Red Lobster — Restaurant in Oshawa

My partner and I booked a reservation for 6:30 to celebrate my birthday, we arrived at 6:29- exactly on time for the reservation- and were told it would be a 20-30 min wait. Then offered no seats. They were busy and the waiting area was full (which, again, is explicitly why we made a reservation) but we did notice everyone that came in after us was offered space at the bar and told they could order drinks.

As we waited 32 mins past our reservation we did see every single person who came in, reservation or walk-in, be told the same 20-30, then 30-40 wait time. If you cannot honor reservations than just don't take them. If I'd been a walk in I would not have minded any wait time, but since we had other plans after dinner we planned ahead and picked a restaurant that took reservations, only to have the same long wait times as all the walk-ins. What was even the point.

When we were finally seated the servers was very friendly and attentive, however the cutlery provided still had rice on it. Literally caked inbetween the prongs on the fork that had been wrapped in a napkin and set on the table. I don't even know how you miss that.

The Cesar salad had no bacon, but maybe that's just how they do it, did seem like it was incomplete or forgotten though. The calamari was pretty good.

When the actual seafood came, I ordered lobster because it was lobster fest, and I figured they would be able to cook lobster at Red lobster. But they sure proved me wrong when I cut into a lobster tail that was mushy and raw on the underside. Not even close to being cooked through.

The management comped the meal without being asked, which was the least I expected. They were apologetic and all staff were nice, but every single thing, from having to wait over half an hour for a booked reservation to the raw lobster was avoidable. The wait staff did the absolute best they could considering it was a busy Saturday, but the quality of the food and time management of whoever handles reservations and table turn over was just horrendous. Probably won't be going back any time...

Looking for an AYCE alternative? Try the endless shrimp feast at Red Lobster. This restaurant is located close to downtown Oshawa just down the street from the Oshawa Centre. The parking lot is shared with a Vietnamese restaurant and this place gets busy very fast. You can get on the waitlist online.

The endless shrimp costs $28.99 per person. You can choose 2 shrimp dishes plus one side to start. Once you finish your initial servings, you can order refills one order at a time.

We tried all the different shrimp dishes. Our favourite shrimp was the grilled red Argentine shrimp. The shrimp is butterflied and grilled on open flame. Shrimps were large and seasoned with just salt. The hand-crafted garlic shrimps were very good and served in a bowl of garlic butter sauce. It wasn't too salty but watch out for the cholesterol.

Parmesan-bacon garlic shrimp was similar to the hand-crafted shrimp except there is bacon pieces with parmesan cheese melted on top. The bacon and parmesan made the shrimps too salty. You will need to offset the saltiness with your side like rice, fries, baked potato, coleslaw or mashed potato.

Walt's favourite shrimps were fried butterflied shrimps with marinara sauce. The shrimps were crispy and not too oil. I can tell why these are one of the popular items. Very addictive!

The shrimp linguine alfredo was the most filling dish. Shrimps were smaller bite size portions and coated in irresistible alfredo sauce. I could eat this as an entree for dinner.

The island jumbo coconut shrimps had a hint of sweetness with the shredded coconut. Similar to Walt's shrimp but no dipping sauce. This was probably our least favourite dish.

The server Dee was very friendly and she came around to check on us regularly. She refilled our ice teas without waiting for us to ask for refill. Great service! We ended up taking home some of their famous butter biscuits home. Overall a wonderful Ayce experience albeit only shrimps. I hope they add more options l like shrimp tacos.

Follow me on IG...

I recently visited Red Lobster Oshawa for my birthday dinner, and the experience was perfect from start to finish. The highlight of the night was seeing Arvin, the General Manager. We’ve known Arvin since his days managing the Scarborough Red Lobster, and he was honestly the main reason we always went to that location. His professionalism, warmth, and ability to create a welcoming environment have always stood out. Seeing him grow into the General Manager role just makes sense—he truly runs a world-class operation.

From the moment we walked in, the staff made us feel right at home. You can really tell how much the team cares about the service level. We were served by Ales she was kind, attentive, and just a pleasure to speak to. Her level of customer service was amazing! She went through the menu and provided us with amazing recommendations. She came to our table a couple of times to ensure we were okay and food was good. A big shut out to Ales for an amazing evening. She truly deserves to be recognized.

I brought a friend with me who was celebrating my birthday, and it was actually her first time ever at Red Lobster. By the end of the evening, she couldn’t stop talking about how much she enjoyed the food and, more importantly, the service. She even said she’ll be coming back solely because of the exceptional experience she had at this location.

The food, as always, was delicious—fresh, well-prepared, and served quickly. But what really makes this Red Lobster stand out is the customer service and the sense of care. It didn’t feel like just another dinner out; it felt like a celebration that mattered to the staff as much as it did to us.

Thank you again to Arvin and Ales at Red Lobster Oshawa for delivering such high-quality service and for making our evening so memorable. This is now my go-to Red Lobster, and I look forward to coming back here for every special occasion in the future. Truly world-class care and...