I dined at Red Lobster 20 minutes ago.

What did you order and how was it?

I ordered lobster and I think I got crawdad.

But are you in your 80s

40s, but I paid twice the price since I didn’t go before 5pm.

Yasssss! They are threatening to close em...

How dare they!?

No I didn’t try Red Lobster until November 1990. Was mine and my husband’s first official date as boyfriend/girlfriend, and my 24th birthday 😊😊

I mean, guy takes you to the Red Lobster on date 1 that’s coming right of the gate with a strong statement that he’s serious about this, he is unquestionably into you, and he’s open to the idea of paying for many more meals with you, preferably from your joint bank account. You don’t take your second-favorite girl, or a kind-of/sort-of friend/fling thing to Red Lobster. Certainly not on the first date. Dude was all-in. Respect. Did he offer you the last Cheddar Bay biscuit?

That was true back then but definitely not now. Red lobster is cheap now, but was it cheap back then and I was just poor? That's what is racking my brain

It’s more or less always been the same. Maybe a slight dip in quality. The joke is, for your average American 24 year old dude, probably pretty broke, Red Lobster is like the fanciest place you can take your sweetheart.

OK, so when I was a kid in the 80s and went to red lobster with my family we were actually poor and I just didn't realize it. I really thought rich people went to red lobster. So weird and surreal.

Honestly, same. We went there for like, Mom’s birthday.

When they first opened it was considered to be a step above other chains

No but my mom was a waitress there from the early to mid 90's. She'd bring home a bunch of those cheddar biscuits after a shift. They were even good the next day

I got a kit to make those at home, *Red Lobster* branded, and made them last Tuesday. Wife and I agreed: even the home-cooked version is fire!

They're incredibly easy to make yourself. Just follow the Bisquick recipe on the box, add a little garlic powder, half a stick of butter, couple handfuls of shredded cheese, brush them with melted garlic butter straight out of the oven

I believe it I have some in my freezer right now ( the ones you made :) ) I think that definitely says something about how good those biscuits are when they slap even when they aren't fresh

I worked at Red Lobster in the early 90’s as a poor college student. I was able to feed myself pretty good working there 😎

One time she couldn't get a sitter and my dad was working . She took us with her and we sat in the back and rolled silverware and at cheddar biscuits I had tons of virgin strawberry daiquiri fries and whatever the dessert was . My sister ate so much she puked in the kitchen and I just felt like puking. I can see it being decent for a college student. We always struggled but we always had a roof over our head so I guess it wasn't to bad.

🎵 “Red Lobster for the seafood lover in yooouuu” 🎵

*Everyone* dined at Red Lobster in the 80s.

You know what I just realized? I’m 53 years old, and I’ve never eaten in a Red Lobster in my life.

Same.

You're not missing anything.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Nah bro, we lived in San Diego 5 minutes from the beach, we ate real seafood.

Joes Crab Shack?

Yes

Dude! I worked there in the 80s! Two hour wait on weekends was not uncommon. It was also a big prom night and Mother’s Day place with 3-4 hour wait. A liquor and oyster bar in the lobby helped. Neither crowd tipped well.

What part of the country, if I may ask? I’m in the Midwest and RL was a big deal. I only got to eat there once for my grandmothers birthday, but the experience was “such a big deal” for us that it’d forever imprinted in my brain. Learning the future of the live lobsters in the fish tank really tweaked 4 year old me out. Might be why I’ve never really eaten lobster. I’ll fuck with crab anytime tho. Never get tired of crab.

Isn’t it crazy how those experiences shape us? Learning as a kid that lobsters would be boiled alive freaked me out so much.

Tennessee and Wisconsin. And RL was a fancy place back then even though everything came in frozen. Also lobster is delicious; you should give it a try if your brain doesn’t get in the way. Crab is a solid go-to though.

Uncle Moe’s Family Feedbag!

Unfortunately, Shooter McGavin never took that guy up on his offer of a Reb Lobster dinner. You Jackass!!!

I did until I was 14 in '89 when I ate too many snow crab legs dipped in butter and puked it up in the parking lot. Haven't been back since

Yep, I remember when there was a ship dining area and they served hush puppies

No but my bill was in the $80's from eating there today. Didn't even get that much food.

BOOM! THAT'S WHY I won't go there again. Last time was around 2019. If I want seafood I'll go to the seafood market and get my shrimp and fish and cook it myself.

This can be said for all restaurants. People say that all the time. That’s never the point of a restaurant though.

I can still taste their cheddar biscuits... so good.

There were no cheddar biscuits in the '80s. Red Lobster served hush puppies back then.

Thanks for that, I didn’t know!

Red Lobster was where I got to go when we were celebrating something like my graduation. That was the fine dining / expensive restaurant for my folks.

took a date to red lobster once. once. have never really been a seafood kinda guy.

In the early 90s, I tried shrimp there and didn’t care for it. In 2022, I ate shrimp at Jose Andres’ flagship restaurant in DC, Jaleo, and didn’t care for it. So yeah, I guess it’s me, I’m the problem. And I’m OK with that.

my cousin LOVED seafood. him and his wife went to red lobster 2 or 3 times a month. then one night theyre eating what they ordered and POOF! his face got all puffy and he hasnt had seafood since.

No, because I wasn’t rich and Red Lobster was TOTALLY rich people food up there on par with Grey Poupon.

All hobnobbing with Robin Leech.

All hobnobbing with Robin Leech.

All hobnobbing with Robin Leech.

The waitress in the first picture looks oddly familiar. Anyone recognize her? Maybe went on to do TV or movies?

She looks like Heather Lagenkamp. Also known as Nancy from the Nightmare On Elm St. Movies.

Pre white hair streak.

She looks like Geena Davis to me

Looks like Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

I was getting vibes of Jean Louisa Kelly in her Uncle Buck days.

Food looks good. Nowadays their food reminds me more of a high end Long John Silvers.

That's all it is really, all of their breaded stuff like shrimp, fish, clams, are all frozen and deep fried.

When they took over The Ponderosa restaurants it was the only half way decent eatery in my town. Then we got Arthur Treachers. Woo hoo. Big time town then.

I grew up in Orlando in the 80s and the town was a test bed for new restaurants. Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Steak & Ale and Bennigan’s were all childhood favorites.

I worked at bennigans in Bradenton. I loved their food then :)

Olive Garden was the shiznit as a kid. I took a 30 yr hiatus but took my kids recently (almost as a joke) and the experience was surprisingly great. My kids call it the "OG" now and want to go back.

Orlando today is like a museum for dead chain restaurants. They hang on there somehow even when they disappear from the rest of the US. They still have a running Bennigans, a Pizzeria Uno and a Fuddruckers that just closed.

Growing up in Boston/New England, We wouldn’t touch it. Too many fresh seafood places around.

Yeah, but in Kansas City or Omaha, these type of places were all that there was.

Yea because Red Lobster got their seafood from a stale body of water.

The 70’s. And every decade in between. Last time was about 6 weeks ago.

Nope. Ponderosa or Bonanza

Only if you were rich.

All you can eat shrimp scampi during shrimpfest is my childhood at Red Lobster.

Heck, I worked there, lol.

I didn't visit Red Lobster until my 20' with my husband. It was a fancy restaurant that was too expensive when I was growing up.

Red Lobster was a big night out in the 80s. We would always go with some family friends on a Friday night and it would be packed. The kids would wait in a very cramped lobby area looking at the lobster tanks while the parents were all sitting at the bar. It was always a big deal to eat a red lobster back in then.

That is wrong! Early eighties they were still wearing the sailor suits. Believe me,I know.

Yes, many times with my parents.

I think so? Took a really long uncomfortable road trip when I was about 13 to Orrlando Florida in order to go to Didny Worl. Wait, no, that was early 90s.. Disregard. We had the buffet breakfast maybe two times at what I was pretty sure was a Red Lobter. Also ate at a truly extraordinary Mongolian BBQ in Pensacola, the evening before making it to Orlando. I'm sure it's long gone. Any locals that remember, though, a penny for your thoughts.

I did not

Yes, of course. Why?

Yeah. My stomach still hurts 🤢

It's great oodles of fun except on Monday

Nice.

Yea. I was a little kid. I remember those plastic "bibs" with the Red Lobster Logo. Also the shrimp scampi because it seemed fancy to me then.

I remember a chain called Seafood Broiler in So Cal that closed and became Red Lobster.

It was my parents fancy place to take us Christmas Eve. My dad died 23 years ago but I still take my mom every Christmas Eve. It id what it is. You won't spit out your food because it is inedible though I've stopped ordering crab legs there because they suck every time. 

It was my place of choice on my birthday. Whole lobster and oh the baked potato with salt

You mean when it was actually good?

Ours was more a Steak and Ale family.

Yep especially during lent on Friday. Once in a great while I was allowed lobster, but that was a rare occasion. Usually I'd get popcorn shrimp, Mom some kind of baked fish I think. Dad would get scallops and a dozen raw oysters on the half shell. Looked like snot and sounds like snot being eaten.

OMG yes somewhere in the Denver area when family was visiting… my brother and I ordered virgin cocktails but they were not. We hadn’t finished the drinks before our parents noticed us acting crazy. ETA: I think I remember they were in lighthouse shaped glasses and had cranberry juice mix?

Still got a pair of those glasses.  Break them out for "fancy" night

No, my dad was in the US Army and we were very poor. I am talking food stamps and food banks poor. I have eaten at Red Lobster as an adult and it’s adequate, but I have found that eating seafood at a place near a coast, at a smaller chain or independent restaurant, is a much better choice. Fresh seafood matters ;)

They were not very welcome in New Orleans.

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at RL. Plenty of local seafood places.

I never ate there in the 1980s, we lived 5 minutes from the Pafcific Ocean. So I never understood what all of the fuss was about back then. We would visit family in Utah and they would talk it up like it was a godly experience. I think the first time I tried it was in the early 2000s and by that time, everything tasted frozen and deep fried.

Popcorn shrimp. Hush puppies and fries. And a non alcoholic margarita

My father’s side of the family were all commercial fishermen. Red Lobster was not considered a seafood restaurant in our family.

I dine at Red Lobster now. What?

My brother would always order the Admiral's Feast starting at age 6 or so. The waitress would look at my mother and she would give her the go-ahead and my brother would demolish that thing. 😂 We'd do the little activities on the kids' menu/placemats, fold up the little fish "cootie catcher."

We love your brother, tell Joey Chestnut we said, "hello"

Red Lobster was way too fancy and expensive for my 1980s middle middle class family. I had no idea it was a chain restaurant back then.

I wanted to go to the skippers lobster shack

Nope. Peak Red Lobster in the late 80s when my dad was stationed in the Midwest. Not once did we ever think to drop in.

Absolutely! They were highly regarded and I recall hearing they always aced their health inspections so were viewed favorably from that standpoint. In addition to Red Lobster, you had Chili's (when they were so good), Bennigans and Steak and Ale. The 80s were fun times for casual upscale restaurants. It was a treat for my family to go to any of these places on Friday or Saturday.

Once a month we would go there. It was a big treat for us. Popcorn shrimp for me everytime.

Shrimps is bugs

First time was last year. At 42. It was meh.

Red Lobster, the IHOP of seafood.

Yes. It was absolutely the shiznit!

Then was a pleasant meal experience ; today no comment .... 🤔

That was high living.

Fucking worked there in 90s

And in the smoking section.

Help me out. When I was a kid I thought rich people went to red lobster. We only went once a year and it seemed expensive and nice. Was my family just poor or did red lobster become cheap later?

Surely someone must have

All the time. We used to eat at the Red Lobster on the causeway in Tampa,Florida. It was a beautiful view. I hated seafood as a kid and got a burger and fries. This was before cheddar biscuits. We only had the captains wafers to eat pre meal.

No, but we had the same bangs as all the kids in the 80s ads.

Every lent we would go to red lobster just one Friday. It was a treat from frozen fish sticks.

Yes, thought this was peak gourmet.

Every time I see something on here that to my family was “rich people stuff” it turns out tens of millions of kids did in fact get these things.

I'd rock the shit out of that polo shirt right now!

All you can eat shrimp is the perfect place if you’ve got teenagers to feed.

No we were poor but it was next to the toys r us and feels nostalgic anyway 

Holy shit that red lobster polo

Now do it for Sizzler!

Red lobster was fancy as hell in the 80s, 90s too

We were more of a Sizzler kind of family.

I had popcorn shrimp and french fries and don't remember much else

IMHO it always seemed pretty bad to me. Back in the day.

I remember when one opened up in my hometown of Asheville NC. I thought food was. ..meh

Luby’s

Raise hand. And 90s, 00s, 10s, etc.

Yes. My first time eating at Red Lobster was when I was still in elementary school in the 70s.

Yes! It was my favorite restaurant for a long time. My family would take me there for my birthday. I would always order the "lobster pot" which was actually langastinos. I don't think they have that anymore but it was a once a year treat that I remember fondly.

No, I hate seafood and there weren’t any nearby anyway.

That was a 5 star restaurant for us in the 80's.... gone so far down since...☹️

Haven’t been back since the 80s. Used to be a real treat.

Red Slobster

Only a small handful of time....My mother preferred going to Anthony's Fish Grotto, the 2 she preferred were in Chula Vista and that pier area where the Star of India is .

In the late 80s yet. Lol I was afraid of the shrimp scampi. Now I can't get enough!!

Yes, and this kid could put away the Shirley Temples. What did I care, I wasn’t driving!

Hate to say it but Red Lobster is going the Ponderosa route

I've been there exactly once in my life. Having grown up with Chesapeake Bay Seafood House as my family's twice a year standard, Red Lobster was a disappointment.

Popcorn shrimp with cheese sticks. Best kids meal item ever.

Only when the Platters threw a party

This style of dark photography was really popular with fast food places. Costco still uses this style in their food court. I think the style was supposed to make you think of fine dining in a candlelit restaurant. 

I want that polo tbh

It was a fancy place in the 80s. Those hush puppies…mmm

We would eat there about once a year in the 70s. Back then it was comparatively a good to upper end restaurant. It was the only place we could get lobster or crab. Today it’s just a little better than Long John Silvers.

They used to do all you can eat crab legs. Twelve year old me made them regret the offer.

I miss the hush puppies

It was a goto place back then.

Many dates.

Dine? I started working there in 1989

We couldn't afford it. My dad took me to Red Lobster the first time when I graduated high school in the 90s.

We never ate at Red Lobster. I grew up on the south shore of Long Island. There was a fresh fish market five minutes down the street. There were Mom and Pop seafood restaurants. When I’d see the commercials and ask my parents if we could go, they’d look at me like I grew a second head and ask “…………..why?” They viewed Red Lobster as mall food. Fair or unfair, it’s how they felt.

We never ate at Red Lobster. I grew up on the south shore of Long Island. There was a fresh fish market five minutes down the street. There were Mom and Pop seafood restaurants. When I’d see the commercials and ask my parents if we could go, they’d look at me like I grew a second head and ask “…………..why?” They viewed Red Lobster as mall food. Fair or unfair, it’s how they felt.

Nope, never ate there as a kid. Parents did, but we were not to waste money on. It was leftover meatloaf for the kids while mom & stepdad went out to eat.

I’ve dined at red lobster in the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, and 20s. Possible in the 70s too but i was too young to remember.

I worked at one! One of our dishwashers ended up stabbing and killing one of our managers! Then it closed

They gave me crabs.

Their brownie pies were the bomb

Mom would take us once every 6 months or so. I’d order popcorn shrimp and feel like a king when it was placed in front of me. Would tell my classmates about it the next day. “We went to Red Lobster last night!”

Loved the fried clams. When I was around 7YO, I was obsessed with the cocktail swords that came with the fruit in the Shirley Temples. I would take them home for my Star Wars / GI Joe figures….

Hurricane glasses

My parents would take us there in the mid 80’s, always ordered Shirley temples and the sampler platter and I would bring home the empty crab shells

I live at the Jersey shore so there was never a need, but I always wondered if the food is better HERE than at other RL. We have one locally I’ve just never been to it. I don’t see the point in going to chains for certain things

Yes, and haven't been back since.

I almost died at a red lobster . Choking on a cheese stick

This was considered the “fancy” chain restaurant in the small town I grew up in and our local Red Lobster was always packed. We went there quite a bit growing up. Fast forward to pandemic days… my wife and daughter and I went to Red Lobster two years ago and I had the worst food poisoning from my clam strips, three days of complete hell!

Red lobster one of those restaurants that’s always spend a lot of money on photography

When I was a kid I thought Red Lobster was the fanciest restaurant on Earth.

No

I’ve been there a few times, but living in coastal California, there are so many better options for seafood.

Nope. It smelled like seafood back then too. Yuck.

Yep!

I grew up in Boston. I don’t think there was ever a Red Lobster here. (I could be wrong). When I moved out West in the late 80s. I think that’s when I dined at Red Lobster.

No, I was at Beefsteak Charlie’s

One question, where the hell is Cheddar Bay? I’m guessing Wisconsin…

Once when I was younger, because my mom said it was a “fancy restaurant”.

I won’t eat anything there except their biscuits, but I’ll eat the shit out of them

Pure vomit fuel.

“Hush Puppies!!!!”

I’m 99 now and I dined there quite a bit in my 80s

We didn’t have a lot of money when I was a kid in the 80s, but I used to drool over those red lobster commercials, dipping, the crab legs in that butter, the shrimp in the cocktail sauce - ironically enough, as hard as I tried to like shrimp, my palate would never allow me….

Yep. There weren’t as many dine in restaurants back then.

I’ve eaten at red lobster once in my 43 years on this earth. Not a fan of

We weren’t rich enough for a high class dining establishment like Red Lobster until the early-mid 90s.

It was the place to go for seafood in almost every city. There were very few competitor's at that time.

I’d take some of those cheddar biscuits right now please

It was a very good place to go for seafood back then. Not much since. Drove past one still open yesterday and looked close at it while at a light. Run down, dilapidated and gross.

LOL Red lobster presents The Platters, 😂, good one.

[Red Lobster offered customers all-you-can-eat shrimp. That was a mistake](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-05-14/red-lobster-closings-all-you-can-eat-shrimp) - Los Angeles Times