Red Lobster — Restaurant in Clearwater

Our experience at Red Lobster this Mother’s Day was nothing short of disgraceful and appalling. I've never been treated this terribly by an establishment. What was supposed to be a special dinner with my Mother and family turned into a frustrating, disorganized, and completely avoidable mess.

We had a 6:15 PM reservation through OpenTable, expecting a smooth evening. What we got instead was over an hour and a half of being lied to, dismissed, and ignored. When we arrived promptly at 6:15, Todd, the host, made no effort to clarify that the “reservation” was actually a waitlist—a critical detail he conveniently withheld. Not only is this misleading, but on a holiday, when families are out trying to celebrate, it’s downright irresponsible and quite frankly ridiculous.

By 6:45, Todd told us our table was “almost ready.” only after prompting, mind you. Thirty minutes later, 7:15ish, with still no seating and our patience wearing thin when Todd asked us our name (as if he shouldn't have already known), and my Father reminded him of his earlier promise, Todd gave a dismissive wave, as if we were being unreasonable for following up on what we’d already been told. He then proceeded to explain to my father and curtly told us we could either take two separate tables or leave. That’s how Red Lobster thinks it’s acceptable to speak to customers? Wild. When he asked to speak to a manager, Andrew arrived and spun a different story—that there was a table that was “cashed out” and they were “waiting for the guests to leave.” This directly contradicted what we were told earlier. Then came the most jaw-dropping admission: Andrew stated that their reservations “aren’t really reservations” and just function as a waiting list. He admitted this is a LIE. If that’s the case, why accept reservations at all? If you know you’re going to be slammed on a major holiday and can’t accommodate guests reasonably, be upfront about it. Don’t string people along for 90 minutes with false promises.

Open table has a option for a wait list BTW. But that is not what they have it set up as. It's set up as a reservation. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know how a reservation works.

What made this all worse was the complete lack of remorse. No apology. No offer to make things right. Nothing. Just continued indifference while party after party that arrived after us was seated first.

After Andrew's last failed promise he and Todd were no where to be seen. Maybe is was because they seated everyone but us. Or they knew they lied again and didn't want to confront it, but we proceeded to wait another 20-30 minutes. Hoping for some humanity.

We finally gave up and left around 7:45 PM, with no table, no explanation, and no respect. My poor Mom was well done with the evening, and my boyfriend said when he looked back he finally saw Todd who looked shocked at us walking out. That is laughable....

We went to Red Robin, where—shockingly—we were greeted with kindness and seated immediately. The contrast was night and day.

This was not just a long wait. It was a total breakdown of customer service, compounded by dishonesty and a blatant disregard for a holiday that should be centered on family. The handling of this situation—particularly by Todd, whose attitude and lack of professionalism was on full display—was unacceptable. If this is how Red Lobster treats families then they’ve clearly lost sight of what hospitality even means. We won’t be back to this location, and I will most definitely make our experience known...

Red Lobster has a deep history from employees like Chris Rock and Nicki Minaj... to opening its first location in Lakeland... to the founder also opening Olive Garden... to creating popcorn shrimp. There is no wonder why Red Lobster is well known for great food and wonderful atmosphere.

This, of course, is where the history lesson ends and my experience begins. I do not eat Red Lobster often, but I have eaten at several locations in multiple states. Each restaurant is unique in which you cannot fault the brand based off a single location.

My experience with this location was par... borderline subpar. From the outside, the location is not kept in a good state... by which I mean that if it wasn't for the cars outside, it would have appeared to be another closed business that didn't survive the COVID-19 pandemic. It could use a face lift... which wouldn't change the amount of business it would receive, admittedly. However, it would solidify the brand and make the location more appealing. There is another location in Tampa that looks well kept and somewhere you would WANT to take a first date.

Inside, as you can imagine, was busy. The staff appeared to be in some state of silent chaos. I didn't appreciate seeing one staff member putting a document within inches of the face of another staff member as to imply that she must be blind not to have seen something. Whether it was a joke or not, someone like me does not have the context... so I have no idea what was going on with that.

The presentation of the Piña Colada and the flavor was wonderful. 5 stars. The Blue Hawaiian also tasted great and the presentation was par. The crab's presentation was beautiful. The salad was worth the extra $2. The steak's presentation was.... not appealing. 1 star. The baked potato was not good. Avoid this. A photo is attached to see how it was presented. I'm sure this could have been improved with a light garnish. As is, it looked as if I was being punished for ordering "turf" at a seafood restaurant.

At the price point we paid, we weren't really satisfied with this location. However, plenty of other patrons seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Remember that this review is just my personal experience. There is nothing wrong with this restaurant. It is par for the course. Your experience will probably be better than mine. I may not return to this location, but I will return to...

Its been 3 years since I had stepped foot into this establishment and not a thing has changed since then. Unfortunately. The last time I vowed I would not return and karma found its way back into my life when my Mother had a taste for Lobster tail. Granted it was busy, but we were sat right away! and were able to place our orders and gotten drinks almost immediately! I started assuming that "maybe this time it'll be better." but after the first hour surpassed and finally had gotten recognition from our server from the initial encounter, with no drinks left and a single sad cold crabcake that no one wanted any longer. She politely asked "if everything was okay?" Mind you my son wasn't feeling well and had to run to the restroom on several occasions, but the little trooper just wanted to enjoy lunch with his grandmother and his crablegs and fries. It had gotten to a point that I had to take him back to the vehicle to rest while my fiance asked for our order to be boxed up. I returned to the table where we were presented with half of our order looking stale, cold and overly exposed to heat lamps, still plattered and an upset mother who had to return her food because the order was wrong. I finally just looked at the manager and quietly and patiently requested for the bill and was told not to worry about it as she stormed off. Then the absent minded waitress tried to plead her case that it wasnt her fault in any fascit and was reluctant in assisting us to box up the food, even when I notified her on several occasions, my child was in the car ill, the only response was slamming the togo boxes on the table and walking away. Overall, the most disappointing factor wasnt the horrible service, tasteless food, or pathetic attempt to apologize for one of the worst restraunt experiences i have ever encountered, but it was the fact the server came back to the table with the bill for the takeout order we requested for after our meal and sat it on the table with the cheerful expression of "here pay this and your good to leave." Needless to say the establishment will be hearing from their corporate office as well as any other affiliated businesses in the area, nor did i pay the bill and nor do i care. Fact is your restraunt went from decent to despicable, to non-existant in my eyes. Good bye Red Lobster and good luck not ending up like...