Red Lobster — Restaurant in Kelso

I should have left a review last time we were here. So far this has been a super disappointing place to eat. Sadly we'll probably be back because it's pretty much the only seafood place thats reasonably close.

Tonight we got there and it was busy. I really didn't mind the 20 minute wait for a table. They were busy. We were seated and our waitress came to get our drink and appetizer orders. I'm not kidding but it took almost 20 minutes to get our drinks. Water and sprite not that hard. Our appetizer came shortly after by a different server and was delicious. I was thinking okay she seemed new and they're busy. Our waitress came back and took our order. I had decided here to get something else to drink besides water. I stayed away from shrimp this time not wanting a repeat. My fiancee ordered snow crab and plain butter with a bowl of chowder. He also asked for a side of the alfredo sauce, explained he had ordered it before and they should know of she asked or had troubles. I went with Cajun chicken alfredo. We waited again this time a good 40 minutes and we watched the place thin out a bit. Thought oh we should get our food soon. Our drinks, the water and spite were empty and our server was no where to be seen. After joking with each other about the lack of service and how we hoped our experience wouldn't be as bad as last time our server came out with my fiancee's plain butter and alfredo sauce. She filled my water and tried to fill his ice that had sprite(actually starry) We stopped and he asked for another soda instead with no ice. She apologized and laughed saying she's sorry and seems to be really messing things up. I'll give it to the server for apologizing and admitting to our experience being poor, but we still didn't have food. It honestly didn't take long then. She came back shortly after with our meals. My fiancee asked for another butter please since plain butter comes in a super small dip sauce bowl. The poor lady laughs and said oh I'll get your drink I'm so sorry. She comes back and sets my drink and his butter on the table, mumbled something that neither of us heard then walked away. We chose the smile thank you keep eating response. I don't think I had 3 bites of alfredo and she was back asking how everything was. My fiancee answered okay it's cold though. It really was. I think he tried to be nice saying the butter warmed it up close to room temp. He still didn't have his refill on the sofa and he's apologizing. I don't think we're coming back here. It's too bad this is the only place you can get crab like this. He's cracking his crab then reaches down and pulls a rubber band off his plate and crab. The server comes back with his drink and the manager. He offers to warm the crab back up and my fiancee politely declined. He asks if we need anything and my fiancee answers no. I'm flabbergasted and say you didn't say anything about the rubber band and you still haven't got your chowder. The Manger comes back to our table saying he'll discount our meal and is sorry the crab was cold. My fiancee looks and him, hands him the rubber band and says this was in my crab and I didn't get my clam chowder. Manager explained the rubber band is used to separate his order from other customers orders and he'll get his chowder for him. The manager brings a bowl of soup nice and hot and says he's going to take the crab and chowder off the ticket. We thank him and try to eat. Our server did check on us again and apologized for having a bad night.

About a month ago we came here and I ordered the shrimp alfredo. Yum right? I thought yum until I had to peel shell off my shrimp after it had been cooked then stirred into my pasta and alfredo sauce. Yuck! Along with that came the flakes of shell I did not see that came off as I was swallowing a bite. After 3 different times of getting a bite of shell I decided to not est anymore. Especially in public. The manager discounted our meal and explained corporate won't let them remove the shell and that the dish had to be...

17 min wait when told 20, appreciated. Get to sit down and look at the menu recognizing the sanitation, well done and, again, appreciated. Inquire about a garden salad and the server tells us because of Covid, we had to cut it for budgetary reasons and that the waitress is glad they cut the hours of op back as well to cope: we've been dealing with this for a year. The last thing I want to hear about on my first dining experience in a year are the effects and agreeable decisions made by mgmt on how to cope. We move to ordering. Goes well, orders are correct. Can't recommend the 10.49 stuffed mushrooms. Got 5 caps, 4 were the size of a quarter and 1 was the size of a half dollar. I've gone to dive bars that serve more mass and higher quality. No stuffing, just a giant olive sized mushrooms with burnt cheese on top. On to the main course. The wife got the salmon NO. Salmon was bland. Needed more seasoning or, preferably, a searing. Sauce and shrimp were perfect. The Brussels in soy-ginger vinaigrette was a key high point. I ordered the Monday night special all u can eat shrimp. I'm not a breaded shrimp fan but absolutely adore garlic shrimp scampi. Got the garlic mash as a side. The potatoes were dry to the bone, no seasoning save 1 flake of seasoning, no garlic, no butter. I could have heated a potato to room temp, punched it and used an ice cream scooper and hoped something resembling a green flake stuck to the mess for a similar result. The scampi was delicious. The wood-grilled skewers, while meant to be kept simple, were a tad overcooked and could use a little more seasoning, but totally delightful when dipped in the butter-garlic sauce of the scampi. I'd devoured the scampi cuz I was still left hungry from the sheer lack of mass from the appetizer that cost as much as a full meal from Burger King. The waitress was accommodating and timely in checking in, so the prior negativity was buffered by her care of service. I ordered 1 more skewer and another round of scampi, utilizing the 1st round's butter-garlic mixture to make the potatoes a carby, high cholesterol saturated mess of deliciousness that I could at least appreciate a few bites of to swallow the cost of the 25ish $ meal. So, I've been helping dole out covid vaccinations, working 3 12 hour days, and, from lack of staffing had just worked 2 16 hr days in a row. I took my opportunities to sleep so I didn't make mistakes in getting ppl vaccinated so we can get back to normal life. I'd sacrificed eating, among other things, as a result. I had eaten a 6" sub, a 5 oz bag of chips, and 2 reese's cups in the 3 days prior to my visit for all you can eat shrimp at 25$ plus 2$ worth of mushrooms I paid 11$ for. The busser or another server comes from my backside, never turns to face me, looks at my wife as she's removing the appetizer plates and my first round of shrimp just as the 2nd round had been delivered and says "omg, he's just eating so much shrimp. Thats hilarious! Hahaha." Giggling as she walks off. My wife and I, both having a decade plus in customer service experience, had to check to make sure we both heard the same thing as we couldn't understand what had just happened. I kept my cool cuz I didn't want to cause a scene as I sympathized with the other guests trying to enjoy some sense of social normalcy and didn't want to embarrass my wife. I recognize that I'm 220 and bald, so anyone old enough to remember the early Simpsons might recall when Homer was kicked out of the all-u-can eat buffet for cleaning them out. I'd just received my 2nd helping of an all-u-can eat menu item. I couldn't even enjoy finishing the 3rd wood-grolled skewer I was so beside myself. $70 meal with 3 pleasant food points out of 7, a rocky start with an accommodating waitress, and I felt obligated to leave an 18% tip. The 2nd best part of meal was the...

Every Valentines Day weekend, my sister and her husband meet my dad and I at the Red Lobster in Kelso, WA.

This year was the same. We were seated impressively fast, and our server was also quick to tend to our table to take our drink orders. She was knowledgeable about the special alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. We were served our beverages not long after that.

When our server returned to take our dinner orders, she was very knowledgeable about the menu and specials. It did take a longer than usual amount of time for her to come back to take the food order, but the restaurant was exceptionally busy that night. Don't settle with that; the restaurant isn't getting off that easy.

The issues and reason for the rating are mostly due to the food itself. ~My brother-in-law ordered the shrimp special that was supposed to give him unlimited shrimp. The stretch of time it took the server to tend to his special between his shrimp plates was so long that he was only allowed one extra plate. By the time he received that (very small portioned) plate of shrimp, the rest of the table had long been done eating. ~My father ordered a meal with two lobster tails. The tails were not completely cooked through. He didn't want to say anything. His baked potato was also not anywhere near cooked through. The inside of the potato was raw and crunchy. He only ate the outer ½ of the potato. ~My sister and I did not order the same meal but we both had a side of mashed potatoes. That side was horrendous. It tasted like 5 day old instant potatoes that had been cooked with only water and not seasoned, then left to dry out before slapped on our plates. ~I ordered the shrimp and scallop skewers. The first and largest scallop that I ate was raw inside. The shellfish all together was oversalted and overseasoned. The best thing on my plate was steamed broccoli. Ewe....

Only the freezer section deep fried foods actually lived up to expectations.

Considering the circumstances of a busy restaurant, the delays might be acceptable except that it was the weekend before Valentines Day. Any restaurant that would become busier than usual during certain times of the year, would know to staff up.

Due to the hustle we observed from our server along with the rest of the wait staff, I am presuming the delays of service can be attributed to a lack of proper staffing support. This is such a regular occurrence at restaurants, it seems to have become an acceptable excuse for delays. The truth is that management or owners have placed unreasonable and unachievable duties on the wait staff causing them extra work at lower pay due to loss of tips.

The undercooked food, though, is inexcusable. It seems kitchen staff was completely unprepared for what would obviously be an exceptionally busy night. Some restaurants might rush food a bit too quickly but a chain restaurant that specializes in seafood should NEVER put it's customers at risk the way the kitchen staff did that night.

A restaurant that is considered to be higher quality Cuisine at a much higher price than other restaurant chains, would also be expected to not serve instant or baked potatoes that were inadequately cooked.

I'm not usually this harsh but a restaurant that failed to sufficiently prepare for a exceptionally busy night, let their hard working wait staff down and left a bad taste...