Red Lobster — Restaurant in Hampden Township

It was nice to get away just my wife and I to enjoy a dinner. Originally we were aiming for whatever struck our fancy driving down the road, but settled upon Red Lobster.

We're glad we did.

We opened up with the lobster spinach dip. We recall it having more spinach than we received in it, though we were unlikely to complain as it had more lobster in it that we recall, so a pleasing compromise of sorts. The dip was of perfect consistency, taste and temperature. Another pleasantry was receiving only "natural colored" tortilla chips. Unlike that other restaurant chain those red and dark blue/black chip which is thick and like plastic. This appetizer was spot on!

My wife had the Parrot Bay coconut shrimp, which I have to assume was perfect as it didn't last long enough to receive a response to the question as to its flavor.

I had the Admiral's Feast. Everything was prepared perfectly, with the exception of the crab legs. These were horribly salty, how that happens is beyond me, but so was the case.

We did not indulge in a dessert.

The soda mix, was borderline nasty. Honestly, please ensure the spouts are thoroughly cleaned, the mixture is right and put/replace filter on water line. The bar soda was nasty, the kitchen soda just bearable.

Now to the reason they earned five stars. The service. We visited around 8pm, just an hour I suspect from closing, yet we were treated with the same level of courtesy and professionalism of those at prime time. While yes, this should be expected, let's face it, it's rare. The service was genuine, the waiter was tops. I've tried finding the receipt so I could list his name, but I cannot find it for the life of me. Should I find it, which I hope I can, I'll modify my review to reflect it. He was superb, outstanding and generally, spot on. I had no problems tipping 35 percent.

All in all, I'm sure had I voiced the concerns they would have been addressed in compensation or some other equivalency, but, due to service and all that else that was perfect, I didn't want to cause a fuss.

We will be back and I will be looking for "what's his...

17 Aug 20: My mother and I decided to try one more time, as we had a $40 gift card from management from 9 month's ago bad experience. See below. We were there when the doors opened. Waitress was cordial and so to was manager. Yet, meals were unacceptable once again. We now both know that the 1st encounter wasn't just a fluke. Biscuits were fine. Lobster bisque had NO lobster. Manager took that off the ticket, but tried to make it right by bringing out a tablespoon worth of lobster pieces in a tub. Mushroom appetizer was rubbery at best. The Cajun chicken linguine was flavorless. I asked for no Alfredo, and what I got was a plate of room temperature plain pasta with dried chicken slices. I had to ask to have reheated in microwave, and then the chicken was even more dried out afterwards. Some heated butter on the side helped. The alcoholic drink that my mother had, had no hint of alcohol in it. She is 85 lbs soaking wet and could have drank 3 of them and still had been sober. No.... there just isn't anything that will draw us back to these doors. V/r

9 mon's ago: Asked for medium steak and got medium well. Tough like shoe leather. Alcoholic drink had no alcohol noticeable. Soup had rubbery lobster pieces. Scallops were tiny and of rubber texture. Best part was tarter sauce. The waiter was Will and he was pretty good. Patient and nice. Although we had a coupon and was told initially we could use it. It wasn't till after we got the item of food with coupon that he said no we couldn't use. The right thing to do would have been for him to take off the bill at that point or I guess we should had said to take meal back. This franchise isn't what it used to be like. I think we could have gotten the same or better from Captain D's....

I've never had a bad situation at the Mechanicsburg store but today was a different story. My mom and I ordered food to go and gave a specific time for pick up, (40 minutes from time of call). We got their 5 minutes early and the food was already sitting on the counter. As we all know, food is better fresh. We returned home and was eating the food within 30 minutes from pick up. The breaded shrimp in both our containers had started to go soggy and the croutons in my salad were already gone. No crunch at all. I called in to inform the store about the soggy food and to advise them that food to go should be fresh and ready at the time of pick up, not before. Ive worked in the industry before so I know how this goes but to my surprise all I got was a, "I'm sorry to hear that, thanks for letting us know " response. I responded with a "you're welcome" and then I lingered on the call to see if she would say anything else. Instead, I got a click. Ive ordered food to go from multiple places and this was the least pleasant to enjoy. Knowing that my food was sitting on the counter at least 5 minutes before scheduled time makes me wonder how long it had been sitting overall to be soggy and limp within 30 minutes. Im naturally a slow eater but even eating in the store and taking 25 minutes to eat, my food doesn't turn soggy. Maybe luke warm, but not soggy. Im not one to let things like this bother me but pile it on top of a skimped salad and no utensils, I think it was a trio effect of being displeased. You can do better Red Lobster. I know because I've...