Dry lobster at Red Lobster

Where do you people get these ridiculous notions? I've worked in
restaurants for over 20 years and most cooks are proud of the food
they serve. If it's not right, they will make it right. You do
realize that especially in chain restaurants there are kitchen
managers present? No one is going to risk losing their franchise
lisense just so they can spit in your food. And as a waitress, i too
would not serve food that i would not eat. And i would say that if
the cook put my food in the window. As a matter of fact i would
usually say,"does this look like something you would eat?" They redo
it or i get the general manager. Also if i ever caught a cook doing
something untoward with the food a customer sent back i'd report him
so fast it'd make his head spin. There's just too many tattletale
employees (like me) for that to happen. Do the words "urban legend"
mean anything to you? I swear if i had a nickle for everytime i've
said this i would be rich: IF THE FOOD'S NOT RIGHT SEND IT BACK. What
is wrong with this bunch of timid people?

Honey, next time, save some cash and get lobster from your local
supermarket. It'll be much better.

Btw, Red Lobster is owned by the same company as Olive Garden. Nuff
said!

Your first mistake was going to a fast food chain for seafood. You
live in Florida. Find a good local seafood restaurant who can do
lobster right.

You went to St. Augustine's, which, based on the map I pulled up, does
not appear to be TOO far from the Atlantic coast, and yet you went to
Red Lobster???

I am in Ohio and I would give my RIGHT arm to have some freshly caught
lobster, but they don't exactly thrive in Lake Erie.

There are tons of small, non-chain, seafood restaurants all up and
down the coast from New England on down that serve FAR better lobster
than anything Red Lobster could cook up (no pun intended).

But I do agree that if the lobster was objectionable enough to write a
letter to corporate about, you should have AT LEAST made mention of it
to the local management. They would have been in a better position to
do something about the food moreso than the corporate offices.

Very well written letter with a lot of careful thought put behind it.
I like that you explain the "chef's" doing stuff to food when it's
returned and then, to cut off the tons of letters you may get that
don't quite fit into your particular agenda, you blatently in advanced
dismiss any feedback from food service industry employees who have
their own view on what you "percieve" to be the norm, having worked
yourself in many food oriented places and having first hand knowledge.
Simply BRILLIANT on your part.

So why on God's Blue Marble would you walk into ANY food
establishment? You can buy lobster at any supermarket or fish monger
live, your pick of what is available. Even on vacation, most places
have kitchens or access to food prep equipment...some do not so you're
not plum out of luck. Pack a hot plate, a pot with a lid and some
bottled water. Voila!! a little melted butter and you have luscious
fresh moist delicately textured Lobster, in all it's splendid glory,
knowing it was not mishandled, or otherwise maniputlated by some angry
chef. The Children? Take them to Mc Donalds and ask for a filet of
fish sandwich prepared freshly, perhaps ask that no tartar sauce be on
the bun..Watch them carefully as it's prepared...they don't mind.....
then just as they serve it ask. "Please, can you just put a smudge of
tartare sauce on these buns?" Perhaps splurge and get a happy meal.
(It IS a vacation afterall)

So two adults can enjoy lobsters of their own and two children can
have fish also with no need to stand in lines, wait for food to be
served by a waitress who may not have washed her hands at the
restroom, or some chef who's had a bad day and wants to take it out on
anyone who DARES return food.

Still would appreciate an answer to my simple question. "Knowing full
well what goes on, having seen it for yourself, why on God's Green
Earth would you subject yourself AND your husband AND two children you
were blessed with to possibly being exposed to this "special
treatment"????

As an aside, 100 clams for seafood dinners for four is Reasonable the
service us great and We often have to bring things home with us
becuase the portions are too much ..... for 100 clams...we get two
meals!!! No complaints whatsoever from us.

Hope Red Lobster does the proper thing with your letter....recycling
helps the environment and oceans so they can support healty eco
systems for the food chain to continue.

what places did you work at that chef did stuff to the food if it was
sent back? Thats purely ignorant. I have worked at places as low as
denny's, and our LINE COOKS would never do anything to peoples food.

Simple...if you dont like it, take it back.

Please do yourself a favor b4 you make more people paranoid...turn off
the movie "waiting"

A similar thing happened to us the last time we went to Red Lobster.
It took an incredibly long time to serve our food, and when it did
arrive, the lobster was really dry. I just assumed that it was sitting
under the heat lamp too long, and it was nothing that a really good
dunk in the butter couldn't solve, so it worked out OK.

It was also incredibly busy at the restaurant that night (a 45 minute
wait just to get a table), but the food tasted good, the staff worked
their best to keep the ball rolling, and the beer was ice cold!
(frosted glasses, yum!) Considering the circumstances, the overall
experience was good.

What did the manager say when you sent it back and pointed it out to
him?

That's a shame, considering how expensive it is.

My father was from MA. We went back there on vacation in 1963. His
aunt drove us up to NH and we stopped for lunch. My mother ordered
lobster and my God! I can STILL taste it! As Rachael Ray would say
"yum-o!"

By the way, I agree with you about chefs doing things to food when
it's sent back.

One more thing. Alot of people would be asking for a freebie after
spending $100.00 and getting a bad meal. I'm impressed that you
didn't.

Oh I KNOW how dissapointing that is! I LOVE seafood and especially
lobster. Red Lobster used to be my most favorite place to eat but I
cant afford it often. The last time I went my husband told me to order
whatever I wanted so I did. I ordered some platter that had a little
bit of everything...including lobster. And to be honest, not much of
it was any good. Which seems to be the trend with Red Lobster lately.

Its too bad that you went to St. Augustine and didnt eat at some of
the amazing seafood places there! When we go on vacation we try to
always try the local places instead of a chain. Why eat on vacation
someplace you could eat at while at home?

Next time you wander down to St. Augustine try Osten's. Its a little
hole is the wall place that if you blink you will miss it. But you
wont miss the line of people around the building! They have the BEST
shrimp!!! BIG and sooooo good! So good that we have been known to
drive there just for that. But I live a lot closer. Plus, around the
main area of St. Augustine there are TONS of local resturants that are
soooo good and sooo much better than Red Lobster. Did you go down St.
George Street? Great resturants there. And a few blocks down the road
are a couple of seafood resturants. Osten's is across the bridge going
towards the lighthouse.

Plus there are TONS of little places in old houses all over the place.
There seems to be at least one little resturant down each side street
and more on the main streets.

I am pretty sure I know about the location you were talking about and
it used to be a pretty good place. But still...next time try the local
places.

I understand that lobster is a rare treat, and it was disappointing
when it didn't taste good. I'll take your word that some chefs do
nasty things if you send back their food... seems ridiculous, but I
suppose there are a lot of ridiculous people in this world and some
percentage of them must be chefs. If I'd had the same concerns though,
I would have sent it back right away and asked for a refund on the
spot. Then I would have gone somewhere else. As others have commented,
there are other places to get lobster and they probably don't charge
much more. I would try a local seafood restaurant.

...and although it is true that by posting my complaint here anyone
was free to comment on it,I truly didn't expect to be pounced on by
fellow consumers.
I'm not asking for anything for my experience,I just wanted them to
know so they may improve.

I was born in Cape Cod and grew up eating Maine lobsters and then
spent 20 years in Surf City so I do know what good lobster is.The
lobsters in the RL tanks are Maine lobster and if they are alive,they
are fresh.I began working in the food industry in 1976 so for those
that say they've never seen bad things in the kitchen,you haven't been
around long enough.

I'm amazed at how many people devote so much of their time searching
this site just to find unhappy consumers to bully.Maybe a job or hobby
would be more productive,I on the other hand have 3 kids and my own
business so I don't have that kind of time on my hands.

I'm not going to let your opinions and insults bother me as I can see
that is what PF's regulars do for lack of a life.

I'm a consumer and I was on your side,if you aren't going to mature
at least pratice the Golden Rule.I can only imagine what you do when
you don't get what you've spent your hard earned money on.

This really wasn't your business and you all tend to be nasty to
everyone,not just me.

Next time,I'll choose not to post my complaint publicly.Thanks for
all your support.

Way too many vultures on here. I don't understand it myself.... they
say they're giving suggestions but they're so mean & hateful.
And if I were you, I wouldn't have sent the food back either. Cooks do
get pissed off and become ungodly w/the food!

You are so very well acquainted with the lobster industry, but go to
Red Lobster and order one? Sheesh! Even I know better than that!

We're not attacking you. I fact, my post was far from that. I think
most of us agree that RL isn't the best place for lobster. Just
isn't. Doesn't excuse the experience you had.

When you chose to post publically, you agreed to let people comment.
In my case, I was commenting that it was a tangent to suggest (even if
you didn't mean it) that returned food at RL gets messed with. I was
try to help you understand how to write better letters. By focussing
on the issue -- RL serves bad lobster -- and not on your excuse for
not returning it when you had the chance.

If you can't stand to have someone comment, then you need to go away.
It's beyond me why a cook should have to have you suggest that he'd
mess with your food. Why should he have to endure you baseless
accusations (and don't deny it!), but when someone tries to help you,
you get all defensive.

I think you owe us a thanks for trying to help you.

There are regulars here that love to attack anyone who makes a
complaint. There are some that are fair and try to use facts to back
up their opinions. Sadly, the others attack like bull dogs and if you
defend yourself, watch it. The group gets together and bullies you
even to the point of writing about you on their blogs so they can talk
about you behind their backs. At least that is what they did to me.