Red Lobster — Restaurant in Vineland

I went in there the other day, the Aura was already bad. I had my children with me. It was definitely giving a very racist atmosphere. Now I have been to most of the red lobsters for example in deptford and always had an excellent experience so I didn't expect less. Boy, were my kids and I were in for a surprise. First it was 5 of us and were sat down at a round table in the middle of the room, extremely uncomfortable and just odd consider there were other tables and most of them had booths with two people. The wait staff were extremely ignorant, we sat down and waited while everyone passed us either rolling their eyes or acting like we were not there. There was one girl, a waitress, we watched as she stood I'm front of this elderly couple trying to enjoy their meal just rambling the same three lines over and over again watching them eat and not moving a muscle. She was going out of her way ignoring our table. She literally stood in front of the couples table for the whole 20 minutes, they weren't saying anything to her,just looking bothered and uncomfortable. It was a room full of white customers and we being POC were completely ignore. I decided to take my kids and I to the bathroom, then came back still not even a person came by and ask if we wanted a drink turns out all that "busy" staff that were just standing there doing nothing was trying to figure out who got our table. It was a very ignorant experience. The tension was just horrible. I saw the manager obviously he saw us too sitting there like outsiders. The room was not busy, it was not overly crowded with people and white people that came in after us got serviced and seated in another area, mind you, we have never been to this red lobster before and never will go back. On our way out the multiple wait staff that was there was waiting on new people getting them drink etc we did not stay for the meal, we talked to a random waitress that showed up I guess she just got on duty on top hour of 4 but it was already 5 o'clock do it didn't make sense. We explained it was a racist atmosphere and we did not feel comfortable staying and spending my husbands hard earned money. We got up and left. When I got in the car, I called to speak to the manager to get a complaint on note because I was definitely not happy, his response was deny racist intentions even though I told him how long we been there and the nasty attitude his staff had, his answer was we have staff of all races, where? In the kitchen, that was a all white staff.. Nothing against it but it definitely was not the "not racist" grab he thought it was. It was an absolutely horrible experience. Do not go here! Note I said racist atmosphere and not racist people, they were rolling their eyes as they walked pastvour uncomfortable table acting like we didnt exist. They were awful! The manager actually admitted to seeing us and not even he tried to make sure we were okay. Definitely do not go here. Go to any other place but this one. Trust me! It's...

Could not honestly give more than 2 stars as our female waitress seemed like it was a bother to do her job and wait on us. We arrived yesterday around 3:30pm near empty restaurant. She had no people skills and barely greeted us wanted to rush our ordering twice we weren’t ready and she then left us to make us wait when we were ready. Then throughout the entire uneventful uncomfortable dinner she was very inconsistent with serving us. Never asked to refill drinks nor if our meal was satisfactory or needed anything else or even if we wanted dessert and coffee! Very unacceptable level that even basic training would have helped her. She didn’t bring my partners take out container making us wait there too. We think she gave our container to another table. The manager did stop by as we were dining but we didn’t really get a minute as he too seemed to just be in a rush to say hello. We may have told him all of this I am writing but we’re already uneasy and didn’t want to escalate our displeasure to ruin our evening further. 👎. Would have loved to enjoyed our first time return visit in many years. As far as seating customers, Which really amazes me that there were so many empty booths and shortly before we left this female employee had to seat a couple directly behind our table! Why can’t you space a booth or two or even three away from ours so we wouldn’t have to hear their conversations??! Ridiculous just use common sense. It’s different if the place is full. Unacceptable. I worked in restaurant management and customers don’t prefer to have others seated right next to them.

The food was just average and portions are small and price is too high for not even having soup /salad included with the meal The only positive was the cheddar biscuits are still good. But we won’t be back red lobster. Sorry you disappointed us. The service was poor and food just average. Needs major training improvement of staff.

Update response to owner:I don’t use Facebook not necessary as I posted all of my experience here thought that’s why we have google reviews.. it was pretty detailed so you should be able to figure it out . The location was the Vineland, nj restaurant. We dined at 4:30 and it was table 7. 2 guests bill was $60. It’s good you are concerned because the server needs better...

My daughter wanted to go here for her 10th birthday to try lobster. She loves all other seafood and wanted to try it (also wanted the biscuits). She talked about it for 2 weeks. We got there ans had a party of 10, we were told to wait a half hour over an hour later still no table. I said we could sit at separate tables. Normally we would not want that long but it was for my daughter's birthday. If I knew it was going to be over an hour wait. I would've said just do separate tables. The other half of our party walked out after they didnt have any beverages. But we stayed because of my daughter wanting to go there for her birthday. So...they did not have any draft beers, no Pepsi, no milk, no Sierra mist, no apple juice, no Italian dressing, then...my daughter's lobster was severely overcooked! Inedible, mine was also very over cooked but edible at least. My husband's chicken was flavorless and extremely dry (he doesn't eat seafood) he did not eat it. The best part was my Ceasar salad and French fries. Now, my server was excellent and very apologetic although nothing was her fault. We did get a 30% family discount and a free appetizer and a free dessert. Although our server was technically family (my daughter's sister) so I think we may have gotten the discount anyway. I'm not a complainer normally BUT this was the worst experience as a guest I've ever had. I was a server for 6 years and understand the business very well. This establishment needs much better stock management and honesty with the customers. Also they don't have sufficient enough menus and silverware for the restaurant? They were literally not seating tables because they didn't have silverware or menus for them? That's an easily addressable issue. I feel bad for any server who has work in those conditions and has to constantly apologize and lose tips due to things that are completely beyond their control. I still tip well. Hope this can raise some awareness and fix the issue. Will not be back to the red lobster...