Red Lobster - Raleigh

Review summary

1. OT

   OpenTable Diner

   San Francisco

   3 reviews

   5.0

   3 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   Amy was our waitress. She kept our drinks filled and got our order correct. She did a good job taking care of us. The food was hot and so delicious!! Definitely left satisfied.
   

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2. C

   Corinna

   Raleigh

   2 reviews

   1.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 1

   This restaurant was overbooked. People were hungry, angry and very tired. Booking 10 to 20 people to the same time slot was not cool and very unfair. It was also capitalistic because the end game was to pack us in and make the most money. It was a horrible experience. Once seated the wait to receive food was a whole hour. This came after the reservation wait was more than an hour. Pathetic!!!
   

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3. OT

   OpenTable Diner

   Raleigh

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 2
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 3

   We arrived for our 7 o’clock reservation at about 7 o’clock, and when we walked in the lobby, it was absolutely packed, we checked in and found out that they hadn’t even sat all of the people with 6 o’clock reservations at that point. When I asked the hostess, what the point of a reservation was she said“it just guarantees you a seat“. The hostess had clearly not been trained well because she could not estimate wait times to anybody that asked and at some point, a manager had to step in and start doing part of her job because things were so mismanaged. Let me emphasize that the hostess was doing her best, but had not been given the tools to do the job well. They also was no busser in the restaurant that i could see, and servers were having to bus their own tables which slowed down service, which meant that people were waiting longer. Our 7 o’clock reservation was seated at 8:10. our order was taken at 8:18 and my drink didnt arrive until about 8:27. We didn’t get our food until 9:05. When I did get my food, the lobster bits in my pasta were rubbery. I didn’t even bother telling anybody because at that point waiting for food to be remade would have just taken longer. We openly heard servers complaining about the scheduling. To me this doesn’t point to an issue with either the host or the servers, this points to a management issue. On a holiday there should be 3 to 5 hostesses for seating and checking the restaurant, there should be a time limit on tables that people are informed of ahead of time, there should be at least two bussers and people should not have to wait more than 30 minutes for their tables that they have reservations for, and that’s if something bad happens and there’s a huge delay. We will definitely not be coming back because of this and it certainly put a damper on our Valentine’s Day.
   

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4. G

   George Wayne

   Raleigh

   5 reviews

   2.0

   5 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 4

   We had 7pm reservations. Arrived at 6:50pm. We were not seated until 8:18pm and not initially served our meal until starting after 9:15pm. We were not done until 10:45pm. Not enough workers and apparently not enough cooks!! That wait time for someone with reservations was unacceptable!!
   

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5. E

   Elise

   Raleigh

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 3 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 2

   We got checked in right away and was told they were running a little behind and would seat us as soon as we could. We ended up waiting well over an hour and had people arriving later than we did seated before us. When we were finally seated, we had to flag someone down to get our order in as our server was nowhere to be found. We hardly saw our server at all during our dinner. We waited over an hour for our food and weren't made aware of the wait time until almost an hour went by and we asked someone. My lobster was good, but my steak was almost raw in the middle. They did take some money off our bill. We were extremely disappointed.
   

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6. A

   Alonzo

   Richmond

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined 3 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 2
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 5

   There customer service was excellent however on one of the busiest date night they were not prepared for the numbers and it showed in the quality of food. I had to send the mushy lobster back and could not do the wait again so I got a refund.
   

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7. N

   Nancy

   Raleigh

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 3 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   Awful experience. Got seated and didn’t have anyone visit the table for almost 15 mins. Waited 2 hours for our food, ending up boxing it up and bringing it home. Sweltering hot in the restaurant, too. Poor execution for a restaurant that should know to be better prepared.
   

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8. C

   Caitlin

   Washington DC

   2 reviews

   4.0

   2 reviews

   Dined on January 1, 2025

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Our overall experience was great. Our server was very attentive to us and made sure we were well taken care of. Only two things brought the experience down from 5 stars. 1. The music in the restaurant was actually quite loud. I could still hear my husband across the table, but the music was louder than I feel it should’ve been. 2. The restaurant was out of lobster chunks so any food that wasn’t a whole lobster couldn’t be ordered so that was really upsetting. I ended up ordering a Maine lobster tail and it was really good, but was bummed I couldn’t get the lobster linguini. However, my husband and I had a great time celebrating our wedding anniversary here and will be back!
   

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9. M

   Mark

   Raleigh

   1 review

   4.0

   1 review

   Dined on December 25, 2024

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 3

   The food was great, the price was great, but the service was average. The waitress was attentive but it took forever to get our appetizers and longer to get our meal. With that said, it was Christmas night and the place was packed, so maybe I’m not being fair with my review. Will definitely go back on a normal night and update, but would definitely recommend.
   

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10. P

    Patrick

    Raleigh

    4 reviews

    4.0

    4 reviews

    Dined on December 25, 2024

    1. Overall 4
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 4
    4. Ambience 3

    It was Christmas day and the staff was all amazing. We had reservation for 6pm and did not get Seated til 645. The food was well cooked and took awhile to come but not complaining by any means because they were open to serve my family on Christmas Day when they didn’t have to be! Thanks for being open to feed our families
    

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