Red Lobster — Restaurant in Baton Rouge

The only reason I am giving one star is because you cannot give no stars nor a negative rating. Before I get started, understand that the building MAY have been half-full. Most of the tables I could see were empty.

Today I arrived at the Mall of La location around 20 minutes til 4pm, ahead of me was a party of 5 and a couple. As I entered, the hostess was telling the party of 5 that they were working on getting a table ready for them. The hostess then left for a few minutes, then came back and had a brief conversation with the couple. The couple then left, and so too did the hostess.

Over the next 10 minutes a few different employees would come to the hostess stand, check a few things, then leave. At no time did any of them acknowledge any of us standing out in the waiting area.

Eventually a woman came out who seemed to be a manager, she was the first employee to even make eye contact with me, but still did not ask anyone present if they had been helped. I used the opportunity to say that I needed a table for three (as I was next in line), she gave some polite affirmation of having heard me, then went back in the back.

From there, for the next 30 minutes we went back to the theme of employees coming to the desk, not acknowledging anyone, looking at some items behind the desk, then leaving. At times there were even two employees there.

After I was there for just over 15 minutes, a server had come to the desk, again not acknowledging anyone nor offering help and I finally had to go up and interrupt her from whatever she was looking at on the computer screen to ask to be put on the list for a table.

Let me say that again: after 15 minutes I had to pester a non-hostess to put me on the list for a table because no employees, not even a possible manager, could seem to think to do so. The hostess (who seems to be on the spectrum) was away from the station FAR more than she was there.

Around 25 minutes into my wait (the rest of my party had joined me about 10 minutes earlier), the possible manager came back out and said she was making sure they were getting a table ready. At this time there were two other women at the hostess stand, she looked at one and asked for an estimate, that young lady said "about four minutes". At that point some man (possibly a customer, but seemed like maybe an employee or possibly a rep for a company the store does business with?) and we were quickly forgotten. After he left, the hostess stand cleared out again.

15 minutes later, we were still waiting. By this time another couple had come in and waited at the hostess stand, but after about 5 minutes of no employees coming out to greet them, they left. The couple behind them then stepped up as they too waited for someone, anyone, to come greet them.

By the 45-minute mark, we left. Just before we left I glanced through the windows into the now mostly empty seating area to see two of the wait staff leisurely wiping down some tables.

We went down the street to Longhorn, were greeted immediately upon entering and were seated immediately after. The amount listed for "spend per person" is how much we spent at Longhorn.

I worked in multiple restaurants in my younger years, so when I see what I saw today, I know it's completely the fault of management.

-I have no idea where the special-needs hostess was but nearly all of the 45 minutes we spent there, she was not at her station. Maybe she was helping bus tables? Maybe she was helping take out food? If so, that's on management for not helping coach her better on priorities.

-Not acknowledging customers when in the hostess station seemed to be the norm. That's indicative of poor management not teaching them to greet customers promptly.

-The wait staff leisurely cleaning tables while people are waiting in the entrance area is indicative of not only management not coaching them on how to do the job thoroughly but quickly but also not paying attention to them (or, if they are seeing them be that slow, they are not...

This visit was HORRIBLE! My mom, sister, niece, my daughter, and I was having a family dinner and arrived at different times, maybe about 5 – 10 minutes between each arrival. When I arrived, our waitress (Yakira) greeted me immediately after I sat down (awesome), asked for my drink, a booster seat, and it went downhill from there.

My sister asked for hot water & a lot of lemons and NEVER received them although she asked multiple times. I asked for regular butter to go with the biscuits. She made multiple trips back to our table, kept saying I haven’t forgotten, but yet she kept forgetting. I had to ask someone else for a booster because Yakira never brought one.

My mom ordered the snow crabs and the butter sauce was not good but I guess that’s expected for just butter. (Y’all should really consider adding a little lemon juice to the butter sauce… it makes a HUGE difference). My sister and I ordered the 4-course meal special. We both had a different soup, same type of salad, a different entre, and the same dessert (a brownie with a side scoop of ice cream topped with caramel & chocolate).

We finished our dinner, Yakira may have checked on us twice, didn’t clear out empty plates, and didn’t refill our drinks. When it came down to dessert, my sister and I specified we wanted it to-go. Yakira said she would put it in separate containers including putting the caramel and chocolate in separate soufflé cups… “I am going to fix it up real good for y’all” she stated. My sister and I left with our daughters to use the restroom, so we were gone for at least 10-15 minutes, but when we returned, our mother stated how Yakira came with our desserts on regular plates. So she had to take it back to make it to-go. I thought Yakira was possibly new and wasn’t aware of how to build rapport with your customers. However, my mom noticed Yakira talking to these 2 Caucasian gentlemen, laughing, talking about school, etc. and building a lot of rapport with them. She stayed over there talking to them for at least 20 minutes smiling and laughing at their jokes. So now I’m thinking what the hell is going on? We called for a manager and expressed our concerns. He apologized for Yakira’s behavior and said he couldn’t reprimand her because this wasn’t his restaurant and was filling in for someone else.

Our ticket cost about $140. Regardless of where we eat, we ALWAYS give at least 15% tip. There is absolutely no way, if she had served us the proper way, she wasn’t going to walk out with anything less than a $25 tip. We understand the struggle of being a server. This manager deducted the most expensive item off our ticket, which was the crabs and our ticket ending up costing about $90. Since my mom paid for dinner, my sister and I was responsible for leaving the tip. We were going to leave a $5 just because but after thinking it over, we decided not to leave a tip at all. When we walked out she was still conversing, laughing, and smiling with the 2 Caucasian gentlemen. My perception, she thought because we were African-American, we weren’t going to leave a nice tip, but instead she treated us like she didn’t even care we existed. She didn’t remember anything, we had to ask multiple times for the same item, we had to go to others to get the basics (boosters, napkins, straws); it was ridiculous. We stood in the parking lot discussing our experience for at least 10 minutes, put children in the car, and then drove off, and Yakira was still talking to those gentlemen.

We don’t visit Red Lobster on a regular basis but we definitely won't be returning. This restaurant wasn't even halfway busy. I saw about 7 tables total with guests. I'm sure there is someone out there who would treat their customers with respect and would greatly...

Sorry for the long read but this was brutal. My fiancé lives in Folsom and hadn't eaten at Red Lobster in years and really missed it. So I made a 7:30 reservation and we arrived 10 minutes early. The front was packed. According to the GM, walk-ins were being seated without paying attention to reservations. The kitchen was slammed, and there would be a wait. They were going to text everyone who made a reservation when their table was ready. We went outside and waited because I wanted to give my fiancé what she wanted. We went to the bathroom first and saw half the tables empty. They were horribly understaffed. After 45 minutes, I checked to see the progress. People with a 6:45 reservation were also still waiting. We went back outside. Many gave up and left. We should have, but I was determined to give my fiancé what she wanted. Around 9 o'clock I went back in to check as I saw the lady at the front making a list of names with the manager. They said they were writing names down of people waiting. I asked about the reservations as we hadn't gotten a text yet. They both looked scared and asked what time my reservation was for. When I told them, they said I would be next as they had already moved past. They weren't sending texts. We are walked to a table by the manager who apologized when the GM stopped us and said to her we can't sit there. The waitress is pregnant and can't handle anymore and "do you even know what is going on in here?". The manager moved us to another table. All evening I looked around. I saw 1 waiter working the restaurant. He wasn't pregnant. Saw someone bussing tables, and a few others walking around who didn't seem to be doing much. Ordered a Queso app. The chips were raw and/or stale. I had a steak, she had shrimp linguini Alfredo. Steak was supposed to be medium rare. It was less than rare. We ate the sides because we were starving. The pasta had zero flavor. The GM came and I politely told him the problem. He said he would have the kitchen remake the entire meal. My steak came out (no sides, didn't care), no pasta. Waiter came back and I asked about the pasta. He checked with the kitchen and the GM apparently said we didn't want it. It was now being remade. We asked for it to be put in a to-go container. It came out still absolutely bland. The manager came and asked how everything was and we told her everything. She apologized again and said she was going to be right back. We waited 5 minutes and asked for the bill as she didn't come back. We were charged for everything. I didn't want to make a 75 minute drive angry so I just laughed, paid, and left. Was told by staff before leaving that it wasn't that people called out, people just weren't scheduled to work. I would not eat here again. The waiter was the only bright spot as he tried so hard to take care of everything, but seemed to have absolutely zero support from anyone. I was foolish for giving this place so many chances, but I really wanted to make my...