Red Lobster — Restaurant in Blaine

Update (4Sept23) We stopped in today (4sept23) and our waitress Deb was awesome! The food was fresh, the bus guy was so sweet and prompt too! The GM on the other hand was an absolute jerk! Our waitress accidentally put a soda on one of our party's bills and he didn't want to take it off the bill. I questioned paying $4.49 for THREE orange slices and was told that's what they cost. If I would have known that I would have ordered a kids meal and brought home the rest, insane price for that. The GM also had our waitress on the verge of tears 4 times during our visit there, UNACCEPTABLE!! She is one of our favorite waitresses when we go there and one of the main reasons we visit this location. Deb and Beth are THE best waitresses at this location and we saw first hand, a week apart, both of them being treating like complete garbage by the GM. There's also 3 different names for who the GM is at this location, so I am not sure what his name actually is. He is a tall, bald older guy that we saw both times. People deserve to be treated like humans, especially by management. He also hovered over our table both times watching us eat, which is disturbing. If I wanted to be observed while eating I'd join a study of some sort. Very unprofessional. This location needs a new GM stat! We won't be back until he is no longer there, and I hope all the good wait staff are still there when we return. Do better! I also called earlier in the day to make a reservation and was told they don't take reservations or call aheads, so I called back a few hours later and spoke the the sweetest lady who let me make a reservation.

PREVIOUS REVIEW

We went here 8/27 and had THE best waitress we've had in quite some time. Beth S was so friendly and attentive, she made us feel as if we were her top priority, even though she had other tables and made them feel the same way too. She made our special dinner out an experience we'll always remember. I would visit this location again solely because of her service, she was absolutely amazing!

The food wasn't as good as usual, unfortunately. They were out of a few things. The crab legs were so waterlogged you could barely get the meat out, the mashed potatoes were dried out and had no flavor besides starch, the stuffed mushrooms tasted like stuffing and celery seed instead of seafood, the lobster was subpar as well, but the shrimp was delicious.

The hostess was friendly as well when we walked in. It was weird seeing employees sitting in the lobby though. I come from the Era of "if you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean", so that could just be my perspective, especially since we had to wait to have our table wiped down.

Overall it was a good experience, and I'm really glad Beth S was our waitress, she was truly awesome! She should teach others how to be a phenomenal waitress, people won't go to places with bad service, no matter how good the food is. Keep up the...

My faith has been restored. We were at this location yesterday for a family birthday dinner and we had a great time. I want to give a special thank you to Maddy! She was SO helpful! We had a table of about 11 and she did great! Maddy had other tables that she was also supporting but never left us feeling she was too busy. I'm hopeful that we gave her grace because she deserves it. She was patient and with us also having children and my young adult child who had autism. She allowed space for her to be independent and place her order. Maddy was very attentive to helping with options. Maddy found organization and flow amongst multiple tables and their orders. When there was a delay or mistake such as the wrong person getting the salad, she fixed it right away!. Everyone she helped that wasn't from her table also looked happy. Now...for the food! It was great! I ordered the endless shrimp (my favorite) and it was so good. The food all came out hot and fresh. Not overly salty and full of flavor. I forgot to take a photo but it was very good! My ceasar salad was fresh and well portioned. The food from my family looked great and they were very happy from what I hear. In the past, I had a bad experience at a different red lobster and was skeptical on if it would happen at this location and I was relieved to know it was a good one. I will be back and I loved the help that Maddy provided. Due to us having a large family to seat, reservations were made and we had no barriers with seating once we all arrived. The restrooms were also decent and I wish restaurants and other public establishments understood how vital it is to have that when you are working in the food industry. The reason I could not give 5 stars was due to me needing a highchair for my other child. The person (not maddy) had made the attempt to give me a highchair that was not clean and it was obvious because he looked at it before bringing it to me...when we asked if he could clean it. He wiped it out but brought it back super wet....and when Maddy came, she dried it out for us. This started us off with a bad feeling but I'm glad it was fixed in the other...

The food and prices are fair enough, however, I'd have to deduct a couple of stars for service. Granted it always look like a very busy place so I gave it some slack, but here's my experience:

1. Upon walking in, the lobby was crowded and there was no way of telling who was in line to get a table and who was already just waiting. No one made any effort to organize any of it. Thankfully, another client that was waiting informed me that the group standing/blocking the area were not in line and that we could go around them.
2. Once I made it up to get a table, there was no greeting or acknowledgement that I was even there. I had to call out to get the lady's attention that I needed a table for 5.
3. In addition, I was not informed about what the approximate wait time was for a table. Rather I overheard it from other customers who were waiting that their wait time was about an hour.
4. When there was finally a table available for my family, it was quite evident that we were the very last to be seated for the evening. Which in all, was still fine, but we were definitely treated as the last table that they needed to hurry through in order for them to get out for the day.
5. The waiter was neither concerned about whether we've been there before or if we had any questions much less mention what specials/deals they had going on, and spoke very-very fast almost like those disclaimers you hear at the end of commercials. Again, I couldn't help but overhear from another table that it was the last day of their all-you-can-eat shrimp or something along that line, hence, the busy evening. That information would have came in very handy with ordering for the kids.
6. Continuing on, my children's drinks weren't brought out until I asked for them.
7. We were offered more bread/buns which we never got. Still no biggie.
8. By the time we finished and left, the restaurant was still more than half full with customers who has been seated way before us. Our departure was greeted really...