Elite Event Red Lobster

Red Lobster, you have won me over. I am a CHANGED WOMAN! I know in the past I was not your biggest fan, but you and Unilocal have seized my heart!
Man alive, I have NEVER had shrimp as FANTASTIC as the «Sweet Chili Shrimp!» The shrimp were exquisitely fried so that the breading soaked up the sweet, yet tangy, sauce that delivered the RIGHT amount of KICK while maintaining the perfect crunchy texture! Out of everything we tried that night, it was the unanimous favorite! (Just don’t look at its nutritional value of 1140 calories!)
I was also a giant fan of the «Crispy Fried Green Beans» with Sriracha sauce! The green beans looked stately sitting in their white funnel cone stand. One almost felt HEALTHY eating them because they were so delicately fried. The only negative thing I can say about the Sriracha sauce was that the portion wasn’t BIG enough!
The cocktails were also a winner! My favorite of the evening was the «Special Cargo Colada.» It was a twist on your normal Pina Colada that also incorporated nutmeg. It raised the standard of how I want Pina Coladas from now on!
The food KEPT coming! Entrée after Entrée was brought to our table to the point where we could only eat ONE bite and then say to our table-​mates Jimmy and Tess, «Okay, who wants to take this as a leftover?» We had a giant BAG full of leftovers to enjoy the next day and continue our gratitude to Red Lobster.
The theme was NATURALLY «Red» at the event but my pink sweater, red skirt, and green peacoat outfit verged on the manic pixie level since Florida was unnaturally COLD that night. I absolutely ADORE the tote bag with the embroidered Lobster on it too! I use it all the time :)
I never thought I’d recommend Red Lobster for cocktails and desserts, but I will now! Their «Pumpkin Pie in a Jar» was on par with Seasons 52 and the «Chocolate Wave» Cake with ice cream was decadent and sinful!
In the future I will surely recommend Red Lobster for group dates where we can all split their flavorful (and affordable!) appetizers, giant sized entrée portions, and visit Heaven a.k.a. the Chocolate Wave cake. ^_^

This was my first Elite event thanks to Nate insisting I attend. Starts off with the name tag and the hellos and of course free drank tickets.
We started off with the appetizers. First we had the sweet chili beer battered shrimp. Absolutely delicious and cooked to perfection. There was a hint of a spicy kick that sat perfectly with the sweetness on your mouth. Fabulous! There were lobster stuffed mushrooms and those were so divine they didnt last very long on the table. There were also buffalo bites and they were extra spicy! Cleared up my sinuses for sure. The buffalo chicken bites were covered with blue cheese crumbles all over, so if you don’t like blue cheese you might want to ask for it without because it is a lot of it. Oh and there were fried green beans too but I didn’t really like them as much.
Then came the entrees. There was parmesan crusted chicken Alfredo and it was very yummy, but I found the sauce to be just a little too salty. The chicken was cooked just perfect with the right amount of crunchy breading and moist chicken breast. The wood grilled shrimp tacos were amazing.
My two absolute favorites were the Portafino clam bake and tilapia in a bag. The clam bake was delicious and full of seafood goodies like mussels and scallops. The tilapia in a bag was absolutely epic and there was NONE left on the table. It was tilapia baked over wild rice pilaf and roasted vegetables and had incredible flavor.
Then there was dessert… By now I’m pretty stuffed and I am hurting to the point of my stomach exploding but the tasting must go on.
First for dessert there is a pumpkin in a jar. Basically pumpkin pie and whipped cream in layers in a mason jar. I love pumpkin pie and whipped cream but when you serve it to me in a jar I’m pretty much sold! Yum. Then we had an epic chocolate wave cake with ice cream and chocolate syrup drizzled all over. Man oh man, that was some rich chocolate cake. I had to snag the last bit for my boyfriend. Last was their famous key lime pie. For as long as I can remember this has been their staple dessert since forever. I found that it was just a bit too sour, but with all the different tastes I had just indulged in throughout the night, I may have to give it another shot when my tongue hasn’t been overwhelmed with so many flavors.
The drinks were strong and they definitely hooked it up. The long island iced tea is only good if you get the top shelf. Anything less is a fail! Two of those and you’ll be leaving with a nice buzz, but drink responsibly please.
It was an amazing evening with fellow foodies and friends and I hope to attend another event soon. Thanks for the great event, Allie. With a CM like you, we will never go hungry. I was full for the next day and refused to eat anymore lol.

The last year that I have been attending the Unilocal Elite Events in Jacksonville (last December was the first one in the city) this is by far the BEST one yet!!!
A HUGE thank you to Allie for putting this together.
A HUGE thank you to my fellow Unilocalers for making this a fun night.
And a HUGE thank you to the Red Lobster staff… they were all AMAZING last night!
Every person received two drink tickets upon check in. Then our wait person asked us to choose a drink from the Red Lobster drink menu (the one you usually find on the table). I asked which drinks we were allowed to choose from, and she said ANY! So I had a fancy (strong) (and huge) margarita!
My biggest complaint of the evening is that there was SO MUCH FOOD!!! I am being totally serous here… it did not stop coming out! Often times there were multiple (as in more than one) dishes of the same items on the table. And everything was so delicious.
My favorite was the tangy shrimp (similar to bang bang shrimp). I ate a few too many of those. The shrimp tacos were crazy good as well.
There were battered and fried green beans, tilapia (steamed) dish, Parmesan crusted Alfredo pasta dish, salmon salad, buffalo chicken, lobster pizza, lobster stuffed mushrooms. I am sure I am missing something… there was so much.
Then there was dessert!!! Pumpkin parfait, chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, and key lime pie… with coffee!!!
What was even more amazing is that they were doggy bagging all the left overs. and there were a lot to take home.
My wife Hilary won a pair of VIP Celtic Festival tickets playing Unilocal Bingo (or Unilocal-​o). :)
It was a special evening.

My first elite event and it was a great one! Allie gets 5-​stars also for putting this event together.
I have dined at this Red Lobster several times and each time, the service was either just OK, or not great. But last night, we felt special. Traci did a fabulous job!
Too much food!
APPETIZERS
— Cheddar Bay Biscuits
— Lobster-​Crab-​and-​Seafood-​Stuffed Mushrooms
— Crispy Fried Green Beans
— Sweet Chili Shrimp
— Spicy Buffalo Chicken Bites
— Lobster Pizza
ENTREES
— Wood Grilled Shrimp Tacos
— Salmon Fiesta Salad
— Roasted Tilapia with veggies
— Portofino Seafood Bake
— Parmesan-​Crusted Chicken Alfredo
DESSERT
— Key Lime Pie
— Pumpkin Pie in a Jar
— Chocolate Wave
I also had a couple of cocktail drinks — Special Cargo Colada (thanks to Nate!) and Strawberry Frozen Margarita. The Margarita was in a Jumbo glass. I couldn’t finish it. Definitely a great night!
I saved some $ today too. Just a cup of coffee for breakfast because I’m still full. For lunch, left overs from Red Lobster :)

I don’t normally review Unilocal events because we all know that the host is going to go above and beyond their norm to show us a good time, but I feel that last night’s event deserves to be written about.
When I first saw that we were having an Elite event at Red Lobster I was not excited at all. But thanks to Allie including some links to other cities Red Lobster events and seeing how much those people enjoyed the experience I decided to rsvp anyway. I am so glad I did!
I can honestly say that up until last night I had only been to Red Lobster 2 times in my life and neither of those times were anything I remember as being bad nor good — they were just… meh. But last night my mind was blown. Not only did the service ROCK (our server Brittany was AWESOME and extremely personable) but the food was 100 times better than I ever expected and the fact that they sent us home with to go boxes, kudos Red Lobster!
I would have to say that the only disappointment of the evening was that there was TOO MUCH FOOD that by the time the amazing looking desserts came out I was stuffed beyond belief… I did manage to try a bite of each and the Pumpkin Trifle and Chocolate Cake were definitely something I would recommend and order again.
My other favorites of the evening were the Chili Shrimp appetizer, the Salmon Salad, the Shrimp Tacos, the Tilapia in a bag and the Portofino Seafood Bake! Although everything was good, those were my top loves!
Thank you Red Lobster and Allie for another fantastic event! #Yelp #TastRL

I was late to the event and thought surely I had miss out on the goodness Red Lobster was providing for us, but I was soo wrong. THE FOOD KEEPETH COMETH! Also, as someone who has never been to Red Lobster before, I now understand the gloriousness of the cheddar biscuits and why it has people raving throughout the land. Thanx Mr. Unilocal for explaining the basic science behind the cheddar biscuit to me as well, lol. As if the biscuits weren’t enough to seduce me, we were generously offered foods from Red Lobster’s new menu: Glazed shrimps, buffalo chicken, shrimp tacos, lobster pizza, baked fish, pasta, mussels, scallops, shrimps, served with wild rice pilaf. But wait! there’s more! We indulged in chocolate cake, key lime pie, and pumpkin and marshmellow soufflé packaged inside a mason jar. MASON JAR?! errmagadd, that’s cute. Needless to say, I was beyond stuffed.
Our server Kyle, along with the rest of the Red Lobster crew were so attentive and made sure our libations stayed filled. Red Lobster even had raffles and gave us parting gifts. wowzers. Thank you Red Lobster. You rock! my socks!
(one of, kekeke) The best part of the evening was getting to catch up with fellow Unilocalers and meeting new ones (here’s looking at you, Dani V.!). I’ve been über busy traveling so I haven’t been as involved with Unilocal,but it was so nice to be able to pick back up where I last left off with ma Unilocal buddies!
Thank you Allie and her posse for making this Unilocal event possible. As always, I look forward to the excitement that will ensue at the next Unilocal event. And it sounds pretty epic, if I heard Allie correctly!

OMGOSH! I still can’t get over how much food there was. It just kept coming and coming and coming and coming! I was SO stuffed when we left! THANK YOU, RED LOBSTER!
The service was outstanding. They treated us all so well! Thanks to our server, Kyle. I’d also like to give a big thanks to the manager, Rita.
Hubby and I go to Red Lobster all the time. But we always play it safe and order the same thing. It was so great to be able to try so many of the new dishes. My favourite appetizer was the sweet chili shrimp. It had just the perfect amount of «kick.» This is definitely a dish we’ll be ordering in the future! I was also thrilled to be able to try tilapia for the first time. I’ve wanted to try it for a very long time, but I was always scared to order it b/​c if I hated it, then it’d be a huge waste of money. Well, come to find out after last night that I love tilapia! I just couldn’t get enough of it. It was seasoned perfectly and was so light. Delicious! Another dish I’ll be ordering again. They brought SO much food, I can’t possibly talk about it all, but those were definitely my favourites.
Loved their drinks. I was shocked they let us order any drinks we wanted and our server told me they were even giving us top shelf liquor. WOW! I had a couple of the really huge pina coladas w/​the side car. Needless to say, I left just a tad bit tipsy when we left!
To those who never asked and wondered why I was sitting in a wheelchair: Walking into the restaurant when we arrived, I tripped over my own darn feet in the parking lot and fell directly on my right knee which I blew out last year. Because I’m such a clumsy a$$ and have been my entire life, we actually keep a wheelchair in the back of the car — for reelz! LOL I laugh now, but hey, as you all saw, it came in handy! I just wasn’t blessed with that little thing called «balance» that most people have. Also, thanks to the great employees at Red Lobster who came out into the parking lot to help me when I fell, and for getting me ice, etc. I really appreciate it!
Marie: Loved sitting with you. You are such a wonderful person and I’m so happy I was finally able to spend some time getting to know you!
To Allie: You are ah-​mazing! I was slightly leery about an Elite Event at Red Lobster, but I should have known better. Do you ever let us down? Ummm… HELL NO! =) Thank you, thank you, thank you for yet another wonderful and amazing event!
Until December 6^th, Yeeps… SYOY!

Allie did great! I’m so proud of her for putting together yet another great event. How can you keep out doing yourself?!
A big Thank you to Red Lobster, Greg Sherman, Debbie, Layla, Rita and Vanessa for hosting and organizing this!
Our server Kyle was the man! Excellent service!
Biscuits were great as always!
Fried green beans with sirachi aioli were a Very good crispy finger food.
BakedCheesy lobster, seafood and crab stuffed mushroom very good.
Sweet Chili shrimp was excellent with just the right amount of kick.
Chicken with buffalo chicken bites were spicy and tasty!!!
Lobster pizza light and crispy with a great flavor and real chunks of lobster.
Salmon fiesta salad with jalapeño ranch omg!
Shrimp taco were the best imaginable.
Roasted tilapia and veggies
Cooked in a bag and all the flavors are sealed in and fused together. Seasoned perfectly. Omg sooooo good.
Parmesan Chicken Alfredo with corkscrew pasta and broccoli. Very fresh, not too heavy. The pasta was cooked perfectly.
Portifino bake was good but by the time we got it I was sooo full.
Then dessert…
Pumpkin pie in a jar… I don’t even like pumpkin pie but I almost ate it all.
Chocolate wave with vanilla ice cream was very good. Rich and chocolatey! Yummy!!!
Then was my favorite… Key lime pie. I love love loved it. Omg!
What a super night. What great food! I’m gonna buy gift cards for family and friends for my Christmas gifts!
And how great is it that they sent us home with a gift bag and a coupon!
Allie!!! Allie!!! Allie!!! Go girl!