Red Lobster — Restaurant in Grandville

Unfortunately one of the worst service, meal and seating we have ever experienced.

We arrived @ 4:45 pm on a Saturday evening. We were sat at a 4 top off the main walkway within 3/4 feet of a bussing station. I figured, no worry, someone has to get the bad seat and this was our turn. I didnt want to raise a fuss but watched as several better open tables were sat within 15 minutes after us. We were greeted by our social and cheery server within 5 minutes but said she needed to come back to take drink orders. About 15/20 minutes later she returned to start our drink orders. We each ordered ice water(lemon in mine) and a cocktail. About 20 minutes later the drinks came but no waters. We flagged her for the waters but when they came, there was no lemon. Ok, no biggy. At around 50 minutes in we were asked if we wanted an appetizer. Yes! Stuffed mushroom with lemon. Another 15/20 the mushrooms came. As soon as they were set down by the manager, she stopped to take our dinner order(1hr10mins in finally doing dinner order while my app is sitting there getting cold). We place our entree orders. One person wants crab for the very first time. I suggested the pound of crab with a steak add on in case he doesnt love the crab. She greatfully recommends a platter. But then recommends the lobster, steak and shrimp. I politely remind her he wants crab and she seems to remember. We agree on the snow crab (1#) with the steak add on. I finally get to eat the app. Luke warm now and Awe, no lemon. I stop her to remind her, but another 5+ minutes and since it is already getting so cold so I walk to the bar to get a lemon myself. Our soup and salads come about 1hr30 in. At this time she apologizes that she has been unable to grab us any cheddarbay biscuits. (Oh yeah! Yum! Forgot we get those!) Something about the other servers grabbing them first she says. We are all getting pretty tired and our hunger is actually waning. So many customers have come and now gone the door is allowing the freezing cold to come in to our "walkway table". I'm noticing the people sat later around us have either already left or have their food already in go boxes and are paying their tabs. We haven't yet received our meals! At some point waters and a second cocktail was requested but after 20 minutes had not arrived. Around 2 hours in, meals are served. 1 steak order, 2 crab orders, 1 crab n steak order.She says she will return with tools for the crab cracking and I ask for a couple of bowls to put all the shells. She returns 8 minutes later with 2 crab crackers and 1 fork. I ask for 2 more forks and 1 more cracker so we do not have to share our eating utensils. She never brings them. But my crab is ice cold and even still has rubberbands tied around it. I give my cracker to another and they share the crab fork. I explain to her how cold it is and ask for boxes so i can heat my food at home and eat later. The boxes are 1/2 the size and 1# crab doesnt come close to fitting in it. But I notice and ask why my guest has half the amount i do and she says she only served him a 1/2 pound. What? Thats not what we ordered. She insist that they have comp^d my meal and that I must speak to the manager, which I decline as most of my issues were with service but she is so kind I really don't want to be rude. He comes anyway. He apologized for the food, reiterates my comp'd meal, puts gift cards on the table and takes away my opened but boxed meal i was hoping to eat at home. I was shocked. I literally looked at my husband and cried. By 7:30 we finally leave. 2 1/2 hours later. $150.00 tab. No crab, rice or veggies in my belly, and cereal to eat at home an hour away. Saddest experience at one of my fave restaurants. Service, food and seating not good at Red Lobster...

I'm not one to normally write reviews because I feel like they are generally subjective, but... I feel like some constructive criticism is due based on our experience last night.

We had a reservation for 12 people at 7pm. We arrived promptly, but had to wait a while to be sat. No big deal, as we understand that large parties are generally at the mercy of the tables opening up around them.

Once we were sat we were greeted by our server who informed us it was her first time take a large party since she started (mistake 1). She took a while to get out our drinks, roughly 20 mins, and then got one of drinks wrong (mistake 2) the person with the wrong drink took it anyway b/c she saw how much our server was struggling. She also brought out a Sam Adams with cherries in (bartender mistake), and had to replace the beer for him. So it took a while to get all of that figured out.

As a side note, per our server. we were her only table during the whole experience.

After roughly 30 mins after seating down she finally took our food order. We did not order apps as we knew it was already getting late. While taking our order she kept asking us to verify the menu for her (mistake 3). Approx 15 mins after taking our food order she approached the table and informed us that she lost her slip of paper and needed to retake half the tables order again (mistake 4).

Fast forward to the meals arriving... the ticket time for our table didn't seem to be overly long. But... the food arrived missing 2 peoples order and the birthday girl's meal was incorrect. (Mistake 5) and her baked potato was rotten in the middle (kitchen mistake 1). The missing food then took another 20 (ish) minutes to arrive to the table with the birthday girl's replacement shrimp taking an additional 10 after that. The whole table was done eating before they even received their meals.

After the food was finally situated and boxes were passed out we asked her to get our checks ready while we serve the cake. Which she did not do. Instead she was focusing on getting her sidewalk done instead of taking care of her table (Mistake 6- I've been in this industry for many years and know what doing sidewalk looks like). We were all done with cake and at this point we are all standing up waiting to cash out and leave. It then took her another 10 ish mins to separate our checks. From start to finish we were there for a total of 3 and a half hours.

Mistake 7 on our servers side was that she did not get a manager involved when things started going sideways. There was no attempt from her or the restaurants to right their wrongs, the manager did not come talk to our table at any point in the night (this is restaurant 101 guys!). I understand that mistakes happen, and the new people need to learn and grow, but to not even attempt to make things right is unacceptable.

I don't really blame our server for many of her mistakes because it felt like she just needed more training and experience. She was very friendly and seemed overall nervous to wait on a large party. Being as we were her first, I understand. My frustration is with her lack of support from the management team. Why did no one notice her struggling, or the constant mistakes she kept making? Where was the manager during all of this and how did they miss a table taking so long to turn? Did she not get trained in what to do when things go wrong?

I'm not writing this review to get the server in trouble, especially because she was very sweet and tried her hardest. I'm writing this because I feel like your restaurant needs to do a better job teaching your new staff how handle difficult situations. Please do better...

The burger was great. The service was outstanding! The atmosphere was thrilling.

Bacon Cheeseburger - $15: Char-grilled patty, maybe 1/4lb, but maybe 1/3 lb. I asked for it medium and it was about that. It was medium to high quality (probably on the higher end). It was done right.

The signature sauce dominated the taste slightly. I had a small mess from the sauce after so they do lay it on thicker. The sauce is a kind of light thousand island sauce, but with some other complex flavors to compliment it. I enjoyed it.

The toppings were fresh. The bacon melted in the mouth and added a slight crisp texture. The cheddar cheese was not quite as sharp (which I prefer). The bun held it all together well.

Is it worth $15? For the quality, I’d say so. For people who don’t care for seafood visiting with friends who do like seafood, this is a win. They don’t play games or treat it as an item that plays third fiddle. Their burger is indeed serious business. Are there better for the price? Sure, but not many. I’d recommend it even at this price point.

Fries (comes with the burger): Medium to large cut fries. They were quite soft on the inside. Ironically, it was not salted enough this time. You can add salt in this case. I tried pepper, too, but I preferred it without. They were super hot when arriving and still very hot after eating the burger. They know how to serve a hot meal.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits: Comes free with meals? I was not charged, so I assume so. They were super soft and very salty. The light crust on the outside was tasty and very mildly crunchy. I saved one for last to see if sitting out would degrade them, but they were still plenty soft and tasty, though it was just slightly cooled, though good enough for sure. Quality stuff.

See also their daily specials (add a side for $2). Mon: $20 Lobster & Shrimp Tue: $20 Snow Crab Legs Wed: $25 Steak & Lobster Thu: $15 Shrimp or Chicken Alfredo Fri: $15 Fish & Chips

I also wanted to try the Brownie Overboard. It sounded huge and delicious. The waitress said it is normally shared. I take that as a challenge. HA HA.

Service: EXTREMELY pleasant, very helpful. She showed me the basics of the menu right away so I knew how to read the menu and find what I wanted. The food arrived quickly. She made sure I was always attended to and nothing I needed was waiting ever. I was stuck furiously taking pictures during the few seconds I had when she was not there. HA HA!

Atmosphere: Very well kept up, clean, and very nautical. You could walk around the place for a couple of hours looking at all the items on the wall. You will see a lot of sailing and shipping paintings and tools. I like to visit the lake shore in Michigan and this place makes me feel like I’m close to the lake. Warm vibes going on for sure.

Conclusion: The prices are a tad on the higher end, but they make it worth it. I am not a seafood fan, but this was a fun visit and the burger was worth it. I’d recommend Red Lobster.

Visited on a...