Red Lobster — Restaurant in Orland Township

I've never been to a Red Lobster, so I was pretty stoked when my good friend and her bf said we could go. We went on a Sunday night and got a table right away. Our server, Blake, came to our table and all seemed well....at first. He asked my friend for her drink order, which was just water. My friend happens to be vegetarian, so she asked if she was able to get the cajun chicken pasta without the chicken and add vegetables. He immediately seemed flustered by this request. He said he had to go and check in with his manager to see if they were able to do that and he didn't know how to ring it up. He came back and told her, in the most round about way, that they were able to do that. He then left the table and still did not take drink orders. He came back a few minutes later with those lovely cheddar biscuits and then asked me and her bf what we would like to drink. He left the table, yet again, came back with the water I ordered and a beer that her bf ordered. Her bf also ordered a water alongside his beer, but never got it. He never asked if we wanted appetizers or anything. He took orders for food, my good friend once again reminded him that she didn't mean to hassle him about the "no chicken" since he seemed so uncomfortable with the idea of asking to nix the chicken. He then said "No, we'll make it like you want because we want you to be satisfied." I began making my order and wanted to make to make an addition of an appetizer to my meal. I couldn't think of what it was called right away and started to look back in the menu and his response was "just tell me what you want." We asked for more biscuits while we waited, which he forgot coming back to the table. Our food finally came out and after all the hoop-lah about whether my friend could get the pasta without chicken, there lay several pieces of chicken. This is after the waiter made her feel super uncomfortable for even asking such a thing because he had never had anyone ask that before. Really? All they had to do was leave off the chicken. If anything that saves them money because you know they're still going to charge full price for that entree. Overall, the food was mediocre. The pasta had large chunks of thyme and had no cajun flavor at all. The fried shrimp basically seemed like it was something that could have been purchased in a value, frozen food section. We had to ask for more water after our cups had sat empty for quite some time. When he brought my cup back, it had the same two lemons I squeezed earlier and an additional squeezed lemon that was not. On an ever grosser level, he had his finger in my water while carrying it back to the table. When we were finished with our meal we asked for boxes and an additional batch of biscuits to take home. He brought the boxes, said nothing and walked away. He came back to grab our plates and instead of politely asking for my friend's bf's plate, he made the "give me" gesture with his hand. He dropped off the bill and didn't even ask how we were paying. I wanted to use a coupon for my meal, which I showed him and he immediately went to get his manager. The manager, Jay, came over and immediately accepted the coupon. She asked about our experience and we couldn't hold back. Jay was very apologetic and about our experience and to ask for her if we plan on coming back. I can't say that we'll be back, but we'll definitely...

Had a horrible dining experience about two weeks ago. I was going to give them two stars because Jackie the manager did come over and make things right but that does not negate the fact we were treated HORRIBLY. CeCe and Stacy were extremely rude. Hostess set us in the back right next to the kitchen, very loud and high traffic area. It was a random Tuesday around 2:30pm. Not crowded at all and plenty of tables available. Before I could get a word out asking to be sat somewhere else the hostess zoomed and left and went back to the front (very rude). We waited for at least 5 mins for Stacy to come to the table. We asked her if it was ok to move because we didn’t want to sit next to the kitchen (plus it’s plenty of tables open… She gave us an immediate attitude walked away and said ok. So we moved only two tables over and which it appears to be the waitress CeCe area. CeCe saw myself with my parents and did not acknowledge us. Again I’m taking note of ALL of this. Very politely I say hi will you be our waitress? She gave us a very nasty look of disdain and told us to hold on. She went to the kitchen. Then Stacy comes back. Stacy told us she was going to be our server “because CeCe did not want to serve us”. Verbatim!! First of all who talks to guests like that??. I work in Customer Service so I am just watching everything she’s doing and taking mental notes. I’m being just as polite as I can be. Stacy is screaming from the back “YOU OWE ME CECE, YOU OWE ME. ONLY FOR YOU” Where she is obviously talking about us and wants us to hear it. I felt like I was out somewhere on the street. Stacy comes back to the table with more attitude and looks of annoyance, meanwhile CeCe is walking past our tables rolling her eyes. We certainly were not being treated like PAYING customers. So we got up to leave. I am not going to pay for food and then be expected to be tip and treated poorly. I have NEVER had to speak to a manager regarding a waitress attitude at a restaurant but Red Lobster Orland Park gave me my first experience. That behavior definitely had to be reported. It was abusive treatment and I’m not going to stand for it. I come out to a restaurant to enjoy my family and have some good food. Also you could tell that this is not the first time they acted like this. If they did that to us, they have probably treated other guests like that as well. I will give the manager Jackie credit. Because she did make things right. She was exceptional and set us in the front with a better waitress. Those servers are making Red Lobster look bad. Even from the hostess that greeted us: did not make any eye contact, did not smile, did not say welcome to Red Lobster. Red Lobster used to be such a fun restaurant back in the day. It was just a horrible dining experience at the Orland Park location. I will never go to this...

I left my last review because the last time I ate in the restaurant that was my experience. Since they have done a rebrand I decided to come back with my daughter. 10/10 experience. My server Yosa was very nice and accommodating. She was very well educated on the menu and suggested things for us. The biscuits are always the star of the show. This visit I had the lobster dip. I never ordered that. 10/10. It was hot but so good I kept trying to stuff it in my mouth. Largest chunks of lobster with great flavor. Titos Strawberry Lemonade from Happy Hour menu. Good price and it was delicious. My daughter had clam shower. I tasted it. Hot and so much flavor. My daughter had a burger and fries. It looked really good. I had the seafood boil. Mariners. Added sausage for a fee. Cajun. Level Spicy. When I say good. 2 clusters crab legs. Lobster tail. Plenty of shrimp. Go get it now. I ended my dinner at the Lobster Punch drink I had the last time I visited. Did not disappoint. Just head on in and enjoy yourself at the new Red Lobster.

Old review: I've been to plenty of locations in my lifetime. But on my first time here I was wildly disappointed. The best thing I had was the Lobster Punch and I'd come back to have that again. They deliver us one pan of dry biscuits and never offered us another. We had a bowl of clam chowder. Both mine and my daughters were delivered cold. I told them and they took them and microwaved them and gave us the same bowls that had sat at our table. The crab legs were cold and I was already tired of asking them to fix things. It took more than 5 minutes for our server to show up. And to make this better when I woke up the next day I had a run of diarrhea and thought I wasn't going to make my flight at 0700 because I had to keep going to the bathroom. Since that was the only food I had since breakfast that day I'd say that it was the Red Lobster. They have a new menu. But the service and the experience and the excitement attached to the name...