Red Lobster — Restaurant in Burleson

Ding Dong, the Lobster is dead.

Bonus! This review will be multifaceted, it includes my experience as well as the experience of 2 other tables seated near me, as I clearly overheard their entire dinner feedback. I will add their portions at the end. Grab some popcorn.

Entered the restaurant at 8pm on a Saturday night. The restaurant has 3 total tables sat, rest of the place is a ghost town. The people in front of us had a fussy child, so getting ahead of the curve, I asked the hostess to be seated away from that table if possible. She quickly responded "we have limited seating, soooooo" and placed us a table away from them. No problem. Little man was actually well behaved at his table, so it was a non-issue. I'm not lost on the fact that there can be staffing issues, so I'm not too upset that they only have ONE server, ONE runner, a bartender, and a manager working on a Saturday night. Good times.

Server shows up quickly, takes orders. VERY VERY (insert drama) VERRRRRRY animated, outgoing, and engaging server. Only ding for them at this point is it was a bit up-selly, but for a company man, I'll overlook it. Up-sales mean higher tips if people go by the total bill % rather than overall service, but I digress. (Kale, you were great, this is a restaurant review, not a you-review) We order ~$100 worth of crab and lobster entrees, a fruit drink, and an appetizer. The standard Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuits delivery occurs and they are like delicious briquettes of buttery garlic goodness. The strange part is there are 3 biscuits for 2 people. Do they want us to fight over the third biscuit? I mean, there are knives on the table? The app is delivered shortly thereafter, and it's decent. I divvy that up and we eat while awaiting the entrees.

Arrival! My pound of crab dinner shows up as well as a plate of shrimp and crab atrocities for my dinner guest. The runner doesn't bring tools, butter, or anything else to eat them with. Our server is being worked over by another table so it's nearly 10 minutes before I can get their attention to obtain said items. After another 10 minutes of waiting, they bring tools by and let me know that butter is being warmed up. Perhaps 20 minutes later I have butter. Now my $40 crab is air-conditioner cold. Whatever, I am just going to eat it.

We power through our food and ask for the check. It was super obvious that the drink was gross as it hadn't been touched outside of the 1st sip. There were items on my guest's plate that were uneaten as well. The server asked how my crab was, I paused, and just mentioned that it had gotten super cold while waiting but it was fine. No mention of the other items that went unconsumed. The manager never stopped by to check on us or anyone else. She was more concerned about what deck brushes the kitchen staff were using, or that the hostess had cleaned the bathroom and other items so she could leave (30 mins before closing), etc. It's crazy the things you can overhear in a restaurant when it's dead empty on a Saturday night. The bartender was super loud too, but that's not in the scope of this storytime. (although I do want to hear the story about throat-punching sometime!!)

It really bums me out that Red Lobster seems to have stalled out and is dying a slow death like an old mall or something. When I was younger, Red Lobster was a fancy place that you went to celebrate an accomplishment or something special. I realize times change, things change, economies change...but, it doesn't have to be like this.

Bonus content:

There was an elderly couple sat next to us. They made angry comments the whole time but were ignored. (

Myself and my family (6) came in on Sunday, July 22, 2018, mid-evening. When we walked in as usual we check in with the hostess, and she said that we would have to wait about 40 minutes. We said sure, that was fine. After waiting an hour and watching 4 other large groups being seated. This family of 7 walks in and they sit for about 5 minutes and they were ready to be seated. Since we were already speaking with them and laughing, they told the hostess, "why are we being seated before them and that this family has been here way longer than us." The hostess gets smart and says, oh I didn't know, but we can seat you all. They still said no to being seated. So, they saved the area they were going to seat that family and found us another section, that had not been cleaned. Food on the table, literally under the table, chair wet and with food on them, & plenty of dirty napkins and food on the floor under the napkins. They call themselves cleaning the chairs at our request (with an attitude), then one of us sits down, and is covered in leftover food from the table. Then we asked the waitress could she remove the dirty napkins from under the table, and she asks us, "do you really want me to get the napkins from under there?" To a senior citizen.... like really the nerve?!? At this point it’s like isn't this your table, aren't you a waitress, aren't there other people working to make your job easier...?!? We didn't understand the attitude given, when we didn't have an attitude. I can truly say that their hostesses and waitresses need training in dealing with the public. I'm in HR, and that is a quick way to get fired in my book. We weren't the only ones she was giving attitude too... Let's just say we won't be coming back until they get new staff, or better management that controls their staff. Thanks,...

This used to be my favorite place! Well today I went into red lobster on 35s and Alsbury for a shrimp pasta. It was just me so I sat at the bar. Well after I ordered the waitress who took my order coughed in his hand and spit out whatever he coughed up into the nearby trash can at the bar. So as I am watching him to see if he was going to at least wash his hands before finishing his task he proceeded to go back to work. So I addressed it. I asked him "before you grab or touch my food can you please go wash your hands"? He stated, "oh, I always wash my hands...!" So I said, "well that time you didnt" he looked shocked ao i told him "you just coughed in your hands and then went to the trash in the corner spit out whatever came up then went back to work like this is ok......" he then said "oh yeah your right let me go do that" he went around the corner you can hear water turn on so i guess he washed his hands. So that was that. My food comes out he brings it to me I leave because it was a to go order I get ALL the way home start eating my SHRIMP PASTA....... and notice the first shrimp had a tail on the end🤔 then I get another shrimp and notice that one has a tail on it also, so then I looked at all the shrimp in my bowl/plate and they were all tail-on shrimp so I called red lobster and asked them about it and they said yes all the shrimp have tails now for about 2 months. Had I known that I would have ordered anything I would have left. So anyway I had to go ALL the way back to return the food and get a refund...... Needless to say if you havent been to red lobster in a while beaware of what you are ordering because to my understanding all thier shrimp now comes with...