Red Lobster

[Ooper]

Tried out Red Lobster today. Got there fairly early and got right in without waiting. We were greeted by at least 4 or 5 staffers. Rebecca, our server, explained everything in details, made recommendations, and answered all our questions. All food was served very quickly, especially the entree's. Everything was delicious. While dining, Rebecca came around at least 3 times to make sure everything was OK as well as a visit by the manager to see how we were doing. The only downfall of the evening was the size of servings and the price. I thought the serving sizes we a bit small and the prices were a bit large. The cost for my wife and I for mid level dinners with no appitizers, 2 draft beers and 1 desert that we split was over $65. The draft beers, standard 16 oz glasses, were $4.25 ea. We ate out the night before and the same size beers were $1.50! I would love to go there again, but at those prices, our visits will be far and few in between.

[Barefoot]

Ouch, that does sound pricey. But perhaps you had the most expensive entree?

Four of us are trying it out Sunday night. At those prices, it may be our first and last visit.

[graciegirl]

We tried Red Lobster tonight and they do have entr�es that are higher than what I remember in Ohio. However, Helene had the trout for 11.50, I had the Talapia for 11.50 and Sweetie had the seafood platter for 13.50. Not too bad and the food and service and the ambiance were terrific. I liked it about the same as Bonefish Grill. The service was better in fact. A surprise because they are new. Kudo's to a well trained staff!

[schotzyb]

We drove by at 4:30PM and it was packed . Cars were parked along the side of the road with the parking lot full. Waiting line was well outside the door. Will wait another week or so and try again.

[algi45]

A month or so ago, Red Lobster changed its menu and you know what that means--higher prices! They got rid of their great all you can eat soup and salad lunch special. I guess the margins weren't high enough. Unfortunately, in season they can get away with just about anything.

[Muncle]

A month or so ago, Red Lobster changed its menu and you know what that means--higher prices! They got rid of their great all you can eat soup and salad lunch special. I guess the margins weren't high enough. Unfortunately, in season they can get away with just about anything.


I assume, since you say the menu was changed a month ago, that it was a nationwide menu change. (A month ago, Red Lob did not exist in TV). It's not really "in season" in Overland Park, KS, Des Moines, IA, or Brooklyn. Did their menus change as well so "they can get away with just about anything"?

[beady]

Had dinner at Red Lobster this evening with 3 of my best pals. The service was ...okay...salads arrived and then almost immediately the entrees. Food was reasonably priced on some items and rather expensive on others...odd that.
My only complaint..the waitress hovered..constantly asking if everything was okay....and 5 people who stood by the door and wished us a good evening...a bit much.

[nONIE]

:ate at Red Lobster tonite. No line at all! Walked right in, sat right down . Think it could have had something to do with Super Bowl night???

Service was great, food was very good ,and the Pina Coladas were to die for, right ladies????:thumbup:

[nONIE]

Ha Ha Ha, that was funny Beady when all the waitresses were lined up like dominos at the door bidding us adew! ::rolleyes:

[chelsea24]

The food was wonderful. Company even better! Prices were what I expected and Nonie is right! The best Sunset Pina Colada! Yummy! Don't go there without trying one. Or two! :laugh:

Now Barefoot has to give her version, but I know it will be the same. We all had a great time. Yes, 6 or more servers greeted us and then said goodnight. A little overboard. But the waitress was funny. Even chimed in on a very "private" conversation! Hahahah! ;)

[Barefoot]

Two thumbs up for Red Lobster! :eclipsee_gold_cup:

The food is good. The little cheesy biscuits are always great. I found the prices similar to Bonefish Grill. It is obvious that employees have been trained to be overwhelmingly cheerful and attentive.

We had a great time.

[nONIE]

Well there you have it, four happy campers for Red Lobster.

Now if we had waited in a long line for an hour our comments may have been slightly different. But, theres really no debating that the food was good and the service was overly good. and the drinks? ooolala!!!!!!:D

[Puterguru]

Me and my wife went there. The parking lot was full along with lots of people waiting. We were told it would be at least a 45 minute wait and we were seated in 20 minutes. To make a long story short, absolutely everything was perfect, except the service, the service was better than perfect. Morgan was our waitress and both me and my wife agreed she was the absolute best waitress we have ever had at any restaurant. We will definitely be returning.

[jdsl1998]

We went and sat at the bar and we don't drink, but boy, was it fun. The staff was wonderful and knew us by name by the first few minutes. They said they love it when people sit up at the bar. It was fun to watch all the drinks being made and how the staff worked with the trainers. All the food was great and the staff made it such a pleasure. Don't let the parking lot fool you, they said they have almost double the staff to get things right at the beginning.

[Cinco]

Some friends and I had lunch today at Red Lobster. It was about 1:30pm and we got right in. Of course, that might have had something to do with the weather.

Two friends had house salads which they thought were excellent. I had the Caesar salad. Also excellent. One had the tilapia, one had shrimp and pasta, and I had the shrimp, Lobster and pasta. We were all very pleased with our meals, and mine was the most expensive at $11.99. Very reasonable, considering there were 5 good-sized shrimp and several nice chunks of lobster over linguine pasta. And, of course, that price included my salad and all of the garlic biscuits I could eat.

As others have said, the service was great. As we were leaving, the manager even appeared at the door with an umbrella to walk us out.

Bottom line - great lunch, great service, reasonable price. So glad they're now in TV.

[dlee1238]

Good to hear all this about Red Lobster because we are going tomorrow for my girlfriend's birthday. So if you hear a lot of "FUN" going on don't look my way. LOL

I was looking for maybe a coupon, but have had no luck in finding any. :-(

Debra

[carole131]

We enjoyed our evening at Red Lobster last Wednesday. Good food, good service, but we came away at $78.00, including tip. We know that we can do better there & plan to return sans the expensive entrees, exotic drinks, but we will share a dessert again. Life is short! Welcome, Red Lobster.

[Russ_Boston]

I think the almost over friendly staff with greeting and leaving is a Darden restaurant thing. I get the same treatment at Olive Garden and Longhorn. But I'd much rather have it that way than the opposite! Darden does a great job in training their staffs. One of the many reasons why they are one of the most successful multi-chain restaurant operator.

[GMONEY]

See how many cars migrate from the Red Lobster to the new Olive Garden when it opens????

[Muncle]

See how many cars migrate from the Red Lobster to the new Olive Garden when it opens????


I don't see it as a problem. Different menus, different decor. Similar price range and, hopefully, service. It appears they will be a step up down from Bonefish, close to but a bit cheaper than Creek and Gators, and a step up from 2Jays, Chilis, & Fridays. If one makes it, both probably will.

[Bogie Shooter]

See how many cars migrate from the Red Lobster to the new Olive Garden when it opens????

Isn't it the same parent company?

[golfnut]

Yes Bogie same parent. Does anyone else know how the prices compare to Bonefish, a previous post said they were similar but I find that hard to believe....GN

[Dirigo]

Isn't it the same parent company?

Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, and Smokey Bones are all owned by the same parent company...I can't remember who the parent is...General Mills I heard once.

In Augusta, Maine the Red Lobster went out and they turned it into an Olive Garden...the place is packed all the time. My daughter, who was once a trainer for Applebees, told me many chains purposely make the parking lots small to give the impression that the establishement is always busy.

Start ups also over-hire staff at the beginning in order to provide outstanding service and only keep the reliable performers after business levels out.

An interesting note: I undertand that the only two States that do not have a Red Lobster are Maine and Alaska...two big seafood producing states.

Dirigo

[golfnut]

Small parking lots work except when they are full and 25% of the tables are empty...GN

[spk7951]

Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, and Smokey Bones are all owned by the same parent company...I can't remember who the parent is...General Mills I heard once.

In Augusta, Maine the Red Lobster went out and they turned it into an Olive Garden...the place is packed all the time. My daughter, who was once a trainer for Applebees, told me many chains purposely make the parking lots small to give the impression that the establishement is always busy.

Start ups also over-hire staff at the beginning in order to provide outstanding service and only keep the reliable performers after business levels out.

An interesting note: I undertand that the only two States that do not have a Red Lobster are Maine and Alaska...two big seafood producing states.

Dirigo

Darden no longer owns Smokey Bones. They sold it over one year ago.

[GMONEY]

Isn't it the same parent company?

They sure are, but wasnt refering to that. was speaking of the crowd. When the Olive Garden opens, that 45 min wait at RL will drop alot. GIve it about a month or 2 and the new-ness will wear off and all will be a even flow...

[Russ_Boston]

As mentioned the parent company is Darden restaurant group headquartered in Orlando.

They run:

Olive Garden
Red Lobster
Longhorn Steakhouse
The Capital Grille (yummy!)
Bahama Breeze
Seasons 52 (5 locations in FLA)

http://www.darden.com/

[GMONEY]

???????????????????????

[Villages Kahuna]

After it being open for a couple of weeks, the Missus and me decided to try it out at about 4:45 PM on Friday night. The parking lot was completely full, cars were parked blocking all but one lane of the entry lanes and there were about fifty cars parked on the sides of the road outside the RL parking lot. There was a huge number of people milling around outside the restaurant.

What was going on? Was this just the "seasonal" crowd of people for a new restaurant? Wow! Looks like we'll wait until after the "season" to try it out.

We bopped on down to Bonefish Grill and even though it was also very crowded and issuing the electronic beepers with an announced 30-45 minute wait, we were in, waited for our table, enjoyed a great dinner, and getting in our car to head home by 6:15 PM. The wait wasn't as long as announced and as usual the service was superb.

[Cassie325]

We also drove by as we were heading to the charter school....there was the same crowd at 6pm.....at 8:15....AND at 9pm when we were finally leaving. We could not believe it!

[graciegirl]

I know why the crowd is so big because we have eaten there. It is the prettiest Red Lobster with the BEST service I have ever entered. The food is the usual yummy stuff.....but..... a little more pricey than I had remembered Red Lobster to be.

[Cassie325]

Well they sure did prepare! They had all the staff come in for a week and half for training. 8 hour training classes~!! I think that is the best ever! I can't wait to go for a meal. I LOVE the biscuits they serve! Talk about comfort food....just a basket of those would do!!

Anyway...do you really think the crowds were just regular diners? There was not a special going on??

[BritParrothead]

Are they serving the 'lottacolada' cocktail? I love those :icon_wink:

[billethkid]

just as described by VK. I guess we will have to figure when the masses are not flocking and go then.

Or just wait a couple months...April is not so far away!

BTK

[billethkid]

You could wind up spending as much as you would at Bonefish.

The specials are what is lower priced.

BTK

[BJ Spencer]

My husband and I went to Red Lobster this past week. Not that impressed. The service was great, don't get me wrong, but everything else - not impressed. I'm disabled, use a walker. There were so many workers there - why so many - don't know. I'd be walking down the aisle with my walker and would be bumped by the workers. Went to the restroom, had to use the handicap stall - only couldn't. There was a waitress in there primping herself to go back to/to work. Did bring this up to the manager for him to address at the next meeting. The food came, we had trout. Being from MN I know how cooked trout should be. It tasted fine, a little on the watery/too much butter side. I know that there is not alot of 'meat' on these things, but it was maybe 1-2 oz. for a half order. Come on now.:shrug:

[barb1191]

To avoid the crowd at Red Lobster, we decided to do takeout. The first time we ordered the stuffed flounder and wasn't really pleased with the meal. Tried takeout again and another disappointing dish. Both times, we ordered from the luncheon menu where prices were pretty good, however thought that the dinner prices were a bit much.

Look forward to the opening of the Olive Garden.

[Whalen]

As mentioned the parent company is Darden restaurant group headquartered in Orlando.

They run:

Olive Garden
Red Lobster
Longhorn Steakhouse
The Capital Grille (yummy!)
Bahama Breeze
Seasons 52 (5 locations in FLA)

http://www.darden.com/


And all the food comes from the same kitchen located somewhere in the middle of the country, and is distributed from coast to coast, and after a while it all tastes the same whether it's a fish sandwich or spaghetti & meatballs or bbq ribs.:shrug:
JMHO,
Big City Food Snob

[dominojc]

I should have had the pina colada..maybe my food would have tasted better! Our appetizer came out with raw bacon wrapped around scallops. Even the mgr. was appalled. The coconut shrimp was not very tasty either. We were very disappointed, especially for the price. Don't think I'll go back with so many other choices.

[OpusX1]

We had Lunch at Red Lobster today. Food was good. Service was good. We ate at the bar. Had Bloody Mary's. Good but no Happy Hour! Prices were about 10% less than Bone Fish. We prefer Bone fish.

[Taltarzac]

...and even on Mardi Gras it was very crowded around 6:45 p.m. The food was very good but the drinks came about 15 minutes late and the service was not as good as I had expected from the write-ups here.

I would definitely go back there though as the food was not what I had envisoned from past experiences with Red Lobsters in CA.

[zcaveman]

We had lunch at Red Lobster last week. The food was great - as usual. My main gripe was that the food arrived about five minutes after the salad so we had no chance to enjoy the salad.

My other gripe is not only for this Red Lobster but the waitress can never seem to remember that we asked for extra seafood cocktail sauces and that we wanted an extra side order of salad dressing.

I will go back though. Red Lobster and Sam St Johns are my favorite seafood restaurants.

[bestmickey]

Had a great meal at Red Lobster last week ... steak w/shrimp and a lobster sauce and mashed taters. Delicious!