8 Secrets Outback Steakhouse Doesn't Want You to Know

There is no denying the allure that anything Australian has for Americans. From the accent to the beaches, there is plenty to be admired about the down under lifestyle.

In 1988, Outback Steakhouse capitalized on that attraction. The fast-casual chain was born in Tampa, Fla., and quickly rose to national (and now international) prominence. Today, they are known for much more than just their Aussie aesthetic.

The legendary Bloomin' Onion, for one, is one of the best-known appetizers on the restaurant chain scene. Their slogan, which has been a mantra since the very beginning, is iconic: "No rules, just right." And, perhaps more than anything else, the sizzling steak TV commercials that helped put Outback on the map are now seared into our collective memory. You can probably still hear the "Let's go Outback tonight" jingle playing in your head.

During the decades of success, Outback Steakhouse has also filed away a few secrets. Read on to uncover the details they aren't broadcasting. For more, check out 8 Secrets LongHorn Steakhouse Doesn't Want You to Know.

If you are familiar with authentic Australian culture, this "secret" might not be shocking. But it's true, the chain from down under actually just hails from Florida, where four people who worked in the hospitality industry, mainly popular chain restaurants, decided that an Australian theme would help make their restaurant unique. At the time, none of the founders had even made the trek to the continent.

According to a native in an interview with LA Weekly, it's no coincidence that Outback was founded in 1988, after the success of the movie Crocodile Dundee. The blockbuster movie leaned into Australian stereotypes, and the chain hoped to capitalize on the fervor, but it did so by appealing to American palates.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

A hilarious Twitter thread shared in The Courier-Mail—an Australian website—illustrates the randomness of some of Outback's dishes. The chain is known for a creamy seafood pasta and topping called Toowoomba.  Toowoomba is a real Australian town two hours inland and up a mountain range, according to one respondent. That it is known for seafood in America is baffling. The name was probably chosen because the town name is memorable and no one had heard of it before. "We're all just a bit surprised Toowoomba has ANYTHING named after it," Tweeted another.

Three years ago, a former employee of Outback Steakhouse confessed on a Reddit thread that a fellow user's suspicions were correct: If you order your steak well done, the kitchen is going to dole you out a worse cut of meat.

"Honestly… yes," said former employee. "We sort steaks to cook all at the same temp, at the same time. So yeah you will get a crappier cut to cook at the same time as your super nice, rare cut."

In 2017, Twitter users uncovered that, in several cities, the layout of Outback's locations looks like a pentagram. Amidst the ensuing viral conspiracy theories that Satanism was involved (you know, a practice that uses pentagrams as symbols), Outback leaned in. "If the Bloomin' Onion is evil then we don't want to be nice," they Tweeted, in a genius marketing move that kept the internet talking.

You know the bread we're talking about—that absolutely decadent dark brown loaf, known colloquially as "chocolate bread" (a moniker which, according to Reddit, servers resent.) According to that same former employee, you don't need to sit for an entire meal at Outback to enjoy the bread. You can likely just visit your local location and buy it from them.

Is any restaurant really off the hook with this one? Like many other chains, Outback has been outed for its microwave usage. According to a user on Quora who used to work there, the chain simply "nukes" the pre-made pasta and sauce for a minute and thirty seconds. Not exactly fine dining.

To be fair, depending on who Outback wants to appeal to, they may or may not want you to know this "secret." The chain's parent company Bloomin' Brands made 93% of its political donations to Republicans in 2016, according to Eater. The same can be said of many other major restaurant chains, including Applebee's, IHOP, Chick-fil-A, and even Wendy's.

A previous version of this article was originally published on May 11, 2022.