Red Lobster — Restaurant in Niagara Falls

Absolutely disgusted by the experience tonight at Red Lobster Niagara Falls. Starts off by waiting around 15 mins for any service once seated. Our server was dealing with a bigger table and was clearly running behind. No help from managers as they were just standing off to the side looking over all tables. Once finally recognized we said we were ready to order also. One starts off with the steak special (while server (Stephen) says oh thank god it’s not a seafood boil, those are driving me nuts. What a way to promote your brand new menu!!! You should be super proud to have servers that have zero intention on promoting or serving your summer menu, or ruining the excitement of the guests that are there for it! Of course I go next and do want a seafood boil, and get the over dramatic eye roll. The first guest who ordered the steak special also told the server he has a salmon allergy. This is where things really took a turn for the worse. Again, eye roll. A complete reaction of “oh this is going to be annoying” He immediately says he will let the kitchen know, but we would also have to speak to his manager as that is the protocol. We were fine with that. The manager only came over when she was in the room for another issue and after Stephen had already come back and said the steak wasn’t going to be cooked on the grill. They put too much salmon on the grill and it was going to be done in the oven. We explained we didn’t want this and asked for clarification.We even asked to switch the meal at this point to something else. He refused that option and says “don’t worry I promise you, your meal is going to be the bomb.com, and worse case Ontario, we will switch it out if you get it and end up not liking it”. Oh I’m sorry, I thought I was at a fine dining nice restaurant where I was about to spend a lot of money on a nice meal, not in an episode of the trailer park boys! Who speaks to customers in that regard??? Where is the professionalism??? Then the manager then came over and said “let’s here about this allergy” Oh I can see where the professionalism falls short now, it certainly doesn’t start at the top. She explained there’s definitely no way they can cook the entire steak on the grill as there’s no way to stop cross contamination from tongs. Yes there actually is, just pay attention, make it a priority and just don’t do it. If you’re “finishing” the steak on the grill, then what is the difference? I’ll gladly call the health board and then know you are unwilling to work with guests around allergies and you clearly state your kitchen has really no idea how to prevent cross contamination. Again, at this point we want to switch meals but are told if we don’t like it we can switch. Meals come out - it’s exactly what is expected, basically boiled meat. The server is told, nothing is done. Just “sorry” Nothing else from the manager - not even a simple check in to make sure everything came out smoothly. Stephen also touched my food (to show me his crab trick) after I explained twice I didn’t want him to do that. Then asked me “what are you from out east or something” No actually I’m not, I just don’t like people touching my plate and don’t understand why that needs to be explained over 1 time. After this part of the experience we wanted to just get up and walk out. I have never in my life felt that way in a restaurant. I didn’t want to eat, I certainly didn’t want to pay and I no longer had any interest in dealing with the ridiculous staff members. Maybe this establishment prides itself on serving mostly tourists, so in that regard you don’t have to care, you don’t have to follow through on things you say you’re going to do and you don’t have to make the guests happy because they will never be back. In this case we are locals and we will never ever be back. I will be calling the health board to let them know if the allergy situation and I will be sharing my experience...

Things started off rocky when we went in and said "reservation for ali"... the server looks at her tablet and says, "Jen?" when I could literally see my name right above Jen on the tablet. We were seated and waited about 10-15 mins for a server to even come by. The menu didn't have descriptions of the shrimp dishes, so I had some questions about each shrimp type, ultimately ordering the coconut shrimp, chili shrimp, and a baked potato. When the food finally came, I was given Walts shrimp instead of the chili shrimp, so I flagged down the server who brought our food to let her know I was given the wrong one, and she went to the kitchen to request my original order. That was fine until our actual server who took our order came over and proceeded to gaslight me and tell me I DID order the Walts shrimp, did I mean to order 3 shrimp dishes? Like, lady, I don't even like cocktail sauce, why would I order that? And why are you having this conversation with me instead of apologizing to me for your error? I had asked about it but as soon as she told me about the cocktail sauce I said oh no, nevermind. Anyway, the proper shrimp came and everything tasted good until part way through the baked potato, when I discovered it was rotten and black on the bottom half. My fiance ordered the shrimp linguine Alfredo and it was SWIMMING in so much sauce that it had like half an inch of alfredo soup at the bottom. It was disgusting and challenging to eat because it was spraying everywhere. Alfredo is supposed to be a sauce, not a soup. At no point did anyone come to check on us, refresh our drinks (I had finished both my water and soda partway through the meal and would have appreciated a refill) or stop by to ask if everything was ok. Our server did run by the table at one point to say "all good?" But she literally didn't even stop walking to do an actual check, so it felt like we were just an inconvenience for her and not even worth stopping to check. At that point I just wanted out. We asked for the bill, at which point our server asked, "are you celebrating anything tonight?" WHY would you ask this at the end of the meal? We were, but it had been such a horrible meal that we wanted out as quickly as possible (not to mention, the booth table was glued to the wall and was very uncomfortable if you're a bigger framed person, such as my partner). When we requested the bill, our server automatically assumed that my partner (the man at the table) would pay, only looking/speaking at him, handing the bill directly to him, and also handed the debit machine to him. It was so incredibly presumptuous and sexist. Needless to say, I will never go to another Red...

Came to this location for my grandfathers birthday and was hoping we’d have a good experience. Well we had the opposite of that. Our waitress was Joan O and she was very cocky and rude to boot. I’m 24 but I do look young so I get ID’d time to time which I’m fine with and know it’s the responsibility of the establishment. When I asked for a glass of wine Joan says “are you even old enough?” normally I’d joke and try to make a positive out of the situation but the tone in Joan’s voice bothered me. I told her I’m 24 and asked if she wanted ID. I proceeded to ask her this three times. She then responds with “no I don’t need to see it, if the cops come you gotta have your ID” this is one of the most unprofessional and irresponsible responses I’ve gotten at a restaurant. What if I was underage and she didn’t even bother to check? She then proceeded to give our table dirty looks and kept calling my father “boss”. I also was courteous and thanked her each time she brought us food or drinks and she ignored me. Then as we settled up and we’re about to leave my boyfriend said “have a good night” she ignored him and just glared at him. Well I don’t think miss Joan was prepared for what was next. I assume because she had a mask on she didn’t think I could hear her talk under her breath. But as I walked past her she said “yeah I had to pay for your meal” once I said excuse me what was that she was shocked and said nothing. I will be honest we did not tip as she had a poor attitude and kept giving us dirty looks and saying comments. I know the service industry is tough as I work in it and I would never talk or treat my customers the way she did. I believe in tipping for good service not when I’ve been mistreated. I will be thinking twice before visiting this...