Red Lobster — Restaurant in Springfield

We visited the Springfield location Sat. Evening 3/11/23 approx.7:30. Seated table 122 check#21034. Hostess was short with us, we were seated in less than 5 min. Our waitress , Arheaya A took our drink orders and delivered water shortly after. About 5 min. Passed and she returned to get appetizer order. (Fried green beens) informed us that biscuits would be along soon 15 to 20 min pass and they arrived. We ordered at this time she tells us or appetizer should be along soon. Still no drinks! By now it's after 8:00 and our drinks arrive. Mine a beer that had been sitting (ring around top from foam that settled) my girlfriends margarita was all mixer an liquor. She returned it. Asking for it to be removed from our bill and got a beer. At this time our waitress which has been polite explaining why it's taking so long is the kitchens fault. Further explanation that our meal had been turned in before the larger table beside us because they were all steaks because they take longer ( when delivered none were steaks ) Our entree arrived at approximately 9:00 Coleslaw missing from girlfriends order she ask for and never received. Our food was all good and hot. I ask for additional cocktail sauce that came at the end of the meal. While we waited throughout the evening I had ample time to look around and noticed at the employee bar entrance there was a young man in street clothes hanging around helping himself to drinks and eating, also in the same area was a waitress vaping , there were a number of what looked like non employee or customer's that came in and hung out or lingered in the dining area. Our waitress was helping a gal that broke a glass clean up just before serving us, left me uneasy about cleanliness,then saw our waitress digging through what looked like a trash can. Our bill came , the margaritas had not been taken off so we had to ask again for it to be removed. Over all experience was poor at best. Even had to ask for additional to go box's. As mentioned the waitress was polite but the Service was poor. In the past we have enjoyed this restaurant but will have a hard time returning to this location and hope its not a chain...

Update Changing to 5 stars...Red Lobster contacted me and offered a gift card to make up for the previous experience. We ordered take out tonight, create your own 3 course, the admirals feast, & 2 kids popcorn shrimp meals. Everything was absolutely perfect just like many times before. I'm so thankful they wanted to make it up to my family and they definitely did tonight! Thank you Red Lobster for making things right, we appreciate it!

Previous Review 1 Star We ate here tonight, it was the worst food I've ever had at a Red Lobster. We were seated, not given silverware, the appetizers plates were dirty, the biscuits were falling out of the bottom of the basket, and that was just the beginning. Then we ordered the endless shrimp...this use to be awesome, sadly it was horrible. I got bacon shrimp scampi and shrimp linguine Alfredo to start. The scampi was terrible, a bowl full of butter...and the linguine tasted like burnt plastic. We never received refills or were asked. We were never asked how the food tasted...when it came time to pay, the waitress didn't say anything, just came over to the table, turned the digital cashier thing around and walked away. I then proceeded to pay and it didn't have a cash option. The waitress was at the table behind ours taking their order and she interrupted them to say you can pay with cash now...so I did, gave her basically no tip at all, never received a receipt, never received a thank you, nothing....definitely not worth almost $80 for 2 endless shrimp meals, a hamburger with fries, and a kids popcorn shrimp....absolutely the worst experience I've had at the Springfield location. I would have rather went to Long John Silver for 1/2 the cost and better food. The table across from us was having a family birthday,...the birthday guy ordered salmon and received a dry chicken breast, the waitress said no that's what you ordered and he said if I wanted chicken I wouldn't have come here....that was after waiting over an hour for their food...terrible customer service and awful food...wasted $80 bucks and I could have had better food digging through my trash...

This Red Lobster is hit or miss. Sometimes it’s amazing and everything is just right and sometimes it’s an absolute disaster.

Tonight was the latter. Arrives a little after 5p to very few customers cars in the lot. When we walked in, the GM was literally fondling himself in front of the hostess up until we walked up to the hostess stand to be seated.

Of all the seating options that were available, we were sat next to a very loud table. For what was to be a romantic evening for us turned into an unwanted lesson about their lives and what they were doing. We learned all about cows, chickens, the breeding cycles of ground hogs and lots of mindless chitchat, all at loud volumes. All 10 customers in the restaurant heard everything this table said.

The server was good, but not exceptional. She only brought one basket of cheddar biscuits. She was cordial but not overly engaging, and she brought the check while we were still eating our meal.

During our meal, the manager came and asked us to take the survey while mumbling, threw the card on the table and walked away.

The live lobsters are gone, the tables have no table cloths, the napkins are paper and the food is expensive for what it is, which tonight was like warm and flavorless. My wife’s boil bag, she said was good, so adding that to the menu was a plus, but the small amount of food in the bag was not worth the money I spent.

Look, I know the new owner wants to be everybody’s friend and turn a page. However, this particular establishment leave so much...