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Horrible Service for 80th Birthday Celebration
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY -- My wife, two daughters, son in law, my mother and myself arrived at Red Lobster at 6:45 PM looking to celebrate my Mothers 80th birthday party we were promptly seated at 7 PM and from there things went horribly wrong. Our waitress seemed to be handling about 8 tables in our section and although we got our menus right away she disappeared and we didn't get drinks ordered for 10 minutes, then 10 minutes further before we saw her again to drop some biscuits on our table we said that we were ready to order but she advised that she had other customers to wait on and disappeared for another 10 minutes. So 30 minutes in we finally get to place our orders 3 of us ordered the endless shrimp, 1 ordered the fish and chips, 1 the pick 2 and my mother the shrimp linguine with asparagus. From there the long wait begins 15 minutes later we ask is our food almost out?.. to this we are quickly given more biscuits and told the kitchen is running behind, then she disappears for another 15 minutes. We have been seated for an HOUR and still don't have our food!! This is on a Thursday???... can't see how this place operates on the weekends. 10 minutes later our waitress finally shows up with our food minus several sides and mixed up orders, I tell her we would like to go ahead and put in our orders for the next 2 dishes for the endless shrimp to insure that we could get them in a timely manner since we have been here way to long and she says shes going to check on the missing sides. Well another 20 minutes later she finally shows up with no not our next orders for the endless shrimp which we have already finished our first plate of but with my mothers missing asparagus which is BURNT on one end my mother said she wasn't eating it I tried a piece and it tasted like it was pure SALT, HORRIBLE AND BURNT! I asked where our next plates were for the endless shrimp and she said she would check with the kitchen. You guessed it 15 minutes later she shows up with the dishes, I asked to speak with the manager at this point. The manager shows up to our table and I explain my frustration and that this should be a typical 1 hour meal from start to finish and we have been there over 2 HOURS, she says that the kitchen is backed up with orders from customers for the endless shrimp offer. Once again this is on a Thursday, WHY offer a special if its going to shut your restaurant down to the point that the SERVICE SUCKS. VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED! The manager offered no apology or compensation for the poor service. We usually go the the Red Lobster in Clarksville, IN where we have gotten good service, we opted to go to this one because it was closer to my mothers home. Won't make that mistake again.

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Dirty, Disgusting and Food Was All Undercooked
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SANFORD, FLORIDA -- My family was seated at a booth. I felt something sticky on the bottom of my shoe. It was dark so I could not see. As I look around the area I noticed how dusty the shelf area was right next to me. The light fixture on the wall was dirty. I look down between my booth seat and the wall only to find dirty napkins, food and silverware on the floor area. When our food came out the shrimp was undercooked and the medium steak I order was raw. The broccoli was hard and discolored. They took back the steak only to bring it back still raw. I was so grossed out. So I kept feeling the stickiness on my shoe and I took my phone and turned on the light. There were 2 large gumballs under the table and one piece of chewed up bubble gum on the bottom of my shoe. I took a picture so you could see for yourself.

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Service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA -- No shell crackers in restaurant, 30 min to get salad even longer for silverware. 2:45 in afternoon, no crowds, really? Waitress was fair to good. Lobster mashed potatoes were cold, so was pasta! What a disappointment! No refill offered on wife's soft drink.

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Disappointing
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

OWENS MILLS, MARYLAND -- Date night 07/04/2016, arrived 6pm for dinner, was seated quickly, and was told that the bar server would take care of our table. She served the salad and the first round of drinks and bread. She then returned to the bar area and she did not come back to clean table or refresh the drinks or even to check if we needed anything. We sat there for almost an hour. No one came to the table and there were at least two more ladies on the other side and a young man serving the same row we were sitting except our table, and yes everyone was eating and drinking.

As time went on the cook was the one who brought it to someone attention that there was dinner to be served and it had been sitting for too long. Another server and we saw him give the food to her. She question the bar server, who then had her deliver it to us. Food cold, my pasta was sticky, fries were cold, and then the bar server came to the table. I question her about who was supposed to serve this table and I also spoke with the hostess in charge. It was the holiday and she said they were short, which had nothing to do with me. She give a 20% discount which was nothing. This place has no love for the customers and I will never return.

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Service with a Smile - Appetizing Food to Remember
StarStarStarStarStarBy -
Rating: 5/51

LANHAM, MARYLAND -- My family and I had the opportunity to visit Red Lobster on Wednesday April 8, 2015 at 6:45 pm. We were greeted by a hospitable hostess who seated us within ten minutes of our arrival. Our first observation was the cleanliness of the restaurant, followed by the warm salutations from our server. Our delicious dinner was very hot, appetizing and with low sodium. Unlike some other restaurants, we felt like royalty.

Our choice to dine at Red Lobster was somewhat cautioned because of the previous unfavorable remarks we had discovered. We are indeed pleased that we elected to embrace this opportunity without any great expectations; and, we were totally misled. Thanks Red Lobster for a Memorable Dinner Experience! We plan to revisit your establishment very soon!

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One of the Worst Restaurants Ever Been To.
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- My wife and I have a date night 2 to 3 times a week. I know she had been wanting Red Lobster for a while so we went to the Red Lobster on valley view just off the 95 for dinner. Not busy just average only 5 min wait 45 min serve time food came incorrect no salads. They said "Sorry we forgot." They forgot my wife's shrimp scampi and my chicken was so overcooked it was like leather. For dessert we had the molten cookie and for a hot dessert the core was still frozen. All and all this food chain is forever removed off our list and will never go to from servers to food horrible and if there was a negative star I'd have given it to this place.

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Do Not Give Your Friends a Gift Card to This Place
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ROXBURY, NEW JERSEY -- Walked in and we had to wait for an available booth to be seated. When we were seated there was 5 booths clean and empty in our section as well as tables throughout the restaurant. We ordered our drinks as soon as we sat down. After 15 minutes the waitress apologized for the wait as the bartender was on the phone taking a pick up order and she will see if she could get our drinks, which she did. We then waited for our dinner order and again our waitress apologized for the wait as they were painfully slow during the day and now are crazy busy, there was still many empty tables all around us.

Now the food... Horrible. I ordered Fish and chips. It was very dry and I couldn't finished it and my husband had the Endless Shrimp. The shrimp is frozen, mushy and reheated shrimp and waiting 5-10 minutes per order. My advice is don't go there and also don't give your friends gift cards to there. We will never go there again.

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Poor Review
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LUFKIN -- Have been to Red Lobster on several occasions and found each time we have to wait to be seated. Even if you are there at 11 AM, first one, they still make you wait to be seated. No customer service AT ALL. Went on Sunday after church, usually full but this time not so. But still waited over 10 minutes. One family complaining another left. When we finally got seated (just me and my husband) there were 6 tables in our section empty. That is so wrong for a nice restaurant like that. People should never have to wait if you have that many empty tables. What is wrong with this restaurant. It is a shame. We love it but we are done. You guys need to get it together or close your doors.

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DO NOT WORK HERE
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

INDIANAPOLIS -- I use to work for the company, not anymore after the rude cliental and bad tippers I've had enough of the service industry to last a life time. I can't tell you how many terrible evenings I've encountered within that company. Every weekend Red Lobster has many many large parties that love to indulge in the cheesy bread and awesome seafood, because lord knows it's heavenly, but when you work 12 hour days and for 8 of those hours you're waiting on mean people who treat you like a slave it's dreadful. They no longer include gratuity so all those large parties of 20 come in and spend 400$ worth food and leave you 2$... if that. DO NOT WORK FOR RED LOBSTER they do not pay their employees nor care for them. Worst job ever, I got stiffed on 8 tops, 12 tops, and even 30 tops all the time they come in at 10:45 and leave at 1 am then leave you a 3$ tip. Its a joke.

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Poor Quality Food
By -

There is a reason when people talk about Red Lobster they say "I had a craving for cheddar biscuits" or "Endless Shrimp is going on" and that is because nothing else is particularly remarkable. I've visited many of the Red Lobster locations in northern Georgia and Alabama and none really stick out from the others for good or bad reasons.

The staff is quite normal for a chain with about equal chances of getting a good waitress or one that hates her job/pay. This does mean though your food is just as likely to be prepared by a high school student as it is by someone that knows how to cook. The only thing notable is during their Endless Shrimp promotion it is even printed on the menu that you cannot pre-order more than one shrimp "refill" and you have to allow normal meal prep time to be served. Unless your waitress is great, in which case she deserves a nice tip, you are likely going to go through about an hour of eating 5 pieces of shrimp and waiting 10 minutes for 5 more pieces of shrimp.

The problem is their quality. Obviously being a chain most of their food comes in prepared and frozen. This wouldn't be too much of a problem except the quality of this frozen seafood is around the same as you can pick up from a bag in a Wal-mart freezer section. This old seafood coupled with the general lack of actual cooking means that sensitive lobster usually turn out rubbery, and anything fried is devoid of any moisture or texture. This is often overlooked by visitors because the seafood experience in this region is generally limited to Captain D's.

The pricing and portion sizes reflect this almost arrogance at being the defacto "fancy" seafood in the area. Meals range from between 13.50 and 28.50 at dinner. The only chains in this region that price higher are some steakhouses. Taste does not justify the charge as I discussed and neither does portion size. One example is the Admiral's Feast. This is typically priced at ~19 and comes with breaded shrimp, scallops, clam strips, and 2 fillet of haddock all fried. The fillets are the size typical of fast-food fish. The scallops are the size of popcorn chicken bites which pale in comparison in size and taste to the scallops served at most Chinese buffets.

The clam strips barely fill the palm of my hand and usually suffer the most from overcooking. You typically get between 4-5 pieces of shrimp which would be adequate if the other portions were better. The main issue when ordering that meal is it is still served on a feast-sized platter which at one time would have been full of seafood now just serves to show you half an empty plate and leaves you wondering where the other half of your almost 20 dollar dinner went.

I've tried all the "feasts" and all suffer from this downsizing. I was specifically irritated when an Ultimate Feast (at a 29 price tag) left me hungry because of the kid-size lobster tail and crab leg portions, and all of this after I was charged $3 for a substitution in what shrimp came with it even though I was substituting in a cheaper side of shrimp.

I cannot leave in a full complaint though. The locations have all been very clean and tables were spaced out nicely and gave good seating room. The non-seafood plates are actually of great quality. My wife specifically loves the Cajun Chicken Alfredo which in stark contrast to the seafood on the menu is not only one of their cheapest dinners but is served in very generous portions she can never finish. If their entire menu reflected this dish I probably wouldn't be writing this complaint.

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Red Lobster Rating:
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1.4 out of 5, based on 75 ratings and
150 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Red Lobster
1000 Darden Center Dr
Orlando, FL 32821
407-245-4000 (ph)
www.redlobster.com
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