Red Lobster — Restaurant in Elizabethtown

We stopped in on 08/30 around 715pm as we were traveling from OH back to TN, and it was our worst Red Lobster experience in 20 years. We go at least once a month in our hometown and almost always have a good experience.

We made a reservation ahead of time to ensure we wouldn’t have to wait terribly long for a table when we arrived. What should have been maybe an hour on a Saturday night turned into 1h45m, most of which was waiting for our frequently absent server.

The hostess took our drink order (which in and of itself isn’t uncommon, but it was the first in this series of unfortunate events) our server took several minutes to come back and follow up with our beverages (which she NEVER refilled during the course of our meal) she may have been new, but wasn’t knowledgeable on their current Crab Fest promotion as we ordered directly from it and had issues (our requested flavor of old bay/garlic parm was given as a dipping sauce on the side instead of being added as part of the cooking process like usual) two members of our party had salads as part of our meals, and they were not delivered until literally ~2 minutes before our entrees, making them almost pointless one meal was entirely incorrect, and the additional side we requested was not entered three other servers brought our food out, and one of them offered to refill one drink

Made a reservation for mothers day. Due to the nature and activity of the day we happened to be a few minutes late as we traveled across town after church. We didn't think it was a big deal as the parking lot wasn't even 1/3rd full and the inside was just as empty. There was plenty of open tables for us to be seated. However, because we were late, they said they canceled our reservation. We never once were warned about a cancelation or told that it could be if we were late. Apparently if you're past 10mins they will remove you altogether. We were there within that time frame, however, we didn't get to the stand to check in until 2 mins past that limit because we were waiting for others before us. Meaning they canceled it right in front of us.

Additonally, they told us they wouldn't have even sat us at our reservation because our whole party wasn't present yet. This is not the first time they had told us that before. Keep in mind, over half the building is empty with plenty of tables. They claimed they had reservations locked on all tables for more than 2hrs ahead yet refused to sit us anywhere. So parties that weren't going to be there for another 2hrs were preventing current parties from being sat down. Not only did they do this to our party, but the party behind us as well. They also told us that we could be put on the list to be seated in a little over 2hrs, but a couple minutes after, they told another party they could be seated in just over an hour and a half.

All in all, very very dumb business practice to 1: not seat a partial party on a table they reserved, 2: cancel a reservation so soon after allocated time, and 3: Reserve a whole building for parties that won't be present for hours effectively turning away business.

If youre going to go, dont do it based off a large party or reservations. Go in a small group or pair on a low...

Once again the endless shrimp is near and dear to my heart. Not because I can eat that much shrimp but because it honestly costs less to do this than get the shrimp on its own as a dish. This particular day we went, my SO was blessed with $20 1lb crab legs and was in heaven! He did say for whatever reason though these were a lot harder to tear apart and eat from though. Lol. He was struggling! My LO DEVOURED the Alfredo last time and the kids portion was not enough so naturally, being mama, I was going to get him an adult serving but the waitress said it was not possible so she did two side orders of it. I'm sad to report, he was not feeling so hungry this night so he did not eat the second serving. 🤷‍♀️ can't win 'em all. Lastly, I guess the service would need to be addressed as I did rate it a 2. I felt that the service this might was lacking as 1. It was short staffed and me being in retail understand that fact but our waitress literally spent the entire night smoking out in her car that most all of the other servers and even the cook/food bringer had to get our drinks, utensils, napkins, and all the additional things we had asked for and did not receive. We still tipped generously as our ticket was high and we all have our bad days but I felt it very unprofessional considering her car was right outside our window and we watched her do this all night while we...