Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews — Restaurant in Brighton

This was supposed to be a celebration, but instead it was a huge disappointment. The staff was in training, that's ok, but then it was part of the problem, as too many people were only taking parts of the our order. One person took my order, and somebody sort of took my companion's order sort of. I'm vegan and my partner is vegetarian. We have learned that other Red Robins will let us at lunch do the RedsTavern Double Burger and sub the Impossible for an up charge. My dining companion wanted his with no cheese. His burger came out with no cheese, but he asked for onion, which took over a half hour to arrive - it was a really dried out slice of onion, so his burger sat for over half an hour before being consumed. He was charged for the Impossible Cheeseburger - the manager did take $5 off to bring it inline-line with the price of the Reds Tavern Double Burger with $4 up charge for the Impossible patty. My Impossible sub Double Tavern burger was requested no bun, cheese or animal products, "lettuce bun" instead of bun, wrapped in paper, and cut in half. 1st burger was in bun with cheese and sauce. 2nd try was lettuce and burger with mayo based sauce - egg, no wrap in paper. 3rd try was two pieces of lettuce, slice of tomato, and Impossible patty wrapped in paper, but not cut in half - we were not given knives at the table, so I was not able to cut wrapped lettuce burger in half. We were receiving fries before burgers were ready - these came to our table cold. I ordered a House Margarita with Patron Silver Beaker. The Margarita had no flavor, as if it sat waiting for half an hour before coming to our table, which it did. It was remade, but didn't have any flavor. The training and too many people Waiting our table is probably the reason for the poor delivery and timing of our order. I spoke with the manager who said that the mix was taste tested in the morning, and it was fine, but we arrived after one pm. I might add that it tasted as fine as the dried lime slice that was on the glass. Frankly, the glasses, etc were all covered with water spots, making them look dirty. Other Red Robins make good Margaritas, so I was disappointed. Back to my dining companion's meal that we thought was the Reds Tavern Double Burger deal with included fries and beverage - he requested coffee, we weren't told upfront that this wouldn't be included in the deal that he didn't get. Get the drift we were up charged for everything and had a really poor dining experience. By the way what is the Private Fee? Is that for the Kiosk sitting on the table? They took it away from me, so I couldn't do the survey? That I heard other tables being encouraged to complete. I did speak to the kitchen manager who did give me a comp card for a milkshake in the future - let that sink in? I'm a retiree who is working to supplement our income, so that we can occasionally go out to lunch to mark special occasions. We enjoy Red Robin and have come to expect a great dining experience, so I'm not a happy with today's poor...

Unfortunately I just can not recommend this location. I have been going to this location since it opened and have overlooked the incorrect orders and poorly prepared food hoping that as systems got worked into place the problems would diminish but that has not happened; tonight was the straw that broke this camel's back. I placed an order online with a future pick up time that would give me plenty of time for my commute. I arrived give minutes early, there were two people there before me (one a regular to go order, and one a dash driver picking up three orders), no problem I was early; at fifteen minutes past my pick up time the others orders were brought out and I was told my order was "messed up" and being re-made. Twenty-five minutes later my order was brought out, I had to ask for the extra fries that were requested as part of my order, the food was barely warm, and another order was brought out before mine. At the same time there were four other people who were waiting for their orders; not to mention the other person who arrived after me and got his food before me which I think was due to him making a pest of himself (guess I should have too). Twenty minute drive later and I get home and start putting the food on the table, out of three orders (burgers and fries) two of them were incorrect. The lady who was working the to go area was overwhelmed and did not have the support that she should have had to get orders out. I put the blame squarely on the kitchen and whoever is supposed to be expediting orders and making sure that orders were ready on time, correct and of good quality. I called and let the manager on duty know how displeased I was with the service (this was before I got home to find incorrect orders) and he said he would have the general manager contact...

Summary: Found out the hard way that Red Robin gift cards are not valid for some unknown period of time after they are purchased. If this is true, it is a poor policy which needs to be disclosed on the card along with noting the date when it was purchased. The other possibility is that no one on the Red Robin staff knows how to process a gift card for payment. I'm not ruling this out as I've had similar issues at other dining and retail establishments.

Background: I tried using a gift card in the payment machine present at the table and the card was not accepted. Told our waiter about the issue and they said they would run it for us. After a few minutes, our waiter came back and said the card would not work. They asked when we purchased it and the person who purchased the card said it was purchased earlier that day. Staff said that was why the card wouldn't work.

Nothing shown on the card itself or the packaging stating the card wasn't valid for XX number of days after purchased. Staff could not tell us when the card would actual be available for use. Not sure if this is a corporate policy / issue of which customers are not informed or a local training issue, but either way it reflects poorly on Red Robin's operations.

UPDATE - Reply from Red Rob Corporate: "I do apologize that the location was unable to process your recent friend's transaction with the recently purchased gift card. We are aware that the tabletop Ziosks are having issues recognizing some gift cards for payment and we are working to resolve this issue. As for the Red Robin gift card, they are active and ready for use immediately after purchase." So I guess that means no on at this Brighton location knew how to process a gift card. That's a pretty basic part of...