Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews — Restaurant in Orland Township

I have to confess that I love Red Robin burgers. They may be more than a burger from most other establishments, but I think they are one of the better burgers that can be had in the USA.

That makes this review so disappointing to write.

I placed an order from the the local Red Robin in Orland Park, Il on Sunday night shortly before 7pm. The order number ended in 9238, and the online ordering system confirmed the order would be ready for pickup at 7:10pm.

So I drove up to Red Robin to pick up dinner. I arrived at RR promptly at 7:11pm, and placed the call to the front desk to let them know I was on site to pick up my order. No worries. I was chatting with my son, so I went back to the conversation while I wanted for them to bring my food curbside.

I didn't think about it in the moment, but order did not come out right away. After a good solid 30 minutes, I realized that my food was not out, so I called back into the front desk to see where my order was. I was told that my food was running late, but that it was coming out in the next 3 minutes. I was a little bit concerned, but was reassured by the woman who knew my name, and what curbside spot I was parked in. So I thanked her, and was chalked it up to a busy Sunday night.

Fast forward another 25 minutes....

My food has not shown up, so I call again to the front desk. By this point, I am very concerned that my order is lost, cold, or otherwise somehow hopelessly screwed up. I gave my name and curbside spot number to the agent who answered the phone again. After a short delay, I was told my food would be out in 5 minutes. In fact, this time my food was out in 5 minutes.

My food was delivered to me an hour late.

I was home in less than 7 minutes, and my family was waiting for me so we could eat dinner. Sure enough, the food was COLD. Not lukewarm, but COLD. It is clear than the order was in fact ready a long, long time before it was brought to me, but because the of the poor food service operations of this Red Robin, my order sat for probably 45 minutes.

I have witnessed poor service from this Red Robin pre-covid, on multiple occasions and chalked it up to the quality of the staff training. Post covid, employers are able to be more discriminating in the employees they hire. Unfortunately, in this case, the restaurant management is simply unable or unwilling to maintain the Red Robin standards.

I am going to have to give up on Red Robin in the SW...

We arrived at about 5:15 and were told it would be a 15 minute wait because they were only seating one section due to a shortage of employees. I saw three employees hovering around the hostess stand and two waitresses waiting on the 5 tables that were seated. When we were seated, I asked for a booth. We were seated at a table with two chairs and a long bench on the other side that spanned the length of 4 tables. The purpose of requesting a booth was to contain our two children. After struggling to keep them seated, we asked our waitress if we could move to one of the 2 empty booths that were cleared (there were also 2 empty booths that had been sitting dirty). We also requested crayons to go with the kids menus. Our waitress took our drink orders and disappeared. After 10 minutes, my husband got up and grabbed crayons for the kids. About 20 minutes later the waitress returned with 2 drinks and took our food order. While waiting for our food, I brought one of our children to the filthy bathroom. The floor was dirty, garbage overflowing onto the floor, counter soaking wet and the mirror had water and soap streaks all over it. When our food arrived, we asked about our missing drinks. I had ordered the wedgie burger rare and it came out with no bacon, well done and a huge chunk of nasty brown lettuce. It was sent back and my husband requested to speak to a manager. A woman dressed in what looked like pajamas with her stomach hanging out brought my food and drink out and apologized and said it would be taken off the bill. When our waitress returned, she informed us that that woman was the manager. My husband requested to speak to her again. He explained that because she hadn't introduced herself, he had no idea she was the manager. He then went on to explain all the issues we had. She basically stood there blankly with nothing to offer, not even an apology or any sort of explanation so my husband told her we wouldn't be paying for our meal and we left. We will not be returning to...

I'm just shocked this place wasn't packed like the neighboring places. It certainly deserves to be. It was a split min decision to dine out as we were in the midst of Xmas shopping. I wanted something fast. The kids wanted to sit at a dine in. As we were driving down 95th Ave, the wife said, how about Red Robin.. I sang, Red Robin, YUM... and we went to check if there was a wait. There was not. We were promptly seated and served with a great big smile. The service was way above average and our waiter was a sweetheart! Very personable and accommodating. The refill I asked for was served in a to go cup which i appreciated because though we enjoyed our stay, we had to get back to holiday shopping. She is great at what she does! None of us ordered burgers for we had just had some the night before. We had a table of 4. The kids had mac n cheese with fries. They were served almost immediately after we got our app. We got the fried pickles. I would visit RR just for the fried pickles. Get those! The kids got to eating and were happy as can be. The wife opted for a low carb option. She ordered the Chicken and Salad platter. She had nothing but good things to say about it. The flavor, portion size and dressing. I had the fish and chips.. the best fish and chips in town I might add. I was blown away by the taste and quality. I'm so glad I was not in the mood for a burger cause I found my new fave fish and chips spot! I don't think I've ever ordered anything else besides a burger from RR. I will now be more inclined to try other new things on the menu in the future but I highly recommend the fried pickles and...