What the hell Red Lobster?

[Kornflakes]

I really wanted to like the restaurant. Their commericals make their food looks so damn purdy with slow-mos butter dunks.

Their cajun sauce tastes like some artificial offputting plastsic-y taste. You can go to any local crab bake joint and they'd have a much better cajun sauce.

Their biscuit is too damn salty. As a matter of fact the whole food is salty. Those delicious shrimps you see on TV? Yea they're penny-sized baby shrimps. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I'm not a food snob. I love chains as long as it tastes good to me. I'm also a sucker for fast food chains.

Red Lobster sucks so bad.

I have always liked Red Lobster, but they are downgrading as of late. I think they will go the way of others that have failed and are on the verge of folding like KFC.

 

[snoopy7548]

Red Lobster is right up (down?) there with Chilis and TGI Fridays. They're just fast-food places with a real menu and no drive-through.

 

[lxskllr]

Red Lobster is right up (down?) there with Chilis and TGI Fridays. They're just sit-down fast-food places.

Yup. They all pretty much taste the same, just different shit nailed to the walls. I don't even dislike that kind of food. I'm just tired of it, It's all the same, and just about all you get from any national chain.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

It's been 10+ years since I've been. Never really was a fan, and the wife isn't into seafood so we just don't go. I don't recall the food being very good, but I've always loved the biscuits.

 

[Muadib]

I just was there last month. It was at least a year since my last visit. I didn't hate it, and I love their biscuits. I had the fried shrimp, and they were good. My problem was with the prices.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Expensive
Sub par food
Untrained staff

Your average national chain.

 

[Fritzo]

Nearly all chains are doing the same thing- premade sous vide meals that are flavor blasted to cover up the cheap ingredients.

I AM a food snob because I've been classically trained to prepare food for a lot of people. I can tell when the guy at the hibachi grill is overcooking the shrimp, I can tell if the sauces are made fresh or canned, and I can tell if the seafood has been frozen or it's fresh.

The difference in serving quality food to the masses is about an extra .50 per person. Chains don't want to spend that and they want everything to look absolutely consistent, so food is shipped in plastic bags, effectively heated with a water bath, and then meats are seared to get grill marks. Premade seasonings are then added in exact measurement to provide a distinct flavor. Red Lobster, TGI Fridays, Applebees....they all do this.

I'm a fan of Cracker Barrel because they still make all of their food fresh and from scratch. Boston Market does too (to a point- some sauces are premade). I only eat at seafood restaurants on coastlines, otherwise they're
a) working with frozen seafood (fish and shellfish get rubbery when frozen)
b) overly expensive due to having to buy fresh fish daily
c) using old fish (you have 2 days to use raw fish before you can tell it's off)

People deserve to eat better, and it's not that hard. Unfortunately the restaurant industry is interested in looks + profit rather than quality.

 

[sdifox]

Nearly all chains are doing the same thing- premade sous vide meals that are flavor blasted to cover up the cheap ingredients.

I AM a food snob because I've been classically trained to prepare food for a lot of people. I can tell when the guy at the hibachi grill is overcooking the shrimp, I can tell if the sauces are made fresh or canned, and I can tell if the seafood has been frozen or it's fresh.

The difference in serving quality food to the masses is about an extra .50 per person. Chains don't want to spend that and they want everything to look absolutely consistent, so food is shipped in plastic bags, effectively heated with a water bath, and then meats are seared to get grill marks. Premade seasonings are then added in exact measurement to provide a distinct flavor. Red Lobster, TGI Fridays, Applebees....they all do this.

I'm a fan of Cracker Barrel because they still make all of their food fresh and from scratch. Boston Market does too (to a point- some sauces are premade). I only eat at seafood restaurants on coastlines, otherwise they're
a) working with frozen seafood (fish and shellfish get rubbery when frozen)
b) overly expensive due to having to buy fresh fish daily
c) using old fish (you have 2 days to use raw fish before you can tell it's off)

People deserve to eat better, and it's not that hard. Unfortunately the restaurant industry is interested in looks + profit rather than quality.

I like to pick the fish from the tank and they net it and cook it xd

 

[BurnItDwn]

In the 1990s my grantparents took me to Red Lobster in Sioux Falls SD when we were on a road trip visiting my uncle. It was great.

Since then, have gone 2 times to Red Lobsters in the NW Chicago Burbs, and, both times was badly disappointed by overpriced and overcooked small miserable looking burnt shrimp.

 

[Fritzo]

I like to pick the fish from the tank and they net it and cook it xd

You're probably paying a premium to do that too.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Nearly all chains are doing the same thing- premade sous vide meals that are flavor blasted to cover up the cheap ingredients.

I AM a food snob because I've been classically trained to prepare food for a lot of people. I can tell when the guy at the hibachi grill is overcooking the shrimp, I can tell if the sauces are made fresh or canned, and I can tell if the seafood has been frozen or it's fresh.

The difference in serving quality food to the masses is about an extra .50 per person. Chains don't want to spend that and they want everything to look absolutely consistent, so food is shipped in plastic bags, effectively heated with a water bath, and then meats are seared to get grill marks. Premade seasonings are then added in exact measurement to provide a distinct flavor. Red Lobster, TGI Fridays, Applebees....they all do this.

I'm a fan of Cracker Barrel because they still make all of their food fresh and from scratch. Boston Market does too (to a point- some sauces are premade). I only eat at seafood restaurants on coastlines, otherwise they're
a) working with frozen seafood (fish and shellfish get rubbery when frozen)
b) overly expensive due to having to buy fresh fish daily
c) using old fish (you have 2 days to use raw fish before you can tell it's off)

People deserve to eat better, and it's not that hard. Unfortunately the restaurant industry is interested in looks + profit rather than quality.

(not contradicting you, but trying to supplement you with a "d" using freshwater fish from the region they are in (costs less than flying in fish from around the world, but, more expensive than using frozen)

Freshwater fish from Great Lakes is served at a lot of restaurants in the great lakes region.
Have been to a few places in IL and WI where they serve Lake Michigan Whitefish or Walleye when in season.

Looks like about 3 million pounds caught in WI annually, close to 10 million pounds in Michigan ... lots will go to things like cat food or fish sticks, but lots of fish go to restaurants.
https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/commer...ecialized-programs/great-lakes-landings/index

 

[mxnerd]

Red Lobster really is that bad.

Visited twice in diffident places, will never step in again.

 

[Fritzo]

(not contradicting you, but trying to supplement you with a "d" using freshwater fish from the region they are in (costs less than flying in fish from around the world, but, more expensive than using frozen)

Freshwater fish from Great Lakes is served at a lot of restaurants in the great lakes region.
Have been to a few places in IL and WI where they serve Lake Michigan Whitefish or Walleye when in season.

Looks like about 3 million pounds caught in WI annually, close to 10 million pounds in Michigan ... lots will go to things like cat food or fish sticks, but lots of fish go to restaurants.
https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/commer...ecialized-programs/great-lakes-landings/index

Again, coastal is the key. One of my favorite seafood places in the entire country is the New Sandusky Fish Company in Sandusky OH. It's literally a hole-in-the-wall shack on the lake with a fishing dock built into the back of the restaurant. A boat goes out in the summer, catches perch, walleye, etc, and they clean it and fry it up when it comes in. They also make their own coleslaw, frog legs, onion rings etc.

https://www.facebook.com/New-Sandusky-Fish-Company-284506720839/

I'm sure there's similar places up and down the lakeshores. If you start getting down to Columbus OH...you ain't getting fresh seafood.

 

[sdifox]

You're probably paying a premium to do that too.

SOP in Chinese restaurants. pick the lobster, crab, whatever they have fresh. Chinese people emphasize "live food"

 

[kn51]

Funny thing is Red Lobster used to be respectable 35 years ago.

 

[Zeze]

I've gone for shrimpfest. It's hard to mess up shrimp.

Shrimp is easy to overcook and make it tough.

And the shrimpfest - yea I went during it. They are bad because:
1. They're really crappy cheap baby shrimps about the size of a nickel. This right here makes the entire shrimpfest awful.
2. So you get these 8-10 baby shrimps per 'order' and the choices are often doused in a pool of butter or double-coated in batter. They're just not tasty.

You can just go to a local Chinese buffet and pig out on their shrimp which is at least two notches better.

 

[Zeze]

SOP in Chinese restaurants. pick the lobster, crab, whatever they have fresh. Chinese people emphasize "live food"

I've always wondered this - how come I can go to any American Chinese buffet in US and I can pig out on snowcrab legs, blue crabs, etc for $12.99?

If I ate that much in Red Lobster, I would've paid $100+?

 

[Chaotic42]

The only reason to go there is if you live somewhere you can't get decent seafood any other way, i.e. the Midwest.

 

[ponyo]

You went to restaurant owned by private equity firm. What did you expect?

 

[sdifox]

I've always wondered this - how come I can go to any American Chinese buffet in US and I can pig out on snowcrab legs, blue crabs, etc for $12.99?

If I ate that much in Red Lobster, I would've paid $100+?

Couldn't tell ya. Maybe they have better supplier. I don't eat at places that are too cheap.

 

[Homerboy]

The only reason to go there is if you live somewhere you can't get decent seafood any other way, i.e. the Midwest.

Nah - there's a few good seafood joints in my city alone. I mean certainly not as good as on the coasts, but still LIGHTYEARS ahead of RL. Honestly, I will never understand how people go to these chain restaurants over local establishments.

 

[Zeze]

Couldn't tell ya. Maybe they have better supplier. I don't eat at places that are too cheap.

I see. But freshly steamed seasfood is just that - fresh. It was freakin' delicious - at a random Chinese joint too. The meat was hot, supple, firm, and delicious.

 

[sdifox]

I see. But freshly steamed seasfood is just that - fresh. It was freakin' delicious - at a random Chinese joint too. The meat was hot, supple, firm, and delicious.

Maybe they are getting shrimps from india and china.

 

[mxnerd]

I've always wondered this - how come I can go to any American Chinese buffet in US and I can pig out on snowcrab legs, blue crabs, etc for $12.99?

If I ate that much in Red Lobster, I would've paid $100+?

Low salaries for the employees and always understaffed, for sure.

That's how you get cheaper foods.

 

[Zeze]

Low salaries for the employees and always understaffed, for sure.

I rarely see Chinese buffets that are understaffed. They're swarming with servers.

Now I crave Chinese buffet.