Red Lobster

We stopped in for dinner on a Friday night around 6 and glad we did. It was busy and thats good, but not so busy we had to wait forever to be seated. They sat us in the back alone, never a good sign and we waited a long time for someone to show up and greet us and take drink order. BY the time the drinks (all water) came back e knew what we wanted, and the area had started filling up with guest. Then the next big wait started. We waited and waited for food, luckily the kids meal mats were entertaining. Food came out, its was hot and fresh, enjoyed it all. I had the endless shrimp, but the wait between new dish was so long I only had one more kind (wontons NASTY) But the kids had fun, we enjoyed the break off the freeway. But this visit reminded us why RL is a once a year treat.

Red lobster is sometimes full of itself they told me it would be ten to fifteen min wait to seat while there were clearly many open tables. But I was seated after a couple minutes and ate a ton of endless shrimp with not a bad batch. You have to tell them ahead what kind you want next or you will wait. Great food for sure as expected.

One star for the half of the food on my plate that i did enjoy. I won’t be going back after last night.
The service was slow and not very smart. Our drink and food orders were repeated back to us incorrectly (I asked for water, she was convinced I wanted iced tea) and then when we did get our food, we had no silverware, the mashed potatoes were cold, the steak was so over cooked it was like shoe leather and our crab legs didn’t even show up. All this after waiting ten minutes to order and 40 for our food. The coconut shrimp were great as usual and the fried flounder was perfect.
Now, the worst part about this place is that it is FILTHY! The seat and table they gave us were covered in crumbs. When I tried to use the salt and pepper, they were covered in grease or butter (ew) and the floors were covered in good sized food scraps. I actually watched a busser wipe a whole 6 top table (where small children had eaten) covered in scraps right onto the floor and leave it there. Good thing I was done eating… And now I’m done eating there at all.

The last few times I have been here it’s always been a long wait, or not so great service! Then for the past few weeks my hubby and I have been trying to eat here and it’s always a two hour wait or a pipe is busted and they don’t know what time they are going to open… Don’t get me wrong the food there is great but damn get it together, that’s how you lose customers!

I struggled whether or not to write this review. 1. I wanted to be sure my judgement was not clouded by the fact I am not a fan of chain restaurants 2. I didn’t want to admit I had dined at a chain restaurant and 3. It was a Monday night
My mother, who is in her mid 70’s, was excited to treat the family to a «fancy» meal for the holidays. She had purchased a gift card for The Red Lobster (Giant Eagle fuel perks), having fond memories of dining there and hoping it would please the pescetarian in our group of five. From the beginning, those of us being «treated» were weary. As it turns out, we had reason to be.
We arrived about 5:30 p.m. on December 22^nd. From the moment we entered our dining area we ALL smelled an odor similar to urine, to the point it made some of us gag. One description offered by a family member was it may be the smell of seafood excrement. Not sure exactly what it was. We ordered anyway, because we were seated and didn’t want to upset our Golden Girl. As it turned out, the food was okay. I probably had the best dish, being the fish tacos. They had run out of Tilapia, and used Flounder as a substitute in the tacos. (shoulder shrug here) The fried dishes, on the other had, were less appetizing. The hand dipped fried Shrimp in coconut flakes, tasted more like coconut, than shrimp. The accompanying Pina Colada sauce, is really sweet and should be reserved for those who truly love the stuff. As for the Fish and Chips entrée, the fish (not sure what type?) was the size of a 4×6 picture frame. In other words, unnatural looking, frightful. If you are a pescetarian, use caution when ordering grilled shrimp as the grill may have had meat on it as well. On the positive side, after an alcoholic beverage, and the arrival of more customers, the foul odor was not as profound. Also, their signature, as much as you want, biscuits are still tasty, loaded with butter, garlic and cheese.
Just as we were headed out, feeling somewhat relieved, there were RAISED VOICES coming from what appeared to be the kitchen area. So loud, one customer stood up to see what was happening and made a comment about employees being «rude»; several other customers stopped their conversations and turned to the direction of what can only be described as a VERBAL ALTERCATION BETWEEN EMPLOYEES. I saw one employee exit from the kitchen area, saying she had «nothing to do with that» and she was going to wait on her table. Now that was a performance we were not expecting!
As you can imagine, we beat feet out of there, vowing never to return to that location again. Several of us, took it a step further, giving Red Lobster the BIG X.

Restaurant needs cleaning. I have never seen a red lobster that was poorly kept! The services was nice and pleasant.

I went to this Red Lobster for their endless shrimp deal in the fall. You start off with 3 types of shrimp (garlic, grilled, coconut, popcorn, Parmesan, Alfredo, sriracha, etc), then 2 sides. Throughout your meal you can order additional shrimp dishes, thus making it «endless shrimp.» The shrimp dishes are decent, I liked their coconut and grilled shrimp especially. They would bring out additional dishes as you requested, although sometimes it took a realllllly long time to have those dishes brought out. I do understand that endless shrimp time is pretty busy though. The garlic butter bread which they bring out at the beginning are delicious, but very salty/​buttery. The sides also seem heavy, even their vegetable (green beans, broccoli) dishes, although I know you don’t go to Red Lobster for healthy options. Overall, food okay and service okay.

Wish we had the ability to give half-​stars. Solid 4 ½!
Late lunch today (I’m retired so I can go when places aren’t too swamped.) Had the shrimp specials! Wonderful flavor, smallish shrimp. A little salty, but that’s to be expected in a chain restaurant. Stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer were almost the best thing that happened to us here. The best thing was our server, Brittany. Lovely young lady whose smile was absolutely beautiful and sincere! Not obtrusive but more than willing to do anything it took the make us happy. We took 2 hours and chatted and ate. I’m still stuffed at 7:30 and we ate at about 1:45.
In short, 5 stars for Brittany and 4 for the food and ambience. Ask for her, she’s great!

My boyfriend & I were in the mood for seafood, so we hit up the Red Lobster. When we walked in, there wasn’t anyone at the greeting station, then all of a sudden someone popped up and seated us. They were pleasant. We had a cozy little corner and our waitress was Kara. Nice young lady; clean uniform & her hair was up… lots of people in the industry with long hair forget we don’t want hair in our food. It was nice to see hers was contained.
She took our order & the food came out nicely. No dirty dishes, the food was fresh and hot. Overall, I had a pleasant dining experience & I’d recommend the location Kara was a good waitress!

Thursday, May 22, 3:30pm.
SEVEN WORDS: Seafood, Cheesy Biscuits, Dated Décor, Good Value
We arrived and were promptly seated. This is the benefit of living on a different schedule than the rest of the world. Huzzah!
Our waitress, Brittany, attended to us quickly, taking our drink orders, offering the specials of the day, and putting in for our appetizer order.
She returned promptly with our drinks and stuffed mushrooms and took the order for our Lobster Bisque; we were eating very light today — tapas, Deadliest Catch Style.
The Stuffed Mushroom Caps plate was very hot! and the bisque was just right, too. When we let them cool down, they were fantastic, although I’ve rarely had bisque that’s been less than great. However, the appetizer was surprisingly yummy… and EVERY RESTAURANT CAN SCREW UP Appetizers. — so when they do it well, it’s fantastic.
I quickly ate my cup of bisque and Brittany offered to bring a second cup and merely charge me for the bowl. It was all this cross of Ts and dotting of is that did a good measure to turn this from my ordinary «what you expect» 4-​star to a 5-​star. The deal was only sealed by the fact that 2 hostess/​wait staff said «have a good day» on the way out. Those little OVERALL touches reflect on the diligence of management, and after my recent experience at Cracker Barrell, maybe you can see why i included SERVICE as an integral part of this rewview.
Thanks Red Lobster — for keeping South Hamilton a vital dining stop for the near east side for over 40 years.
TIP: Judging books by covers is the fastest way to be fooled. This neighborhood isn’t Polaris — but the food could very well be — at a very reasonable price.

We (2 of us) went yesterday afternoon — first thing I noticed was a non-​nice odor at the booth we were led to. I ignored that since I was in a very good mood. My friend ordered a glass of ice water (along with our drinks) — but the waitress never brought his ice water until we asked her like 10 more times! We both agreed that our drinks were great (Margherita & Bahama Mama) and we ordered an appetizer (calamari) along with our main course and the next thing the waitress brought (to my friend) was a little bowl of coleslaw. The appetizer never came (I actually forgot about it myself) and we ordered a 2^nd round of drinks (good again) then our meals came — we both happened to order the same dish (Wood-​Grilled Lobster, Shrimp and Scallops) — the first thing I noticed is that everything on the plate was small or tiny lol. So I was disappointed (to me it was not worth the steep-​ish price). My 2 sides (green beans & rice) were both good. We reminded our waitress that we never got our appetizer (I won’t name her). After we finished our main course she showed up with the appetizer– but in a shopping bag (even though I never asked for it to be «to go»). I shrugged my shoulders and told her I needed to order desserts (to go). She gave us an extra dessert which was nice (I ordered 4). At home I was impressed with the dessert I ate (key lime pie) but it too was on the small side. Too bad the service was lacking and the portions/​sizes were small. I think a better name for them is «Kid’s Lobster» — I can’t take RL very seriously. Now for the drinks, I give them 4 stars! The next time I want to eat out and have seafood — I will try and find a «real» seafood restaurant. I was again hungry about 2 or 3 hours after going to RL and I heated up some left over pizza to feel full.

Very good service. But bar tending is below average. Would eat here again
It is a clean eating space and friendly people

I was disappointed with the service today. It was very slow and the waitress didn’t check in with us. I had to wave her down several times for drink refills and every extra drink cup and bread plate was left on the table. Since it was the Sunday before Veterans Day, I asked if they were running a Veterans promotion. The waitress didn’t seem to even know what Veterans Day was, and directed me to the website. She could have at least asked the Manager before she dismissed me out of hand. Sad, since we like Red Lobster but this one disappointed.

Went here today for lunch with family. While we enjoyed our time together, the meal itself was so-​so. My clam chowder was missing one very important ingredient — clams. Teenie tiny little pieces that were few and far between. We also ordered the lobster pizza as an appetizer between us all and my cousin and I sat there picking around the top of it looking for the lobster. Minimal there as well. Then my entrée came; the crab alfredo. Three pieces of crab meat throughout the entire thing. Three. Now, this is a seafood restaurant, right? Shouldn’t SEAFOOD be the highlight of every dish? My crab alfredo was also very salty and swimming in butter. I took 5 bites and pushed the rest of it away. Thankfully I’d already had salad, my cup of clam-​less chowder (honestly, the Campbell’s condensed is better) and a couple pieces of the ‘lobster’ pizza.
Now, the sweet chili shrimp, that was good. A little too spicy for my taste, but my son loved it, as he enjoys spicy food. The sauce was also sweet and it was very delicious.
Food presentation was ok. Nothing fancy, but it wasn’t terrible. The side salads were decent.
The highlight of the entire meal was our server, Anjelica. Sweet girl who was attentive but not obtrusive, made sure we had everything we needed and kept our drinks full. Very good service. I give her personally 5 stars.
While I may go back to this location if I’m in the area, I prefer the Red Lobster on Sawmill Rd. Much better food quality and you actually get *gasp* seafood in your seafood entrees.

adequate

Terrible service. My sister was cold from the ac blowing above her head. She asked the waitress named shante to raise the temperature a bit and got an attitude with us. My brother in law asked why the hell the ac was on during winter and she told him to not use that language. He said he could cuss if he wants and told her to stop being a bitch. The next thing we knew the cops was called on him for calling her a bad name. Sure it was distasteful but come on calling the cops is stupid. There was no yelling involved. The cop even told us that they get calls all the time over little disputes like this that don’t even matter. The 13 of us got up and left. They don’t deserve business.

Although many businesses have closed on Hamilton Road/​Eastland Mall area, you’d never know the area was in decline from eating at this Red Lobster. True, it is one of the older, unremodeled Red Lobsters in Columbus, but the service and food are consistently impressive. I’m usually out this way at least once a month and I’ve never been disappointed yet.

The food is good and the server was very friendly, but we were in there for 2 hours during lunch!

Worst Red Lobster I’ve ever been to. I was served a bug with my salad, and disrespected by the manager. It’s a shame that good service is hard to find! …and people wonder why we are in a recession.

I waited for a table as opposed to the bar, so that I could enjoy better service. I understand it would be more convenient for a single diner to eat at the bar, but I’m entitled to sitting at a table too. My waiter introduced himself, took my drink (water) order, and walked away. As he did, he sarcastically thanked the hostess for hooking him up and giving him another «one top.» What he didn’t realize is this one top heard that, and this one top is (was) a very generous tipper. My appetizer was slid under my face as I was reading a book, and he was gone before I even got a chance to look up. Never once did he stop to see how my meal was, my water refill was a drop and run. When he finally stopped long enough to see if I needed anything, I asked for the bill and a box. The box came, and then the bill came, under a bag. I paid my bill, rounded the tip off to the next dollar and left. I asked to speak to a manager on the way out, I didn’t need the other diners hearing what was going on. The manager came to me, I explained the above, and his first response was, can I give you a gift certificate? I wasn’t doing this for free food-​or I would have carried on in front of an audience. It’s no one’s business why someone goes to dinner alone, and that lack of compassion/​rudeness can ruin someone’s day. I should know. I left in tears, and that is so unacceptable. The manager said the server was going to be sent home, but who knows. Unacceptable.