Red Lobster — Restaurant in Gastonia

I have been eating at this location from the beginning and it has always been one of my favorite restaurants in Gaston county but my last visit was extremely disappointing. I haven't visited in nearly five years because my boyfriend doesn't like seafood but I was able to convince him after reading the menu saying they had chicken which is one of the only meats he will eat. Due to the covid-19 outbreak there was a limited menu, of course not offering chicken like it said online among lots of other things, so I was really uncomfortable from the beginning thinking my boyfriend was going to be upset paying that much for a meal and not even able to enjoy what he ordered. I order the same thing I've always ordered from red lobster; stuffed mushrooms, ultimate feast with seasonal veggies and mashed potatoes and he ordered steak with loaded baked potato and seasonal veggies. We were told there was no lemon, but watched as the table next to us was brought lemon. The waitress said sorry it wasn't her fault, that was just what she was told. That so much food had gotten throw out when the virus began, she thought they didn't have them. No big deal, I was able to get the lemon, not a problem. The biscuits weren't brought out so I asked a different waitress if those were still available due to the limited menu and ask if we could have some. They weren't as good as I remember. Our food was brought out by a runner and asked if we needed anything else and my boyfriend asked for steak sauce. Over five minutes later, my boyfriend still waiting to eat his steak in front of him, we had to ask a different waitress for steak sauce because our waitress had been talking to the table behind us the entire time we were there. She noticed we asked the other waitress for something so she came to check and we asked her for steak sauce as well. Three people gone to find us steak sauce now. We had to wait another five minutes. She returned to say something about the steak sauce wasn't in the normal place and he was finally able to eat. The "seasonal veggies"were ordered were actually green beans. Something we weren't expecting, but settled for because we thought the limited menu meant whatever veggies they had in stock. But it would have been nice if they labeled them as green beans on the menu, so you know what to expect. Unless the order was wrong. My boyfriend's "loaded baked potato" only had butter. And the dish I have been eating for as long as it's been on the menu looked terrible. The lobster was literally a quarter of the normal size and terribly over cooked, rubbery and even inedible on the ends. And I always remember getting lots of crab legs, 2-3 set. This time I got one set, four tiny, over cooked crab legs with nearly no meat inside. The largest leg, the claw, which normally has the amount of meat that would equal two of my thumbs; had the amount of meat that would equal the end of my pinkie finger. So over cooked, I couldn't even crack them properly. The green beans had this taste I have noticed the veggies at a few bad restaurants have, which I would describe as moldy tasting. I couldn't even swallow the first bite, I spit it out. And you know how you order combination plates at fish camps and get fish and shrimp and they give you a lot of shrimp and a few pieces of fish... Same thing here, more shrimp than I remembered in the past, but a lot less crab and lobster which is the main reason I order the dish. And as if this wasn't bad enough, we look at the bill and it's like twenty dollars more than what I remember paying in the past for the same food. Me and my boyfriend mention that it seems like they are trying to make up for all of the lost money from the covid-19 outbreak by offering less food for a higher price. This visit...

Have only been to this location 3 times and the first two were phenomenal experiences but this last one was no good for $45 check. After our drinks were served I had to ask about the biscuits because after quite a wait we never received any and there was no mention of them. The two previous times the wait staff told us on their own they were coming and would even bring us more later on. A long wait ensued after that before we were told they were baking--relief we thought. But once we got them (with no biscuit plates) the biscuits were small and misshapen like homemade ones, and were missing key ingredients, namely the special seasoning, so they tasted like plain bread with smidgen of cheese. My son normally gobbles them down but barely touched them. They were also undercooked, doughy in the middle. There were so many patrons at the time I was confused why ours were late and horrible but others were ok.

Once we got the food the waitress immediately turned and walked away, not once offering sauce or just a "anything else I can help with" etc. My son needed honey mustard for his food and we had no chance to get her to bring it. She disappeared completely for 30 minutes while all the other wait staff was all around. As a result had to bother someone else to get it for her, which was awkward and embarrassing because I know waiters aren't our slaves. With my salad, some of the shrimp had tails still on them while others had a half a tail and others none at all. That was unusual to me, never happened before.

When it was time to leave, though the biscuits were sub par and inedible, we were never offered a doggie bag for them (did the waitress know they were bad??). We also didn't receive a to-go bag for our boxes, again something that hasn't happened before in recent years, and never asked if I wanted to take my drink with me. Really frustrating experience because other two experiences were better than most other Red Lobster locations in the East Coast. I was really shocked the biscuits could be MIA and messed up on a basic level! I assumed the dough was premade or recipe posted somewhere but I guess not? Very...

We went to celebrate my wife's birthday. We had our first date at Red Lobster 36 years ago. Our waitress was courteous and informative. We asked a number of questions and when she knew she told us and when she didn't she found out for us. We don't drink tap water so she brought us bottled water. However, our silverware was so badly hard water spotted it looked filthy and my linen napkin was badly frayed. She was going to bring another set but someone else brought it. We looked at the mixed drinks but nearly all were made with some sort of sweet mixes so we ordered a Gin and Tonic thinking they couldn't screw that up but the Tonic water was flat. They replaced the first round which we didn't drink with a second which was only slightly better. We like to start off with a nice salad but again all of the dressings are not made on site but are trucked in from their Corporate warehouse so we though to get Vinegar and Oil. Bad move. I've never been to any restaurant that didn't use Olive Oil as the oil in a vinegar and oil dressing. Not so at Red Lobster, they use Canola oil. I found this out as the oil came in tiny ramekin and didn't look right, so I tasted it, ugh. I asked our waitress and she confirmed it was canola oil. Our food arrived and my wife's Mahi Mahi was dry and tough, overcooked as well as slathered with sweet barbeque sauce, just awful. My lobster, Scallops and crab came with a small ramekin of melted "butter'. Turns out the "butter" was 50/50 butter and margarine. I tried the scallops and they were a bit rubbery so we sent both plates back. The manager was friendly and professional, made excuses for the canola oil that it was their policy from corporate, same with the butter/margarine. We couldn't continue and didn't order anything else. He comped the drinks but they really weren't that good even though we ordered a call brand Gin. The experience was poor overall and now that we know they'll cut corners at every turn we won't be going back. Severe disappointment. Still can't believe Vinegar and...