Red Lobster — Restaurant in Tacoma

Well, this was by far one of the worst valentines I've experienced. First let's talk about reservations. I made reservations for 7pm, apparently a lot of people did. Now you would think having a reservation would at the least give you priority for your time slot over walk ins and late arrivals. But not here. We arrive, and there's a line out the door. I check us in, and they give us no expected seating time. We're standing around in a crowded lobby with no idea as to how long until we will be seated. When asking the host if they could give us an ETA, we were told that the manager was the only one who knew wait times, because they were telling the hosts who could be sat, and where. While waiting, the apparent manager called out the names of people they were ready to sit. Yet, they kept repeating the same names over and over. For over a half hour, I watched them repeatedly trying to call for at least 2 parties over and over.

Now I've worked in restaurants as both a hostess, and a waitress. If a party wasn't there when called after three or four times, we'd remove them from the list. If you missed your reservation by more than 30 minutes (unless you called to let us know you were going to be late) then you were removed from the list. No shows are par for the course in food service.

However, at 7pm onto 7:30pm they were still calling for 6pm reservations, AND letting people join the waitlist as walk ins. The restaurant was packed. I don't mean they were trying to catch up with 6pm reservations, I mean those same names they were calling over and over were 6pm reservations.

This restaurant chose to prioritize names who were on the list the longest, which could be understandable to an extent. But if you have called for them multiple times, and no one has came forward, you need to bump them from the list. Same for reservations who haven't shown up in a reasonable amount of time from their selected time slot. We watched as people walked in to check in, again around 7, who said their reservations were at 6. They were an hour late for their reservations, they should have been bumped as no shows a long time ago.

Then, the manager who was in charge of who was seated, was heard responding to someone checking in with a reservation by saying "EVERYONE has a reservation, everyone here has a reservation, it doesn't matter." Excuse me? And it doesn't stop there, when one of the hosts was asked about how their reservation system works, she responded by saying that a reservation doesn't reserve your time slot or a table, it only means that if you show up you'll have priority over walk ins. I'm sorry, then why make a reservation?

Even then, the bar was open seating, and I witnessed people actually approach tables that were occupied, and essentially harass the people there, until they left. That never should have been allowed. I also witnessed many people in the bar area who had very clearly finished dining, simply stay seated and film the chaos, with no intervention from staff or anyone.

When we were finally seated, we were quick to place our orders. Food took awhile to be delivered to us, but the kitchen was probably swamped, so I understand that. However our server never offered to refill our drinks, and was difficult to flag down in order to pay. Again, it was busy, so it's understandable. It was not my best experience at a Red Lobster at all.

I have no idea how they ended up allowing it to turn into this chaotic mess, but I know that I'll be going to somewhere where reservations actually matter and are handled properly...

I ordered online, rapid curbside pickup. My order was done at 6:07 I called when I arrived. I called again at 6:18...advising of my 2nd phone call, still waiting on my curbside pickup. It's now 6:27, still waiting....I'm very upset at this point. I'm going to get cold food. I'm about to make a 3rd phone call and speak to a manager because at this point it's unacceptable. Very disappointed. 6:29 still no food, no acknowledgment, no nothing. Is this what Red Lobster has come to? We're still spending 50+ a meal and the service has gone to a zero at this point. I am livid. Finally food arrived, no apology ... No sorry we're busy I apologize your food is late none of that. I called the manager, talked to Danny he was very cordial, very understanding. Agreed with me that this was unacceptable for service from a Red lobster and that the standard of service was considered low par. I advised I'm not looking for a free meal I just wanted to make him aware. He advised he was sending me a gift card through my email and that he apologized. He was very nice, very professional and definitely the kind of manager that Red lobster should want on their payroll. I will be coming back because he made me feel valued and appreciated. Nice save Danny! 😁 With that said after I spoke to Danny, got to finally eat my dinner only to find, no utensils (and I ordered them when I ordered my meal via the app) not one napkin...not one. I ordered extra tarter which was not in the bag....and for some reason I got sour cream, I ordered nothing that would warrant sour cream. So I had my birthday dessert which was ice cream and chocolate cake....I had to drink my ice cream from the cup it came in because I got no utensils.....this was not a great birthday dinner for me. Now I'm glad Danny had refunded my meal because the whole experience was a huge disappointment. Danny was the only thing that saved this experience from being a complete disaster. I'm glad I called and complained. I'll give them another try because the manager was the best part of the experience. He's a keeper. Well I checked my email and there's no gift card to replace the meal like Danny promised. Now the whole experience has been nothing but a letdown. I am completely speechless that this is my locally Red lobster. So I've sent a message via Facebook......and I'm just waiting and hoping I can update this review with the final chapter of the visit to Red Lobster. But I'm still waiting for exactly what that chapter will consist of. Will it be a good and just ending? Or will it linger in limbo waiting for an outcome that will never come. It is now complete. I have my comp meal via a gift card and I am appreciative and look forward to giving Red Lobster another chance. Thank you for not letting a bad experience be my memory and I look forward to having...

SEE THE BOTTOM FOR LAST UPDATE. Very good food and service. Nice decor and atmosphere. People enjoying themselves. Only issue, parking gets sparse and the closest spot by the doors is reserved for the manager rather than handicapped. He's the boss, can do what he wants but could cater to the people that keep the place in business. Update on the review, I took away a star because of several things. The booth we were given felt like it was for children, pretty cramped. Requested a table for comfort. We ordered the surf and turf steak and lobster, both of us wanted medium rare. The lobster was pretty tough getting out of the shell (still alive and kicking I guess). Wife received her steak and it seemed fairly small and flat and it was well done. Mine was done right, but seemed as though it had been pounded to tenderize it and started breaking apart as I cut. The sea salt fries were ok, but could have been done a little more. I think the wait time was excessive on this venture and we'll probably go to Sizzlers next time. I don't think the wait time is as much and we've usually been pretty happy with how the meal has been prepared. Ok, final update, I think, because there was only one person there and he was at the bar. One bartender. When we came in a gal told us it would be a couple minutes. Five minutes or so later we said screw it and went to Famous Dave's. Unfortunately, they closed their doors for good. So, on we go to Olive Garden. Current date January 9, 2025. Decided to take the wife out to lunch and give Red Lobster a chance to redeem themselves. Walked into the place and they weren't BUSY busy, but had several customers and multiple employees moving about. We were quickly seated and attended within a couple minutes. Our waitress Iliana (Iliana ?) was very friendly and helpful, knowing the menus well. We had the sirloin steak (medium rare)and lobster with side dishes. I had fries and asparagus, the wife had baked potato with the works. Both of the steaks were a little undercooked, but most likely because they were pretty thick. They were sent to the chef for correction and returned just right. The wife's side dishes were fixed correctly. My fries were good, but the asparagus appeared really young and seemed stringy. I only ate a couple and they tasted just ok. One thing we always look forward to, believe it or not, is the biscuits. Excellent, and be sure to enjoy when at least warm. So, those that read my reviews know I seldom EVER give 5 stars, so the lunch was well worth...