The LongHorn Steakhouse Appetizer You Need To Avoid, According To Customers

LongHorn Steakhouse is a Texas-style steakhouse with a friendly and casual atmosphere and plenty of perks and customizations, which we learned about from an ex-employee. While we have some pretty favorable reviews for some of LongHorn Steakhouse's most popular menu items, we also found dishes you should avoid. And the appetizer that both we and fellow LongHorn customers don't like is the Texas Tonion.

LongHorn Steakhouse's Texas Tonion is the deconstructed version of a bloomin' onion. Since the bloomin' onion is among the most iconic popular menu items at its competitor, Outback Steakhouse, the crunchy breaded onion pieces and zesty dipping sauce included with the Texas Tonion had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, it fell short in every way, from flavor to ingredient proportions. Reviews on Tripadvisor and Yelp bemoaned a poorly executed and disappointing appetizer. A Yelp customer wrote, "The onion pieces were extremely thick and extremely salty." In addition to containing way too much breading, one TripAdvisor customer complained that the "Texas Tonion was over-cooked around the edges."

A Texas Tonion review on YouTube summed up the dish as "thick breading, thin onion, [and] not much flavor," demonstrating how little onion there was compared to the breading as they pulled a bite apart. The reviewer tended to rely on the dipping sauces for any flavor at all. But even the dipping sauce was flavorless according to our taste test; the "zesty" mayo-based sauce lacked zestiness and failed to save these flavorless deep-fried onions.

Texas Tonion is the appetizer to avoid at LongHorn Steakhouse, but there are plenty of other delicious appetizers that won customer approval. Perhaps the most popular appetizer among customers on Reddit was the Wild West Shrimp, which one Redditor crowned "the best appetizer in the game." A review on Facebook said, "Their shrimp appetizer is hard to beat, you can make a whole meal out of it." 

Another highly praised appetizer at LongHorn Steakhouse is the White Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms. One Yelp review wrote, "The Cheddar stuffed mushrooms were very good and baked to a great texture with just the right amount of cheese." A TikTok review said they were by far the best appetizer with the perfect amount of cheesy creaminess, herbs, and a powerful umami savoriness from the perfectly roasted, parmesan-crusted mushrooms. We also thought the cheddar stuffed mushrooms were among the best menu items at LongHorn Steakhouse that aren't steak. 

Of course, most of us go to a steakhouse to get a steak. And LongHorn's fresh cuts of steak are a great value for the price. Our favorite steaks to get at LongHorn Steakhouse are Flo's filet, a flavorful filet mignon coated in the restaurant's beloved prairie dust seasoning, and the ribeye.