Red Lobster — Restaurant in Rapid City

Unfortunately this area (Rapid City) is not a hub for seafood- it isn't surprising that the seafood at thia establishment is just ok. You get what you'd get at any other Red Lobster. Unfortunately this is about it when it comes to crab or lobster and I was fiening for some crab.

The host that seated us was a young and chatty man - kind of refreshing to see, so that was nice. It was better than the finger point I've gotten from other hosts (you know, when you walk in, they say follow me and just point at a table and chucked menus down?) So I appreciate you, young man. Some might have found him too chatty (hows the weather?? Is it snowing?? Is it sticking?? Whats your plans today? Are you doing anything fun?) but I love when people are polite and trying to make connections to other people.

My favorite part of this experience was when we walked in and were waiting to be seated, I saw a sign advertising a drink and food special. The drink was a mojito of some sort. My husband likes mojitos and I was teasing him and said "look babe, a moe-juy-to" using a hard j sound and a phony redneck southern accent- I know it's pronounced moe-hi-to, with an H sound. This young waitress (who couldn't have been but 16) loudly corrected me when walking back into the kitchen. My husband and I giggled - but surely she didn't think I was serious?

I'm 30 years old. And maybe I'm not the most educated, but I know how to say mojito. It's an inside joke My husband and I have to say certain words funny like fajita (fa-ji-ta, like vagina). Honestly it was funny and I can only assume that wasn't the first time this girl had to correct someone on the pronunciation.

My husband did oder the mojito, btw. It was just ok.

I got some plate with lobster tail, crab legs and shrimp scampi with a side Caesar salad. Im not sure if it was just me or what but the lettuce had a slime to it. I didn't eat much of the salad. When the main event came I got what I expected - nothing world changing. Just lobster that was cooked maybe a touch too long and some skinny crab legs that tasted very frozen and very old. I get it is a commercial chain and I wasn't getting seafood flown in fresh. However, I've had crab here before and it was much better the first go around so not sure if they got a bad batch from from vendor?

In short, you get what you'd expect. It was...

My bf and I go here a couple times a year maybe. It's a compromise for me as they always mess up my steak but my bf always gets his seafood meal cooked well. I always order my steak medium with no perppercorn seasoning, since they always over season. Last night was no different. My bfs new Orleans style salmon came out good, he only ordered the half but it was a large portion still. My steak came out, I cut in to the center and it looks cooked, medium. I start taking bites and it's burnt on the bottom, dry on the outside edges other than the very center, and tough, the broccoli was lightly cooked raw broccoli. I don't like going to restaurants and having to send food back but I go to restaurants for perfectly prepared food and at red lobster you are paying a higher price for a smaller steak than what you can get at a steak house similar in dining style. They took my steak and broccoli back, I had already eaten my mashed potatoes (which were good). Brought me a new thin cut steak barely cooked, I could tell before even cutting , it was rare, broccoli again not cooked right and actually more raw than the first. I didn't bother saying anything about the broccoli, we just put it in the to go box with the rest of my bfs meal. Sent the steak back it came back medium but as always when sending a steak back to get cooked it came back dry, I didn't bother saying anything. I ate it anyways. We didn't get biscuits until shortly before our meal came out, we had our app and salads done by this time, we weren't offered any more either but I left that alone since I was having to send back my steak and broccoli. The server was nice and mostly attentive, we usually get offered more biscuits. He did offer us a dessert for our experience. I am leaving this review finally in hope that they will learn from it. I would rather have my meal cooked perfectly the first time than have discounts and dessert. I hope the next time I make the compromise to eat there that I can actually enjoy it instead...

A year later, we came back (Sept 2025). I didn't think the food could get worse... but it did. Seriously bland, little to no flavor with the shrimp linguini. Scampi was overcooked and rubbery. Very disappointed. While cutting costs is important, it shouldn't be at the expense of quality and flavor. We love Red Lobster and dine in or carry out once or twice a month sometimes more. However, over the past few months the quality of the food has taken a huge down turn. While prices on everything are going up, and Red Lobster itself is under huge financial problems, they need to realize you cannot cut back and use cheap ingredients in an effort to cut costs. Many menu items have been eliminated (bummer, but I get it) but many of the long time favorites have had substitutions which have affected the dish. Some items have been completely substituted.

We were in a few days ago during the peak of dinner time (5:45). There were less than 10% of the tables filled, mainly with one to four guests. Plenty of servers.... and yet getting service - then getting our food right - was a struggle. We had no modifications to our meals, yet several things were left off our plates (sauces, sides) and we had to ask the server if those had been eliminated even though it was still listed on the menu. The tiger shrimp in the shrimp cocktail was very tough. One order was the crab carbonara (crab fest special). The crab was very sparse and you could tell it was not the usual fresh crab but instead canned crab that hadn't been drained (very soggy). We had to ask the server about the bacon that was to be in the dish, and she pointed out a few very tiny specks of what apparently was the bacon ("it all comes in a mix and we just dump it in!"). The other meal, shrimp 3 ways, was very overdone with all the shrimp tough and chewy.

Red Lobster, do better! We're rooting for you to pull out of this, but it isn't going to happen when you cut...