Red Lobster — Restaurant in Orem

Three of us dined in from out of town and were met with not the typical Red Lobster experience.

We normally love Red Lobster, but noticed the vibe was off this visit. We arrived at this location at 7pm, and were sat quickly. The hostess was unsure of our servers name initially, but as a former hostess, it happens.

We waited about 20 minutes for our server, Jimena, to take our drink orders and at that point we also ordered food. We ordered 2 drinks from the bar and 1 non-alcoholic beverage as well. We received the non-alcoholic beverage fairly quickly but the bar drinks took 10-15 minutes longer.

Our food, an order of crab and two endless shrimp orders took about 40 minutes to receive, and in that 40 minutes, our server avoided eye contact.

When she did bring our food, she had someone helping her by bringing side orders of mashed potatoes and broccoli to our table, but when they walked it out, it was clear that they had no clue where the items were supposed to go. She also did not bring a tray stand and was clearly struggling with the tray as she was trying to pass out food. The food runner she had helping just stood there and watched her struggle.

She brought the crab and one of the endless shrimp orders first and the second order took a noticeable amount of additional time to receive.

Only twice in our 1.5 hour trip at that point had our waitress acknowledged our wait. As people who have worked in food service, we acknowledge that some of the service was not her fault. She had, what appeared to be 4+ tables, and as we waited and other people came and went, they experienced very similar issues.

Finally, we had a ton of plates on our table and got to a point where we ordered a second order of shrimp for our endless shrimp and, despite our best efforts, had minimal space on our table to put our plates, and while walking away with our refill orders, she could have taken our plates to free up some space, but did not.

We acknowledge that English did not appear to be her first language, and she seemed extremely new, she was definitely trying, but except for in the case of the one person helping her by running out our sides, she did not seem to have the support from the staff or management she should have had.

Overall, we did not have a great experience, and as we were leaving (2 hours later on a Wednesday night), noticed that our entire half of the restaurant had not appeared to be bussed in a while with dishes piled on every...

Overall review on the food:

Appetizers

Complimentary Cheddar biscuits: Dry and tasted like it was made a day before.

Stuffed Mushrooms: Dry and lacked that decadent feel we are accustomed to.

Clam Chowder: The soup to oil ration was about 70% soup 30% oil.

Dragon Shrimp: Advertised as fried shrimp that is coated in Sweet Chili sauce. We were served fried shrimp with Sriracha Mayo drizzled on top.

Entrees

Bar Harbor Seafood Bake: Advertised as being served with petite lobster "tails". I received 1 lobster tail cut into 2. I can count fam. Sauce is watery, like that one time that Orem flooded, with little flavor. Mussels were great. Shrimp was not seasoned and very bland.

Surf & Turf- Steak was overly well done..like they unalived the cow twice for good measure. Fried shrimp was decent. Our experience, high level recap

We were excited for a date night at the Red Lobster in Orem, one of our favorite spots from the past. Parking was easy, and we were seated promptly. We requested a more intimate table, and the staff kindly accommodated us, which we appreciated.

While the timing of our orders was fine, the main issue was the food and service. The server accidentally filled my husband’s drink with water instead of soda, but quickly corrected it. My husband's clam chowder arrived with an unusual amount of oil on top, and our stuffed mushrooms and biscuits tasted dry and old. We also weren’t offered more biscuits, which is typically standard.

The biggest disappointment was the Dragon Shrimp. Instead of the Sweet Chili sauce we expected, it came with Sriracha mayo. I raised this concern with the server, and he casually mentioned that if it was an issue, we could let him know, rather than addressing it proactively. Despite not eating the shrimp, we were still charged for it. Throughout the meal, our server seemed disengaged and unconcerned about our table.

Though it was a disappointing experience, we still left a good tip, hoping to support the staff. Sadly, we will not be returning to...

POSITIVES: Jenny was an amazing waitress. She was funny, kind, and very helpful with bringing our food and refilling our waters, as well as answering our questions. Some of the decor was quite nice, and the booths were comfortable. The wagyu bacon burger was marvelous. I could literally taste each amazing part of the burger: the tender, juicy beef, the crispy bacon, the wonderfully aged white cheddar, and even the bun. The fries were perfectly crispy. And let's not forgot the whole reason anyone comes here.... Those cheddar bay biscuits. Absolutely fantastic.

NEGATIVES: some of the food was a let down. I would've liked the mozzarella sticks to be breaded more... But who knows, maybe they're frozen and not made in house? The marinara sauce was too runny (almost like dipping it in tomato sauce instead of a thick, chunky marinara). The flavor was there, but the texture was off. Also, a lot of the food was overly greasy. The hamburger buns, the lettuce, the mozzarella sticks... It all felt like it was just soaking in grease. Funnily enough, the fries were probably the least greasy item, next to the biscuits. One other thing, my wife's fork wasn't cleaned very well. Wish I had taken a picture of that, but it had residue and some food stuck to it just as she opened it from the napkin.

PRICE: expect to pay anywhere from $11 to $25 pretty person. Pro tip: the family feast is a generous amount that might help lower the price per person.

RECOMMENDED: honestly, any of their seafood. Shrimp, calamari, lobster, crab, clam chowder. Can't go wrong with a solid sirloin or wagyu beef...