Red Lobster — Restaurant in Garden Grove

What follows is a very negative experience I had at the Garden Grove Red Lobster. But I’m updating my review to reflect the way management handled the situation. After emailing them a copy of my review, they contacted me later that day and expressed their extreme displeasure at their employees. They assured me they would look into it, and made the gesture of offering me a full refund for the meal. I feel this went above and beyond in handling the situation, and showed me they actually care about the people they serve in their restaurant. I look forward to the improvements they will make in the future.

We walked out of here after dinner saying to ourselves, “That was the worst dining experience we’ve ever had.”

We normally don’t frequent chain restaurants, but decided to give it a shot for dinner. This was my first time ever at a Red Lobster. It will absolutely be my last time. It takes a lot for me to drop it to a one star review. This Red Lobster earned every bit of it.

To start, the service was bizarre. Our server came to our table very energetically, almost jittery, talking extremely fast and going on and on about menu items. Once he finally left, we all commented on how strange his behavior was. As the evening went on, it became more and more apparent that he was on something. He became even more awkward and started sweating profusely. He blabbered on and on about trying to get our order in on the computer, apologized for “being so weird,” and exclaimed, “Sweet, we’re making tons of money off you guys!” This was after 2 of us declined more shrimp for the Endless Shrimp meal. It nearly ruined the meal.

What actually ruined the meal was the food. My wife ordered lobster. For the price, it should have been cooked to perfection. Instead it was tough, chewy and overcooked. The shrimp was bland. The fries soggy. The only thing worth eating were the biscuits.

The orders were put in wrong. I ordered linguine and scampi shrimp with mashed potatoes. I got breaded shrimp and fries. Napkins were never delivered when requested. At one point, a random order of coconut shrimp showed up that nobody ordered. After a brief confrontation between our server and the guy with the coconut shrimp, they decided to just give it to us. When we asked for a to go bag (for the biscuits only), it never came. We had to get it from the hostess, who seemed perturbed to be doing that for us.

And to top it all off, they have managed to work a technology scam into their pricing. When we sat down, we noticed a small device, like and iPad. Thought maybe it was an ordering device? My 9 year old daughter picked it up and said it had some games. As kids will do, she started playing something, but not for long because my wife and I agreed that it’s pretty ridiculous to have games provided for a family dinner. So we removed it from our table. When we got the bill, we found a “game” charge for $1.99. Turns out, they charge for those games. Nothing on the table to declare that. When I later inspected one of these devices, the first thing that pops up is a game to play (targeting children). When you click on it, a big green button comes up, saying something like “Play Unlimited Access.” In tiny print below that, which no child would (or could) read, it gives the price of $1.99. Unreal. Is Red Lobster owned by a vaping company? They seem to both target children in unethical ways.

Never again will I go to a Red Lobster. Our meal was over $100, and I’m so mad at myself for being...

Sadly disappointed! The food was ok, you can’t go wrong with their biscuits right? but yesterday’s birthday party left me and my family with sad memories thinking wow, this could possibly be our last large party here! I should’ve followed my gut instinct and requested a different server or waitress from the very beginning when we were the first to arrive before opening as usual when we go there with a large party Usually 12-15 so we can get a large table in the back since they don’t take reservations for large parties on weekends? A server arriving to work barely acknowledged us standing outside waiting for RL to open even though we were very courteous not to stand in her way, we smiled at her and said hi. She was our server😩

We were all seated, waited around 15-20 mins. before first biscuits arrived because when we first asked about them she educated us in how long it takes for biscuits to bake and reminded us that “we just opened” The young male server was very polite and it was hard for us tell who was going to be our server. What is it with servers not writing down orders? Is it a test?

The guest of honor never received his meal, My mash potatoes looked and tasted like leftovers from the day before, my niece didn’t her fries, I didn’t get my 2nd cocktail, or coffee so I got up to have a private conversation (so I wouldn’t make a scene) with server whose first name begins w/ K. And asked her what’s going on! And listed all our grievances and she says to me “ you should’ve told me all this earlier!” I almost made my whole party leave at that moment but with young kids and very elderly folks in party, it’s just would have made things worse! It looked like she was trying to put everything on the young male server, but I blame everyone from the manager on down.

By the the time I calmed down, the manager was with my party apologizing and offering a free meal to guess of honor and gift certificates and discounts and all of sudden server k was really nice, happy, attentive and offering to take group photos but no one cleared our table until we prompted them so we can have dessert. I have to admit, this was the first time service was this bad, most of our parties have been very wonderful with great service and we usually followed up with pretty generous tips. It makes me sad to write a review like this. But it takes one really bad experience to ruin all the good ones. I guess when it comes to Red Lobster on Harbor in Garden Grove what used to be a good thing came to a sad fishy ending yesterday. It’s about consistency, courtesy and great grub, right? RL- Make it right ok? I’m ready for that 2nd cocktail now. Sad event organizer, Gloria...

Judy, our server was a rockstar, helping make my dad's 70th birthday an incredible one!

We've been here before, as it's near my parents' place, and the overall experience is always similar: long waits, confused teenagers in charge, and less than par food quality.

It's a shame really. I grew up poor in the 80s-90s, and Red Lobster was a rare 'fine dining' like experience. We used to talk for weeks about the moist and flavorful biscuits, which are now just a shell of what they used to be, dry with remnants of flavors we used to crave.

I remember the shrimp looking as though they were brought in from some magical part of the ocean. Today, they looked and tasted like they were harvested in tiny tanks and scientifically engineered or cloned to the same small size.

We obviously love lobster 🦞 or we wouldn't visit. I remember as a kid the lobster looked as though it were shipped in from Maine. But now, similar to the shrimp, I feel like there is some sort of mass manufacturing happening that sucks the joy, love, and flavor right out of the lobsters and our experience eating them. 😩

The moment you walk into this particular location, you immediately feel the sadness and glum of what might just be this part of Garden Grove; or a lack of upbeat music, happy hosts, and vibrant ambiance. The waiting area is a fraction of the size of other locations, especially since there is always an hour wait here minimum. Plan to wait outside or to get in a fight with another sad patron who was eyeballing the spot.

The hosts appear to be 16-17 in age, with little to no experience in how to be a host who makes guests feel welcomed, or the courage to stand up against their 20 year old boss who won't utilize open tables to speed up wait times. They simply stand there, confused, sad, and carrying an expression of "please don't ask me to help you" on their faces.

Don't bother coming here without using the app to get on the wait list. We learned this last time we were here. You'll feel exactly like Michael Keaton in the scene from Mr. Mom, where everyone was telling him "you're doing it wrong" when navigating the school drop-off system.

Judy was incredible. She really should apply at Ruth's Chris or Mortons. You could tell how frustrated she was at her teammates delivering the wrong items and forgetting about her table's request for refills. Example: "Here are your drinks. One of them is the diet, sorry, I don't remember which one, but I'm sure you'll figure it out." I heard her say "are you serious?" (about her team) at least three times.

I wish Red Lobster was the way I remember...