Red Lobster — Restaurant in Medford

TAINTED SEAFOOD: My adult son and myself, traveling from Seattle, WA to Marysville, CA, and exhausted from travel, stopped for the night at Medford, and got a hotel. It was late, the only thing still open was Red Lobster, so we drove over to get something to eat. We both ordered the Admiral's Plate Dinner, and my son also ordered oysters on the half shell, and I added a lobster tail to my dinner. The dinner for two with tip, came to $102.58 (June 20, 2018). By the time we got back to the room, my son was not feeling well--he immediately went into the bathroom and closed the door. I just collapsed on the bed, not feeling all that chipper, thinking the long drive had worn me out. A short while later, my son came out, not looking well, and told me he vomited up his whole dinner, oysters first. Then, he sat on the toilet and had profuse diarrhea. He told me he was sure it was the oysters. I still didn't feel well, so I went into the restroom and had a bout of diarrhea. I didn't feel the wrenching gut my son had felt, just a little nausea and diarrhea. The next morning I was determined to call Red Lobster, but they weren't open, so my son and I checked out of our hotel and got back on the road for home. That day, I had three bouts of diarrhea; and because I wasn't close to a bathroom, had to end up changing my clothing three times. Advice: Red Lobster looks like any other Red Lobster. You could walk into the restaurant and not know what city you were in, unless you knew first, of course. They are all decorated in the same decor and appear fairly clean to the eye. The bathrooms, likewise, appeared reasonably clean. I would advise anyone eating at Red Lobster to ascertain when the seafood was delivered--how fresh is the seafood? Obviously, something was wrong with both of our dinners. My son's dinner was obvious, tainted oysters--not anything to mess with. Restaurants have an absolute responsibility to serve absolutely fresh oysters, especially when they are eaten fresh on the shell. RED LOBSTER FAILED TO SERVE FRESH SEAFOOD--THEY SERVED TAINTED OYSTERS to my son. I seemed to get diarrhea from the dinner--I can't absolutely prove it, of course, it is just a matter of cause and effect observation. I ate the seafood dinner at the restaurant and later had diarrhea when I previously didn't have diarrhea. So, what.....? Dirty hands, utensils, cross contamination, ...what? I can't say, and I sure don't know. I only know how embarrassed I was to have to change my clothing three times the next day because I couldn't make it from our car to a public restroom in time. Even with Red Lobster's handicapped parking, and handicapped bathroom access, and table access, even with great decor, even with pleasant wait staff (ours was very pleasant), that does not end the responsibility of the restaurant to serve fresh seafood and to ensure the cleanliness of the food reaching the table. My bottom line advice: Now you know the risk. Perhaps ask yourself if it is worth it to eat out at...

On our way back from California we stopped for a couple nights in Medford, Oregon. On mother's Day my husband and I ordered online for pickup from the Medford Red Lobster. I placed the order for online pickup. It said, ready in 77 minutes. Which was 6.01pm. We got to the restaurant pickup spot at 5:55pm. I called and let the woman who answered know we were in spot 1. She sounded alittle annoyed but told me she would let them know. After 15 minutes one of the staff came out and gave the man next to us a order and as the employee walked in front of our truck he looked at us but said nothing, only looked annoyed. As we sat there another 15 minutes a couple employees came out the back corner door, looked our way and started talking and laughing. I kindof thought it was odd that they looked at us a few times on and off but after about 10 minutes went back in. Eventually a car pulled up and a different guy came out and handed a order to the person and they drove off. It had been probably 45 minutes by that point so my husband asked him where our food was. The guy said he'd go check and got the name. He came back and said there's no order for that name. They had already charged our card when we ordered online. My husband got out to go in and told him we have a order for almost a hundred and had been sitting there for almost an hour. He follwed him in and the employee asked another person about our order and they checked and said there's no order. The guy that asked about our order then walked away to see what was going on and came back with pur order. He said he found it. Let me rell you what I think happened. I think because we didn't tip our order was put in a place out of the way, so we would have an issue when we got there. Red Lobster is not run in such a unprofessional way and has high standards for staff and food. We have visited numerous Red Lobsters in different locations through Washington, Oregon.... and have never had these issues anywhere else. We don't tip if we pick up the food and you aren't serving us. That's a choice not a demand. It makes more sense to me now why the first employee looked right at us in a strange way when he walked in front of our truck, after he handed a order to spot 2. Then the two employees in the back door repeatedly looking at us and laughing. I guess they think that's paybacks. Now for the food. The whip cream in the containers for the cheesecake was water by the time we got our order back which was only about 10 minutes away. I'm sure it was that way by the time they found the bag. Order cold. The Bar Harbor Lobster Bake for $42.99 and had less noodles and shrimp then any other Red Lobster I've ordered from. Its my preferred dish. I would never order that small amount for $43. I asked for no muscles whenever I order it. Also should be buttery but it was barely buttered. The cheescakes we ordered were frozen solid. It doesn't defrost quickly. A few hours later...

5 stars to Logan. Just amazing and awesome!! He deserved the tip we gave him for being amazing. 2 stars because the shift manager (a man) was constantly going on break, the hostess seemed over worked and under a lot of pressure with no management or waitstaff assistance. The staffing shortage has effected everyone but seriously...this restaurant had so many wait staff walking around and leaning on walls and the bar yet so many waited over 40 mins to be seated (like my family) in an almost empty restaurant. I personally didn't see a reason for the hostess to be bussing tables and tending to the front at the same time when so many seemed capable of helping her. BUT LOGAN IS AWESOME! HE WAS ATTENTIVE, HELPFUL AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...A HAPPY HUMAN WHO CLEARLY LOVES HIS JOB AND THE PEOPLE HE ASSISTS. HIGH 5 TO YOU LOGAN!!! ** SEE BELOW: As for our food order... small portions, brussel sprouts were over cooked, appeared burnt and super salty. The salmon was over cooked and just flavorless. The lobster was rubbery and the fried calamari was tough. It was like a fried rubber band in breading. No baked potatoes because the oven was broken. The shrimp cocktail literally had 5 shrimp...uhm...why only 5 shrimp? The Mac n Chz was great but everything else should have been great too and it just wasn't. We spent alot of money on a celebration dinner for our teen daughters who recently tested and passed their Black and Brown belt tests only to not eat most of the food. This was a crazy and disappointing experience food wise in every aspect possible. Applebee's might have been a better choice at this point and would have cost us $100 instead of...