Red Lobster — Restaurant in Tallahassee

NEVER before been treated so rudely by management and then their corporate office. I will NEVER again give my business to this restaurant. So very disappointed at what was once a long-standing favorite. This was a take-out order as a treat after surviving a heartattack. I found the $40 entree very skimpy and the appetizers not properly prepared. One seafood dish was heavily breaded when there should not have been any breading at all. Did someone not know how to prepare the dish?

When I got there, two other customers were disappointedly waiting due to Red Lobster screw ups - one waited for an hour past their pick up time.

I used to love going to Red Lobster and, even though the takeout was much smaller and colder than dining in, it used to be a treat. Now, it seems that management wants only to TRICK you. Trick you into paying $40 for an entree that doesn't even fill the take-out container, isn't prepared right, and missing ingredients.

Then they want you to walk out after paying for it, without any food and without the refund or proof of refund. The corporate office compounds the problem by insulting your intelligence - the customer service representative said they are a "corporation" and that everything has to go through an "accounting" department. I wonder how many people they interviewed before finding that perfect fit for their condescending customer service agent? I wonder what their mission statement is...

What I am reading between the lines is that they do not trust their general manager enough to make a refund decision and submit a report on it. So, how am I supposed to trust the general manager?

When a corporate customer service person will talk down to you, it is time to take your business and loyalty elsewhere.

The only way things will change is to speak up. If I allow them to treat me poorly, the message that is sent is that it is ok for them to treat me that way. I don't believe I selected that option on the menu. I can get people to treat me poorly for free all day long. Why would I go to a restaurant and pay for someone to mistreat me?

To me, a restaurant is a place where a trained chef prepares a meal. If I can tell it is not prepared right, then there is a problem and management should step up as the public relations liaison to make things right. This did not happen here. I hope they will learn from their mistakes and improve the quality of their products and their customer...

This probably goes down as one of the worst restaurants I've ever had the luxury of going to. We were seated promptly, but after that, everything went downhill:

After 15 minutes of waiting for someone to take our order, I ended up having to go ask the hostess if anyone was planning on serving us tonight. Then, once someone finally came, she said she'd be right with us, and proceeded to take the drink order of the people sitting behind us. Then instead of taking our order before grabbing the drinks, she went on to go get their drinks before even asking us what we wanted.

Finally our order gets taken, and we get the famous cheddar biscuits and our salads, which was very good except for the fact it was served with a plate that had the last customers crumbs all over it, as well as a dirty fork. The server didn't even notice until I had to bring it to her attention, and it's not like the plate had one or two crumbs. The plate look like it completely missed the line to get cleaned up.

I also had a nice eye to see the bartender was too busy talking to a co-worker notice the ticket to make the two drinks, which was very apparent when I heard our server asking him where our drinks were and he responded "Oh, there's a drink?! Oh there's two drinks?!"

Now, let's cut to the main course. The food was cold and one of our plates was missing a side. When the missing side was finally brought out, it had a hair in it! Come on Red Lobster! I thought this was supposed to be at least somewhat fancy.

We talked to the server and she said she would get the manager. After what seemed like another extended amount of time, The girl said the manager took one of the drinks off to make up for it. As much appreciation went into that, it still left a salty taste that the manager couldn't be bothered to show his/her face to an upset customer. As a matter of fact, there was never any sign of a manager the whole time we were there at least to ask how things were. Thanks for showing that back office duties are more important to the service industry than.. well service.

It's safe to say that this will be the last time anyone in my family will set foot in this Red Lobster again. Try harder or don't bother unlocking the door when it's time to open...

Update: on 3/28/25, a little over 1 year since our last visit* This place has definitely gone down hill. I can’t think of one good thing to say about the experience. We could not be seated in Terikay’s section because they “rotate”. My mother upgraded her steak to the filet and what they brought was NOT filet and definitely not worth $27. It was the texture of cubed steak. Paid for loaded mashed potatoes, got plain potatoes with butter. No popcorn shrimp. No mayo. They told us they don’t even carry mayonnaise at all, even though they have a cheeseburger on the menu. They told us the orzo rice is just plain rice, but it definitely has orzo in it, so it was odd that they claimed it didn’t. It took 45 mins to get our food. Another 20 mins to get the check. Waitress (NOT Terikay!) was obviously overwhelmed, even though the restaurant was empty. Everything took forever. Silverware was filthy. We won’t be back any time soon. **

I can only speak from my recent experience, as this is not a place I frequent often. I’m not sure if it’s great all the time, but on 12/7/23 it was awesome. TERIKAY (pronounced Terry-Kay) is such a wonderful waitress; there really isn’t a word exceptional enough to describe her. Friendly, happy, high spirited, patient, and positive are only a few of her wonderful attributes. We just can’t say enough good things about her! The food was great as well. We got the lobster duo and the lobster with stuffed shrimp and brussel sprouts. Everything was perfectly seasoned and well...