Red Lobster

Disappointing from 5 years ago when I’d came here. The food has gotten worse than I thought and it was way over price.

The service is slow and awful. The food is what you’d expect but I expected far better service from a chain place like this inside a tourist area. The food was made up to standards and tasted good. I ordered ahead of time a second time due to convenience and the food was not ready when they said it would be so I spent about 25 extra minutes waiting for my pickup order. Good but by no means great.

Place was pretty busy which was a good sign. Upon entering, I noticed the lobster tank was a little on the milky side which (I’m not a expert) I don’t think is a good thing. We had a big party, so 2 servers were assigned to our table. Our server, Heather, was funny and made us feel welcomed. But after we got our food, she never checked up on us to see if we liked our dishes. Waters never got filled on time. Appetizers didn’t take too long to get to our tables. I had the lobster pizza, which was pretty tasty. As for the entrée, it took a while to get to our tables, about 45 mins (timed) actually. I got the Seaside Shrimp Trio, sadly it was room temperature (at best). I’m not sure if I had a «bad» batch but the biscuits were a little on the salty side and doughy and undercooked. And now for dessert. I got the Brownie OverBoard. The picture of this dessert was served in a martini glass but when we got ours (20 minutes later) it was served in a bowl and missing the cherry as depicted. The description of the dessert was not accurate to what I received. The first three words said «A warm brownie…» mine was COLD, MUSHY, and UNDERCOOKED. So again, another let down. As a franchise restaurant, I expected a much higher quality of food to be sent out considering the price I paid. You know you’ve had a bad time when you dont even want to take biscuits to-​go. What an embarrassment

I was here not too long ago when they had their Lobster Fest promotion. They have it once a year around March and April. Most of their seafood is frozen so I’m not really a fan. The only thing that’s live are the whole lobsters swimming in their tanks.
The food was pretty good this time around. We ordered the Garlic Mussels, Maine Lobster Bake, Bar Harbor Bake, and Chicken Linguine. The garlic mussels were so good. It was on the tiny side but the sauce was amazing. I dipped the bread in there and it sopped up all the broth. The lobster tails were firm, plump, and didn’t have that freezer burn taste to it. For a few extra bucks I got to sub my salad for the lobster bisque. The lobster bisque was yummy. I could taste the sherry and the tiny bits of lobster. We finished off our meal with a complimentary birthday dessert. It was vanilla ice cream on top of a huge cookie.
Parking here is a pain. You can park in the lot for $ 8 or there’s parking on the backside of the Ilikai for a dollar an hour.

First time eating here BUT passed by a lot & so far the experience is okay. Best thing to do if eating dinner though, call for reservations due to it’s busy at night. Be prepared for a good meal & being good company with you :)

Great Mother’s day lunch at Red Lobster. Everyone is so welcoming, atmosphere was wonderful. Pace of meal was just right for a busy day. Kelson, our server was phenomal. Great suggestions and always on point. The manager Jojo stopped by our table several times. We had the Bar Harbor Lobster, Maine Lobster and choose your own trio.

I’ve been here 1−½ years and have not used my gift card here because of the reviews! I will not waste my time downtown Honolulu under these circumstances, it tells me that neither MGT or the chain care about its brand… at least in Honolulu, HI. What a sham, oh I mean shame! I love Red Lobster… when the food meets the standard.

I wish the food tasted as good as it looked. From biscuits to our entrée, it was so salty for me and my family. Who ever is working in the kitchen needs to go easy on the salt.
Despite the sodium overload, we loved the desserts and our server. Both were very pleasant and made our lunch a bit more enjoyable.

Located right downtown it sometimes can be a bit crowded. They do however take your name and give you a buzzer. I have been to the location several times and the wait time is pretty accurate, never once was past the time they gave me. Once they call you, you are seated promptly and the waitress came right away.
One of the best Waitresses I have ever had at any restaurant. The best part it was her third day working for Red Lobster. She was friendly, fast, and came to check on us several times throughout our meal. I unfortunately can not remember her name.
The food has been great, especially during the lobster fest– new dishes to experience at a decent price. I did however order a pick two shrimp dish last time and for the way the presentation and amount of shrimp I was a little disappointed. The salads are a little on the small side, and I order one every time I eat there, and forget every time until they bring the salad to the table.
Over-​all I would definitely eat there again especially for the cheddar biscuits unique to this restaurant only. The food is expensive, but I am usually always satisfied when leaving.

I haven’t eaten here in over 10 years, that in itself should’ve been an indicator for me. The ambiance is welcoming and quite boisterous since there are a lot of patrons coming and going. The service wasn’t bad and our waiter did his best to tend to our party of 5, along with a lot more parties around the area. The entrees were rather pricey, which I understand because it is a ‘seafood’ restaurant, but the quality/​taste of the food doesn’t equate when it comes to the price you pay.
The food was mediocre and everything tended to taste overly salted, whether it be the soup, pasta or even the free cheddar biscuits. Perhaps the main highlight of my recent visit would be the 4 course menu deal they have throughout the week, Monday through Friday I believe. For $ 20.99, you can get yourself a soup, salad, main entrée and brownie dessert-​which I upgraded for $ 2.50 & enjoyed my caramel apple dessert. Overall, it wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t superb.

Surprisingly, I had NEVER eaten at Red Lobster before deciding to give the joint a shot during a recent staycation in Waikiki.
This is what we noted:
Expensive for mediocre food (although I’m sure the location has something to do with this).
I had the Admiral’s Feast. Sadly, the only thing that was decent was the fried fish. The clams were dry and overcooked (I guess that goes hand ‘n hand). The scallops and shrimp lacked flavor. Well, unless you count grease as a flavor. Maybe that’s why they give you dipping sauces.
My wife had the lobster tacos. She said they were OK, but the broccoli she ordered as her side dish was overcooked and mushy.
The cheesy biscuits were TO DIE FOR and the only reason I’m giving a 3 star rating.
Decent service. Although it was early and we were seated immediately, it pretty much went downhill from there. Our server was in absolutely NO hurry whatsoever. Which, frankly, is not the greatest idea if I’m your customer. The food took FOREVER to come out, and when you have a pair of hungry 5 year olds, 30 minutes can seem like an eternity.
Really BUSY after 6 pm.

Service here is okay but… food… not so much.
For the price, Red Lobster is definitely not worth it. I really don’t recommend going here if you want good quality food at a price that matches.
Let’s start with the stuffed mushrooms. This dish is a complete joke. It isn’t a stuffed mushroom at all. It’s a mushroom sitting in the middle of some other stuff and topped with so much cheese, you can’t taste anything else. The mushrooms they use? typical 1″ white mushrooms you get at the market, smallest mushrooms you could possibly use to make «stuffed mushrooms.» This is not at all what stuffed mushrooms should be like and pales in comparison to restaurants that use large mushroom tops placed upside down on a plate and filled with a blend of lobster and a creamy sauce.
For my entrée I had the Cajun Chicken Alfredo, another dish that’s a complete joke. The sauce itself was not a Cajun sauce. It was normal alfredo sauce. The chicken wasn’t exactly Cajun chicken either. My whole family was trying to figure out where the «Cajun» part was. My sister pointed out a few red specks on the surface of some chicken chunks. Ah – there it was. Needless to say, it tasted the way it looked. There was a *hint* of Cajun flavor on the chicken and as for the rest of the dish, nowhere to be found. I asked for Tabasco and I also peppered the crap out of it to make it somewhat more spicy.
The other appetizers we had were coconut shrimp and the kalamari. Those were both okay, nothing special about it, but nothing that you couldn’t get at any chinese restaurant or chinese takeout. It most certainly didn’t justify the price.
With my meal, I had a skinny margarita, not blended. It was horrible. I couldn’t at all taste the alcohol and it was so syrupy and sweet I have no idea what was skinny about it. It tasted like those horrible margarita mixes they sell at wal-​mart, or those really cheap pre-​made mixed drinks they sell at wal-​mart. Never again. That margarita lasted me the entire meal because every time I drank, I added water filling it back to the top. One filling – still too sweet. Two refills… still too sweet. Five refills of water later… finally my margarita tasted like a margarita… or well, a virgin one. It must’ve been 75% water by that time.
As for service, well… our waitress was incredibly nice. I give her props for a great attitude and for her kindness. However, we had gotten our appetizers and still we didn’t have any utensils to eat with. I’m not sure if they should’ve been on the table before we ever sat down, nor am I sure who’s job setting the table or bringing the utensils are but… it was definitely disappointing.
All in all, I would definitely never come back here. Even if someone else was paying for my meal, I would encourage them to go elsewhere.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits are the bomb!
Ok, so tonight was not the right night to have dinner here. There is a Military Ball going on at the Ilikai, so parking in the garage is horrible. (My truck is being blessed by God’s tears)
I learned that even though the restaurant has a lot of empty tables, there is a reason. If there aren’t enough servers, the hostess will leave tables open. This makes a lot of sense. Think about it. Would you rather wait to be seated and tended to promptly, or be seated and have to wait for someone to take your order and pay attention to you? I’d prefer to wait to be seated. By the way, we only waited 5 minutes.
Restrooms are located bar level, to the left. They do, however, need to be serviced more frequently, if you know what I mean.
Moving on, the menu. I couldn’t decide what to have because I LOVE SHRIMP, and there are so many to choose from. Cheddar Bay Biscuits! Sorry, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY LOVE THESE PUFFY MOUNDS OF CARBO GOODNESS!
Decided on the sangria and the clamari & veg appetizer. Calamari rings, sweet red peppers, broccoli, lightly battered & deep fried.
Parking lot is full because most of the floors were full with new cars. Looked like the dealership had rented out the stalls to house their new shipments. Good for them, bad for us.
If you are lucky enough to get parking in the garage, go chow down on some awesome Cheddar Bay Biscuits!

The only time I go to Red Lobster is once a year when they have Endless Shrimp. To me this is the best deal for the buck if you like shimp. Today’s menu for endless shrimp are:
Pineapple Habsnero Coconut bites
Teriyaki grilled shrimp
Hand Breaded shrimp
Garlic Shrimp Scampi
Shrimp Linguini Alfredo
I normally like the Alfredo and Garlic scampi. But you need to watch the Alfredo bc it will fill you up the fastest.
The reason for the 3 stars is the slow service… But I just go for the endless shrimp!

Ok ok, we fly here from the Big Island, and out of the hundreds of amazing choices of restaurants, we choose a chain?
Once you get past that, you can really enjoy the food and review.
We live on an island that has no Red Lobster, or most chains for that matter. So when we come to Oahu, we sometimes want to try the places we see commercials on TV about every night. Advertising working its wonders on our psyche!
That being said, when the wife said she wanted biscuits from Red Lobster, to the app I went. The all informed me it was «endless shrimp» time, which means green light Go!
We took our free hotel shuttle and the driver was so nice to drop us off right in front of the restaurant.
We walk in, and it had just opened (a little past 11am), so we beat the lunch crowd. Ambiance is like every other Red Lobster you’ve been to– which is fine. Familiarity is comforting (sorta like when you walk into just about any McDonalds around the world). It’s like meeting a friend in a town you know nobody else.
After perusing the menu for about 6 seconds, I already knew I wanted the endless shrimp. Basically, there are about 6 different styles of shrimp (pineapple habanero, grilled teriyaki, scampi, fried, popcorn, linguine, and a few others I can’t remember), and you can eat as much of it as you can handle, 2 styles at a time. Finish, then order the next round.
My wife did a «make your own combo» for $ 20, which came with a soup, salad, entrée, and dessert. So much food for not so much money.
Are there better quality/​tasting restaurants out there? Of course. This is not a comparison. I like the fact that I know what I’m going to get when I go to Red Lobster. I know what it’s going to taste like, and I most definitely know the food I get is worth the price in paying. I’m not over paying, and for reals– who makes hot biscuits like this? They are what get me there in the first place!

Don’t panic! I swear, 3 stars isn’t as bad as it looks. I’ve been here more than a few times (before my days as a Unilocaler). It’s finally time to write the review. This one will not only be about yesterday’s visit, but my other visits as well.
Ahhhh, yesterday’s visit was hit and miss.
Hits: Steak was cooked perfectly, waiter was attentive and quick, food came quickly, and biscuits (oh the biscuits…).
Misses: I was told our wait time was 45 – 50 minutes, we waited 1 hour and 45 minutes after being told multiple times we were next, grilled shrimp was overcooked.
Really, it was a typical visit to Red Lobster. This, combined with my previous visits gives it 3 stars. The food is actually quite good. It’s pricey of course, but good nonetheless. Long waits and sub par hosts/​hostesses that can’t quite estimate a wait time bring the stars from 4 to 3. This place isn’t perfect, but it’s not bad for a date night or family dinner!

I called on Thursday, July 9^th to make a reservation for the next day, Friday July 10^th.
I told the hostess who answered my call, «Hi I would like to make a reservation for –«
“We’re actually not taking any more reservations for tonight.»
I was confused, and quite frankly offended because the girl cut me off. So I tried again.
«I’m calling to make a reservation for tomorrow. Can I do that?»
The girl said, «Yes», and handed the phone over to a guy named Ryan who was very professional, took my reservation, and told me of the girl’s name when I asked for it (because she mumbled it each time I called, and I could NOT for the life of me hear what it was).
I called back and asked for the manager, spoke to her about it, and the manager said she would speak to the girl. She was probably in training so I suppose it’s understandable, but the place could have easily lost my business for the following night, and much more business from other people calling to make reservations ahead of time, but weren’t given the opportunity, because the girl cuts them off. If my friend’t hadn’t specifically stated that he wanted Red Lobster (for some odd reason) for his birthday, I would have hung up right as that girl interrupted me, and made a reservation elsewhere.
Now for the food.
…Meh. The free cheesy biscuits were good, but the pasta was very bland. I did enjoy the lobster despite it being a bit chewy, but I didn’t go into a chain restaurant expecting gourmet lobster, so that’s ok.
Our waitress, Christina, was very nice, so instead of getting two stars for a terrible experience with the hostess, and for the pretty awful food, the place gets three stars for decent service. I haven’t been back here since I was five years old, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be another 21 years before I come back, and even then it’s going to be under really forced circumstances in which I would only be going to appease a friend who has a really strong craving for really bad seafood.

I’ve always been rather pleased with Red Lobster’s food quality. For a chain restaurant my standards aren’t too high, however I always seem to have a very pleasant dining experience and meal here. On the several occasions that I’ve eaten at this location I’ve come with more than 4 people in my party and every time we have had about a 20min wait. I’m sure they take reservations (and if you are coming with more than 4 people I recommend you do) if you don’t want to wait too long.
After we were seated our dutiful server quickly got our drink orders to us and shortly after looking over our menu took our appetizer and entrée orders. We didn’t have to wait too long for our food to come out to us, and our complimentary cheese biscuits, the appetizers and entrees were spaced out very well IMO. Service was good to us and not overly negligent. Now I can’t speak for everyone in my party, however my food was pretty good. I had the new Wood Grilled Tacos, Lobster Pizza, and a little bit of my boyfriend’s Ultimate Feast lobster and crab legs. I noticed that from the last time I ate here my food wasn’t overly salty but a bit more buttery this time around. I got so full from the appetizers and side salad that I barely made a dent in my actual entrée; so come hungry!
As far as pricing is concerned, I’m pretty impressed with the amount of food you get for the price you pay. Very reasonable in my book. Red Lobster almost always has coupons in the Sunday paper you can use here, but if you forget to clip them out like I did, when you check in click on the limited time promotional offer if you see one (currently only valid from now till 7÷19÷15) and treat yourself to either a complimentary appetizer or dessert with purchase of 2 adult dinner entrees! I don’t know how often they have these promos so it’s always good to double check to get freebies! And if it so happens to be your special day, let your server know and they will come out with a little complimentary treat and sing for the special birthday boy/​girl.
I would come back here on occasion. I’m not a big fan of parking in Waikiki but when I do get a craving for a seafood platter and a good price I would most definitely consider this place.

Unilocal 100 Review Challenge 2015: ³²⁄₁₀₀
Since we had $ 100 worth of gift cards for Darden and Red Lobster being the only Darden restaurant in Hawaii, we didn’t have much choice in choosing how to spend our gift cards.
Food & Price:
Our party ordered 2 of the Four Course Meals ($ 19.99/each) and a Shrimp Your Way combo. The food was disappointing considering I was expecting shrimp pasta when I ordered the ‘Shrimp Scampi’ as part of the Shrimp Your Way combo but instead got tiny shrimp swimming in butter and garlic. Also, the Four Course Meals were supposed to come with «Endless Bread» but I had to ask our sever several times to have the bread refilled. Minus one star because we ordered two soups (as part of the Four Course Meals) and only one order came with crackers even though the two soups were the same?!
All our meals were more than enough to fill us adults but the quality of the seafood is just not there.
Parking/​Environment:
We parked in the harbor behind the Ilikai for a night rate of $ 1/​hour which was a steal to us! They had ample parking.
Being located in Waikiki defines this restaurant as «touristy». The restaurant, itself, is rather sizable but I was bothered by the extremely dim lighting which made it difficult to read the menu and visually see the texture of the food.
Conclusion:
I wouldn’t go out of my way to dine here, but I am glad I was able to experience this place thanks to gift cards.
FYI They don’t take reservations so expect to wait to be seated!

Every time I have a gift card for a Darden Restaurant I have no choice but to come to this restaurant. After all the island of Oahu does not have a Olive Garden.
I would come any where’s between lunch time and dinner time. When I am dining alone I tend to sit at the bar or one of the tables near the bar to watch the television. I always order the clam chowder bowl to start off. The biscuits are absolutely delicious. If I bring my mom and her companion then I would sit at one of the booths or tables. There’s always a struggle on who gets the last biscuit between my mom’s companion or myself. LOL
My entrée would normally be the Ultimate Feast for dinner. Small lobster tail, crab legs, shrimp scampi, beer battered shrimp, and baked potato along with soup and salad. Majority of the times I can finish up the entire entrée by myself. No complaints whatsoever.
Lobster fest I ordered a entrée that consisted of broccoli, a decent size lobster tail, butterfly cut jumbo shrimp, and lobster with linguini pasta. Very delicious. I have not gone to Red Lobster for crab fest or shrimp fest. One day I will.