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.

Despite the name, Red Lobster doesn't exactly have the best lobster.
You'd be better off buying one from the fish market and preparing
yourself. Or going to a nicer place. Red Lobster isn't all that
cheap, so don't think that a nicer place is going to cost more. It
may not. And, given that you live in/near Greensboro, I'm sure you
can find a reasonably priced place that knows how to treat lobster.

If I were you, I would not have gone on the tangent about cooks
messing with food that is sent back. Even if you've seen it yourself,
it's offensive to assume that this particular place would do that.
Sure, it might happen. But you get nowhere by making such an
accusation.

Besides, if the lobster was bad, you need to send it back and refuse
another. Simple, huh?