The 50 best restaurants to have dinner in Bloomington (2024)

Man, what a place! When you think about Bold flavors, quality food, a happy energetic staff and a great place to drink, relax and be with friends you think of this place everytime. It’s been my favorite place to eat for years. I wish they had more TVs in the bar though, I’m a huge sports fan.

One of our favorite places to go for a steak cooked correctly. We order medium rare and it's always been perfectly pink and tasty. The elote is delicious. I do not recommend the burger. I wanted medium and received well done with burns on top. I also get the steak salads which are delicious with good steak used as the topping.

Awesome service! Host was nice and sat us right away. Jeff the server is great! Gave us everything we needed. Thanks Outback! We will be back!

I understand that this is the Midwest and people don’t tend to eat healthy, but as a restaurant serving food and under food safety regulations, you would think you would quality check your lettuce before serving spoiled, discolored, slimy lettuce to a customer ordering a salad.

Brenda was great. She definitely gets 5 stars. When my son feel cold, she does whatever she can to make him feel good. She even bring him a hot chocolate. My steak was a little above average, almost cooked to my order but not well seasoned. Local ale was good.

My fiance and I arrived this evening for dinner, we were seated at 5:10, after waiting 20 minutes without even getting our drink orders placed we left. Two waitresses passed by our table numerous times. A couple was seated in the booth next to the us and a waitress came to help them within five minutes. If I could leave zero stars I would. I understand everyone is short staffed but when every table around us is being helped that shows some pretty sorry service.

Always good service I love going there and awesome food.. I always try to sit in Jeff's section.. he's the best .. great experience!!! Another perfect meal. My son took me for my 70th birthday was awesome

The quality of the food this evening was fantastic! The manager Dylan stopped by my table to check in and was incredibly friendly and helpful. Our server Jeff provided 5-star service and was knowledgeable, prompt, and polite. The bartender Alyssa makes a mean Wallaby Darned! I will be returning soon.

Service was amazing. Restaurant has received a lot of interior updates. Looks beautiful and food was perfect as always

Ya'll! Jeff is absolutely amazing! He makes sure your food is perfect. He's fast, friendly, and knows the menu by heart. He even made my daughter a blueberry lemonade and it's not even on the menu. He goes that extra mile. Highly recommend Jeff !

We ordered Queensland chicken and shrimps pasta cuz it’s custom fave and we both found the pasta not good at all. The sauce should be Alfredo but what’s in the plate was definitely not Alfredo. The sauce was semi transparent and a bit yellow. It’s very greasy. For every bite I had to wipe my lips because they were coated something with lip balms or petroleum. Heavily coated. We couldn’t finish the paste even thought it’s just mid size. Alfredo is basic and they can’t make it well. No faith in their steak.

A couple weeks ago I brought my family to Outback, Bloomington, IN, my son was home from college. Outback is one of my FAVS! Initially walking in, we got a couple not so pleasant looks, I brushed it off, went against what I felt, which was not spend any money with them, I opted to be seated anyway. Still feeling kind of indecisive, over walks the brightest, humblest smile on SHAY'S, our waitress face! What a breath of fresh air she was. I watched her wait on several tables and her demeanor never changed! Shay you are the best! We spent a nice amount of $$$ & ordered more than we had anticipated because of the warm, fair, and consistency she displayed, even though, she wasn't getting the same from all the tables she encountered. I'm feeling like a steak this week, I Pray Shay's my waitress!! Keep up the great job. Your Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Workplace Ethics and Relationship building will always keep people wanting to come back for the food and to have you and your amazing personality serve them. Shay you will forever have success in life, keep being the Great YOU, that you ARE! THANK YOU!!!

Thank you outback for another fine dinner way better than Fogo da cho hands down ! Plus love having Jeff as our go to waiter

First, the service was great but the waiter would not let me finish my food before asking me a question. Mhmm, yes I would love a refill as my mouth is full of steak. Mhmm, yes, thank you the food is good but I haven't gotten to swallow it yet.Food was really good though and the wait was short because we were one of the few tables occupied. Mostly just complaining and hopefully it was just bad timing.

Our server was outstanding. Her presence was a breath of fresh air! Food was cooked to perfection for all 6 of us. The place was packed and She still stopped by many times to ask if we needed anything.

My husband and I rarely get to go out so when we do, we always cherish that time. Today we decided to have lunch here and we could not be happier. We were greeted warmly and seated quickly. The restaurant was clean and orderly. Our server, Brandy, was with us very quickly and we had our drinks and order in, in no time at all. We hadn't even finished our delicious salads before our steaks were brought out. Brandy stayed and had us check our steaks to ensure they were cooked properly, which they were.The entire meal was absolutely delicious but the stand out of everything was Brandy. She was friendly and attentive without being overbearing. She anticipated our needs and insured that our meal was perfect.We were so happy that we asked to speak to the manager to brag on Brandy and the food. He clearly takes pride in his establishment and is very encouraging of his employees.I highly recommend coming here for a great steak and phenomenal service!

Ordered take out for our anniversary. I had the bone-in ribeye and she had salmon. Had two apps as well. The order came out perfect and the food was awesome!Thank you!

Ok, don’t roll your eyes! I know, I know. After desert of post Covid restaurant, I don’t know what to call it. We visited the Outback Steak House in Bloomington, Indiana.For a chain steak house it’s was surprisingly good. The service was Top notch. The drink list changed, we got a bommarit. It’s a flight of flavored margaritas. We enjoyed the fun of trying something different. The food was solid. The Brussel sprouts were amazing! Yes I know, but really.We don’t wast time ordering, the server came up we were ordering and the drinks arrived 2seconds after she left the table. Everything was smooth, and served with a smile.What I’m saying is It looks like outback upped their game. Well done.

I've never had a bad experience there ..until yesterday April 13th 2024. Being a member of ANY restaurant's wait staff, is not an easy job, and I've always known and respected that, I've been a waitress for many years, and this is the 1st time ever, that I've been so disappointed, and honestly, shocked at "professionalism" or lack there of that the staff showed. Not a smile one in the entire place. And after being seated , (we were seated quickly , so that's positive) after that it went downhill rather quickly . We were a party of 4 adults, and 2 children. Our waiter came to take appetizer and drink order, and it took close to 15 mins just to get our drinks, and he didn't bring our 2 grandsons drinks at all, we reminded him, he said ok, and another 20 mins passed, and he walked by , stating that he just realized he forgot their drinks ..again...I also asked him for another glass of water. He came back with kids drinks and not my water....No biggie, we were having a good day with our son, our family..when our food FINALLY arrived (we all got cheeseburgers and fries, except my son, he ordered a steak, and grandsons had burgers and fruit)...So a lady arrived with our food order, and gave it to us, asking do we need anything else, I again, asked for another glass of ice water, and 2 refills of Dr Pepper...she came right back with the drinks, but for whatever reason after she sat our drinks down , she went to push my husband's plate closer to him, no idea why she did, but when she did, she knocked over my husband's glass of Dr pepper, it FILLED his plate of food, all over his shirt and brand new pants, as well as his phone, the table and the floor! She simply said "sorry about that, and something about her " slippery butter fingers"... I asked for some towels she went and brought back 3 towels, sat them on the table and was walking away when we stopped her to ask if she was going to bring my husband a new plate of food since his was now submerged in Dr pepper? And could we have another order of fruit for our grandsons? She said sure, I'll go put in the order. She did not stay and clean up any of the mess, so my husband and I cleaned him up, his phone , (we had to take out and clean and dry, )and the table, chair and floor, which in turn everything was sticky, cause the rags were just dry rags , not wet or anything else. 15 more minutes and our actual original waiter finally brought his new food out. I asked are you guys going to at least knock a little off the bill (which came out to $138!!!!!! Plus a TIP!!!!) for what had just occurred 20 minutes ago, he literally just smiled and had a almost sarcastic grin and chuckle...he thought I was joking!! Also , can we get the bowl of fruit we asked for more than 20 mins ago? He just nodded and walked away...He came back with the fruit , and at that point we were ready for the check and some to go boxes. Nobody ever came and cleared any of our dishes at all until we were gone I guess. And NOPE, nothing was ever said or done about the entire glass of pop that was spilled on my husband his food and belongings or the fact that we had to clean it all up, no apology, no smiles, and certainly no discounted food, and mine and my daughter in law ordered our burgers WELL done ...both were very pink inside!! VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED, Can not believe how much Outback has gone down hill!!! I hate it, because we used to love it there....smh

My wife and I had a fantastic lunch date here! Going into the restaurant, it was very clean, and staff was welcoming and seated us quickly. Our server, Brandy, took very very good care of us. She was attentive, friendly and made sure everything was to our liking. Our food was fantastic, steaks cooked and seasoned to perfection as was all of the food. Our lunch date was >perfect< . A huge shout out to Brandy, thank you so much for making our day, you are very kind, attentive, and work extremely hard, thank you. My wife and I decided to ask to speak to management (who was also very professional and nice!) to brag on our experience. It was so good. I cannot recommend this location enough.

Our server Moon was absolutely amazing! Friendly, funny, prompt and quick! Food was delicious and drinks were tasty. If every server was as pleasant as Moon we’d all be in good hands! Go to Outback and ask for him!!!! Can’t wait to go back and ask for his section! Happy holidays!

We did not enjoy our time here in regards to service. Our server from the bar area was not friendly to us. Yet towards everyone else she was extremely nice to and asked if they wanted more to drink. She never once asked us if we wanted another drink. We felt like she didn't want us here. The food was on point and I enjoyed my steak. The cooks did an amazing job with our food. 50 dollars for a meal and tip. I still believe servers should still be tipped. However I didn't go above 15% because she was rude.

3201 W 3rd St, Bloomington, IN 47404, USA•

•(812) 330-1018•Tips and more reviews for Outback Steakhouse