Red Lobster — Restaurant in Gadsden

edit for owner response Not everyone has a Facebook account, so I cannot provide input to you that way. Reviewing the other negative reviews like ours, I don't think much more input is needed to correct some of the basic problems at this Gadsden location. Everyone understands short staffing issues and everything that involves. However, cleanliness, clean dishes, food prep and customer interaction should not be affected by Staffing shortages. Those are a failure of management. Dirty dishes/eating utensils appear to have been a problem for quite some time, based on other reviews. That is simply someone not doing their job and a lack of attention to detail by management staff. There is no excuse to allow filthy dishes to be taken to customers. Failure of food prep by kitchen staff also comes down to training and oversight by management. Customer interaction by host and staff also come down to training and oversight by management. Continuation of issues and problems are a top-down management failure issue, not a bottom up employee issue. Serious thought should be given to replacement of the Gadsden location management team, or bringing in experienced management "trainers" for some continuing education.

Absolutely the filthiest restaurant we have ever visited.

Upon opening the paper napkin wrapped utensils, we discovered everything was filthy and looked like it had been sitting in a dishwasher but never actually washed. Showed it to our waitress and she immediately collected all of them. She returned to the table with packages of plastic utensils and said " everything is dirty and we're rerunning it through the dishwasher now, so all we have is plastic utensils".

When the drinks were delivered to the table, we discovered every glass looked as filthy as the utensils.

Of the four dishes brought, one was unedible, two were good, and the fourth was okay. Definitely not worth the $110 cost of four meals.

All of this was after waiting 25 minutes in the lobby for a table with about 10 cars in the parking lot. The uninterested hostess told us the wait was because she was not allowed to seat more than three tables per waitress, and needed to wait until the wait staff caught up before being allowed to sit any additional guests. The restaurant ( and I use that term loosely) was practically empty of patrons. Absolutely the worst dining out experience we have had in a very long time, and that's saying...

My wife and I have had a tradition of going to this Red Lobster on our anniversary for 27 years because it's where we went on our first date. Last night will be our last time. Upon check in, we were told we had a 45 minute wait time, so we waited - and waited and waited. After an hour, I checked to see how much longer our wait time would be. I was told by the greeter that she couldn't find our reservation. She said I had not been checked in. She argued with me that I was not on the list, even when I showed her the text message stating I was checked in. Then she said she didn't have my phone number, even though I had the text message. Finally, she found me. At that time, we were told 3 guests were ahead of us. So we waited - and waited, and waited. During our now hour and a half wait, the girls working up front played on cell phones, laughed loudly, ordered drinks for themselves at the bar, and mostly ignored anyone coming in. Each person coming in, when they were acknowledged, was told there was a 45 minute wait time. Finally, after well over an hour and a half, I asked again how much longer, and I was told there was a table but it had to be cleaned up and they were trying to find a server and it would be another 15 minutes. I then told her to we were leaving. Her attitude was an oh well. Others waited almost as long as we had and decided to leave as well. This was the worst experience and poorest customer care I have ever received at this Red Lobster, or any other for that matter. I believe it was due to the lack of care from the greeting staff, but even more, the poor management. Proper managers would have known how backed up they were and made proper adjustments. Do not tell a person they have a 45 minute wait when you know that it's at least an hour to two hours. If you are short staffed, that's fine, just let customers know. If you see that there is a full lobby, update the customer. This will be the last time we go to this...

We have loved dining at our Red Lobster for many years. Over the years, we traveled and visited other locations and my whole family would always agree that our local restaurant was better. Not anymore. In the past several months we have noticed the poor quality of food and management. There is now a list of items they are out of every single time and poor service too. We unwrapped SIX sets of silverware before finding ONE that we could somewhat clean with a wet napkin. The others looked like they had been taken from someone’s plate with food still on them then wrapped in the napkin. My son ordered shrimp pasta and for the second time, got the pasta with LARGE SHRIMP with tails on them. He had to dig them out of the pasta to keep from eating the tails!! They said they were out of the right kind of shrimp … again. I seldom write reviews but after last nights experience, I’m not sure we will be returning. We actually discussed going somewhere else for our family dinner. Usually 11 of 15 family members will vote to eat at red lobster but this time it was a mix of votes, almost eliminating red lobster. We were seated fairly fast. We waited at the table for a good 15 minutes. I do understand the labor shortages everywhere but I would expect better at a restaurant like this. Our server brought 3 baskets of bread with 4 in each basket. With 15 people, that is less than one per person and when we repeated asked for more, the first response was “they’re in the oven”. Then she explained that they were about to run out so we couldn’t get anymore, even though we said that we’d be willing to pay extra for more. The food in general wasn’t good so we were very...