Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews — Restaurant in Tilden Township

MANAGEMENT ATTENTION NOAH IS AN ABSOLUTE GEM!! Seriously, if yous have any management positions opening you should REALLY consider him, that kid is going places!! Last night (12/21/21) ordered online from the parking lot because its 4 days before Christmas, and the place was PACKED. Noah approached my car minutes after I had submitted my order. I told him my order wasn't ready yet as I had JUST entered it. He playfully said "let me check on it anyways just in case we are THAT good" I gave him my name and with a smile he ran back inside, and boy am I glad I did! I hadn't realized that my order had been sent to a location almost an hour away, but because of his gentle and playful persistence HE DID catch it. He quickly alerted a manager to the issue and came back with an order sheet to take my order and then even went through the trouble of fast tracking it so that we didn't have to wait any longer due to the mistake that was 100% on me. He then went even further, and brought out some of their bottomless fries for my daughter and I to enjoy while we waited. I had asked him about how the refund process works as I had already paid for the online order. He said "it usually doesn't process immediately, but in case it did, I will take down your name and phone number and give it to my manager to keep in the office so if you have any issues they know who you are". He brought my food out not nut 10 minutes later and I asked his name,(I didn't tell him it was to write this review) he told me with a smile and then asked me mine in return and wished me a merry Christmas by name! I worked in the restaurant service industry for 4 years. I was even a Red Robin employee a million years ago and helped open the Exeter location, which means I received corporate training. Let me tell you, in all my time as a patron and (briefly) as an employee of Red Robin, I have NEVER seen or received service from a RR employee that better embodied the "customer experience initiative" that RR corporate believes in, than I did last night from Noah. Thanks for all that you do, and hang in...

We arrived at 3:25 pm to a nearly empty restaurant—only two cars in the parking lot. After standing at the host station waiting for someone to greet us, we were finally seated.

It took about five minutes for our server to come by. Since we were already hungry, we ordered drinks, an appetizer, and our entrées all at once. Normally, the mozzarella twists come out hot and fresh within about five minutes. This time they took 15 minutes to arrive, were only lukewarm, and had no cheesy pull—clearly they had been sitting.

Our entrées (Yum Yum Tavern Burgers) took nearly 25 minutes after ordering, which was confusing given how empty the restaurant was. When my burger arrived, I had specifically requested no sauce but asked for mayonnaise. On opening the bun, I found wilted brown lettuce that looked unappetizing. The burger itself was only lukewarm, and the Caesar salad had the same problem—brown lettuce with barely any dressing.

At this point I was frustrated, as the food was well below expectations. When the server checked in, I asked for the manager. Five minutes later, she returned to say he was “on the phone.” When he did arrive, his appearance didn’t inspire confidence—gray shirt, scruffy, messy hair. I showed him the wilted lettuce and explained the burger wasn’t hot. He offered to remake it, but I declined due to time.

Shortly after, another female employee came by, again asking if everything was okay. She was another manager, dressed nicely. I explained the issues and showed her the food. She offered to remake both the burger and salad. The manager gave me a card and encouraged me to come back. She also brought hot fries (overly salty) while we waited. The new burger came out hot and much better than the first.

While I appreciated the second effort, I’m still confused as to why the food was so poor to begin with—especially in an almost empty restaurant. The lack of attention to quality and presentation was disappointing, and unfortunately the overall experience fell far below Red Robin’s...

Let’s start with a positive. I was seated immediately. That’s pretty much the end. The waitress gets a C. She was adequate, but more on that in a moment.

Despite the fact that this place is about 5 miles from my home, it’s rarely my choice to eat here. But I’m recovering from an accident, and I’m currently limited in my mobility, and so I’m trying to keep my carb count low. Researching some of the local restaurants, I saw that their chicken Ensenada was low carb, and it sounded fairly tasty.

So I was seated, I ordered a soda and my entrée at the same time. I then pulled out my phone to watch a baseball game. I had watched two full innings when the waitress came by and asked, “Didn’t you get your food yet?” I hadn’t, so she went to check on it. 10 minutes later she came back and told me that somebody must have lost it. I have no idea who somebody is. Was it the kitchen? Was it the waitress? How would I know@. But she told me that she was “fast tracking” it and it should be up in two minutes. More than 10 minutes passed before she finally did bring it.

She told me that they didn’t have silverware, so she gave me a packet containing plasticware. The sauce for the chicken had been spilled, half still in the cup and half on my plate. The chicken itself was very overdone, and warm at best. Additionally, the wait was obviously inexcusable.

And the worst part? When I looked at my bill on the electronic table POS, it showed that I was charged for my meal, and then it was comped. And then I was charged for it. So, at some point, somebody made the decision to comp my meal, and then they decided not to. And they showed me the evidence that this happened.

They are really not losing a customer, because, despite my proximity, this was the first time I have been there in probably three years. But this visit affirmed my decision not to return. And hopefully, others will learn from my mistake.

Matt Wagner, you’re not running...