Red Lobster

Servers are friendly. Usually seated right away and food is always good. Usually eat here for lunch when I’m in town, and always have had a good experience here.

Came in for endless shrimp, Mindy B. Was our server; she was excellent. She asked if we were in for a special occasion, which we were – a birthday. Her attentive service, along with an excellent meal made for a wonderful evening.

Yeah, we all know Red Lobster along with it’s Darden family wax and wane. But after having fairly good experiences at two of their other locations, I went in with fair expectations.
They were busy with the dinner crowd on a Saturday evening, but we had no wait to be seated. While our table location was on the tight side, the décor, though nothing dazzling, was clean and comfortable.
Our server was nice and competent. However, the manager who stopped by and asked about our experience was mentally and physically walking away before we could look up.
We started out with cheese sticks. They were good but not a stand out in the world of cheese sticks. Meanwhile, the famous biscuits were warm and also good if not a tad on the salty side. Moving on, I felt the four course meal was a deal. While the portions were not huge, I was stuffed with clam chowder, a side salad, shrimp and scallop alfredo, and caramel cheesecake for less than an entrée.
Overall, happy with the meal at a solid 3.5.

We were greeted by the smell of cigarette ash as the ash tray is right next to the entrance of the Red Lobster in Marion… This kind of set up the entire visit.
As we waited for our seat we were entertained by the terrible, no, catastrophic execution by the hostesses as three customers in a matter of fifteen minutes came up to the counter complaining their name was never called… As far as I could see, the hostesses weren’t calling names toward the bar and really had no regard for their customers or their job. We were seated without issue and in a timely manner.
Once seated we observed the employees of RL mindlessly doing their jobs with blank faces and some even rolling eyes and making faces as they walked to the kitchen; this must be a dreaded place to work… Our waitress was nice but when she wasn’t speaking to us, had the same drained and «I hate my job» look on her face as well. She did an adequate job and our food came out with the expected quality.
As the night progressed and the crowd thinned out, the faces of employees seemed to lighten and some even started talking to each other and cracked a smile or two.
If you’re looking for a Red Lobster to eat at this one fits the bill and you’ll get the food you expect. The culture at this Red Lobster is obviously broken, I ate my food wondering which of the every employee I saw would be the disgruntled employee spitting on my crab legs or wiping my mashed potatoes off the floor before they made it to my table…
I gave them two stars because our food and service was adequate, but the culture I observed made the experience uncomfortable.

Worst service that we have ever had. Wendy was our servers name. Had the nerve to say that she knows she isn’t getting a tip. Everyone of us is a extremely good tipper.