Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews — Restaurant in Los Angeles

July 6th, 2021 I received my birthday reward for a free burger. I ordered the pineapple burger which is one of my favorites. I like the Whiskey burger as well. I was looking forward to some delicious "garlic" fries, but it went south real quick. A first. With my first batch of garlic fries I requested extra garlic. What I received was a 1/4 cup of oil. Okay, it happens, let's try it again with no complaints. Geez, the same thing. I put ketchup on trying to salvage the fries, but a waste and straight to the trash. I asked the waitress who was the chef that made the fries and she said she'd have to check. I eat my burger.. Super yummy. Okay, waiting and nothing. She brings my bill. I pay it. I'm done. Over comes the manager Ricky who offers more "garlic" fries but by this time I'm bummed, lost all taste for them and give it a pass. I show him the oil and he says he'll remember me next time I come in. Well, I paid the $1.49 extra for some horrible oil on my fries. I believe the courteous thing to do would have been to have credited me. I still love their burgers and I usually go in the evenings with friends or my mom and I've never had a bad batch. I was there for my birthday burger and some great garlic fries and to "purchase a $25. gift certificate" for a friend's birthday.. I had taken her and another friend about a month ago and introduced them both to the "garlic" fries along with their lunch which they loved. Hoping the next visit will be filled with garlic.

☆☆☆☆☆Yari was my attending waitress. I ordered the pineapple burger with garlic fries, extra garlic. Perfect in every way! Sat and read and ordered another batch of amazing garlic fries and Yari brought another glass of water. Since it was close to closing time I asked if I could stay and continue reading and was given the okay. Yari gave me the 15OFF of my bill because of the coupon I received as a Red Robin Rewards Member. Although I paid my bill and sat quietly reading, Yari was kind enough to ask if I'd like more water or something else. I gave her a well earned 25% tip and thought how nice it was to be served by someone who genuinely cared and made you feel welcomed and not just another ticket order....

I had an awful takeout experience at this Red Robin.. I ordered a Pub Wings (on the bone) Appetizers and a side of Zucchini Fries (which are described as "zucchini in a light tempura batter, fried crisp" with an accompanied photo of zucchini sticks showing a lacy, see-through batter. Firstly, the zucchini fries were TERRIBLE and not at all as described on menu. They were NOT lightly covered in tempura batter--they were the tiniest strips of vegetable covered in HEAVY, SOLID crumb coating. They looked like fried green beans. You could taste ZERO zucchini. Under all the breading the zucchini strip inside is about the size of a wooden matchstick. Literally!! They were disgusting. I also ordered the Pub Wings with BBQ sauce on the side. The 8 Wings were so very small and dried out I couldn't believe it! A couple were even in broken chunks. But I still got only EIGHT measly little wing chunks. They forgot to include the onion straws the are supposed to be included (the whole reason I ordered the Whisky BBQ flavor) and the Yukon chips the wings sit on (to fill up the plate obviously) were hard as poker chips. There was LITERALLY not even 2 ounces of meat from all 8 Wings. Two or three of the wings were less than 2 inches long. On top of their tiny size, they were over cooked to the point of being thoroughly dried out, stringy and leathery. Just pitiful. Considering this appetizer is $13.00 it was shocking. A throughly terrible meal. They did fulfill my request for sauce on the side, bleu cheese dressing and extra BBQ sauce. That's a positive. But those sauces were completely unnecessary since the wings, chips and zucchini were so sub-par. They included ZERO napkins, but did include a whole bunch of ketchup I DIDN'T ask for. The menu is so small outside of burgers that it shouldn't be difficult to get deep dried wings right. They're literally on just about every other restaurant and fast food place menu. Don't order either of those items here. Since I live more than 25 minutes away, there was no way I was driving back there to correct this or get a replacement. So now I'm still hungry after wasting over $17.00 on dinner. Don't order...

We've been going to Red Robin for decades, it has always been a good place to eat. This visit was one star off. We arrived and no one was at the front. A kitchen worker brought out food to a waiting Dasher and another person waiting for pick up said he had been there for ten minutes. Not a great sign for a GrubHub driver to be waiting that long without being acknowledged by the host staff.

Mind you, this was a Thursday night, after the rush hour had calmed, the place wasn't packed. When the host finally came out, my husband held up two fingers, she grabbed the menus and walked away, we followed. She wandered towards the kitchen and around a corner, to a spot right outside the kitchen door. This table was between the bar and the restaurant. Let's call it "overflow" seating, or the worst seats in the house. The table and bench seat were unclean and sticky, the table wobbled so bad that my husband put the front of his shoe under the leg to his it steady. The self pay kiosk was stuck to the table. It was comically awful.

The host barely looked at us, just put the menus on the table and walked away.

I'm giving service 5 stars, but not for her. We barely dealt with her and the rest of the staff was awesome. The bartender took care of our order, she was attentive and on top of keeping water topped up and knowing when we needed her to come around.

The food came out hot and exactly like you'd expect from Red Robin. It's less fresh tasting than it used to be, which seems to be true of too many chains. The steak fries are always delicious, these were great as always.

Conclusion: The host has one job, this one failed on all fronts. Red Robin has always been our family's go to for burgers and shakes. It would be nice to see it refreshed and fresh food would go a long way...