Red Lobster — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

Yesterday we decided to check out the WS red lobster for the first time. Arrived at 4:55 pm there were no seated bar guests, handful of guests seated at visible tables. A manager I’m assuming since she was out of uniform and in a casual pink shirt sat us at our table with menus informing us that our server Chris would be RIGHT with us. About 20 minutes later Chris arrived and said he would be with us in a moment. He had a few tables so we excused the wait. No big deal. By 5:30 pm we finally were able to give our drink order we asked if we were supposed to ask for their famous cheddar bay biscuits now since it was our first time at this location (we had just watched all the surrounding tables that were being cared for by the other employees just receive fresh biscuits some upon greeting) our server said he would get an order for us shortly…after walking away another server arrived and asked our server if he could pick any tables up as he was visibly frantic and clearly could not handle the tables he had, our server said no he was “good”. The bartender on staff had come to our table to ask if anyone was taking care of us as we were sitting at a table with only menus on them for over 35 minutes at that point. 8-10 minutes later we finally received our drinks, the grand margarita I ordered was spicy I double-checked the description because maybe I misread that there was an ingredient that made it a spicy margarita… I had not. Let our server know that the margarita was spicy and I think that it may have been made incorrectly he apologized and I reassured him that I knew it was not his fault. As our table was directly next to the bar and my direct view was the bartender had made and placed two margaritas, a beer, and a frozen margarita. He took our order and the drink away to be remade. The bartender either had a break or was doing something elsewhere. 10 minutes later my partner received his ceases salad but we had no silverware so we had to catch our server's attention to get silverware at that point he told us that he would be back with the bread shortly (again after 55 minutes of being seated and asking about said bread that never came) 30 minutes after our server took my drink away to be made correctly he had picked up another margarita that was definitely not my grand margarita because 1. I had seen it be set down next to the original drink I had after the bartender initially made them and 2. The grand margarita was supposed to have a sidecar of Grand Mariner (was brought with the initial drink that was incorrectly made) this one did not and had sat at the bar's service counter for nearly an hour. When our server tried to bring that drink telling me that the bartender made it in the back. I said I watched that drink sit on that counter for almost an hour that is not my drink and the server just walked away. At that point of being there for over an hour, I was baffled. SLOW horrible service, never received the biscuits that are Red Lobsters huge marketing push to bring customers in… no food aside from the untossed Cesar salad that had to sit in front of us for 8-10 minutes before flagging our server down to bring something as simple as silverware to our empty table was brought to our table…then in the over and hour horrible time we were there not once did the manager stop (who passed us multiple times) to do a table touch at our table. At this point and not being able to find out server I walked up to the host to apologize but we were not going to continue to wait as our experience so far was baffling and we were going to leave… let her know I was upset with her and it was not her fault at all. Is this really how dining at a Red Lobster goes now? Is this how the general manager runs this restaurant? Is this their standard of service? We left and went to another seafood restaurant with significantly better reviews and had better QUICKER/FRIENDLY service, correct drinks, silverware so that we could actually eat the food in front of us that was brought in a timely manner and thankfully didn’t waste the rest...

So… date night for the wife and I went like this …. let’s go to an inexpensive restaurant with good food, great service and friendly staff( what a TOTAL FLOP) choosing Red Lobster.. first we arrive around 7:54pm the Host asked for our number for a invisible waiting list due to plenty of open seats for two and advises it will be a 15-20 mins wait …so we go to the bar for a drink to kill some time and placed our order placed our order at the bar since our promised 15-20 mins were up- the bartender let’s us know she will let our waitress know we have already ordered and just to bring our food to the late table . By 8:30 we are being seated. While we’re waiting it’s almost identical to the Dixie classic circus. Visually looking in as a patient I can read the frustration on each employee face of frustration how TERRIBLE the communication is off and so ready to get the night over with, and by 8:55 our food comes out totally incorrect. Steak was tough , lobster is boiled when it was ordered as grilled and I asked to speak to the manager- AHA he is the who delivered this mess that he wouldn’t dare eat! He goes to explain how under staffed he is as if he wanted to hand me and my wife an application, didn’t take accountability for ANYTHING and didn’t introduce himself before speaking. I had to request a remake of the food and advise this service is giving “APPLEBEES” he looks at me and say “what do you mean” I replied low budget under staffed and under pressure! And suggested a remake. While waiting on the remade food I hear another table complaining of the food and service . An apology could go a long way especially with great customer service skills. Austin get your staff under control and learn to work under pressure unnoticeably. The food ended up being free. However I would have enjoyed it more with great service hot food and well...

Ok food quality. Food was prepared properly (not under or over cooked) and served hot. Staff was friendly and attentive, even though we were a large group (about 20 adults and 4 or 5 kids). My main complaint in cleanliness of the dining area. I was starting at a filthy lamp right in from of my face covered in dust and hair for the entire meal, hoping nobody would bump the lamp and send the dust and hair flying into my food. Speaking of flies, the back corner window had one buzzing around, but more disturbingly, it either had some sort of brownish over-spray on it or hundreds of fly spots. Speaking of residue, the table top was sticky like either old kitchen grease (you know the stuff that gets on the top of a refrigerator that hasn't been cleaned in a decade, the stuff that just laughs at full-strength dish detergent) or the finish on the tables is deteriorating. It's sticky enough that if you try moving a glass by sliding it, as kids are prone to do, it WILL tip over. In fact 3 out of 4 kids tipped over their drinks (luckily the lids held in all occurrences). You can't slide napkins etc, as they stick to the surface. This isn't the feel of a table top that simply didn't get wiped down well enough, it's the feeling of long-term neglect, or sticky summer time church pews, for those who remember attending a church (or still do) that isn't air-condition in a hot/humid environment, the kind where if you sit a while, you have to peel yourself and your clothes "OUT of" (not just OFF of) the surface finish. They definitely need to pull an all-night cleaning party out in the dining room. I HOPE the kitchen and food prep areas get a lot more...