Red Lobster — Restaurant in Mesa

Last Friday we were having the old "where ain't we been in a while?" discussion and when I suggested Red Lobster her eyes lit up... mostly because crab legs are one of her favorite foods. Even though I am not a fan, I have always enjoyed their other offerings. Plus the dark ambiance of the restaurant, though unloved by some, makes for a feeling of intimacy.. the exact opposite of your average sports bar. We arrived at just after 4, thinking it would be early enough to beat the crowd. Wrong... The place was packed with the elderly, mostly snowbirds, judging from some of the outfits... and I only saw two families with children. (People watching can be fun...) We were told it would be about a 20 minute wait, but in almost exactly 7 minutes my beeper went off and we were promptly seated.

Everything on the menu looked tasty, but the sirloin and shrimp combo caught my eye, with mashed potatoes and broccoli as my sides. She, of course, ordered the crab legs and got the farm vegetables as a side. With plenty of beers to choose from, I got the Sam Adams, which went wonderfully with the cheese biscuits. Her entree' came with a salad, which she knew she wouldn't be able to eat, so I said "Get the Caesar salad and I'll eat it". It was crunchy and coated with just the right amount of dressing. Yummy!

When the food arrived, I thought maybe there was a mistake. My sirloin looked like a filet minon. False alarm... it was a sirloin, but man was it thick. It wasn't the most tender of cuts, but it wasn't boot-leather, either. The shrimp had a slightly smoky taste from being grilled... tasty nonetheless. I even dipped a few in her clarified butter just because I could. The mashed potatoes were great and the broccoli was... broccoli. (Something I eat mostly because its good for me.) The coleslaw was a pleasant surprise. The taste was perfect, the cabbage was crispy, and it wasn't "swimming" like you get at a lot of other places. I ate all of mine and would have eaten more had I not eaten so much already. My date's crab legs were "delicious" and she liked the vegetables as well. They are an "extra", but worth the expense. The portions are pretty ample here, so neither of us had room for desert. With the tip included, the tab was just shy of $100, but well worth it. I don't go there often, but when I do, it's...

Last night I order for pickup from this location. When I made my order I told them repeatedly that it was a really large order and NEEDED to be right tonight as it was for a birthday party and many times in the past my food has been missing or incorrect. To the extent I've stopped ordering there for my whole family and only pick up a meal now and then when someone wants it. When I arrived the manager Ally decided she wanted to go thru the bags with me because of the issues in the past. Good thing we did cause the entire order was wrong. Multiple entrees extra that I was being charged for, multiple missing food items and sauces. Literally this took over +20 minutes as my food sat there out of the bag and continually opened the boxes while she struggled to figure it out. I drove the 2 miles home, less than 5minutes to start pulling boxes out and realizing they were ice cold. A slice of cake was the same temperature as my bake potatoes. I called and Ally refused to admit that there were issues with the order when I picked it up. Just told me that's why we went thru it, when I told her she should have gone over it while it was being bagged in the kitchen since that was her first time realizing everything was wrong while trying to show me the bag. Tammy was extremely rude and insinuated that we were lying even though I saw her around the store as I was in there for +20mins trying to get the order straight. She said she wasnt going to do anything about the whole meal being ruined and wouldn't give me corporates contact. After we got off the phone I started trying to reheat the meals when I found in a container of broccoli a BUG. This is the SECOND time from this place I have found an insect in their vegetables. Tonight when I called to let them know about the bug they were "too busy to talk." Everytime I've let the problems I've had with this store go and accepted however they wanted to correct the issue. I am not being heard, I am disgusted about the bug, and really unhappy being called a liar when I spend $250-$300 on almost every order I make at...

I used to think Red Lobster was one of the finest places to go to eat, the problem was you always had to wait 30 minutes or more to get a seat. Over the years the quality of service has gone down, it's sad it's one of the places I used to go to and it's one place where my first husband proposed to me. It's sad to see such an icon go south so far. I took my son there this evening so he could have fish and chips and I could have some shrimp or Lobster, but the group of four people that stood at the front of the restaurant didn't even acknowledge that we were standing there. Now one of them may have been a patron but there were three other people there that could have at least said hang on just a second we'll get you seated ,or at least acknowledged that we were there, yet they looked at us vacantly like we had just appeared out of thin air . When I said excuse me did you want to seat us tonight? They continued on with their blank stares with one glancing up and continued to Fumble on with whatever he was attempting to do behind the counter. without uttering one word to either Myself or My Son. If I where the manager of this place I would wonder if your employees really have your best interest in mind. If you wonder why Friday nights are as Rowdy as they used to be and your profits just aren't there it start paying attention to what Your employees are doing, because it isn't much. Sad to say if it continues I don't see Red Lobster being open much longer not with the employees you have right now. We took our business up to Dana Park where there is a wonderful little seafood restaurant, that has awesome waiters that are professional and pay attention to what they're doing and the staff that is friendly and caring but actually appreciate you being there. Along with the nice tip that we leave when we have good service. Red Lobster you could learn quite a bit...