Red Lobster — Restaurant in Salinas

On August 31, 2025 at 6:30PM my family and I visited the Red Lobster in Salinas, CA for a family dinner. My wife and kids wanted to spend a lovely evening with my parents and sister as it was our last day in the state of CA and were returning to our home state of MN.

The restaurant was not busy during the time we visited and there were many tables open. We had setup a reservation ahead of time to ensure we were able to be seated. Upon arrival We were seated promptly by the host. The host was nice and even offered to let my daughter pet one of the lobsters. The server (Kenzie) took down our orders and did a great job serving us. My family members waited approximately about 30 minutes before our food had arrived. Everyone received their meals except myself. I was informed by the server that my meal would be arriving shortly after my family members received theirs.

The HUGE problem we ran into was the amount of time and lack of proper customer service from the Manager Estevan Campos. The server (Kenzie) did a great job acknowledging the long wait time for my food and went to the kitchen to check on the status of my order. Meanwhile during our wait, the manager Estevan Campos did not stop by our table to check in on how our meal was going. It wasn’t until after nearly 90 minutes of waiting I received my meal. I immediately told the server that I wanted my meal to go as I was not interested in eating my meal and we were limited on time at that point. It wasn’t until after I asked the server to box up my meal when a few minutes later the manager decided to stop by our table. I inquired with the manager why it is taking so long for me to receive my order because the restaurant not busy at all. He made excuses stating that there were many parties at the restaurant (there was not) and made more excuses. Not once did he acknowledge taking responsibility for the order taking so long nor did he offer to provide an alternative meal or being compensated in any way. It was nearly 8PM when I got my meal. We arrived at 6:30PM. Again the server (Kenzie) did an amazing job hearing out my frustrations for the long wait time and constantly checked in with the kitchen.

The manager Estevan campos did not bother to check in with us and introduce himself with us nor did he check in with the kitchen about what was going on nor did he go to the kitchen to provide support with the cooks. It wasn’t until after a long wait, nearly 90 minutes of waiting, that he chose to stop by our table. The only thing he offered us was a 20% off coupon promotion that was only valid during a certain time and also was given to everyone else eating at the restaurant. The manager did a poor job handling this situation. I chose not to demand compensation from the manager because I wanted to give him the opportunity to make things right. He did not. He instead made excuses for the long wait time and not once took responsibility for what was going on or provide any type of compensation.

I paid for my full meal and provided a tip for the server (Kenzie) because she did a good job handling the situation. Upon exiting the restaurant I asked 2 different servers the name of the manager because the manager Estevan campos did not say what his name was nor was he wearing a name tag. The manager was in the lobby and as I was nearly out the door when he stopped me and made another poor apology for what had happened. He stated he has only been a manager for 2 months and continued to make excuses. He also was the only manager at the restaurant.

This was a horrible experience for me and was handled extremely poorly. I am extremely concerned about the quality of service from the manager. If this is how he was handling this situation I can only imagine how other people at the restaurant were...

We went to Red Lobster because I was given a gift card for Christmas and we hadn't eaten there in quite some time. We were greeted right away from a very friendly hostess who sat us as soon as we came in. Restaurant is clean and quite spacious. They have a small seperate little bar if you don't want to be seated in the main restaurant. They have booths and tables for seating options. As soon as we were seated the waiter took our drink and appetizer order. Took us awhile to figure out what we wanted to eat because they give you A LOT of options and the menu is also new. We appreciated that the waiter gave us time to make up our minds and checked up on us at least three times to see if we were ready. My favorite dish to eat as an appetizer and main meal is their Coconut Shrimp with Pina Colada sauce. The shrimp is cooked to perfection and the outside of it is nice and crispy. The sauce is slightly sweet without being too much and I always ask for extra. I've tried their white wine steamed mussel appetizer before too and that is SOOOOO YUMMY! We also ordered the stuffed mushrooms which was also delicious. Honestly all their appetizers are pretty good and the portions are enough for 2 people. Their cheddar biscuits are always a favorite and comes to the table nice and warm...no butter needed! Sooooo....both my father and husband ordered steak one was a 6oz filet and the other was sirloin. The steaks was a little tough so I'd give it a 3 stars but the lobster and clam chowder my Dad had he was happy about. So I'd stick with just ordering the fish dishes and if you're a steak lover go somewhere else. Service I would give absolutely 5 star. Our waiter and the other waiter that was there was so attentive to everyone and checked on all their customers several times. The hostess also walks around to see how you're doing. Overall we had a nice...

I remember as a child Red Lobster used to be the business their biscuits were always fresh always handed to the table non-stop customer service and the food didn't look or taste like s* but for some reason I went back after over 8 years I tried some new stuff it was okay but seeing everything was just on the pot on low heat ready to be served not fresh as it was before you know and their key lime pie was horrible I remember it looked a lot more presentable I felt like with this one they just threw with Ash it on the plate put some drugs burgers on the side and said here you know and their cheese biscuits I felt they're undercooked like it wasn't it was like too doughy of course it was soft but it wasn't felt like he still wasn't cooked like I want it hard outside but soft inside everything was just soft all around and I suck balls so take it or leave it if you go great but if you don't even better I didn't get any like food poisoning or and food sickness by the way so they keep their s* in line other...