Red Lobster — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Although we had a rocky start, our Red Lobster dinner still ended as a 5 star visit. We signed up for priority seating for 7PM through Open Table. When we arrived at 7PM, we were told it would still be about 20 minutes and to return to our car and they would call us. At 7:35PM, I went in to check on our table as several other parties were going right in and being seated and was told that they did not have a table cleaned yet and it shouldn't be long and we could hang out inside. It was about 10 more minutes and we were seated. The manager was apologetic, stating that Open Table was unable to reflect the reduced capacity they were operating at but unfortunately when we were being seated there were several tables that were sitting there with dirty dishes on them that we could have been sat at. This made it hard to believe that it was a capacity issue over a management issue. However, I was determined not to let the start of the dinner to ruin the rest of the meal. We were assigned two servers, I imagine one was training the other, although this wasn't announced. They were quick to come to the table and get our drink orders and bring us cheddar bay biscuits. They were hot, soft and crispy in all the right spots. We also put in an order for calamari when we put in our drink order. When they brought our drinks we were updated on the status of our appetizer and our main dinner order was taken. We received our calamari and those that ordered salad received their salads. The calamari was devoured very quickly by the table as were the Caesar salads. The servers were fantastic about keeping our drinks filled Then it was finally time for dinner, I ordered the new lump crab cake with remoulade sauce (appetizer). It was one of the best crab cakes I've ever had. There was tons of crab meat and very little 'filler.' The remoulade sauce was spicy but very flavorful. My youngest and his dad shared a filet, bacon wrapped scallops and Lobster tail with brussel sprouts. The filer was ordered medium rare and was cooked perfectly. The brussel sprouts had a glaze and seasoning on them that was sweet and salty and so very good! Their plate was completely devoured. The oldest ordered salmon and fries. The salmon flaked perfectly and was well seasoned. There was several surprise shrimp served on top that were sautéed. They were cooked perfectly with a nice bite on the outside. The fries weren't anything to write home about, but nothing went waisted. The oldest son's girlfriend ordered a pasta dish that was enough for 2 servings. She said it was very tasty and was able to take enough home for another meal. The servers were very attentive during our meal checking in continously to make sure we had what we needed. I do believe this was the best service and meal we've had since we moved to Indiana,...

I decided to take my son and his family here for his birthday dinner as we normally visit the location in Avon and have never had an issue there. This was a horrible decision and will make it a point to only visit the Avon location. We arrived late in the day Saturday but before the dinner hour started. There was no one waiting and the restaurant was mostly empty. There was a total of seven of us, and the hostess seemed not at all happy to seat us, . Things went downhill from there. The server informed us that she had only started a week ago, like that has anything to do with my expectations. The order was placed incorrectly by the server and it took close to 1 and 1/2 hours to actually get served entrees. The manager came to the table to explain that the order was placed, but the “ kitchen never received the order due to some system failure with the POS system “. Two members of my party ended up leaving before the food arrived after close to two hours. The manager offered nothing other than the ridiculous explanation which was unacceptable;, to continue , the check was figured incorrectly and needed to be corrected twice. When we were finally served , we overheard the manager offering to “ comp” meals to a neighboring table, apparently for the same reason. Not that I need or ever expect free food, but the principal remains. The best part of this experience was the single fact that my sons birthday dinner was, although an hour overdue, was cooked fine, . When asked about dessert, even though he loves the cheesecake, we just wanted to get out of there ! ( 3 hours into it). Despite this epic failure, I still provided a 15%+ gratuity, as the blame lands squarely on the store management for her mistakes and all else and she shouldn’t be penalized for the problems. Normally I tip well over 20% as I used to be in the food and beverage industry. I decided to give a 2 ⭐️ this is only the second time I have ever given a review below 4 stars. But, overall this establishment barely earns it by doing 1 thing right, cooking an entree .You ruined my sons birthday dinner, great job, I’ll stick with the...

Rudest server, ever. Just because the rudeness is done in a passive aggressive manner, doesn't mean it isn't obnoxious...maybe more so & that's what we got in the bar area from Brenda. There were three of us, with it being the first time for the youngest in our family who is a young adult & had never really tried any seafood. Issues started when the senior in our party didn't realize that they got four option versus three with the newly revamped menu (again) on the Ultimate Feast. Seriously, seniors sitting in the bar are the primary customers in the bar seating. I had issues with trying to ask for something to go with my meal because another worker repeatedly yelled for our server & she got distracted by them, not the biggest issue I figured in the moment. Next we had the young adult ordering Wednesday's special of Steak & Lobster as a safety option since they didn't know if they liked lobster. The steak wasn't cooked to order & sent back which became more important since they did not end up liking lobster. The replacement steak was brought out cold. Admittedly the steak was ordered "blue," but no reputable restaurant expects you to eat cold steak which the server told her she needed to expect it to be cold. Our young adult decided to just sit & chat while the two other of us ate our meals, but somehow this was all too much for our server because she came over, started reaching over everyone at the table to grab various dishes she deemed we were done with & started asking about to-go boxes. My senior mother had barely had a chance to put lemon on her food a start eating at this point! I had the Admiral's Feast & had only started on one of the four items myself! My mother ended up feeling so rushed she took crab legs home which require crackers to open. But she wasn't feeling well & was disgusted after all of this while simply trying to share something with her granddaughter that she had always enjoyed, so we left. It feels pointless to note that drink refills were not offered, but they were not. I understand the brand is struggling, but they don't need people like this to help...