Texas Roadhouse Vs Outback Steakhouse: Who Has The Better Rolls?

If there's one thing you can depend on Texas Roadhouse and Outback Steakhouse to do right, it's bringing free bread to the table. Sure, there are better menu items up for grabs as far as quality and enjoyability goes, but knowing you'll be getting a basket of rolls or a loaf of something soft and crusty to whet your appetite can recover even the most egregious entrée mistakes. After all, you can make a main dish at home that may be as good as these two dining dynamos, but your bread game isn't likely to be up to snuff. You're better off leaving such culinary sorcery to the pros.

Between these two meat-and-potatoes eateries, which presents the better version of table bread? Rather than live with the mystery, I journeyed to Outback Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse locations in my area — a convenient trip since they're only a few miles apart. I gathered samples of rolls from each so I could nail down the specifics first hand. Tasting two types of fresh-baked bread is never a bad day's work. Determining which of the two is superior? Well ... that takes a little more thought, so read on to discover what our taste test revealed.

A trip to Outback Steakhouse will get you a miniature loaf of its richly colored table bread. They're whimsical at first sight, making diners feel like giants as they slice or tear into their pre-appetizer appetizer. I would love to say they're large enough to share, but they're also small enough to enjoy all on your own. Still, if you're waiting for another round, you may be tempted to break one in half to offer your compatriots in bread enjoyment. No one will stop you if so.

By contrast, Texas Roadhouse sticks with the traditional dinner roll, palm-sized spheres that offer just enough bread for one person at a time to dive into. This is why the waitstaff deliver multiple rolls at a time, preventing any visitor from going without or having to split their single-serving bread with anyone else. Sadly, you probably only feel like a regular-sized human while enjoying them, but don't let that stop you from digging in.

The cat's out of the bread bag for Outback Steakhouse: The chain doesn't have onsite bakers cranking out table bread, but instead uses frozen dough that seems to feature a mix of honey and molasses for flavor in a whole wheat and bread flour blend, if copycat recipes can be believed. Keeping unbaked loaves on ice is a handy way for the restaurant to have plenty of bread on hand for unexpected crowds without a bread maker having to keep up with demand.

At Texas Roadhouse, the yeast rolls are made from scratch onsite, offering visitors a fresher experience that feels more like an artisan or homemade experience. The rolls aren't identical in shape or size; each has a unique, hand-formed personality that advertises their freshness, as opposed to Outback's identical little loaves. For diners paying a premium to enjoy freshly-made food, Texas Roadhouse takes extra measures to come through with a real backyard cookout-style roll that could have come straight from Grandma's kitchen.

Though it depends entirely on your server and location's policies, Outback Steakhouse usually delivers two or three loaves to your table at a time. You can certainly ask for more, though since this table bread is substantial, you may not be hungry for more before your food arrives. Any you have left over will serve as a perfect side dish to your main course and a great addition to your take-home box.

Texas Roadhouse handles its table bread in a more generous presentation, with a six-pack of rolls coming ahead of your order and refills flowing as often as you like through your visit. True, your centerpiece may also feature bread on the plate. But if you plan right, you can factor in your dinner rolls as your bread course and a complement to the entrée.

There's no harm in eating empty bread at Outback Steakhouse. You may find the loaves flavorful enough with nothing on them, or you may prefer to dip them in sauce or dressing on your plate. But if you know where your bread is buttered, you can top your slices with a swath of whipped butter to give the wheaty flavor a creamy touch that softens the texture a bit as well. It's not a proprietary recipe or anything wildly original, but it works for the occasion and it's real and flavorful, which are always nice features.

Texas Roadhouse makes its butter better with a sweet and spicy schmear so popular, copycat recipes for its honey cinnamon butter crop up to give home bakers a more elegant way to top their own creations. The flavors recreate a downhome combination that fits right in with the Southern BBQ theme of the restaurant while elevating the bread enjoyment factor to a heavenly realm.

While you can probably guess that the table bread at Outback Steakhouse comes free of charge as part of your visit, what you may not realize is that the restaurant sometimes provides its bread for free to take-out guests as well. In fact, if you head into an Outback near you and offer to pay, you may be thanked by a staff member who happily informs you that the bread is free even if you order nothing else. Since this may not be true at all locations, be prepared to pay a nominal fee.

At Texas Roadhouse, in-house orders include your table bread for free, though you can order only the dinner rolls as a take-out side in quantities of six for $2.50 or a dozen for $4.99. These rolls are also free if you make a to-go order, which means one way or another, you can get in on the Roadhouse bread opportunity no matter what your appetite calls for.

Anyone intrigued by the rolls at Outback Steakhouse can find them at any of the 1,450 locations in the U.S. and around the world. Stateside, Florida wins the lottery for highest number of Outbacks with a whopping 95 and Alaska wins for lowest number with one solitary restaurant. Overall, you can find Outback bread pretty much no matter where you are in the country — a fact that can alter the reality of a bread-lover in search of novel loaves to adore onsite or at home.

In sharp contrast, you'll find less than half as many Texas Roadhouse locations, with around 700 restaurants in 49 states and around the globe. To provide a tasty treat in regions where the restaurant doesn't reach, Texas Roadhouse also markets a frozen version of its rolls that are ready to thaw, heat and eat in grocery stores, including Walmart. This makes them easy to try even if you can't find a Roadhouse in your neighborhood to roll into.

You can tell by the deep hue of Outback Steakhouse's table loaf that there's a rich and crusty bite waiting for you. The molasses and honey notes sing out over the whole wheat, though the entire combination creates flavorful harmony in which every element gets a chance to shine. Without butter, you get a thoroughly satisfying mix of flavors, and with butter, your taste buds have even more to celebrate.

The butter-sweet essence of Texas Roadhouse dinner rolls replicates home-baked bread that's light and lovely, even if the paler color might suggest something insubstantial hidden under the crust. Every top is brushed with melted butter, though the base flavor is buttery enough to require nothing more. Still, with a dollop of the restaurant's honey-cinnamon butter joining the party, the bread festival only gets more thrilling.

Looking at the wheat loaf Outback Steakhouse supplies gives the impression that there's something dense and crusty that needs real elbow grease to cut a slice or tear off a chunk. Surprisingly, it's a much softer shell than I imagined and gave easily to both a serrated knife and my bread-grubbing fingers. The interior is equally soft, with a crumb that holds its shape rather than falling apart, another pleasant surprise that makes spreading butter on each slice an easy task.

Even with their lighter color, Texas Roadhouse rolls have a delightful light dinner roll crust that's fun to break and exciting to chew. It's not overly crumbly, though it does take a bit of pressure to crack into. Once open, the interior is sturdy enough to allow the whipped butter to spread gently without making a mushy mess. This is the type of roll that would make an adorable sandwich roll for any plate-bound scraps of barbeque chicken or beef you might have missed during dinner.

I was fully prepared to love one of these versions of table bread more than the other. I suspected it would be Outback Steakhouse, since my tastes tend toward richer bakes than what the visual impression of Texas Roadhouse presents. But trying them both side-by-side led me to the conclusion that each roll is so different from the other, comparing them is more a study in delicious contrasts than overlapping similarities.

If you're a fan of heartier breads, Outback Steakhouse will undoubtedly satisfy your craving, even if they come from the freezer. Whatever the kitchen staff does to get them ready makes them delicious. And if you happen to love a well-made white bread dinner roll that reminds you of a summertime cookout, Texas Roadhouse will deliver the goods in grand fashion. These freshly-made rolls are as close to homemade as you can get, and the only finger you have to lift to get them is the one that signals your server.

I swung by my nearby Outback Steakhouse and was stunned that the "bread is on us" rule held. My cheerful waiter declined my offer to pay, which was kind of a thrill in the era of rising dining prices and added fees for just about everything. Then I swept over to Texas Roadhouse and placed my order, watching as they removed the rolls fresh from the oven and brushed them with melted butter before my starry, bread-loving eyes.

For the taste test, I gave each roll a taste without butter, then a taste with butter, and then went back for seconds of both. Since Outback provides little loaves, I limited myself to half a loaf for the test; I tried a full Texas Roadhouse roll, which appeared to be an equal amount of bread. From taste to texture to freshness, both rolls brought the wow factor, which made it impossible to choose a winner. This is actually good news, since no matter which you choose as your source of fantastic table bread, you won't be disappointed.

Opinions may differ about whether Texas Roadhouse is a better restaurant than Outback steakhouse, but both eateries are at the top of their bread games.