, is known for inexpensive steaks and “bloomin onions”— deep-fried, breaded onions served with mayonnaise-horseradish sauce.
“The decision [to close] was based solely on business circumstances,” according to the company. “Most” of the restaurant’s employees were offered the opportunity to transfer to a nearby restaurant with open positions, the spokesperson said.
The Outback Steakhouse chain boasts 1,000 restaurants, according to the company’s website, but the Queens Place location appears to have been unpopular.
Multiple users on the ratings website Yelp noted that the restaurant was very empty and delivered slow and unreliable service.
“The place was empty but the host made us wait for a table anyway,” said Jonathan K. on Yelp. “He was faster answering the text messages on his phone than finding us a table in an empty restaurant.”
The chain’s closest restaurant is located at 23-48 Bell Blvd. in Bayside.
QNS was first to report this story.
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13 Comments
We never had a much of problem with the place. last time I was there I had one of the best prime ribs ever. Toward the end the serves did get a bit slow though.
In all my years shopping at that mall, I only recently went in because my daughter and I were starving and she suggested we try it. We had never gone to an Outback. Hostess was prompt and attentive. Can’t say enough about our young,polite and attentive waitress. I wish I remembered her name to give credit where it’s due after reading all the negative posts. Granted we didn’t love the food….but loved the warm bread and real butter. Food was fine enough to return at some future. It’s chain food, can’t expect wholesome and healthy. Sad to see workers displaced. Hopefully something good moves in.
Crikey!
G’day , mate
Thank goodness the White Castle up the block is still in business
Maybe the Longhorn in the are put them out
It was cheaper to order a steak here then sew it to the bottom of my shoe instead of repairing it with actual later
You will be missed.
The first few years after it opened this place was packed. Sadly the traffic to retail “malls” is probably what did this restaurant in. Does anyone ever go to Best Buy anymore? Target’s “remodeling” also probably hurt it.
Forced to wait 15 minutes even though 90% of the tables were empty, worst service, warm beer, horribly cooked food, didn’t accpt the rewards card. Why did they close?
What!? I used to eat here lot. So much that they’d on occasion comp my meals. I never had a problem with the service. Wait times at prime hours was about usual and non existent during other times. This restaurant closing really sucks.
Employees there were the absolute worst. I experienced the exact same as the Yelp review. You walk into an empty restaurant and are told the wait is 10 mins. Then you wait 10 mins for a waiter to come around. I once had a bartender come take our soft-drink orders after we were seated because he realized how awful the service was and probably overheard that we were about to get up and leave.
It’s amusing that corporate doesn’t draw any parallel between the workers and the restaurant’s performance. What is the point of sending them to a nearby restaurant? To wreck that one too?
It’s all about the service and the food.
Not surprised. Out of all the chain restaurants in the area, Outback is the lowest quality with an unappealing menu. The location didn’t help either, it wasn’t on the ground floor or visible from outside.