Would you ever try Red Lobster again?

[Stevarino]

What Darden does so well, as most others do, is "Market" the concept, invest in the "perception", and load up on the "Top End Puppet Masters".

The individual outlets are no more than glorified McDonalds, based on economic formulas, contracted pricing, and low paying, low skill kitchen jobs. It is what it is, and if people buy in to it, and choose to support this kind of insult to our cultural base and pride in craftmanship, then, have at it. The choice is yours to make.

[CaliPoutine]

RL is so typical of what's bad about chains.  Expensive...dumb servers...gluttonous guests...mediocre food. It is hard to see how a physical makeover would change that culture.

Why do people wait for an hour for this abuse?  Amazing.

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Depending on your location, there may not be anything better around. Witness my hometown (backwoods of western north carolina) No red lobster (yet) but just about the best food the county proper has to offer is a Chili's and a Barley's. Local acts are for the most part inconsistent or mundane at best. an RL would be an improvement (and probably isn't there because of the arcane liquor laws the county sticks to despite the people who leave in droves for entertainment elsewhere, but i suppose that's another rant)

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We ate at RL last night in Port Huron, MI. We live in Ontario so its about an hour drive for us. We didnt specifically go to eat at RL but we have to eat dinner and the choices in Port Huron are slim. We have our choice of Chili's, RL, Olive Garden( no way in hell), Applebees, and Ruby Tuesday. A Golden Corral just opened( the parking lot was packed) as well.

Would we chose to eat at RL if there was something better availble? No, of course not. We're going to San Fran next month and we wouldnt dare step foot in a chain. Same thing applies when we got to FL a few times a year. But, like the above poster stated, some people dont have a choice and to me RL seemed like the lesser of a few evils. I had fresh fish( whitefish) with a sauted shrimp topping and a baked potato(18.99). The fish was perfectly cooked. My spouse had a new dish on the American menu( grilled shrimp, split lobster tails). The shrimp were ok, the lobster was overcooked. The entire meal( with an appetizer) was $48.00. The entire time we were eating dinner I kept saying to myself " I can't believe I'm eating at RL".

[LittleChef22]

When I was younger I used to like it.. it had better ingredients... but after they sacrificed quality to make it cheaper I don't think I'd go back.