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Reviews of Red Lobster
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Horrible Experience
I went to Redlobster with a friend of mine. We were told it'd be a 15 minute wait and it was. No problem. The problem came when we were seated. And our server, Shemecka didn't appear for 15 minutes. She took our order, he ordered water. I think she disappeared and came back. Asked for our drink order. We gave it. She disappeared again when we told her we needed a few minutes on our food order. She came back a few minutes later. We never got our drinks. We did give her our food order. She disappeared again. We sat talking. Finally I looked up and realized it'd been 20 minutes. We had no biscuits and no drinks. I told him this is unusual. A, I'd been to a red lobster when I was graduating from college and the food and atmosphere was great. B, I'd waited tables before. And if nothing else....you were to bring drinks in a timely manner. and explain what was going on if there was a delay. We waited a few more minutes....I went looking for her. Couldn't find her anywhere. My companion had somewhere to be. So we just left. That was after 15 minutes of waiting and almost 30 minutes combined and sitting and having no food or drink or service. I called the restaurant after I left. I expressed my discontent to the manager. He apologized for my bad experience. However I do not believe he was the manger. I called back on a Wednesday, I reached a manager, I explained to him the issue we had. I expressed to him how disappointed I was the experience was THAT bad. And I told him I expected better from that area of town. He expressed they'd had many complaints and he'd recently transferred there trying to fix the problem. I told him I didn't want to get anyone in trouble. I just wanted them to improve sense they were the only red lobster within close proximity to me. I'd like to see them live up to the reputation beachwood has. He said, by me saying that he knew I cared about the establishment as a whole and he appreciated it. He asked me for my information, and said he'd bee sending me something and calling me back and we'd set up a time for myself and my boyfriend to come back and see if we couldn't have a better experience. That was Wednesday of last week. Its not Monday. Still nothing via email or otherwise. SMH. I'd suggest you don't waste your time at this place.
To all those citing the tremendous pressure servers face I'll say, I was a server. I wasn't very good. I did them a favor and quite. Its a lucrative, but demanding business. If you can't take the heat step out of the kitchen. That's all. Not everyone is cut out to be a waiter/waitress. Its no different than any other profession. This isn't front line at Mickey D's. And 3 tables aren't that overwhelming considering they put you in a section with your tables all together. Get out of here.
I went to Dave and buster's and had a better waitress and we went at a later hour on a Saturday evening. The young lady was prompt, friendly and on point. This just boils down to lazy people who go to work for a paycheck. They entire atmosphere was incredibly lazy. Everyone looked sloppy, were standing around talking. It was ridiculous. The host was wearing crocks and looked like he was bored out of his mind. The phone rung off the hook before he botered to answer. So what's the excuse for a MONDAY night at 8 pm, which is no where near close?
Review by LaDonna Burrell from Cleveland posted December 10, 2012
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Super Star Waitress
I professionaly train servers and cashiers in the hospitality industry for restaurants across the country. It is my business to help them polish their interaction and selling skills. With that said I know what exactly to look for when it comes to quality service. The waitress greeted my date and I with a warm friendly smile. She was very attentive to our needs. She made sure we had drinks before dinner.She cleaned off her table when it was needed but did not hoover over the table and gave us plenty of time to finish our meal. She made sure our meal was brought out in a timely fashion, and asked us if we wanted desert. She not only offered quality service but conducted herself in a professional manner and gave my date and I the impression she was happy to be there. When you go to this location make sure to ask for Lauren she is a super star waitress.
Review by Herb Addison Burns from Warrensville posted September 05, 2012
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Wait-ress from Hell
My mom and I decided to go out to dinner. We were told that their would be a 35 minute wait, 45 minutes later we were seated. We didn't see our waitress for 10 minutes once seated. She brought us our biscuits, then disappeared. Twenty minutes later, she reappeared and took our orders. Twenty minutes later she reappeared, with our drinks and salads. She told us that another order of biscuits were a couple of minutes away. We never got them. Twenty minutes later she arrived with our dinners, and told us that she would be back with refills for our drinks. Twenty minutes later she brought us our refills. Thirty minutes passed and I decided to go to the bar to get another refill on our drinks. The bar tender was about to tell me that I had to wait for our waitress, when I told him we haven't seen her in 30 minutes he went to get them. I returned to my seat and my mom informed me that the waitress was going to get us boxes... Twenty minutes later she returned with our to go order for my husband and SURPRISE no boxes. At this point I was so irritated that I just added our food to my husbands just to save a 20 to 30 minutes. Our waitress got our dinner discounted, and said that she was "overwhelmed"!!! I am not sure what she was talking about since by the time we left the place was practically empty. NEVER AGAIN!!! The food is good, but I highly suggest that if you need seafood and you are in the Beachwood area, do car side to go. Save yourself the headache!
Review by Belle from Akron posted September 01, 2012
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service sucks, not worth your bucks !!!!!!!!
My bestfriend who loves seafood thought it would be nice to dine in lastnight and be served rather then go home and spend a hour thawing and cooking her famous crablegs....i was stocked to say the least being that i had never been to red lobster.... upon entering the establishment the first thing i noticed was a very large empty fish tank that was completly empty filled with a greeny discolored water. That should have been aware of the red flags then but my taste buds were set and my mouth was watering and ready to chow down... i was diffinitly prepared to spend at least 80 to 100 dollars easily. After waiting 15 patient min. For a table for two me and my bff were wisked to a nice little booth... thats when the experience turned sour...me and the bff waited almost 20 min. For our server to arrive before i became more irratated i asked another server to please find the person who was to be our server... she came 5 min later and had a not so pleasant demeanor about hrrself... as she unapoligiticlly took our order i still remained calm.... after our drink and food order was taken my friend explained to me that we should have recieved biscuits when first being sat... here we were sitting for 30 min now without and drinks nor complmentary biscuits...our server then appeared with biscuits in tow along with my water and a reg. Lobster margarita that my bestfriend asked to be strawberry flavored not too mention she never asked to see my friends I.D. who is 24 but could pass for a 15 year old girl. After delivering our drinks the server then informed me that i was have to change my order from garlic and lime shrimp/chicken because they were out of that..i asked for a suggestive meal and she looked at me as if i spoke another language... becoming irratated i then asked for a manager. BECOMING MORE IRRATATED after waiting another 7 min i found the manager myself who told me to please have a seat and give him a min. Again i waited 5 more min...when the manager arrived at our table i explained the situation and also added that i no longer wanted to dine and asked if he could just give us our bill... He professionally apoligized pleaded with us to stay and at least try their food since it being my first time.. my best friend and i had then been setted for almost an hour with still no food nor order put in... but we still agreed to stay... after ordering the suggested meals that the manager provided to us i took a beline to therestroom and was hit with a smell of strong urine and was greeted with a very dirty bathroom with stained toilet seats, walls, and dirty paper towels covering the floors.. i was disgusted and decided to hold it... returning to the table i still stayed and 15 min later our dinner had finally arrived...and i must say despite the mix up of our extra sides of baked potatoe and tasteless dead looking broccoli the food was delicious...the lobster was cooked perfect..shrimp was fresh and scampi was delightful...being full off the plate of salad....water...and biscuits we quickly asked for boxes... when the server brought the check we were surprised to see both me and my bestfriend meals were taken off and all we paid for was her margarita... Despite the horrible service, lack of chicken,and displeasing restroom i will be back to eat again but i WILL NOT go back to the Beachwood location....
Review by tara from cleveland posted June 14, 2012
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Not happy!
Me and my boyfriend walked in Friday around 8 and as soon as we walked in the place smelled like nothing but pee! It was the worst smell every. I never once smelled any fish. Then we sat down and order some mozzarella sticks, the plate was so hot we couldn't touch. I picked up the sauce for the mozzarella sauce and it spilled on me, burnt my face and legs. I didn't say anything because most people know that stuff is hot. After our food got there we sat there for a good 5 minutes while our waiter flirted with the girls be hide us. We needed him because he forgot to give us forks,spoons and butter knifes. After he gave us what we needed, he went back to flirting. I was so not pleased at all with him. Me and my boyfriend will probably never come back!
Review by Jackie from Oakwood posted June 27, 2011
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Bring Your Own Silverware & Eating Utensils!!
Well, I went out to the restaurant to celebrate my birthday. I orderd the crableg and garlic scampi feast platter. The salad came, and the server hadn't given us any silverware and napkins. She apologized, and said she would be right back with silverware. The salad was colorful, however it was 'skimpy'--1 tomato slice, 2 cucumber slices-plenty of iceberg lettuce-and 'runny' blue cheese dressing. When our server didn't return after 5-6 minutes (and we were forced to nibble with out fingers!) my date got up, and found the silverware himself. She returned to say that she had asked someone else to bring us the silverware. We told her that they never came--(about 12 min later)
The crablegs and scampi were served on a nice hot platter, however, the server did not bring a crab leg cracker. She said they didn't have any. I asked for a small fork, and she replied that they didn't have of those either. I asked her, how was I suppoed to eat my crablegs?? She replied that the customers had stolen all of the crableg crackers and forks. What?
Review by Beatrice from Cleveland posted July 26, 2010
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not reccommended
Staff is freindly if not distracted, service is quick, bathrooms are clean and nice. Food is mediocre to be kind, and very overpriced as far as portion and quality. Just not restuarant quality food, particularly fpr as high priced as it is. Tried a soup, a salad, and a popular entree, reminded me of denny's or worse. Desert was okay, and ubiquitous buscuits were predictable good.
Review by Anon from Cleveland posted April 13, 2010
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Same here
Well im from south texas i work in Red Lobster has a server for 3 years and i have 1 year in Olive Garden, people need to know that Darden has a table rule servers can only take 3 tables to give BETTER service if you go to chilis, applebees, carinos, or any other big name dining place, they take up to 7 tables and they give crappy service.... Darden restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn, Brahma Breeze) they have a 3 table rule to give good service and we do, it doesn't mean if the restarant has like 25 tables empty means its OPEN! it means there isn't enough servers to take those tables, also if the SECTION is CLOSE is because its not a busy day and no need to have so many servers and use that section for nothing. and if u go to eat like at 10:50 and we close at 11 pm at any restaurant then dont expect a great service remember we are trying to go home and sleep we have lifes too at home some of us has kids to take care of and then you all go late to eat!!!
Review by Anonymous from Texas posted July 25, 2009
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Restaurant Misconceptions
I am a waitress at Olive Garden down the street from Red Lobster, and I want to clear up some issues regarding this review through the eyes of a waitress. First, although the restaurant is open until 11 PM, guests need to keep in mind that they are arriving 30 minutes before closing, when honestly the only thing on a server’s mind is getting the hell out of there. It’s just like a 9-5 job and you’re counting down the minutes at 4:30 PM. Not to mention that they may have been on their feet the whole day. Anywhere from 11 AM to 4 PM until the restaurant closes. Also, one thing that no one really understands (and I was one of these people until I became a waitress) is that just because there are empty tables in a restaurant does not mean there will NOT be a wait. There may be plenty of open seats, but not enough servers to take on those seats. For example, a server may only be allowed to take on 3 tables. However, there may be 10 open tables, but, if that server already has 3 tables, of course there are going to be 7 empty tables.
Do you really think you could take table 1’s order while refilling the drinks for table 2 and boxing up table 3’s leftovers and then having table 1 tell you they want extra dressing on the salad and table 2 catching you and saying they changed their order (even though you already rang it in and the chef is making it that very instant) and then table 3 telling you they want dessert, and then going back to table 1 for the extra dressing only to realize that the salad guy accidentally put tomatoes on the salad, and having to go get another salad all the while table 3 decides they don’t like the dessert, it’s too rich, and then having to track down a manager to take the dessert off the check and then table 1 getting mad b/c while you were looking for the manager their food came out before their salad without tomatoes, and then realizing that whoever brought out their food brought out steak that was supposed to be well down and not rare, and then table 2 stating that whoever brought out their food brought out the wrong dish, and then finally getting them the right dish and having them tell you that they want extra sauce, oh, and the breadsticks are now cold and they would like fresh, and then table 1 sucked down their water faster than you can blink so you need to refill their drinks, and then table 3 eventually pays and doesn’t leave you a tip, and then the hostess finally seats you again, but this time it’s a couple who has been waiting 30 minutes for a table and they’re already in a bad mood because they had to wait, and for some unknown reason decides to take it out on their server, who is trying to do his/her best to keep a smile on their face even though it is 10:55 PM at night and they just got sat 5 minutes before close, and by the time table 3 figures out what the hell they want to eat the chefs are mad at you because you didn’t ring in their food until 11:25 PM and they want to get the hell out of there too, but now they can’t because your table couldn’t decide what they wanted to eat, and frankly, felt like catching up on old times over a couple of Long Island Iced Teas instead of looking at the menu. All the while, tables 1 and 2 have cashed out, both leaving decent tips, but keep in mind you still have to wipe down the tables and chairs in your section of three tables, wipe the blinds and window frame, fill the salts and peppers, etc. Oh, and you can’t forget picking up the spaghetti the baby at table 2 threw all over the floor, and the gum you have to scrape off the bottom of the table. And then table 3 doesn’t leave until 12:05 AM, leaving a crappy $3 tip on a $40 bill. It’s always the very last tables that either stiff the servers or leave the most pathetic tips. Hmm, and all the while the server’s foot is aching in blisters from walking for 7 ½ hours straight and they have to get up early the next morning to sing in the church choir and then head to another 8 hour day on their feet, hopefully dealing with good apples, but also getting a few bad ones throughout the day as well. Servers are people too. We all make mistakes. But, in our eyes, we don’t think you could really blame us if you were in our shoes.
I assure you that your race had nothing to do with the unfortunate service (or extreme lack thereof) that you received. I applaud the one server who greeted you (seeing as how technically she did not need to, but it is requested for us to do so if we notice that a table may not have been greeted.) On the other hand, that server could have offered you drinks, but may have been too busy to do so, but still could have taken your drink orders and then tracked down your server to tell him/her the orders (considering he/she had enough time to even stop by to see if you had been greeted.) Something I suggest that you do next time is to not just walk out without a word, but ask a hostess or a server walking by to speak to a manager. By doing so, they will make sure to concentrate on you more to make up for the lack of service previously received, and it also allows them to know that something is going on. Simply walking out of the restaurant did no good for the restaurant or the guest. Your stay at Red Lobster could have been much better if different steps were taken, whereas now you have posted a review bashing the restaurant, when something could have been prevented. Also, if the bathroom was not up to your satisfaction, there is no problem with letting that be known. And I can’t stress enough how upsetting it is for people to tie race into the service they receive at a restaurant. The table that arrived after you and was actually served does not mean that their server was also yours. Just because the tables are close by each other does not mean that one server has all those tables. Their server may have only had that one table to take care of, therefore being able to take their orders before your server was able to even greet you, while your server may have already had three tables, and keep in mind, there are plenty of things that can cause a server to get busy super fast. For instance, receiving a $100 bill on a $30 check and having to get change from the bar; having to search for a manager to take off an entrée for a table’s check; having to argue with the chefs that the steak for table 30 was to be rare and not well done and needing to have it remade causing even more problems for their tables, etc. Also, a restaurant will never ever EVER tell you that they will not serve you because it is late. If they did that, you would probably turn that into some racist critique as well. Tables may be dirty, the busser may be too busy to take on all the tables that need to be cleaned, but that does not mean that a restaurant cannot serve you. If the dirty tables upset you, tell a manager.
Review by Anonymous from Beachwood posted July 29, 2006
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don't fish here
My husband and I arrived at this establishment at 10:30 p.m. on Friday, June 16, after a 6 hour drive from Chicago. We checked the hours, and seeing that closing time was 11p.m., we entered.I remarked to the hostess that I was so happy they were still open and serving. She informed us that there would be a 15 min. wait, which surprised us, since there were so many unoccupied tables, but we waited patiently til our buzzer sounded. We were seated at 10:50. A few minutes later, another couple was seated at the table behind us. The hostess came by and said our order would be taken momentarily. Five minutes after that, the other couple's order was taken, and another waiter came by and asked if our server had introduced himself yet. We replied no, and were assured we'd be served momentarily. During this wait time we were not offered water, a drink order, or a bread basket. We finally walked out without a word at 11:10. As a business owner, I was deeply offended, and I won't play a race card, but as we are of Asian descent, I have to wonder if that entered into our treatment. It was the worst experience I've ever had in a restaurant since 1969, when my "hippie" friends and I were totally ignored at a diner in Alabama. I can understand that now, looking back at our appearance, but I can't excuse the treatment we received last week.
Besides that, reading your grading below, the restroom was one of the filthiest I've ever visited in a dining facility, and the tables around us were strewn with plates and food. I realize the hour was late, but if they were overwhelmed, they should have just explained that we were too late to be served, although they didn't seem to have a problem accomodating the folks behind us.
Review by BJ Fukawa, from Chicago from Re: Beachwood establishment posted June 26, 2006
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