Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews — Restaurant in Holland Charter Township

This particular Red Robin is the kind of place a group of friends or a prom party would meet at to share a fantastic, memorable time together.

Growing up in the Holland/Zeeland area, I am well acquainted with this restaurant. This was "the spot" if no one could decide on another place to go for an occasion, and with good reason to. No other eating establishment in the area can even come close to the friendly, charming atmosphere that this Red Robin provides.

The overall esthetic that this facility is trying to convey is an old smoker's bar from the 1950's with a touch of a Crayola colored noir film. It's primarily in shadow but dimly lit around the tables, especially at night. The walls are completely littered with nostalgic paintings, pictures, and nick-knacks (all outdated for the twenty-first century, but nevertheless enjoyable to look at).

The food was never a miss at this place. Their bottomless fires, in particular, are one of the highlights of an evening at Red Robins. It is especially so when paired with their campfire sauce and trade-marked seasoning. They are more so known for their burgers, however, and they do not disappoint in that area either. I am typically not a burger fan due to the massive portions that they deliver to their customers, but I have had their vegetarian option (The Wedgie Burger) and was not displeased in the slightest. As far as specialty beverages, their Freckled Lemonade and Raspberry Cream Soda are some of my favorite drinks from their selection.

As for pricing, everything is well priced for the amount of food that you receive. With the majority of the dishes, you also get bottomless fries. This makes having a side dish accessible throughout the entire evening without an additional cost, which is very nice considering how addictive and delicious they are (They also offer a completely gluten free option for their fries. My friend is allergic to gluten, and this became one of the primary reasons we frequented this establishment).

Why four stars then? Well, I would have to say that despite how nice the staff typically are, I usually have to wait a little bit longer than I expect to receive my food. Do not get me wrong, this is a massive establishment with a full bar and seating to boot, but I value my time. It is typically very busy, so the fault is not on the staff but on the circumstance.

The staff is very polite, and readily available to assist in anyway possible, which I always found appreciation for. They do tend to linger around when they are expecting you to leave. For example, if you had paid for your meal and are sitting there for a moment before heading out, you'll often see the staff member returning every minute or two to see if you had already left. At least, that was a reoccurring feature from each of my visits.

Overall, this is probably one of the most family oriented establishments you can find in the middle of the Holland/Zeeland area. It was a fantastic place for me and my friends to get together, and to this day (when we're all in town) we continue to return here to catch up and recall all the exciting times we had while dining...

Used to be great. Just like everywhere else prices have increased, I understand inflation. I get it. But when you ask for a basket of fries for the table while you decide on your order and they say “we don’t do that anymore, it’s a new rule. You have to order first,” that’s where it gets to be ridiculous. If I had ordered an actual appetizer I’m sure there wouldn’t be a problem because it costs something. I feel like they’re trying to cut back on bottomless fries and save themselves money. If their argument is people only order the fries…then charge them for an order of fries. It’s obvious they are trying to skimp. Disappointing.

EDIT 7/28/24

After multiple weeks of back and forth and nothing but generic responses from customer service and nothing from managers. This is the response I received via email from the regional manager. If it sounds shady and money-hungry to you, trust me, it does to me too:

“My name is Ryan Ward and I am the Regional Manager for Red Robin, responsible for the Holland location. I want to begin by apologizing for the poor service during your last experience with us. We will use your feedback to help better our staff.

It is important to me that you know you were not lied to, whether you choose to visit us again or not (which we hope you do). As I have been the Regional Manager since the restaurant opened, i am fully aware of the Bottomless French Fry issue this location created many years ago. Red Robin’s Bottomless Program has always been, and remains to this day, if you order any item that comes with a bottomless side or drink, once you are served that beverage or side, you can have as much as you would like. So, if you order a Bacon Cheeseburger with fries, once you have been served that Burger and Fries, you can have as many more fries as you like or you can change and get salad, sweet potato fries or any other Bottomless side. If you were to go to almost any other Red Robin nationwide, that is what they would do.

This location, when it opened, chose to serve fries to guests upon request as soon as they sat down, or in many cases, they would just bring them out. And for many years we, for lack of a better term, “trained our guests” to expect that, such as yourself. In doing so, we have come to realize we have devalued the Bottomless Program in this location, and over the years, have tried various times, to get back to the actual Bottomless Program, as it was/is intended. Depending on how this is executed often has determined how well it has been received by our guests who for years have become accustomed to getting fries like you would get, let’s say Chips and Salsa at another restaurant.

I understand your frustration with the change and realize we are 100% responsible for this. My hope is that you would be able to come in again in the future, enjoy your favorite menu item and as many of our World Famous Steak Fries as you can eat.

If you’re willing to respond with your address, I would be glad to send you some Gift Certificates for you and your family or friends to come...

Oof.. failed in so many ways. For starters I booked reservations over the phone a few days prior to today for fathers day with a party of 12. We wanted to take out my boyfriends family and my family because his dads favorite restraunt was red robins and my dads favorite restraunt was red robins. When we got there they said "we don't take reservations" but I clearly reserved it and I showed them proof and they said "that's weird cause we dont do that" and also said "you're lucky you came at this time because we are not as busy so we can still take you". We were sat together and when our waitress came she asked how we would be splitting the check and I told her 3 of us would be splitting the total bill at the end. She kept asking which people would be on which check and I kept explaining to her it's all under 1 check just 3 people splitting it (which I knew they did because we have done it there prior) I was so annoyed after explaining it multiple times she still didn't understand so I threw in the towel and just said I'll pay for it all which I'll come back to at the end of this review. Then we got our drinks... my boyfriends mom and I ordered the same drinks the chilled blue drink (I think it's called) and it was absolutely horrible! It had little to no flavor and tasted like fizzy dish water. We had others around us try it and no one liked it so we told our waitress and she got the manager. He was nice but did state that no one really likes that drink and the ingredients aren't that good. He also said he doesn't recommend it so he let us exchange it for blue margaritas (which were much better then the dirty sink water). Then we got our appetizers which were good and the fries were cooked well but when our main course came out it was disappointing and disgusting. All of our fries were undercooked and the fish that both my dad and I got was really gross and slimy. I watched him actually spit it back our and i only ate half a piece. My boyfriends mothers salmon was also quite fishy. We didn't bring any of this up to our waitress because you could tell she was already bothered/annoyed by us because of the drinks so we just left it alone. One thing my dad loves is coca-cola and he recieved a refill and it didn't taste well and he apologized to inconvenience her and asked for another and the 2nd one was bad too. Our waitress said " I don't see what's wrong with it I just delivered one and it seemed just fine" so on fathers day she made my dad feel bad for something that he had no control over and so he just asked for a water (which didn't get delivered until the very end). Well we recieved the check at the end and placed down 3 cards and asked for it to be split evenly 3 ways $100 each because it was $300. and she was like " oh yeah we can do that".. I told her that's what I was trying to explain to her at the beginning. It's safe to say that red robins is no longer either of our fathers favorite restraunt anymore and next year we will be celebrating it elsewhere. Bad food, bad drinks,...