Red Lobster — Restaurant in Madison

I love Red Lobster, but I was sorely disappointed in my experience. My first clue to how the experience would go should have been the lack of acknowledgement when we initially arrived. A small trio of young ladies were giggling and gossiping behind the hostess podium. They didn't even notice us until we had been standing there for a moment.

It was a very dead time of the day and there was only one other table eating in the area we were sat at. Still it took about 10 minutes to even see our waiter come out. They took our drink order and we told them we wanted the endless shrimp so they went ahead and put that in. Once our food was brought to us we did not see our waiter again for at least 20 minutes even though there was hardly anyone around. I saw them chatting with other waiters and disappearing into the back, but they never stopped to check if we needed refills, which we did, or see if we were ready for our next round of food.

Finally I had to stare at them and make eye contact to get them to come over. We ordered our second round of shrimp and got our drinks refilled. The last time I saw our waiter was when they brought out the second helping. We both ate around half of our second helping and then sat there waiting to see our waiter again so we could pay and ask for to-go boxes, but they never came back out. After about 10 minutes of waiting I walked to the front to see if a hostess could get us a box only to find a small line of people waiting to be seated, but no hostess around.

Frustrated I went back to my seat and waited a little bit longer before finally just getting up, going around the thing and grabbing my own to-go boxes. We paid at the table and walked out. A shame this is the only Red Lobster in town. I love the food, but I won't be returning with that kind of service. Bonefish Grill will just have to suffice. At least I won't have to drive across town to be...

I don’t live close to Madison so its rare when we get to stop in to Red Lobster. If I could give this place zero stars I would. We walked in and waited six feet from the other couple there. We waited for a good amount of time starting to get impatient but all we could think about was their cheddar baked biscuits. We were determined. Well anyways, the host did not greet us or even acknowledge us. He looked busy so we waited patiently for him to even look up our way. Which there’s no way you could not miss us we were standing right next to the podium. He was very rude to the other guests and made it very clear by his attitude that he hated being there. If your the first person people see coming into a restaurant you should know how to greet your guests, I would know I work at a restaurant as a hostess also. After 20 minutes of standing there some other people went up and asked to be seated. He said, “30 minute wait can I get your name.” I just looked at my friend confused he never once asked us for our name or said anything to us. Are we suppose to do his job for him by greeting him?? So we step up to the podium which was right in front of us and say “are you going to seat us before them we’ve been standing here for 20 minutes and you haven’t said a word to us?” We were being so patient about it this whole time. He just snapped at my friend and said, “Well usually I wait for people to approach me” I just shook my head in disbelief. Like WHAT?? Are we just standing here in your doorway for fun?? We should not have to figure out how to do his job. Like the whole point of a host is to GREET people. So instead of arguing with this arrogant guy we took our money elsewhere who was more deserving of it during these hard times for businesses. Needless to say we left very confused, upset, and most importantly sad that we didn’t get the cheddar baked biscuits.....

Update: The problem was rectified, and I will come back and give this place another chance. Once I do that, I will update my entire review. 1st update: changed review from 1 to 3 stars

Absolutely awful. The food was bland and overcooked. We spent almost two hours here, and it was not even busy. We spent $150 on the absolutely garbage seafood boil that was overcooked and unseasoned. Everything was shriveled up, which shows that it was overcooked.

The drinks were also awful and took 20 minutes to come out every time I ordered a drink. I would order and twenty minutes later the server would come back and say, “I am still waiting on your drink.” There were probably a total of 10 tables and no one at the bar. I have no idea why it took so long other than maybe the server forgot, but I have no idea if that’s even the case. It took the server 30 minutes to even greet us and ask what drinks we wanted in the first place.

The biscuits were gross. The alcoholic drinks were just sugar and water. The boil was gross, and the lobster was far too overcooked along with the boil being overcooked. The entire atmosphere was poor too. Everything was sticky (the tables, doors, handles, etc.)

One side note, the table behind me even asked me what I thought of my food. I gave them a grossed out face, and they said, “RIGHT?! Isn’t it so bad?!” They were also shocked with the poor quality, and we both agreed on the reasons why it was awful, which was sad, but reassuring.

The smell was so awful as well, not because of the fish, but just an old greasy, musty, sticky restaurant smell, the one where you walk in and know they don’t clean very well, if at all.

The lamps and tops of the seating were very dusty. There was a spider, spider webs, flies, and dust on the lamp on my table. I 10000000% do not recommend anyone to come here. You will most likely regret it. I...