My husband and I love going out to eat, but between paying $25 an hour for a babysitter and rising costs across the board, we haven’t been to restaurants much the past few months.
So, I was intrigued when I found out about Outback Steakhouse‘s family-style Bloomin’ Bundle meals.
They can be ordered for groups of four or six for takeout, and each comes with a protein (chicken, steak, or a combo of both), sides, a salad, and loaves of the chain’s honey-wheat bread. Prices range between about $50 to $100.
It seemed like it could be a great deal, and I loved the idea of having a full steak dinner at home without having to cook it.
So, my husband and I invited my sister and brother-in-law over for dinner to try one of the chain’s Bloomin’ Bundle meals and see if it’s actually a good value.
The ordering process was straightforward, but some of my options felt limited.
Outback Steakhouse’s website felt extremely easy to navigate.
Once I selected my nearest location, I just clicked the “Bloomin’ Bundle Meals” section of the menu to get started. (Notably, these meals are not available at all Outback locations.)
I chose the center-cut 6-ounce sirloin meal for four, declined paying extra to upgrade to Victoria’s filet for an extra $20, and selected our “preferred cook temperature.” I could only choose one, so I went with medium.
My meal came with two sides, and choices were limited: Aussie fries, homestyle mashed potatoes, or “fresh seasonal veggies.” I opted for fries and vegetables. It wasn’t clear which vegetable I’d be getting, but I guessed it would be broccoli based on the photo next to my selection.
Lastly, for salad, I chose the house over Caesar. I was able to select my dressing from a list of 10 options (I chose ranch) and remove some of the toppings (I did not).
During checkout, there was an option to add on other appetizers and desserts, and I couldn’t pass up the chain’s signature Bloomin’ Onion for an extra $11.
Picking up the food was incredibly quick and easy.
I ordered the meal during my lunch break and selected a 5 p.m. pickup time. It was great to be able to order ahead and know dinner was taken care of.
After tax, our dinner bundle with an extra appetizer came to $71.43. I chose to add a 20% tip, bringing our total to $84.63.
At 4:45 p.m., I got a text from Outback with a link to use to check in when we arrived. We got to the restaurant right after 5, parked in one of the designated pick-up spots, and checked in.
Within a minute, our food was brought out to my car in a large paper bag. Typically, I’ve waited 10 to 15 minutes when picking up a takeout order from a restaurant, so this speediness was a pleasant surprise.
Everything we needed for dinner was in the bag.
The paper bag contained plastic silverware, a house salad, two loaves of bread, four steaks, fries, steamed broccoli, ketchup, butter, ranch, and the Bloomin’ Onion with its famous dipping sauce.
I was confused that the salad appeared to be in an oven-safe foil container, but the fried food came in plastic ones.
Since I worried the fries and the Bloomin’ Onion would get a bit soggy on the way home, I was especially disappointed that I couldn’t just pop their containers into my oven later.
We started with the salad and bread.
We started our meal with Outback’s signature brown bread, which was soft and tasted freshly baked. I appreciated that it came with four individual servings of butter — one for each of us. Both loaves were gone by the end of our meal.
Then, we moved on to the house salad, which came topped with sliced cucumbers, red onions, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, and croutons.
I wish there had been more toppings, though. It didn’t seem like there were enough to balance out all the iceberg lettuce, which I’m not a huge fan of.
The ranch dressing I selected came on the side and tasted great. I really liked how thick and creamy it was, and that it seemed to have a slight kick.
After a bit of reheating, the rest of our dinner was served.
Our fried food, the fries and Bloomin’ Onion, did indeed get a tad soggy in transit, so I transferred them to cookie sheets so I could crisp them up in my oven before dinner.
Although this meant waiting longer to eat, we all ultimately enjoyed the meal.
All of the 6-ounce steaks were well-seasoned, tender, and cooked perfectly to the specified temperature. The crisped-up fries and Bloomin’ Onion were great as well, especially with that tangy sauce.
Although I was happy with broccoli, it would’ve been nice to know in advance which vegetable we’d be getting. That said, it seemed perfectly steamed, and I appreciated that it was quite plain, not drowned in a sauce or seasonings.
The fried food certainly wasn’t healthy, but the simple steamed broccoli and generous salad portion ultimately kept the meal from feeling too heavy or rich. Honestly, it felt pretty balanced.
We appreciated the generous portions, but they weren’t super great for leftovers.
The sides — especially the salad — came in fairly large portions, and we didn’t finish them all.
Dressing the whole salad at once turned out to be a mistake. I ended up tossing the leftovers because I knew they’d be super soggy the next day. In the future, I’d let everyone serve themselves salad and dress it individually.
We also ended up tossing the leftover french fries and Bloomin’ Onion pieces because we already heated them up once, and I haven’t found that fried foods reheat well the second day.
Next time, I’d get mashed potatoes instead of fries, which I think would be easier to save and reheat the next day.
In the end, the only thing we saved and ate later was the broccoli. It felt a bit wasteful.
I’d order the Bloomin’ Bundle meal again for its value and taste.
I wish the fried food had come in better, easy-to-reheat containers and that we’d had more side-dish options. However, I still felt like the Bloomin’ Bundle meal was a great deal.
It offered a fairly substantial savings opportunity: a 6-ounce center-cut sirloin with two sides would have cost $17.99 à la carte. Adding a salad is an extra $5.99 per order, so the equivalent of what we got would have been $23.98 per person before tax and tip.
In our Bloomin’ Bundle order, meals (without the Bloomin’ Onion, tax, and tip) came to $13.75 per person, more than $10 cheaper.
When ordering à la carte, you can choose from more side options (such as a baked potato or rice). However, if you’re cool with the basics — and your family likes their steak cooked the same way — the bundle still wins.
Overall, the food was tasty, and our meal felt more balanced than what we’d usually get from other takeout spots. On top of that, the ordering and pickup process was easy, and eating steak takeout for this price felt like a little luxury.
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