Red Lobster — Restaurant in Saint Joseph

We had a party of 6 and arrived shortly after 3pm! Waited over 20 minutes to be seated because nobody was anywhere to be found because they were all doing god knows what in the back! We did see one girl that was stocking the bar and saw us multiple times and didn’t even acknowledge us! Lucky us she ended up being our waitress! Three of us ordered the all you can eat shrimp feast for $20! We ordered and waited over 30 minutes for our food which was confusing due to us being the only people in the restaurant at the time! Dirty tables all around us! When food came she told us plates may be hot…they were not and neither was the food! We told her since it took so long for our order to come out we would go ahead and order our next round of shrimp! Started eating and than about 20 minutes later she comes back by and asks if any of us would like dessert…uhm we haven’t even gotten our next round of shrimp yet so she says oh let me go check cause I didn’t see it back there! Pretty sure it was due to her not putting the order in for it! Finally get it and never get offered anymore…so much for it being all you can eat! The shrimp Alfredo I received was disgusting…pasta was sticky and very little sauce on any of it! She finally comes back and we ask for the receipt and 2 to go boxes! Never see her again! Finally after sitting for another twenty minutes my husband got up to go to the bathroom and asked the hostess if someone could get us our ticket so we could leave! No reason we should’ve been there for two hours when they weren’t busy! The hostess went to the back so we thought ok our waitress will bring ticket! Nope she completely ignores us and goes to her other two tables to make sure they were good! Finally I asked rather loudly if there was anyone that could get us our ticket and guy walking by carrying boxes just drops them on the floor and goes and gets someone to get our ticket! An older lady finally brings our ticket and drops it on the table and practically runs off! Great so now we get to wait until someone comes back to take our card to settle our bill! Guy with the boxes walks back by and I said is there anyone that can take care of this so we can finally leave? He gets all huffy and very rudely tells me the manager was just at our table! She comes back and is also very rude while I explain to her why I’m upset and she takes my card and receipt and tells me she’ll bring me some gift cards for our next visit and I told her if they were for this store no thanks cause we won’t be returning! She ended up taking $50 off our bill which to me our whole meal should’ve been taken care of because everything was cold and as I said earlier none of us got the endless shrimp like we ordered! Oh and even after I told the manager I asked for to go boxes over 30 minutes ago she just ignored me so the food we did try to take we couldn’t because nobody would bring us boxes! And even worse than that the biscuits we got were so old we could’ve used them for hockey pucks! We asked for more thinking they’d be fresh and nope...

Avoid this place. They don't give two sh1ts about their customers.

On a Tuesday that was slow it was a still a 25 minute wait when only six tables were seated. Then there was a group of six standing there and they told us that they had reservations. They had been there for 35 minutes. That told us everything that either the kitchen or the staff were questionable so we left. Please avoid until they get their act together.

Update:

I contacted the company as they asked. Here is the BS canned response I got from them. Please read and make up your mind if they give two sh1ts about your experience in their business. For one I will avoid them.

BTW, I am not taking my 3 year old to a bar no matter the place or the time of day.

"Dear Michael:

Thank you for your interest in Red Lobster.

At the beginning of your dining experience, our staff makes every attempt to seat you as quickly as possible. Sometimes the number of guests being served during our peak periods can cause a wait to be seated, such as on weekends or holidays. I can understand your disappointment for the wait you experienced and offer my apologies. To make your wait a little more comfortable, I invite you to visit our fully-staffed bar area where you may wish to order beverages and appetizers during your wait. The host staff will notify you once your table is ready and I'm confident the rest of your visit will be worth the wait.

It was good to hear from you, and I hope you’ll reach out to us again if there’s anything we can do for you in the...

I went back after a bad experience with curbside to go to see if it was any better. It wasnt. Both times I have tried curbside to go I felt like the quality of the food just wasnt the same as if I dine in. Oh and I forgot to mention ..both times I parked in their parking lot and ate so there was no degradation of quality by transporting it home.

The food was brought out on time but in both cases the food was barely warm but I can get over that being to go. The crab cake was a signature add on and was burned. It really just seems like the food is thrown together and sent out the door. I have not had the same experience dining in but do not dine in restaurants yet due to covid.

Just a warning to anyone using curbside to lower expectation if your experience is anything like mine has been twice now. I like red lobster and will come back when I can dine inside. I will not be coming back for takeout.

UPDATE -- I did go back and dined inside and as expected everything was great. The service was relatively quick, the food came out as expected and hot. Our server was attentive and Red Lobster seemed to care about the cleanliness of the place as I did notice that when other patrons left the establishment almost immediately someone went to the table and sanitized it. Good job...