Red Lobster — Restaurant in Markham

My partner and I come to this specific location a lot. We have found over the years that this location is usually one of the better locations. But when we went to the Thornhill location recently we were incredibly disappointed in the food and the service. Every time we go we ask to be seated in the side room because A) it’s quieter, but B) we usually get a table big enough for the amount of food we order (we usually order enough food for 4 people). Today we asked to be seated in the side room which we noticed when walking in was pretty empty. They had a couple in front of us but told us it shouldn’t be a problem. Once they seated the couple ahead of us, they told us to follow them, to which they tried to seat us on the complete opposite side. We told them we always sit in the little room and would prefer there. So they made us wait a little while longer only to offer us a seat in the middle of the main room. They told us there were no available seats in the side room (we saw an empty table that just wasn’t cleaned off yet which had been given to a couple about 10 minutes before we left). We sat in the seat they offered us. We ordered 2 appetizers, which came out at completely different times. We ordered our main dishes (along with extra lobster tails and scallops on the side). We got extra lobster tails about 10 minutes before the rest of our main dishes came out. When we got the rest of our food, the shrimp pasta was dried out on top and full of extra oil in the bottom, my partner ordered lobster topped mashed potatoes but only got the original. And I was served salmon that had gone grey at the bottom (for those who don’t know, when fish go grey it has gone bad). Upon bringing this up with my waitress, she decided to try and tell me that it’s grey because of the part of the fish it was (back of the fish). After a little back and forth she eventually offered for the kitchen to cook a new one but repeated that the one I have is fine and she eats it all the time. We had flies around our table landing on our food. We’ve never had service like this and we’ve never had bad food at this location before. But if this is what it’s going to be like when we go, we won’t make the trip. The manager was very stingy on making the experience a better one. When it was brought to her attention my fish was bad and could make me sick (I ate some of it before noticing it was grey) her response was “it could or it couldn’t”. We spend atleast $300-$400 every time we come. And generally we tip pretty generously as well because usually the service is good. For anyone who goes to this location, make sure your server is Diana, she is the BEST server. If we do decide to go back, we will be calling to make sure she is in and we will make sure she is our server. She would have made sure our experience was...

I've been going to this location for decades. I'm sure it has changed hands over time, but the food, service, atmosphere, cleanliness, etc. have remained relatively unchanged. With Red Lobster, and this location in particular, you know exactly what you're going to get and there are no surprises, whether pleasant or unpleasant.

If I had to pick my favourite element of this restaurant, I would say it is the service. This is a bit unfortunate, since it's a restaurant and the most remarkable thing about it is not the food (more on that later). The staff has always been kind and accommodating, although some of them have not been the most knowledgeable about menu items. That's okay, because the important thing is that they always try. Otherwise, they're great about filling special orders and making sure the cheese biscuit basket is always full, not to mention giving us extras to bring home. If you want to be treated well, this is the place to go.

When it comes to the level of seafood, I would say it is adequate. The menu is extremely varied and has a lot of choices for everyone. The portions are huge and you will definitely be full. It's fresh and the fish is well cooked, but the quality just doesn't compare to high-end seafood restaurants. Every time I order lobster, no matter where I go, I always request a female lobster, because I love the roe. This is the ONLY seafood restaurant that has ever served me female lobster without roe, and they ALWAYS serve me female lobster without roe. I have NEVER been to another restaurant that has served me a female lobster without roe, and this restaurant has never served me a female lobster WITH roe.

As for food that isn't seafood, their steak isn't stellar, but I don't expect it to be (they're not Red Steak, after all). One time, the grilled asparagus came out rather limp and lifeless, which was disappointing since they cost extra.

The tables are spacious and I never feel crowded in. The restaurant is relatively clean and everything is well-kept. The parking lot is frequently full, but we always manage to find a spot, even if it's a bit of a trek. At the end of the day, if you don't want to shell out insane amounts of money and are happy with a decent, adequate seafood meal, this is a...

I've been Red Lobster on other locations for a few times, the general experience is not bad. But this time I came to this location for endless shrimp event. I arrived at about 18:30, but no table was available, then I registered in the endless shrimp waiting list. About 40 minutes later I got the table. The uncomfortable experience started. The waiter gave me 2 sheets of menu, but I couldn't find anything regarding the endless shrimp on the menu. Later I got a chance to ask the waiter if these were the endless shrimp menu, he said the shrimp had run out because this was the evening of the last day of the event. Sounds this reason making sense. I asked him if it's run out why didn't you tell me at the beginning when you let me in, because I especially registered for the endless shrimp event? He said he needed to ask somebody. Later he came back and said I could still order the endless shrimp menu but it's limited. "What limited means?" I said. "It means you can order 2 dishes now, but shrimp might run out at any time later" he said. I said "if it runs out do I still need to pay in full?". "Yes" he answered. I am not sure what other people feel about this treatment, but I felt very bad. I asked what's the endless shrimp menu? He told me 3 choices, then I ordered 2, one was pasta shrimp, another one was garlic shrimp, while ordered a bottle of beer and french fries. However while waiting the dishes, I found other tables still coming new customers for endless shrimp event, and they got the sheet of endless shrimp menu. I didn't hear anything about the shrimp running out...Then later I asked that waiter for the menu, he picked up one from other table and passed to me, I found there were 4 choices shown on the menu, not 3 choices he told me. My feeling got more worse... With this mood I "enjoyed" the 2 dishes of shrimp, they were really not tasty, in the mid-time the waiter asked me 2 times if I want to order more, and emphasized otherwise the shrimp could run out at anytime. I felt I was pushed. In fact later I could still ordered one more dish which was coconut shrimp, it's still not tasty. Without the beer I couldn't finish them... Finally the total is about $30, I gave him $35. This is the whole story of this trip and the...