Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews — Restaurant in Grandville

I try not to give bad reviews and try to be understanding according to circumstances. And I do not recall ever having a bad experience at a Red Robin? Until today. This was our first and our last experience at this location. We should have taken a clue from the about half empty parking lot on a Friday night while most of the surrounding restaurants were pretty busy! Noted.

I will say that the hostesses were extremely friendly and welcoming! We were set at a half booth half table behind the bar wall. The seat was extremely uncomfortable at that spot. It was like there was no more padding in it? You literally sank in. The rest of the booth seats looked like they may be fine? I am not sure. I even took a picture to show that it is definitely in need of repair. This brings me to my next concern that I have never experienced at a Red Robin, the cleanliness. There was so much old looking trash/food in the seat (which you can see in the picture) which shows that maybe some employees may need better training? Or maybe they had training and just do not care? I am not sure which, but it was pretty gross. And there was an even more disgusting smell! I am not sure if it was the floors, furniture, or just the area as a whole, but it was definitely not clean. The server, I believe she may have potential with a lot more training. She was nice for the most part but definitely young and inexperienced. Which looks to be like a good portion of the ones working in that area? Especially when you have about 5 or 6 of them just standing there chatting for a good 15 or so minutes. I have never seen Red Robin employees have that much free time, especially when things are dirty, sticky, and smelly.

I ordered a drink when we placed our order, and it never came out. I waited to see if maybe I was mistaken and didn't order it, but when we received our bill, it was on there. Red Robin fries have always been so good until tonight. You can tell they were definitely not fresh! And even when we asked for the one and only refill, she came back immediately with it, and they looked like they had been sitting for quiet some time in a warmer or something. My husband has literally only ordered the fish and chips at Red Robin because that is his absolute favorite place to get fish and chips, for probably 12 years now? And he didn't even finish it. It looked over cooked and extremely greasy. Maybe the oil needs to be changed in the fryer? I'm not sure, but none of it tasted good at all. Our daughter's chicken tenders were overcooked as well. She only ate them because she was hungry. The onion rings she had and the mozzarella twists were good, but that was about it. When our server brought our ticket and I asked that the drink that I never received be removed, she seemed bothered by that? I did not ask to speak to the Manger because when he walked up, I could see her maybe trying to explain something, he kind of tried to nonchalantly look our way and then looked the other way. He did not even attempt to speak to us. Which, by the way, is also something I have never witnessed at a Red Robin. Typically, the Manager on duty is always working, running food, greeting guests etc., and if there is ever an issue, I have always seen the manager go to that table and speak to the customer.

We were never rude, still tipped our server, and quietly left. And on the way out, again, the hostesses were extremely friendly!

I am glad that we still have a really good Red Robin near us. It is unfortunate that this one is truly lacking for whatever the reasons may be. Hopefully, the GM or whomever reads these will see this and use it to maybe do some retraining and tiding up? And if the GM would like to see the pictures I mentioned, I would be happy to send them to you for training...

I enjoyed myself. I was there with great friends, my food was pretty good and our (2nd) server was on top of things. (Nothing against our 1st server, we just didn't interact much)

This is another company that is affected by the current workforce and supply chain issues impacting so many businesses right now. Several workers are brand new, lacking experience and confidence... and attention to detail. The meals, while good, were inconsistent, which you would specifically not expect from a chain restaurant.

We went at a weird time that was late for lunch and early for dinner so it was a bit slow. The table we were taken to had not been cleaned, there was standing liquid on the bench and a travel cup that someone had left behind. The staff cleaned it up right away.

Our first server brought our drinks. They were mostly correct other than a margarita on the rocks that wasn't supposed to be salted but was salted anyway. In the server's defense though, they appeared to be rather young, maybe old enough to serve but not old enough to drink, and might not have even known that the drink wasn't correct when it came to the table. It wound up being okay; they had a straw and the salt was mostly avoided.

It was apparently shift change time and we were asked if we minded changing servers. We said we were fine with it and then had Jesse (not sure on the spelling) for the rest of the day. He was great, very attentive without being "smothering" and had a super attitude. He was knowledgeable about the menu, offered drinks and dessert without pushing, had extra napkins there before we had a chance to ask for them and took the initiative to check on ingredients regarding a food allergy without even being asked.

I would prefer that they also cooked burgers to medium rare but they seem to be medium well to well done. I suppose that is probably the safest way to go. The burgers were still quite juicy and flavorful. The chicken breast was juicy as well.

We had one meal (out of 6) come out with tomatoes when it was supposed to be without tomatoes (food allergy/ sensitivity) but the runner quickly took it back in the kitchen to be remade. The grilled chicken breast sandwich that was supposed to be in a lettuce wrap came out with a couple of hard pieces of lettuce and a small pile of shredded lettuce. It was easy enough to adapt and eat it with a fork and knife so not a huge deal there. Supply chain issues. Plus I like that they had broccoli as a side dish and not just those addictive fries! 🙂

All in all it was a good experience. They have some great staff in place and need to tighten up communication and attention to detail. I would go again- it's a fun atmosphere and you can't go too wrong with burgers, fries...

Overall take away: not paying attention to detail, treating consumers as an inconvenience, half-hearted corrections, and frustrated and annoyed consumer. Details: I ordered to pick up and once I arrived I did not have to wait long for my food to come out. The first issue I noticed right off the bat was the presence of a tomato on my burger when I had marked "no tomato" on my order. I ordered online and was given the option to mark what I did and didn't want on my burger. Why give the option to make this selection if your not going to pay any attention to it? I always order my burger s without tomatoes and often this gets overlooked. While this is frustrating, it is something I am used to. At this point I was going to give a 3 or 4 star review...but then it got worse... after the recipt was signed and we got our food the worker walked away and I realized that we were never given the drinks I ordered. In my confirmation email it said to call the restaurant directly with any questions. I called multiple times and each time it rang and then went straight to a busy tone; no hold or automated messages, just loud beeping of a busy tone. So at this point I am getting even more frustrated. I decided to go to the door to ask someone about my beverages. I was greated at the door by a very stressed out employee who definitely made me feel that I was an inconvenience to her. (I get that it was the busy time, but that is no excuse) She asked me what drinks I had ordered and told me that they would have them out in a couple minutes. So I stood outside the door and waited. I became increasingly frustrated the longer I waited. (And meanwhile, my food was sitting in the car getting cold) When the drinks were brought out it was again as if my problem was a major inconvenience to the staff "helping" me. When I got to my car and went to drink my smoothie I couldn't because it was far from smooth. I was basically given pure fruit over ice. There were significant amounts of full ice cubes. Thankfully I had a blender at home to actually make my smoothie smooth, but really I should never have to blend my own smoothie! And the rootbeer float was like only 3/4 full in the cup and my husband who the float was for said it didn't have very much rootbeer in it either. It felt like because they forgot the drinks I paid for I was too much of an inconvenience to properly complete my order, thus a half blended smoothie. What started out as decently good service turned out...