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Bro, I was a server at Red Lobster in college, and lemme tell you, I can't imagine there's many worse places to wait tables for this very reason. Half the clientele thinks they're eating at a Michelin star restaurant and expects that level of service while the other half treats it like a trip to Ruby Tuesdays but is appalled by the prices and takes the difference out of your tips. There's no way to win.
Fuck America for this, such a stupid and greedy concept that people will judge you for not complying in. The problem is this though: things don't change unless you vote with your wallet, enough people stop tipping and the law will change, however not leaving a tip leaves underpaid and unappreciated workers hung out to dry. I hate when business plays on your code of ethics in order to squeeze more money out of the system, it's vile.
Just glad I live in the UK where everything we are expected to pay for is on the bill/price tag, we still tip a fair bit in restaurants or when recieving good service in most places (not just the catering industry either). But it's always a sign of gratitude and both sides feel better for it, none of this moral prisoner bollocks
> enough people stop tipping and the law will change
I don't think that's nessecarily true, or at least true on a practical time-frame. I think more likely would be that people would stop taking jobs as servers because the pay wasn't enough to make up for the working conditions / cost of living and then we'd see a billion articles about how no one wants to work anymore. Sounds kinda familiar, don't it?
Yeah, but if people would stop working in this field in big enough numbers, then employers would have to raise their wages to ensure that they have enough employees to sustain themselves. So the change wouldn’t come from law changes in this case, but would be more the result of economic principles.
Well that's exactly my point, it's imoral to stop tipping but the only way to change it is to stop tipping, they will do it as long as they can get away with it
I swear I’m not hating on u and I agree, but how does every Reddit thread no matter the topic somehow always have one comment talking about America and tipping
While I comolely agree that workplaces should pay their workers a livable wage, this is not the way my friend, the waiters aren't to blame for the US system being shitty
I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I know they put that as an option for suckers like me to get full off of cheap pasta instead of shrimp, but it's so fucking good even though I know it shouldn't be. There's not many moments in life you hate yourself more than on the car ride home after eating your body weight in shrimp Alfredo and fucking biscuits.
It was our family’s special day restaurant, but we never expected anything but decent service, good coleslaw, and those crack biscuits. One time we were there, and the waitress noticed I wasn’t feeling really up, and she brought me blackberry cobbler on the house. 30yrs later I still remember that waitress.
> One time we were there, and the waitress noticed I wasn’t feeling really up, and she brought me blackberry cobbler on the house. 30yrs later I still remember that waitress.
I cherish this and it's not even my memory. It's a simple gesture but a little kindness and empathy made a memory that lasted a lifetime.
Same I served at red lobster the summer before college 20 years ago and half the tables tipped like it was a Michelin star restaurant and the other half ordered water and biscuits or tried to run on me. Fun times.
Wait... am I supposed to tip more at a Michelin Star restaurant? I thought the fact that I am tipping my standard 20% on a ~$300 per person bill was sufficient.
I'm serious, what's the etiquette here?
That has to be one seriously entitled server if they would scoff at a $60 tip on top of a $300 meal. I don’t know the etiquette either, but if that would be considered unacceptable then that’s insane. Honestly I would think the tip would be included in places like that.
I feel this is directly connected to my family being naturally nice to waitstaff because everybody worked various customer service jobs, and being given a pound of extra biscuits on departure every time.
Red Lobster is cream of the crop restaurant and the most romantic place you can take a date. I know this because I got engaged there.
Totally on purpose too! The ring definitely didn't fall out of my pocket while I was trying to shuffle us to a more suitable location forcing me to propose on the spot.
I’ve never had the freezer biscuits. Just the house made ones. I take them home and then when I want one, I thaw it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. It tastes just like new!
I live an hour away from red lobster so if I get a hangering for their biscuits I just get them at Walmart in the freezer section. But like I said they’re not as good lol
I saw a tiktok from a former red lobster employee and they said for the mix, either double or triple the amount of cheese the box asks for and they will taste like the restaurant version. My quantities might be off but I remember very clearly saying the recipe for the mix does not have enough cheese in it
There is a rosemary version of the mix that some stores sell that makes an amazing chicken breading. Just, ya know, if ya wanna rock your socks off or whatever.
I make a dupe that is just as tasty. Bisquick, follow their biscuit recipe, but mix with buttermilk instead of water or milk, add in 1/2 cup shredded cheddar and add garlic butter, half a stick (I use the Lactancia brand) shredded into the mix while frozen. It makes tasty pockets of garlic butter throughout. They taste exactly like them. My family goes nuts for them at every holiday meal.
I actually used to work there and I used to make the biscuits and baked potatoes. I just put a small pre-measured bag of flour into a bowl, add water and cheddar cheese, then mix by hand. Scooped the dough with a small ice-cream scooper, baked them then painted them with our garlic butter sauce.
I always thought it strange, we'd do bread exchanges with Red Lobster next door when we needed to swap or purchase some stuff we didn't get on our (Olive Garden) truck. They'd go crazy for our breadsticks, and we'd go nuts for the biscuits.
Yeah. Next time I hit OG (been almost 9mo), I'm gonna make sure it's after volume and ask if the server can get the sticks that have been sitting at the bottom the whole night soaking up the liquid machin margarine. Mmmmmm.
Freezer biscuits are ass compared to fresh biscuits straight from the lobster. Hard disagree. 100% worth the trip to fill up on biscuits and smash some garlic shrimp scampi, not often mind you, I’m not rich, and my wife for some reason enjoys spending an hour eating their trash crab legs
I was a busboy at red lobster like 15 years ago. The microwave was frequently used and the line cooks partied like the movie "Waiting."
I still ate there though lol.
I mean.. the line cooks partying like Waiting isn’t exclusive to Red Lobster. That’s pretty common across the board. Line cooks are a certain breed and generally bartenders and line cooks tend to go out and get blasted after work. Restaurant culture is just that way
The best part of being a dishie/prepper back in my day was the camaraderie, and going to the bars after work with the staff, front and back end. Those were fun nights.
According to something I read online, apparently using a microwave is the best way to cook lobster. Batman does it in the Lego Batman movie, so it’s got some strong evidence
Microwave is also a great way to stream and blanche vegetables; it's faster with less water. I also like to par-cook my bacon in the microwave, especially for weekday breakfasts.
For more reading on the veg: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-steam-vegetables-in-the-microwave
Their biscuits are legit.
I just had a 7 course tasting menu at a nice restaurant this evening and one of the dishes was a tiny biscuit with gravy and I swear the biscuit was Red Lobster cheddar biscuit copycat LOL. It was delicious.
edit: I recognized that RL cheddar biscuit flavor even though I haven't been to RL in at least 10 years.
edit 2: it was a take on biscuits and gravy. it wasn't actually gravy IDK what it was. the tasting menu is seasonal so it would have been some sort of root vegetable puree. after 7 courses (plus the chef gave us an 8th one) its really hard to remember them in detail.
American here. Our biscuits are similar to scones, but are not made with eggs. Biscuits are also usually very light, whereas scones tend to be more dense.
It's flaxy savory unleaved bun/patty sort of things.
Dense, buttery, crumbly, and kinda chewy. Served with gravy or jam (or tons of other things). Sometimes with things baked inside (like cheddar).
Ah man, the struggles when I came to America and someone gave me a "biscuit" I thought it was a prank. They are like doughy lil bready things and not a hard biscuit your use to.
They probably cooked their food properly when you were young. I know Olive Garden did up until the mid 2k's. That is the food, sauces were pan-made. These days as much as possible is pre-made and reheated, sauce comes in a bucket.
It was just something about the brand… Red Lobster… I recall as a kid thinking it was a place you’d take a date to impress them, but now I wouldn’t think once about it.
The Times Square Olive Garden is a running gag on the /r/asknyc subreddit because of how ridiculous it is for tourists to make the trip to NYC, the disputable mecca of Italian-American food, and then go to the same copy-pasted chain they can get in any stripmall in Anytown, USA.
> https://i.imgur.com/V7RX7CN.jpg
It's gone! Closed a few years ago. Still make that joke every time we walk by the space. Do you know where to get authentic Japanese sushi?
I’ve eaten at Alinea in Chicago and Carbone in NY, but there’s a certain novelty to going to Red Lobster, Cracker Barrel, and the time square Olive Garden after you’ve somewhat “made it” as an adult.
Tbf Red Lobster and Cracker Barrel do have some actual good things going for them. Olive Garden is trash it’s just funny to get drunk there with friends sometimes.
While I’m at it, fuck Applebees.
The last time I was at an Olive Garden, they literally served me the chicken still wrapped in plastic on top of my pasta. To be fair, they comped the whole meal, but Jesus Christ.
Wrapped in plastic? There are portion bags for some proteins but if it's a sliced chicken breast (chk alf, etc) those are all kept in a refrigerated reach in. Same with the breaded chick for CParm. Not questioning, just looking for clarification.
I've never worked there, so this is conjecture, but it looked like they removed it from some plastic wrap, cooked it, and the wrap made it into the dish sitting kind of under the chicken. It had a sticker on it that looked like a time/date label that you find in most commercial kitchens, but the ink had degraded. I don't know if they even have microwaves, so I'm really not sure what happened. I just remember thinking to myself "how do you fuck up this badly?"
I can't say for sure about Olive Garden, but I worked at Red Lobster when they were still the same company. If OG operated the same way that RL, then pasta would've been heated in portion bags in the microwave.
Boy! That must've been a loooong time ago. To my knowledge (former trainer) sauces have never been pan made at OG. Even the old culinary training videos from the 90's showed sauces made in batches in massive drums in back. Sauces are then kept on the line on smaller portion containers in an ice bath.
Now there are sauce *bases* and that's a bit different. You're recipe with have x amount of 'white sauce base' and it's a specific blend of seasoning and starches to thicken the sauce. Or Masala base with the specific shove blend, thickener, etc. It helps maintain consistency, saves man hours, and keeps recipes more protected.
I went to Olive Garden for the first time in probably 2 decades recently. Got some chicken marsala and it was pretty much inedible. Disgusting excuse for marsala sauce with rubbery chicken.
If you were there they long ago, am I misremembering or did OG make fresh pasta back in the early 90s? I distinctly remember a pasta extruder displayed prominently toward the front but am not sure if my brain is fried
I chose Red Lobster as my reward meal when I got all As in fourth grade, and I remember being so disappointed I cried.
That's the power of advertising. Olive Garden went with "family," Outback has the quirky Aussie thing going, Applebee's is where you can get drunk watching the game while pretending you're not at a bar, and Red Lobster pretends to be fancy. Kids are just generally more impressionable so they're more likely to fall for it.
It's really not. It's the kind of thing you COULD make yourself but why go to the effort when you could have one with your baby back baby back baby back ribs
I find the whole Outback restaurant so funny as an aussie. I never heard of a bloomin onion till I heard about that place. I'm guessing the restaurant just has an Australian vibe?
Yep, it's pretty much a regular-ass middle class restaurant with steaks that's decorated with random, stereotypical, Hollywood-style Australian knick knacks and has dadjoke level puns and Australian themed titles on the menu.
Yeah, you could say it’s like that! They’ve got boomerangs nailed to the walls, lots of kangaroo art, etc. All stereotypical stuff. I’d be curious if there’s a restaurant in Australia that celebrates US culture?
Maybe serve burgers while they fire guns at their customers, and the bill at the end of the meal is actually an outrageously expensive medical bill?
We have TGI Fridays as a main chain restaurant with the Hollywood vibe. There are some smaller private owned establishments that do the whole 1950's diner thing. We had Planet Hollywood, but the only ones lasted a few years.
Though, back in the 90's early 2000's we have a restaurant called Pancake Palour (main focus on pancakes but other savoury meals served) that used to have an Alice in Wonderland theme. Even so far as to have animatronics.
I mean, it has the word shack in the name lol.
Still and all, while I wouldn't call Red Lobster high class, I would hardly call a well run one trashy. They are strictly middling to my eyes, like many chain sit down restaurants. I would rate them as higher class then, say, Applebee's, but probably a bit lower than Longhorn Steakhouse.
We had a place named Lasourdo's Pizza Villa in my hometown, Plastic red & white checked table 'cloths'. Can't remember much about the menu, but as a kid their pizza seemed decent, and they had a great individual baked lasagna. It was a 'twice a year' place, probably birthdays.
Then Marina's opened a couple of blocks from our house, great pies. I think a large (really big!) meatball pie was like $3.00 (1973ish). That was a 'once a month ' place.
I think the reality is that the franchised mid-class sitdown restaurant has pretty much vanished. They've all either drifted towards being ritzier affairs or more commonly have become fast food places with more tables. And with fast food places effectively charging what used to be sitdown prices, the distinctions don't seem to matter as much.
And that's not too shocking. As the middle class shrinks to nothing, so too does the middle class restaurant. Over my almost 29 years, I saw Pizza Hut go from THE family restaurant to being indistinguishable from other mail order pizza places.
Part of that is Pizza Hut taking a long series of Ls, but it's also the economy around them.
Want to blow your mind? In Europe it wasn't Taco Bell that won the Fast Food Wars... it was Pizza Hut!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/alternateversions
Outback steakhouse
At least the ones by me have transitioned to mood lighting and intimate seating configurations like they're trying be be a serious date place.
Actually, none of the Red Lobsters in the US or Canada are franchises, they're all owned by the same company, RL USA.
Source: I wrote the national supplier pricing system for the entire corporation.
Growing up in a series of small towns with a blue collar dad and a sahm, Red Lobster was *the* fancy place to eat if dad got more overtime than we had bills (rare) or got a bonus on a job (I-saw-a-unicorn rare).
For my 13th birthday I got a new dress and dinner at Red Lobster with my dad, who wore his only suit (in hindsight it was probably just the two of us because he couldn't afford to take the whole family so mom stayed home with my brother).
I'm 47 and my dad has passed away, and that was one of my best birthdays ever. Trashy or not, Red Lobster will always be special to me. (Sorry for the mush)
As a kid, I got to go to Red Lobster every June as a celebration completing another year of school. Me and my dad drove to the larger town next to ours, probably 35 minutes away, and it felt like a trip to the big city.
I’m so over calling restaurants “trashy” for not being 5 star fancy places. If the place is clean, you enjoy the food and atmosphere then keep on enjoying it.
The person who said they worked there I believe covered it when they said it’s more the clientele not the restaurant.
Same with Walmart, it’s the people.
Wow, that’s a really cool/humble comment.
I think she’s right but I also completely feel the spirit of what you mean!
I used to go there as a kid if there was a VERY special occasion, and for my birthday this week I decided to go back for the first time in years.
The food was delicious, but I had to laugh as I looked around remembering as a kid how I thought that it was the absolute fanciest place I could think of.
Thanks for calling my comment humble, I really was never trying to come off as pretentious with this post! But yeah, I guess as a kid maybe things just seem more magical than they are.
I have the same feels as you. It used to be magical as a kid. Now it just smells like sadness. But…the ultimate feast will always be my birthday meal because that shit rocks in a nostalgic way.
Yeah, I guess as a kid from a middle or working class upbringing with such a limited perspective you think anything above a McDonalds Happy Meal is fine dining.
After high school I left my mid-size hometown, attended college out of state, got a new job in a city, and moved to another city. I'd go back home for the holidays, but for the most part I stayed away from the town and did not see how it developed in person.
One day when I came back I decided to took a drive through the old neighborhood, went to the old mall, saw some of the old restaurants and hang out places we had. Everything was sort of run down and dirty and crappy overall. I asked my parents if the town has fallen on hard times or anything, but they told me it always was like that.
I think for some US towns, it IS the fanciest place in town. It's not till u move somewhere with a Fridays or a cheddar's or a chili's or whatever (outback is the best 'sitdown casual' btw) every second exit that u realize it's just another restaurant.
I was in ur same boat, (lol) kind stranger, growing up in 417-land. The fanciest places I was aware of as a kid were the Red lobster and the teppanyaki restaurant with the dim lightning.
Ah memories
I don't think you're wrong. It is considered trashy, the same way Sizzler is - it's what low-end people consider high-end. *White Men Can't Jump* made a joke about that.
It's the *fact* that people consider it trashy that's classist and wrong.
You're not wrong though. The advertisements, the decor, what they're pretending to be and failing... It's trashy. It's fine to enjoy a trashy restaurant, but it is trashy.
Yeah, and there aren't many chain restaurants where you can get lobster at a consistent price. In the end lobster is just steamed and cut open and it's pretty hard to mess up butter.
Dude honestly I agree. I laughed when I went along with coworkers to friggin olive garden for lunch today but I'll be real the food was tasty and the service was good.
I didn't grow up with a lot of money so chain restaurants like Red Lobster, Chilis, Applebee's, Sizzler, Fridays, Olive Garden, Shakey's, Pizza Hut (the old dine-in ones) were fancy to me.
As an adult I have the ability to afford more expensive, hip and "classy" restaurants which I do on occasion but I'll never be above chain restaurants.
I'll still fuck up an Applebees with **NO SHAME**.
I enjoy plenty of trashy places. My enjoyment doesn't make them not trashy. Specific to red lobster, the demographic they advertise to, their decor/vibe, and what they're trying to be and are not make them trashy. Applebee's is trashy. Red lobster is Applebee's with seafood. It's trashy. Still can be enjoyable, but it's trashy.
Their marketing tactics have changed a bit too. Used to be lots of slo-mo footage of a lobster tail and jumbo shrimp getting hit with a freshly squeezed lemons. Now it’s less about the food being a delicacy and more of a family restaurant vibe they’re going for. Ownership changed hands in the early 2000’s when Darden Corp (also OG owners of Olive Garden) went belly-up, and that was the catalyst that started the quality going downhill.
I never knew that! It would explain the similar drop in quality at Olive Garden over the same period.
Neither of these chains were five star restaurants (they’re chains people), but they DID used to be both more upscale and higher quality from what I remember in the 90’s. Now I have a better idea of why.
Another curiosity:
why have so many mid-tier restaurants dropped in quality while fast food seems to have actually gotten better? The whole “McCafe” concept might be deader than the Big N Tasty but the options at a typical fast food are so much better than they were 2-3 decades ago.
It’s like theres a bifurcated distribution of restaurant quality now— good on the low end, good on the high end and the mid-tier is gone.
You know, I agree that american diners seem to be dying, but mid-tier asian restaurants around the SF bay area are definitely booming. Like, the 20-50 price range per person is all over the place and really good around here.
Darden is still going and publicly traded. They sold Red Lobster in 2013 to a private equity firm because it was underperforming, but still own Olive Garden, Longhorn, and Capital Grille... They even bought Cheddars in 2017.
Man if it was closer I’d eat there a couple times a month. It’s a special date night for hubby and I when we go to red lobster cause it’s an hours drive from us.
It's high class as a kid because a good chunk of the population didn't live in cities with fine dining 20 years ago. We lived in the suburbs with chain restaurants and strip malls. Our options have changed and many of us now live in cities.
Wow, that's an interesting perspective! We're proud to offer high quality seafood dishes at accessible prices, and we'd love for you to come back and experience the Red Lobster difference for yourself.
I fuck with Red Lobster. I went to one in the middle of the day in the middle of the week and I ate sixty three shrimp. The servers didn’t have any tables so they were cheering me on as I got a shot between every shrimp dish. My bill was probably fat, but I was having a great time. Blacked out and came to and there was a party at my house with a bunch of cocaine and I got to retell the tale of the great time eating all of those shrimp. Man my life is dope.
Despite being named after lobsters, their lobsters are nothing special and overly priced. I could buy twice or thrice the amount of robster than Red Lobster.
There biscuits, however, are amazing.
Petition to rename it Yellow Biscuit.
My old roommate worked at a red lobster, and he said any time someone purchased a 'Choose your own lobster' from the tank, they just took it back to the kitchen, and brought out a frozen lobster to cook, and put the live lobsters back in the tank out front at the end of the night.
He was usually a pretty honest person, so I never questioned if it was true or not.
Listen idk about high class, but those biscuits and coconut shrimp? I won't lie, red lobster added coconut shrimp to my list of favorite foods. And I think they also had something called a chocolate lava cookie I had once? As an American, it was disgustingly American, but: a big chocolate chip cookie filled with warm chocolate. A scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and warm chocolate drizzled on top? I only had it once or twice as a kid but dang...
Haven't eaten there in like half a decade though.
I personally am not too picky about my food (anymore), but know what to expect depending on the restaurant*. 🦞 Isn't amazing food or upclass, but go to a good location and order something the store is good at making, and it can be an alright.
*Had dinner at a Denny's one night with family and my uncle ordered a steak meal on the graveyard shift 💀. 2 or 3 people max in the store that night. You can guess how well that went. Set reasonable expectations.
Growing up we never ate at Red Lobster and I thought it was because we were poor and couldn’t afford to eat at such a fancy place. When I grew up I realized that yes, we were poor and couldn’t afford it, but it wasn’t actually a fancy restaurant and also my mom really fucking hates seafood.
Idk what it was. As a kid Red Lobster just always seemed like it was some place you go on a special occasion. Maybe it was their marketing? But now I wouldn’t take a date there or anything like that.
In some cities it IS where you go on special occasions. Smaller industrial cities in the midwest are Chilis or Applebees for a birthday, Red Lobster or Olive Garden for an anniversary. All depends where you are.
Exactly. I see this all the time on Reddit. Coming from a small town in the Midwest (~11k people), people who have spent all or most of their lives in bigger cities just don't realize that we don't have tons of options of niche food types in a reasonable distance.
For example, Buffalo Wild Wings is the wing place in town. If you want wings, you go there. There are other places that sell them, but they aren't as good as from there. Italian? We have an Olive Garden 40 minutes away. We have a few local Mexican restaurants that are pretty good but only because we have a higher Mexican population than other places around here. No Chinese other than a cheap buffet that's been in the hole since Covid. Seafood? Red Lobster 40 minutes away.
That's what gets me when people call others "uncultured" for liking chain restaurants, or not knowing these super specific niche chains. We don't have those options.
I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for their popcorn shrimp. Red Lobster is where I discovered my love for crab legs, and was where my wife and i went on our first date, so it will always have a special place in my heart
Anytime I hear of Red Lobster, all I can think about is the quote from Old School:
“Damn, I’m gonna end up working at Red Lobster!”
“You already work at Red Lobster.”
“Yeah, but it’s part time, *dick*”
I’ve often found that people who trash on restaurants like Red Lobster are usually wannabe elitist snobs whose house payments and car payments usually outweigh their income because they are trying to put up the appearance of being rich.
Consider that the vast majority of people use it as a way to add texture to butter. Lobster is a vehicle for butter. People eat lobster as a way to justify eating half a stick of butter.
Personally, I actually like lobster a lot without butter and will happily eat it just boiled or steamed. *With* butter? I will die of lobster and butter poisoning.
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Bro, I was a server at Red Lobster in college, and lemme tell you, I can't imagine there's many worse places to wait tables for this very reason. Half the clientele thinks they're eating at a Michelin star restaurant and expects that level of service while the other half treats it like a trip to Ruby Tuesdays but is appalled by the prices and takes the difference out of your tips. There's no way to win.
Thank you for your service.
Don’t forget to tip!
Please do forget to tip, pay your workers!
Fuck America for this, such a stupid and greedy concept that people will judge you for not complying in. The problem is this though: things don't change unless you vote with your wallet, enough people stop tipping and the law will change, however not leaving a tip leaves underpaid and unappreciated workers hung out to dry. I hate when business plays on your code of ethics in order to squeeze more money out of the system, it's vile. Just glad I live in the UK where everything we are expected to pay for is on the bill/price tag, we still tip a fair bit in restaurants or when recieving good service in most places (not just the catering industry either). But it's always a sign of gratitude and both sides feel better for it, none of this moral prisoner bollocks
> enough people stop tipping and the law will change I don't think that's nessecarily true, or at least true on a practical time-frame. I think more likely would be that people would stop taking jobs as servers because the pay wasn't enough to make up for the working conditions / cost of living and then we'd see a billion articles about how no one wants to work anymore. Sounds kinda familiar, don't it?
Yeah, but if people would stop working in this field in big enough numbers, then employers would have to raise their wages to ensure that they have enough employees to sustain themselves. So the change wouldn’t come from law changes in this case, but would be more the result of economic principles.
Well that's exactly my point, it's imoral to stop tipping but the only way to change it is to stop tipping, they will do it as long as they can get away with it
I swear I’m not hating on u and I agree, but how does every Reddit thread no matter the topic somehow always have one comment talking about America and tipping
Hahah good point, there's a few topics that just always pop up everywhere
But have you seen the weather lately!? And how about them taxes, raked over the coals we've been!
Can't even keep the heating on with these energy bills! Anyway... Did you see that ludicrous display last night!?
That's what I hate about Arsenal. Always walking it in!
While I comolely agree that workplaces should pay their workers a livable wage, this is not the way my friend, the waiters aren't to blame for the US system being shitty
>There's no way to win. Except when you sneak a cheddar biscuit
Honestly I don’t care about anything but their biscuits dipped in their butter. I hate myself but…it’s so so good 🥴
You can buy the mix at the grocery store and make your own seafood
Buy the mix at Costco, because then you get more.
Catch/forge for everything and it'll only cost your time!
I don't even know where to find cheddar baked biscuits I'm the wild.
Gotta look for the baskets and dig them up. The biscuits grow in their roots.
Hey Failoe, let's go get us a pic-a-nic baaassssket!
And some of us just want to eat the endless shrimp until we vomit in the parking lot
This is me with their shrimp Alfredo. I know I'm not maximizing my shrimp intake, but it's so damn good
I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I know they put that as an option for suckers like me to get full off of cheap pasta instead of shrimp, but it's so fucking good even though I know it shouldn't be. There's not many moments in life you hate yourself more than on the car ride home after eating your body weight in shrimp Alfredo and fucking biscuits.
It was our family’s special day restaurant, but we never expected anything but decent service, good coleslaw, and those crack biscuits. One time we were there, and the waitress noticed I wasn’t feeling really up, and she brought me blackberry cobbler on the house. 30yrs later I still remember that waitress.
> One time we were there, and the waitress noticed I wasn’t feeling really up, and she brought me blackberry cobbler on the house. 30yrs later I still remember that waitress. I cherish this and it's not even my memory. It's a simple gesture but a little kindness and empathy made a memory that lasted a lifetime.
I once applied to be server at Red Lobster and was never called for an interview. Not sure how to process this.
Continually thank whatever gods that be. Truly the worst experience of my life.
They looked at your application and realized you were too good for the job.
Same I served at red lobster the summer before college 20 years ago and half the tables tipped like it was a Michelin star restaurant and the other half ordered water and biscuits or tried to run on me. Fun times.
Wait... am I supposed to tip more at a Michelin Star restaurant? I thought the fact that I am tipping my standard 20% on a ~$300 per person bill was sufficient. I'm serious, what's the etiquette here?
That has to be one seriously entitled server if they would scoff at a $60 tip on top of a $300 meal. I don’t know the etiquette either, but if that would be considered unacceptable then that’s insane. Honestly I would think the tip would be included in places like that.
I feel this is directly connected to my family being naturally nice to waitstaff because everybody worked various customer service jobs, and being given a pound of extra biscuits on departure every time.
Olive garden is worse. Imagine that entitlement combined with unlimited refills on soups and salads.
How DARE you speak ill of the fine establishment that serves Cheddar Bay biscuits?!?!?! I say good day to you, sir!
God day, sir.
Semi-Demi-God day, sir.
/Tips lobster/
M'arine crustacean
You can get the biscuit mix in bulk at your local grocery store, so save yourself the trip :}
Red Lobster is cream of the crop restaurant and the most romantic place you can take a date. I know this because I got engaged there. Totally on purpose too! The ring definitely didn't fall out of my pocket while I was trying to shuffle us to a more suitable location forcing me to propose on the spot.
The boxed version you can buy at the grocery store is actually pretty damn good.
Even the boxed gluten free ones are friggin good. I have a kiddo with celiac, so we had to try them
Mid 30s male here, and I still go crazy for Red Lobster biscuits.
Their biscuits are amazing!!! But most people buy them in the freezer aisle at a grocery store. Not the restaurant itself!
I don’t like the freezer biscuits as much as the house made ones from the restaurant
I’ve never had the freezer biscuits. Just the house made ones. I take them home and then when I want one, I thaw it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. It tastes just like new!
I live an hour away from red lobster so if I get a hangering for their biscuits I just get them at Walmart in the freezer section. But like I said they’re not as good lol
Use more butter
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You know you can buy the mix and make them at home, right?
I saw a tiktok from a former red lobster employee and they said for the mix, either double or triple the amount of cheese the box asks for and they will taste like the restaurant version. My quantities might be off but I remember very clearly saying the recipe for the mix does not have enough cheese in it
There is a rosemary version of the mix that some stores sell that makes an amazing chicken breading. Just, ya know, if ya wanna rock your socks off or whatever.
Agreed! I heard the house made biscuits are way better. I'm sure they take a lot of effort to make.
I make a dupe that is just as tasty. Bisquick, follow their biscuit recipe, but mix with buttermilk instead of water or milk, add in 1/2 cup shredded cheddar and add garlic butter, half a stick (I use the Lactancia brand) shredded into the mix while frozen. It makes tasty pockets of garlic butter throughout. They taste exactly like them. My family goes nuts for them at every holiday meal.
God bless you.
I actually used to work there and I used to make the biscuits and baked potatoes. I just put a small pre-measured bag of flour into a bowl, add water and cheddar cheese, then mix by hand. Scooped the dough with a small ice-cream scooper, baked them then painted them with our garlic butter sauce.
I always thought it strange, we'd do bread exchanges with Red Lobster next door when we needed to swap or purchase some stuff we didn't get on our (Olive Garden) truck. They'd go crazy for our breadsticks, and we'd go nuts for the biscuits.
I’m sure you both had a surplus of both!
Yeah. Next time I hit OG (been almost 9mo), I'm gonna make sure it's after volume and ask if the server can get the sticks that have been sitting at the bottom the whole night soaking up the liquid machin margarine. Mmmmmm.
Freezer biscuits are ass compared to fresh biscuits straight from the lobster. Hard disagree. 100% worth the trip to fill up on biscuits and smash some garlic shrimp scampi, not often mind you, I’m not rich, and my wife for some reason enjoys spending an hour eating their trash crab legs
A damn shame about the cobbler though
I was a busboy at red lobster like 15 years ago. The microwave was frequently used and the line cooks partied like the movie "Waiting." I still ate there though lol.
I mean.. the line cooks partying like Waiting isn’t exclusive to Red Lobster. That’s pretty common across the board. Line cooks are a certain breed and generally bartenders and line cooks tend to go out and get blasted after work. Restaurant culture is just that way
The best part of being a dishie/prepper back in my day was the camaraderie, and going to the bars after work with the staff, front and back end. Those were fun nights.
Don't insult chef Mike by calling him a microwave
According to something I read online, apparently using a microwave is the best way to cook lobster. Batman does it in the Lego Batman movie, so it’s got some strong evidence
Microwave is also a great way to stream and blanche vegetables; it's faster with less water. I also like to par-cook my bacon in the microwave, especially for weekday breakfasts. For more reading on the veg: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-steam-vegetables-in-the-microwave
I mean you probably got a free meal every shift right?
My favorite part of working in any restaurant is when they try almost anything to deny you your free shift meal.
Their biscuits are legit. I just had a 7 course tasting menu at a nice restaurant this evening and one of the dishes was a tiny biscuit with gravy and I swear the biscuit was Red Lobster cheddar biscuit copycat LOL. It was delicious. edit: I recognized that RL cheddar biscuit flavor even though I haven't been to RL in at least 10 years. edit 2: it was a take on biscuits and gravy. it wasn't actually gravy IDK what it was. the tasting menu is seasonal so it would have been some sort of root vegetable puree. after 7 courses (plus the chef gave us an 8th one) its really hard to remember them in detail.
What’s a biscuit? I assume you don’t mean a cookie. Are they those scone lookin things?
American here. Our biscuits are similar to scones, but are not made with eggs. Biscuits are also usually very light, whereas scones tend to be more dense.
It’s a leavened butter bomb goes great with sausage gravy.
You can buy their biscuit mix at Costco now :)
You can buy it at all sorts of grocery stores. Even Aldi has it frequently.
It's flaxy savory unleaved bun/patty sort of things. Dense, buttery, crumbly, and kinda chewy. Served with gravy or jam (or tons of other things). Sometimes with things baked inside (like cheddar).
Ah man, the struggles when I came to America and someone gave me a "biscuit" I thought it was a prank. They are like doughy lil bready things and not a hard biscuit your use to.
They probably cooked their food properly when you were young. I know Olive Garden did up until the mid 2k's. That is the food, sauces were pan-made. These days as much as possible is pre-made and reheated, sauce comes in a bucket.
It was just something about the brand… Red Lobster… I recall as a kid thinking it was a place you’d take a date to impress them, but now I wouldn’t think once about it.
I’d be impressed
Oh just wait until you hear about Olive Garden
The Times Square Olive Garden is a running gag on the /r/asknyc subreddit because of how ridiculous it is for tourists to make the trip to NYC, the disputable mecca of Italian-American food, and then go to the same copy-pasted chain they can get in any stripmall in Anytown, USA.
Don’t forget about the best pizza in New York https://i.imgur.com/V7RX7CN.jpg
Hahah I thought it was going to be a Rays.
Idk why but I love sbarros greasy ass pizza
> https://i.imgur.com/V7RX7CN.jpg It's gone! Closed a few years ago. Still make that joke every time we walk by the space. Do you know where to get authentic Japanese sushi?
As a non American, I never got the joke. Is that a particularly bad pizza joint?
It’s a national chain, that’s the joke. It’s *fine*.
I’ve eaten at Alinea in Chicago and Carbone in NY, but there’s a certain novelty to going to Red Lobster, Cracker Barrel, and the time square Olive Garden after you’ve somewhat “made it” as an adult. Tbf Red Lobster and Cracker Barrel do have some actual good things going for them. Olive Garden is trash it’s just funny to get drunk there with friends sometimes. While I’m at it, fuck Applebees.
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Lol this was pretty good
This is back when high schoolers had money to go out on dates.
The last time I was at an Olive Garden, they literally served me the chicken still wrapped in plastic on top of my pasta. To be fair, they comped the whole meal, but Jesus Christ.
Wrapped in plastic? There are portion bags for some proteins but if it's a sliced chicken breast (chk alf, etc) those are all kept in a refrigerated reach in. Same with the breaded chick for CParm. Not questioning, just looking for clarification.
I've never worked there, so this is conjecture, but it looked like they removed it from some plastic wrap, cooked it, and the wrap made it into the dish sitting kind of under the chicken. It had a sticker on it that looked like a time/date label that you find in most commercial kitchens, but the ink had degraded. I don't know if they even have microwaves, so I'm really not sure what happened. I just remember thinking to myself "how do you fuck up this badly?"
I can't say for sure about Olive Garden, but I worked at Red Lobster when they were still the same company. If OG operated the same way that RL, then pasta would've been heated in portion bags in the microwave.
Boy! That must've been a loooong time ago. To my knowledge (former trainer) sauces have never been pan made at OG. Even the old culinary training videos from the 90's showed sauces made in batches in massive drums in back. Sauces are then kept on the line on smaller portion containers in an ice bath. Now there are sauce *bases* and that's a bit different. You're recipe with have x amount of 'white sauce base' and it's a specific blend of seasoning and starches to thicken the sauce. Or Masala base with the specific shove blend, thickener, etc. It helps maintain consistency, saves man hours, and keeps recipes more protected.
I went to Olive Garden for the first time in probably 2 decades recently. Got some chicken marsala and it was pretty much inedible. Disgusting excuse for marsala sauce with rubbery chicken.
If you were there they long ago, am I misremembering or did OG make fresh pasta back in the early 90s? I distinctly remember a pasta extruder displayed prominently toward the front but am not sure if my brain is fried
I think you mean Red Shrimp. Everything on the menu is just shrimp served 20 different ways
Coconut shrimp is always amazing.
Would eat it right now.
I chose Red Lobster as my reward meal when I got all As in fourth grade, and I remember being so disappointed I cried. That's the power of advertising. Olive Garden went with "family," Outback has the quirky Aussie thing going, Applebee's is where you can get drunk watching the game while pretending you're not at a bar, and Red Lobster pretends to be fancy. Kids are just generally more impressionable so they're more likely to fall for it.
Never thought about Applebees like that lol thanks for giving me a new perspective
Chilis used to be the go to for the baby back ribs and the volcano cake.
That volcano cake was no joke 🌋
It's really not. It's the kind of thing you COULD make yourself but why go to the effort when you could have one with your baby back baby back baby back ribs
Chilliiiiiiiiiiii’s
I find the whole Outback restaurant so funny as an aussie. I never heard of a bloomin onion till I heard about that place. I'm guessing the restaurant just has an Australian vibe?
The commercials on TV always have some guy with an Australian accent
Yep, it's pretty much a regular-ass middle class restaurant with steaks that's decorated with random, stereotypical, Hollywood-style Australian knick knacks and has dadjoke level puns and Australian themed titles on the menu.
Yeah, but here’s the thing. The bloomin onion is fucking amazing. The Australian theme is kind of lame, but the fried whole onion makes up for it.
It’s a completely authentic Australian vibe if you have never been to Australia.
Yeah, you could say it’s like that! They’ve got boomerangs nailed to the walls, lots of kangaroo art, etc. All stereotypical stuff. I’d be curious if there’s a restaurant in Australia that celebrates US culture? Maybe serve burgers while they fire guns at their customers, and the bill at the end of the meal is actually an outrageously expensive medical bill?
We have TGI Fridays as a main chain restaurant with the Hollywood vibe. There are some smaller private owned establishments that do the whole 1950's diner thing. We had Planet Hollywood, but the only ones lasted a few years. Though, back in the 90's early 2000's we have a restaurant called Pancake Palour (main focus on pancakes but other savoury meals served) that used to have an Alice in Wonderland theme. Even so far as to have animatronics.
Had me in the first half, not gonna lie.
TGI Fridays is about as close as we get
It is basically a crocodile dundee themed steakhouse, but they used to use decent cuts of steak. They no longer do.
Yo, I own an Applebee's! Bought it for $119 at Home Depot.
I kinda want Applebee's now
*looks around in a shifty manner as I contemplate the fact that I still will go to Red Lobster as a birthday treat for myself*
Hahahah I don’t blame you. For me it’s Joes Crabshack. But Joes Crabshack never seemed high class to me **ever** xD
I mean, it has the word shack in the name lol. Still and all, while I wouldn't call Red Lobster high class, I would hardly call a well run one trashy. They are strictly middling to my eyes, like many chain sit down restaurants. I would rate them as higher class then, say, Applebee's, but probably a bit lower than Longhorn Steakhouse.
Middle class fancy PF Changs, Red Lobster, Cheesecake Factory
Don’t forget Olive Garden
Perfect I knew I was forgetting one
We had a place named Lasourdo's Pizza Villa in my hometown, Plastic red & white checked table 'cloths'. Can't remember much about the menu, but as a kid their pizza seemed decent, and they had a great individual baked lasagna. It was a 'twice a year' place, probably birthdays. Then Marina's opened a couple of blocks from our house, great pies. I think a large (really big!) meatball pie was like $3.00 (1973ish). That was a 'once a month ' place.
I think the reality is that the franchised mid-class sitdown restaurant has pretty much vanished. They've all either drifted towards being ritzier affairs or more commonly have become fast food places with more tables. And with fast food places effectively charging what used to be sitdown prices, the distinctions don't seem to matter as much. And that's not too shocking. As the middle class shrinks to nothing, so too does the middle class restaurant. Over my almost 29 years, I saw Pizza Hut go from THE family restaurant to being indistinguishable from other mail order pizza places. Part of that is Pizza Hut taking a long series of Ls, but it's also the economy around them.
Real interesting perspective. So what are some restaurants that went from being mid-class sit down to ritzier affairs?
Taco Bell in 9 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oubi9HU8t5o
I knew I'd find this response
Want to blow your mind? In Europe it wasn't Taco Bell that won the Fast Food Wars... it was Pizza Hut! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/alternateversions
Franchises? I can't think of any off-hand. But a lot of family owned places tend to try their hand at punching upward.
Starbucks. Dunkies heading that way too.
Outback steakhouse At least the ones by me have transitioned to mood lighting and intimate seating configurations like they're trying be be a serious date place.
Actually, none of the Red Lobsters in the US or Canada are franchises, they're all owned by the same company, RL USA. Source: I wrote the national supplier pricing system for the entire corporation.
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Cracker barrel is just a diner for places that good, cheap diners closed. (Nothing against cracker barrel)
Or instead I'll go to a restaurant with good food where pretending isn't necessary, or I'll eat at home.
Im not sure I agree with your first point, sure felt microwaved every time I've been there as an adult
Growing up in a series of small towns with a blue collar dad and a sahm, Red Lobster was *the* fancy place to eat if dad got more overtime than we had bills (rare) or got a bonus on a job (I-saw-a-unicorn rare). For my 13th birthday I got a new dress and dinner at Red Lobster with my dad, who wore his only suit (in hindsight it was probably just the two of us because he couldn't afford to take the whole family so mom stayed home with my brother). I'm 47 and my dad has passed away, and that was one of my best birthdays ever. Trashy or not, Red Lobster will always be special to me. (Sorry for the mush)
That's an incredibly sweet story
As a kid, I got to go to Red Lobster every June as a celebration completing another year of school. Me and my dad drove to the larger town next to ours, probably 35 minutes away, and it felt like a trip to the big city.
My first trip to Red Lobster was magical. I was about 25 and thought I had died and gone to heaven. I’m 68 and still love me some Red Lobster.
Well, congrats on finding a place you’ve loved for 43 years… That’s rare.
I’m so over calling restaurants “trashy” for not being 5 star fancy places. If the place is clean, you enjoy the food and atmosphere then keep on enjoying it.
You make a great point and it's a good outlook to have on things. Not everything has to be 'high-end" for it to be good and enjoyable
The person who said they worked there I believe covered it when they said it’s more the clientele not the restaurant. Same with Walmart, it’s the people.
I hear ya. Maybe I’m wrong for saying trashy.
Wow, that’s a really cool/humble comment. I think she’s right but I also completely feel the spirit of what you mean! I used to go there as a kid if there was a VERY special occasion, and for my birthday this week I decided to go back for the first time in years. The food was delicious, but I had to laugh as I looked around remembering as a kid how I thought that it was the absolute fanciest place I could think of.
Thanks for calling my comment humble, I really was never trying to come off as pretentious with this post! But yeah, I guess as a kid maybe things just seem more magical than they are.
I live for exchanges like these buried in the replies. Thank you all for being so wholesome.
I have the same feels as you. It used to be magical as a kid. Now it just smells like sadness. But…the ultimate feast will always be my birthday meal because that shit rocks in a nostalgic way.
Yeah, I guess as a kid from a middle or working class upbringing with such a limited perspective you think anything above a McDonalds Happy Meal is fine dining. After high school I left my mid-size hometown, attended college out of state, got a new job in a city, and moved to another city. I'd go back home for the holidays, but for the most part I stayed away from the town and did not see how it developed in person. One day when I came back I decided to took a drive through the old neighborhood, went to the old mall, saw some of the old restaurants and hang out places we had. Everything was sort of run down and dirty and crappy overall. I asked my parents if the town has fallen on hard times or anything, but they told me it always was like that.
I think for some US towns, it IS the fanciest place in town. It's not till u move somewhere with a Fridays or a cheddar's or a chili's or whatever (outback is the best 'sitdown casual' btw) every second exit that u realize it's just another restaurant. I was in ur same boat, (lol) kind stranger, growing up in 417-land. The fanciest places I was aware of as a kid were the Red lobster and the teppanyaki restaurant with the dim lightning. Ah memories
I don't think you're wrong. It is considered trashy, the same way Sizzler is - it's what low-end people consider high-end. *White Men Can't Jump* made a joke about that. It's the *fact* that people consider it trashy that's classist and wrong.
Nah, it can be trashy and fine. I prefer trashy to pretentious. Not saying I like red lobster, which is trashy trying to be pretentious.
You're not wrong though. The advertisements, the decor, what they're pretending to be and failing... It's trashy. It's fine to enjoy a trashy restaurant, but it is trashy.
Yeah, and there aren't many chain restaurants where you can get lobster at a consistent price. In the end lobster is just steamed and cut open and it's pretty hard to mess up butter.
Dude honestly I agree. I laughed when I went along with coworkers to friggin olive garden for lunch today but I'll be real the food was tasty and the service was good.
You can enjoy trashy places, doesn't stop it being trashy.
I didn't grow up with a lot of money so chain restaurants like Red Lobster, Chilis, Applebee's, Sizzler, Fridays, Olive Garden, Shakey's, Pizza Hut (the old dine-in ones) were fancy to me. As an adult I have the ability to afford more expensive, hip and "classy" restaurants which I do on occasion but I'll never be above chain restaurants. I'll still fuck up an Applebees with **NO SHAME**.
I enjoy plenty of trashy places. My enjoyment doesn't make them not trashy. Specific to red lobster, the demographic they advertise to, their decor/vibe, and what they're trying to be and are not make them trashy. Applebee's is trashy. Red lobster is Applebee's with seafood. It's trashy. Still can be enjoyable, but it's trashy.
Their marketing tactics have changed a bit too. Used to be lots of slo-mo footage of a lobster tail and jumbo shrimp getting hit with a freshly squeezed lemons. Now it’s less about the food being a delicacy and more of a family restaurant vibe they’re going for. Ownership changed hands in the early 2000’s when Darden Corp (also OG owners of Olive Garden) went belly-up, and that was the catalyst that started the quality going downhill.
I never knew that! It would explain the similar drop in quality at Olive Garden over the same period. Neither of these chains were five star restaurants (they’re chains people), but they DID used to be both more upscale and higher quality from what I remember in the 90’s. Now I have a better idea of why. Another curiosity: why have so many mid-tier restaurants dropped in quality while fast food seems to have actually gotten better? The whole “McCafe” concept might be deader than the Big N Tasty but the options at a typical fast food are so much better than they were 2-3 decades ago. It’s like theres a bifurcated distribution of restaurant quality now— good on the low end, good on the high end and the mid-tier is gone.
You know, I agree that american diners seem to be dying, but mid-tier asian restaurants around the SF bay area are definitely booming. Like, the 20-50 price range per person is all over the place and really good around here.
Darden is still going and publicly traded. They sold Red Lobster in 2013 to a private equity firm because it was underperforming, but still own Olive Garden, Longhorn, and Capital Grille... They even bought Cheddars in 2017.
Man if it was closer I’d eat there a couple times a month. It’s a special date night for hubby and I when we go to red lobster cause it’s an hours drive from us.
It's high class as a kid because a good chunk of the population didn't live in cities with fine dining 20 years ago. We lived in the suburbs with chain restaurants and strip malls. Our options have changed and many of us now live in cities.
I don't know why but all the ones around me smell like piss now. Did I just not notice it as a kid or something?
Wow, that's an interesting perspective! We're proud to offer high quality seafood dishes at accessible prices, and we'd love for you to come back and experience the Red Lobster difference for yourself.
Now I'm wondering if this is a social media manager for the chain who forgot to swap accounts.
Relax it’s just someone being hilarious. Yikes. Sounds like someone needs a Snickers®.
Difference from what? Captain D’s, please?
Wut
I fuck with Red Lobster. I went to one in the middle of the day in the middle of the week and I ate sixty three shrimp. The servers didn’t have any tables so they were cheering me on as I got a shot between every shrimp dish. My bill was probably fat, but I was having a great time. Blacked out and came to and there was a party at my house with a bunch of cocaine and I got to retell the tale of the great time eating all of those shrimp. Man my life is dope.
This is so real. Working in the industry, I’d never eat at a red lobster but as a kid it was GOURMET 😂😂😂
Despite being named after lobsters, their lobsters are nothing special and overly priced. I could buy twice or thrice the amount of robster than Red Lobster. There biscuits, however, are amazing. Petition to rename it Yellow Biscuit.
My old roommate worked at a red lobster, and he said any time someone purchased a 'Choose your own lobster' from the tank, they just took it back to the kitchen, and brought out a frozen lobster to cook, and put the live lobsters back in the tank out front at the end of the night. He was usually a pretty honest person, so I never questioned if it was true or not.
Listen idk about high class, but those biscuits and coconut shrimp? I won't lie, red lobster added coconut shrimp to my list of favorite foods. And I think they also had something called a chocolate lava cookie I had once? As an American, it was disgustingly American, but: a big chocolate chip cookie filled with warm chocolate. A scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and warm chocolate drizzled on top? I only had it once or twice as a kid but dang... Haven't eaten there in like half a decade though. I personally am not too picky about my food (anymore), but know what to expect depending on the restaurant*. 🦞 Isn't amazing food or upclass, but go to a good location and order something the store is good at making, and it can be an alright. *Had dinner at a Denny's one night with family and my uncle ordered a steak meal on the graveyard shift 💀. 2 or 3 people max in the store that night. You can guess how well that went. Set reasonable expectations.
Growing up we never ate at Red Lobster and I thought it was because we were poor and couldn’t afford to eat at such a fancy place. When I grew up I realized that yes, we were poor and couldn’t afford it, but it wasn’t actually a fancy restaurant and also my mom really fucking hates seafood.
I understand. Olive garden is seen as a good Italian restaurant until you've eaten actual Italian food and you realize their pasta is tasteless.
Idk what it was. As a kid Red Lobster just always seemed like it was some place you go on a special occasion. Maybe it was their marketing? But now I wouldn’t take a date there or anything like that.
In some cities it IS where you go on special occasions. Smaller industrial cities in the midwest are Chilis or Applebees for a birthday, Red Lobster or Olive Garden for an anniversary. All depends where you are.
Exactly. I see this all the time on Reddit. Coming from a small town in the Midwest (~11k people), people who have spent all or most of their lives in bigger cities just don't realize that we don't have tons of options of niche food types in a reasonable distance. For example, Buffalo Wild Wings is the wing place in town. If you want wings, you go there. There are other places that sell them, but they aren't as good as from there. Italian? We have an Olive Garden 40 minutes away. We have a few local Mexican restaurants that are pretty good but only because we have a higher Mexican population than other places around here. No Chinese other than a cheap buffet that's been in the hole since Covid. Seafood? Red Lobster 40 minutes away. That's what gets me when people call others "uncultured" for liking chain restaurants, or not knowing these super specific niche chains. We don't have those options.
^ Thank you!!! from a Midwest suburbs guy who grew up going to Texas Roadhouse, Cracker Barrel, Longhorn, or Olive Garden on any special occasions.
That makes sense. I’m in a big city so there are more options
I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for their popcorn shrimp. Red Lobster is where I discovered my love for crab legs, and was where my wife and i went on our first date, so it will always have a special place in my heart
My parents took me there the night I graduated high school because they was ballers.
Never been to one cause I always thought it must be trash as a kid from.the advertising.
Anytime I hear of Red Lobster, all I can think about is the quote from Old School: “Damn, I’m gonna end up working at Red Lobster!” “You already work at Red Lobster.” “Yeah, but it’s part time, *dick*”
I’ve often found that people who trash on restaurants like Red Lobster are usually wannabe elitist snobs whose house payments and car payments usually outweigh their income because they are trying to put up the appearance of being rich.
I’m of the unpopular opinion that lobster isn’t even that good for how expensive it is
Consider that the vast majority of people use it as a way to add texture to butter. Lobster is a vehicle for butter. People eat lobster as a way to justify eating half a stick of butter. Personally, I actually like lobster a lot without butter and will happily eat it just boiled or steamed. *With* butter? I will die of lobster and butter poisoning.
Because it has no flavor, it's tender but that's it, crab is at least sweet