Red Lobster — Restaurant in Kitchener

My mom lives nearby and comes here about once a month for many years now, and recently wanted to come here for her 84th birthday and was excited to celebrate at a place she loves and splurge on the biggest lobster feats they had. The food was great, but the service was horrible and we left incredibly dissapointed in what used to be a favorite place. We were here late afternoon, only a few tables were full. We waited at the door quite a while before the manager came and sat us, then waited another about 25 minutes to order water, wine and some of their biscuits. Another 20 minutes passed before the wine and water arrived, we asked again for the biscuits and were told they were just being baked, they'd be out soon. Our orders arrived and finally 3 biscuits, one for each of us. We ordered more right away (they are all you can eat and quite small now) and we ate our meals which were delicious, crab, lobster and a few types of shrimp. Still no more biscuits. My mom pointed out the last few times they have only brought more when they bring the cheque so not really AYCE although they are advertised that way. We sat and waited for our server to come back, hadn't seen her since she brought our meals. Another server saw us waving at her and being ignored so he came and took away some of our empty plates and asked if we needed anthong else, we asked for more drinks and mentioned we had asked for more biscuits 30 minutes ago and he said he'd get some. Came back with our drinks but still no biscuits. Although we saw more going to other tables, none showed up for us despite it being our 3rd request. Still no server but the manager stopped at our table as we were getting anxious to leave, we asked him for more and a to go box for some leftovers, he brought the to go box and said still no biscuits as now they were baking more but he'd make sure we got some. We had now been here almost 2 hours, tried flagging down our server a few times as she served other tables biscuits but she completely ignored us until she finally brought our bill-and 3 more biscuits exactly as my mom said has been happening her last few visits. And although we had called in reservations and asked if they would acknowledge my mom's birthday, and reminded both the manager when he sat us and our server when she took our orders and we offered to pay for it, all we got was the bill after 2 hours. No mention of dessert, or coffee. So we left, the server was very aware we were not impressed, and the manager had dissapeared. We called on the drive home and he also was aware this was really crappy service, he acknowledged it and said he would speak to the server and send us something to make up for it but as expected, nothing has been sent. The food was good, an expensive meal as we were celebrating and ordered special meals and wine, but the meal was spoiled by the poor treatment by the server and lack of caring by the manager we hoped would deal with the issue. And the incorrect description of the biscuits as AYCE when in fact you are lucky to...

Waitress Beth Begs My Retired Father for a Tip After His Celebration Dinner

Backstory: I took my father, mother, sisters, and husband out for dinner to celebrate my father's retirement. We were served by a waitress named Beth. The food and ambiance were fine—nothing particularly memorable.

After we finished our meal, my husband paid the bill. As we were gathering our things and making our way toward the exit, I noticed my father still getting up from the booth. When I turned around, I saw Beth speaking with him—and then I watched as he pulled out his wallet. Sensing something was off, I immediately walked over and caught the gist of the conversation: Beth was begging my father for a tip. She shared a sob story about the restaurant’s "tip out" system cutting into her earnings, and in a coy, self-deprecating tone, asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

I was stunned. Never in my life have I witnessed such unprofessional behavior. Beth knew we were celebrating my father's retirement. She also knew it was my husband who paid the bill. Instead of addressing any concerns with him, she cornered my father, a guest, to plead for money!

Of course, my father, being the kind and generous man he is, gave her a very generous tip. I told her outright that what she did was absolutely unacceptable—and reminded her that tipping is not mandatory. At that point, her attitude shifted; she apologized but still accepted the cash, as my father didn’t want to make a scene.

In the midst of the fluster, we left, but I returned about five minutes later to speak to the manager on duty. Thankfully, the manager handled the situation professionally and agreed that Beth was completely out of line—especially for targeting a guest instead of addressing any issues with the person who paid.

I truly appreciate how the manager handled it. However, despite her professionalism, this was our first and last time at this restaurant. The experience warranted a review.

A few final thoughts: Tipping is not a mandatory practice. Servers in many areas earn the same minimum wage as retail workers—who do not receive tips. In many countries around the world, tipping isn’t customary at all. A tip is meant to recognize exceptional service—service that goes above and beyond. In this case, the service was very average, and there was nothing that stood out as...

So I used to love this place, the food...it's really disappointing now. Yesterday was my bday, we had 3 pm reservation. We were received well and seated as requested. The server came quickly and took drink orders. ( Didn't even ask if we were celebrating anything)Alot of the stuff came off the menu. The shrimp and lobster tacos, lobster rolls, different flavour shrimp for e.g. in previous visit our lobster dinner was chewy and stringy, where we had to keep spitting out cause we couldn't swallow it, the crab legs had nothing in them , no meat. So we swore never to get crab legs or lobster tails there again( the rest of the menu was not bad) But the preparation has gone to the absolute lowest, I ordered the fish and chips, the fries came with some yucky black bits on it, as if the oil used to fry it was burnt. Same for my son's order of fries , limp, dry and warm ( terrible) It was not hot and crisp. The fish had zero flavour, salt less even, not battered but lightly dusted and fried. The portion size of the fish was a joke. By the time offered my older son and husband a taste of the disaster they served, it was done. ( It was that small). My older son ordered the special of the day, the steak and shrimp with the yucky fries and a side of bacon mac and cheese. The steak although cooked as asked tasted gamey and old. The shrimp were fine. But he never got his bacon mac and cheese which they billed for. In our horror of our entrees , we even forgot it was ordered. Why didn't we complain, my husband doesn't like to complain and keeps refering to the movie Waiting ...He ate his shrimp bowl and said it was fine. We are never going back there. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me....