Red Lobster — Restaurant in Barrie

Quite possibly the worst seafood experience I have ever had. I drove 35 minutes in a snow squall because of the advertisement I saw on the tv for their dueling lobster tails feature which I ordered after all thats what brought me to the nearest Red Lobster. My companion ordered the Lobster fest surf and sirloin. When the waiter brought the meals and put them on the table we both looked at our plates and then each other My companions plate just left both of us speechless. It was a steak thrown on the plate, a slap of potatoes thrown on the other side and a lobster with a tablespoon of sauce on the top. There were 3 tiny over cooked scallops in the sauce which was barely more than a drizzle and the lobster was undercooked, goey and wouldn't come off of the shell. Apparently it was still clinging to life. The potatoes which you could tell were slapped onto the plate because they still bore the shape of the serving spoon that they were ejected from Every portion was spaced on the outside of the plate making it look like alot of air for $34.99. The only good thing about her plate was the sirloin which was cooked a perfect medium rare. Then my plate that I had just driven through a snow squall with eager anticipation of my reward for having done so One lobster had the same sauce as on my companions' which looked appetizing. The wine sauce tasted good. Its was creamy and quite tasty but the scallops were over done. They must of had it sitting in a steam table I thought I was going to have a real treat until I tried to pull a piece of the lobster off of the shell. There's no doubt in my mind that my companions lobster and mine both tried to escape at the same time as mine was almost raw also. As for the steamed parchment wrapped lobster tail. I should of not of my hopes up The parchment was burnt, on the inside? How is that possible? There was that poor dried out lobster on top of 3 tablespoons of under cooked rice. I guess the rice couldn't get enough water or broth from the lobster that wasn't friends with the two raw ones. It was so dry and tasted like burnt parchment. I couldn't eat it I took a picture to honour the poor lobster that perished in the parchment fire with the rice sucking the life out of it I ordered asparagus which were what I can only assume dehydrated and unsuccessfully rehydrated as I have never had such small, woody spears. All of that for $35.99 plus $2.99 for the pretend asparagus. The unlimited biscuits we had to ask for. Twice. They were good. We both left happy to know that we had both risked life and limb to fill up on biscuits and wine (after all how could they mess up Ernest and Gulio zinfindel) and if you believe that you need to socialize some more..just saying

The service was good and is probably the only good thing we have to say about the whole meal.

So the next time we want seafood we will go to the crock and block or...

Throughout the years I have visited several Red Lobster locations and always found the service to be delightful. However, my recent visit to the Barrie location left my family and I very disappointed and insulted.

We had a large family order and spent well over $300+. When arrived for curb side pickup at the location, our order was delayed by 15-20 minutes. We understood the delay as this is usually caused by large orders. After waiting patiently, our food started to arrive at the curbside.

The original food order had included 2 - 'kids menu popcorn shrimp'. When all the food was handed over to us, we noticed that one of the popcorn shrimp is still missing. We notified the Restaurant Manager "Cassandra Courchesne" of the incident as she was the one handing over the food. She immediately retaliated saying "I am 110% positive its there as I have done the packing myself". The family acknowledged and pointed out that all the food is still laid out here. As you can see we are still missing the 2nd popcorn shrimp. Cassandra started at us for a while, rolled her eyes, and said "next time if you want 3 popcorn shrimps, just make sure you order 3 instead of 2".

This is very insulting and demeaning behavior, especially coming from a restaurant manager. She was directly implying that we are trying to weasel our way out for free food, which is just unacceptable.

We also noticed that while she was serving other clients of Canadian origin, she was very polite. However when dealing with us (Indian family), her attitude was different from the start of the conversation.

To add further insult, later in the evening, I had walked in to the restaurant to get Cassandra's name / contact info for complaint escalation. I was met by a waiter (I didn't get his name) who very rudely stated that the manager is busy as we are approaching closing time. While keeping my emotions in control, I asked him for the manager's business card as I could see business cards available at the front desk. He quickly grabbed all the cards from the desk and walked into the kitchen without saying a word to me.

Hoping to get some sort of apology on this disrespectful behavior and also hoping to shed some light to head office so that the experience is not carried out with...

If I could leave no starts I would have. We ordered take out for Valentine’s Day. (Yes, I know they’re busy because of this) We waited over 2 and a half hours, for our food, all the while people are coming and going (being served in front of us, and no they didn’t have reservations, because we were specifically told they weren’t doing them on Valentine’s Day) Instead of servicing both the dine in and take out guest by first come first serve, they instead prioritized dine in guests, causing the quality of food and guest experience to complete diminish. They have such poor staff at this location that they have blatant disregard for anyone there even, amongst themselves as coworkers. While waiting we heard the server arguing with the bartender over a customers drink. Customer specifically asked for a “short glass” as the restaurant called it, professional bar tenders know it as a lowball glass. I guess Red Lobster wouldn’t know anything about that. The bartender took the drink poured it from the “big glass” (again, unprofessional) to the lowball, without taking into consideration that alcohol would have been left over and discarded, thus ripping off the customer at the table, as they didn’t get the proper amount for the same price. If I knew that, I would have rejected that drink. Remake it like a professional next time, especially when you have 10 people watching you. Next up we get the take out host on the phone with a customer, who is probably upset with the wait times, and then the host starts bad mouthing the customer after she gets off the phone with an entire gallery of other customers listening. Totally unprofessional, and poorly managed beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed. Even after this endless wait, I smiled, thanked the worker, and walked to my car. Not even 2 minutes after getting the food, we open it up and it’s COMPLETELY COLD! I kid you not. Fries turned soggy and dry. How damn long was my food sitting on a counter in the kitchen while I stood out front waiting?? UNBELIEVABLE. Not what you expect after spending $100 on takeout. Last trip here, ever....