FLOUNDER-ING I don't normally go to Red Lobsters and dinner on 4/28/17 is a prime example why. It was my mom's pick for TGIF and she had a hankering for fresh lobster so we found ourselves here. I didn't think much of it, I knew their cheddar biscuits were legendary and had some decent experiences at other RL's in the past. We showed up at a primetime hour and got seated right away. It took a while, but eventually a server made his way over to our table and introduced himself. Jim was nice, but timid, and didn't strike us as a big 'people person'. No matter, we were famished so we put in our food orders right away. After a lengthy delay my parents got their glasses of wine and a beer for myself. The crab dip and stuffed mushroom cap appetizers came out, those tasted fine. We got in our entrees and waited a while as my mom had asked for a fresh-ass lobster (nice one, mom). ......after having been there for six months, our server had never fished a live lobster out of the tank. According to my mom he was "afraid" to do it so the manager had to step in. Truth be told, as kind as Jim was, his attitude was totally meek and not at all suitable for the service industry. I got some sort of seafood platter but the kids screaming and flinging shrimp scampi across the room put me off my appetite. Everything tasted fine, but the missteps here and there (asked for Tabasco, never received it) started to stack up. At one point it became laughable, like "how/what are they going to f*ck up next?" Sure enough, the kitchen hadn't cracked open my mom's whole lobster so they took it back......and there it stayed. Bye-bye Mr Lobster!! Time goes by and the manager asks how we're doing. OH hohohoh lady we don't have enough hours in the day to discuss your restaurant's shortcomings. We highlighted the important stuff: we never got utensils (smh), Mr Lobster disappeared, they forgot my dad's side order, our server vanished for quite some time.....the list went on and on. She apologized and gave us a free dessert on the house, which was nice. Still doesn't atone for the extensive service issues, though. Bread = 3.5 Circuses = 1 *TL;DR* I can't help shake the feeling that Red Lobster is like the Boost Mobile of seafood restaurants. All the same people who get their unlimited data plans from bottom-tier service providers come here to eat on Friday nights. McCormick & Schmick's this ain't, but by no means is it cheap.....most entrees are still $20-30. Everything from a wobbly chair to long delays in service, to basic things like forgetting to bring silverware (inexcusable). In the grand scheme of things, they were small mistakes but they added up quickly. They forgot plates, they forgot tools for my crab legs, they didn't split my mom's lobster (as requested), no itty bitty seafood fork was provided, what the HECK is going on here?? You know how sometimes you accidentally walk into a Wal-Mart and think "every motherf*cker in this store needs to be euthanized"?? That's how I felt eating here. I'm always stoked to share a meal with my parents but the service was rife with mistakes and most of them were 100% avoidable. Customers should never, EVER have to ASK for utensils. Dear god no, I wouldn't return if you paid me to. I'd recommend this Red Lobster to anyone I hated, if I hated anyone. So mostly Cubs fans. Yeah, this restaurant is great for Cubs fans. read more

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My daughter just turned 10 and has decided that seafood is her new favorite food. I had my skepticism and figured I would take her to red lobster before I sank serious money into crab legs. We took a drive out to the red lobster of downers grove and I have to admit it wasn't a bad experience. Spoiler alert...this isn't five start, high end dining, but the meal was really good. My kids enjoyed it and I thought the price was fair. My daughter got the crab legs and couldn't stop talking about how good they were. My son got chicken fingers (he is 7 and working on the seafood game) and I got some sort of chowder soup. Everything was brought out in a timely manner and I enjoyed it all. If you're in the area, give them a shot, you will probably enjoy it. read more

I had the larger version "Bairdi" steamed Crab with a side of grilled shrimp, Caesar salad and clam chowder. Everything was perfect. The server, Inaka, was extremely attentive but not overly bothersome. he knew just when to stop and what I needed! Best Red Lobster experience.... Ever!!! read more

I hadn't been to a RL in a long time and either a lot has "slipped" or my expectations are too high. We started with "hot" tea that was cool to the touch. When I asked the waitress she said, "We are having issues with our hot water" which made me think 'well why didn't you touch the cup if you knew there was a problem?' and then my mind went to "is their a problem with ALL your warm water, as in washing dishes?' The cheddar biscuits are by far the best part of the meal and our waitress acted as if a refill of biscuits would be taken out of her personal check. The good was good and I was relived to see the noodles in my pasta was hot, after all they are prepared in hot water. Prices were a little high for what we relieved as "lunch specials". Where was a reason I hadn't been to an RL for awhile. I'll have to remember that. read more

So this red lobster wasn't helpful at all. They took too long to get our food. Had to wait over an hour and it wasn't even worth the wait the food was dry and nasty. My family didn't enjoy their food either so thanks a lot red lobster. read more

I was robbed of 50 bucks! 4/16/2024.. Long story short...Bill came including shrimp that I didn't receive. Server changed bill. Total was 121.??$ Gave server Visa & 50$ RED LOBSTER GIFT CARD. I wrote break down of bill on restaurant's copy; Visa+gift card+tip & signed. However, the total amount + tip was deducted from Visa. My gift card was neither used or returned. Spoke with Heather,manager. She asked if I had the number to the gift card and how did I activate it. IT'S A GIFT CARD. Number is on the card & activated at register. Spoke to her twice and a 2nd person once. No resolution. FOOD WAS GOOD. Waited 13 minutes for service. Just don't trust them.. Check your bill and account immediately... read more

Yesterday we witnessed the utmost lack of professionalism and decorum I've witnessed by a manager in my life. We ordered our meal online at 2:32pm cst. We scheduled pick up for 5pm. When I arrived at the Downers Grove, Il store about 4:45pm cst I saw a line out the door and no one answering the store location phone. Myself and man other sat in the rain for 20min receiving no communication. Eventually, I entered the store to see what was happening inside. It was pure chaos inside. One person trying answer the questions of 50/60 customers. The crowd of customers growing impatient one customer starts reading names off of bags to let people know their food was on the bar. This occurred because none of the 5 to 7 employees there would say anything to the crowd. A woman claiming to be the store manager Vanessa came out went on a profanity laced tirade. She yelled, "Fuck You! Get The Fuck Out My Store!" and a flurry of other "fuck" filled phrases. Then returned to the kitchen. Vanessa was only seen/heard from again when a customer who entered the kitchen stated she requested a manager 30 minutes prior. This was accurate because I was there when she asked for a manager and received no response. While in the kitchen this second customer was also met with a flurry of "fuck" phrases and screams. The customer was told she would get her refund processed but Vanessa never came out to collect or process the customers request. I asked the loan employee Myles about receiving a refund for my order that was at the time over an hour late and counting. He referenced the experience we had just observed with the customer who entered the kitchen. In order to avoid conflict I decided to leave after a 1.5 hour wait and zero communication from the Store Manager Vanessa. I never received my food nor any form of communication from the store manager. The way this situation was handled was despicable. No way should customers spoken to in that manner. There should have never been 50/75 people inside the lobby of the store. There should have been some form of communication had between the store and customers. Along with a litany of other errors I don't have time to explain. DOWNERS GROVE, IL 3001 Finley Road, Downers Grove, IL 60515 (630) 515-0565 Order # *****1190 (Note: You do not need this number to pickup) Order ready at 5:00 PM, TODAY (SUNDAY, 5/10/2020) Refer to the link provided to view your order details. Order Confirmation Details Go to the designated To Go pickup area or follow posted instructions & tell a team member you ordered online read more

Red Lobster - The waiting area Mothers Day 05.10.20 #CovidPandemic - Seafood Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

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Quick friendly service. Hot tasty food and enough for leftovers. Ceasar salad was good but a lil too much dressing. Biscuits on point. Kids tenders and fries were good. Clam chowder was hot and delicious. Calamari was cooked to perfection. We tried a new Asian noodle fried shrimp dish and it was enough for 2 people to share. Bathrooms were clean too. Will come back to this location read more

Red Lobster - Fried calamari - Seafood Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

We arrived at 8:30 on a Friday night. It was not busy. As our section was empty other than one table. We proceeded to wait and look at the menu. 15 minutes go by and we saw our server go to the other table in our section and him and I made eye contact. He then walks away. At this point, I see another server and ask her to please find our server. We had not even received biscuits or water yet. He then comes over and we order our entire meal. Including drinks from the bar. Another 15 minutes later, we finally get our bread and drinks. The entire time the server was acting very quiet and weird. Almost as if he didn't want us there. When we got our food, it wasn't from our server. He gave us a second round of drinks and before we left, we didn't even see him once. Horrible experience. read more

Can't believe these people went to the same place. This night was a disaster. With out of town company, we waited an hour for the poor waiter to at least get us drinks , cokes, and those biscuits showed up at one end of the table and not the other. Only 4 in the basket for 8 of us. Dinner came almost another hour later. Steak and schrimp. I couldn't even cut the steak. It was like leather with gristle. very expensive dinner and a waste of three hours. Hordouvers were good. read more

Ask for Phillip if you go to this location! He made sure we were very well taken care of. This is the best service I had in a while since the pandemic! read more

Went to this red lobster for Christmas Eve meal, and by and far had the worst steak I've ever eaten in my life. Our server was great but the guy clearing tables was a very aloof individual. The recooked the steak as politely told them their 35 dollar steak didn't seem right, and honestly, it was just as bad. I took like two bites and it was still lousy. I still tipped well cause it wasn't the waiters fault, but just a damn shame. read more

Our experience this weekend was great . We dinned in the bar area due to wait for our table . Our server in the bar area was great on Saturday late afternoon around 6pm . His name is not shown on receipt, but he was friendly, made a hell of a pineapple spicy margaritas and his service was excellent! The food was fresh and good . we sat at Table 201 and checked out on 6:43pm on Saturday. Hopefully the great server acknowledgment is passed on to the server . read more

Very good sea food good waitress drinks are good. Cost what you or I would expect. need more type for portability.

We stopped here a bite on Valentines day, thinking nobody goes here for lunch. We were wrong, but our server, Christine, was just perfect and did take very good care of us and our meals. Christine was quick about taking care of all the tables they had her set up to serve, so we told her "We are not in any rush, but the world is", and take care of us slower. She was very able and professional from the word go and helped us with orders. The food here was very good as good as I can remember and for same restaurant food. We both ordered from the special menu and four courses were more than a meal, so we took home a doggie bag with extras. We will go back sooner now that we have a great wait staff in Christine to take care of us. Thank you again for all your help and you were great, keep on going. The Millers read more

Order thru Uber Eats 1/2 pound of crab, it was horrible, most legs were like empty or hardly any meat. It also just hardly had any taste. Never again. read more

Every time I go to Chicago for anything, I tend to stay at the same hotel that shares a parking lot with this Red Lobster. After a long day of traveling, there's nothing better than a heavy meal here with a few stiff drinks. I came in on a Sunday evening after a long flight (holding pattern above ORD included) and was shot. It wasn't super busy at the bar, so I ordered dinner, and I guess I had a terrible look on my face because I had some fresh biscuits in my hand within minutes along with a side order of much-needed silence. There was a football game on the TV, but thankfully it was muted. The staff was great at "reading the room" and letting me eat my meal in peace without trying to chat me up. I ate my meal, and it was delicious. It's exactly what my poor body needed after the stress of flying, and I was so thankful I only had to walk a few feet to get back to my hotel room. I love this Red Lobster because, for me, it represents the end of a long day, with food that comforts the body and the soul. It's my tradition when I fly to Chicago. Land, Lyft to the hotel, dinner at Red Lobster. read more

I had a newer sever (you could tell) who farted when they walked away from my table and then they left. We tipped well though cause it was low key funny read more

Went to dinner with my wife and she had the admiral platter and I the all you could eat shrimp. We ate in the bar area and our waiter had tables also in the dining area but he was very attentive and we enjoyed our dining experience. read more

Excellent food and service this afternoon! We were seated promptly and we had great service throughout our meal from Daniel. The food was delicious. I think this is the nicest Red Lobster in the area. I have been to at least two others. We were at a two person booth and there was plenty of space and the high dividers gave us a bit of privacy. This was the best experience we've had dining out since before the pandemic. read more

Great food and good location! I'm staying right next door and I had a great dinner within walking distance :)

I used to order from these guys about once every month. Never again. During the start of the first pandemic wave in April, I ordered from their website for my birthday. All the restaurants in IL were closed for dine in by state law at the time and I was stuck tending to my parents- one physically handicapped and the other recovering from surgery. Not a fun birthday for anyone, but I hoped some good food would help us all feel a little better about what was going on. So I used Doordash to place the order. Red Lobster cooked our order, then gave my food to someone other than my driver and marked the order as completed. The delivery driver then sat at their store for over an hour while I called Red Lobster three times, each time being placed on hold. I also talked to the driver twice. Initially the Red Lobster manager, Vanessa, claimed that the food was given to the driver. After about 90 minutes and the driver cancelling the order, Vanessa finally admitted that they had screwed up and given my food to the wrong driver and that my order had been stolen. Vanessa then asked me to re-enter the order on the Red Lobster website and hung up. The website would not let me enter an order after 7:30pm. So, back to square one. I had to call Vanessa a 4th time and explain to her that the website doesn't work. Since delivery was no longer available, I then had to leave my parents unsupervised to drive to their location and pick up the food. Poor Vanessa looked all of 14 years old and was completely overwhelmed. I waited for 15 minutes as other people came and picked up their orders, at least two of which had similar stories to mine - their delivery order was so severely screwed up that they had to come and get their food. She apologized as best she could, paid for our meal, gave me a $50 gift card and a couple free desserts. By the time I actually put a fork full of food in my mouth, it had been well over 3 hours from when I placed order at the beginning of the process. Fast forward to today, which is four months later. I'm still stuck here taking care of my parents. I figure after four months of increased to-go orders that Red Lobster and Vanessa are probably in a better situation, right? WRONG. I go to their website and choose delivery. I plug in my address. I plug in my family's order, including my parents (who take forever to read a menu). I go to check out. "Delivery is not available in your area at this time." W. T. F! You've probably known there was no delivery available the whole time, but who gives a rat's ass about me spending my time using your crappy website to order delivery, right? Never mind that coming to pick up from you means I'll have to leave my parents unattended. So let's try pickup. That seemed to work last time. Oh wait... now it won't allow me to complete the order without calling the store. That wasn't really worth the effort last time, but let's see how that works this time. "Welcome to red lobster, blah blah blah blah." (I press zero) "Invalid selection. Welcome to red lobster, blah blah blah. Press 1 for hours and location. Press two for.. " (I press two) "Please tell me in a few words what you want to do." (me- "GIVE ME A PERSON") "I'm sorry, I don't understand. Please tell me in a few words what you want to do." (me- "GIVE ME A MOTHERFUCKING GODDAMNED PERSON YOU COMPLETE ASSHOLE FUCK!") "I'm sorry, I don't understand. Please tell me" *click* This is a national chain restaurant that's on par with (and owned by the same people) as the Olive Garden. The food is not nearly good enough to deal with this. I'll never be ordering from them again. Does anyone want a $50 gift card? Be the first one to send me a mailing address and it's yours. read more

Red Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

Came here for daddy and daughters day and we really enjoyed the food. Our waitress was very patient when it came to waiting on the rest of our party to arrive. Our food came quickly, everything was delicious. read more

Red Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

Went to location to eat with 2 others. We all were happy with our meals. Especially the waitress Kenya she made our experience very pleasant. There's many locations near my home but I will always return to this specific location. She was great at suggestions and went above and beyond. Keep it up Kenya, its hard to wow me and that you did. read more

American's Most Popular Seafood Chain. Great to come here during the week. Not so much on Sunday or the holiday's as you'll be waiting 30-60 minutes. Food can be off some days but only had to send my food back once after maybe 20x being here. Certain dishes are seasonal I usually try whatever the specials are for freshness but like everyone, I too have a weakness for those cheddar biscuit. Creamy crack in the coconut sauce along with three sticks of butter in the shrimp scampi and shrimp Alfredo pasta. The only way this place could get better is if they made one on lake Michigan with outdoor seating. and a few actors pretending to be fisherman pulling shrimp of the boat then both first lady Michelle Obama & Hillary Clinton who are both born in Chicago comes from under the dock and ask you join them for a scavenger hunt from a map they found from captain jack sparrow himself.....wait....I was going somewhere with this..... read more

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Not too clean, food was bland, and service was pretty wack too. Its red lobster so i dont expect much but even with low expectations i was disappointed read more

I went to Benihana and I cannot believe was turned away at the door and they said that they were taking no additional customers. I drove all the way from Chicago! Red Lobster not only said come on here and fed me good seafood which is what I wanted! Benihana app was worthless! Red Lobster App I put myself on the Wait list and walked in and seated immediately in a romantic part of the restaurant just what I wanted! My server Chase assisted in making the dining experience pleasant and expeditious! read more

First of all, The food was not good Their French fries are stale, dry, and under seasoned. My order was a half pound of snow crab. It was barely a whole set of legs and claw. It was just two legs and a claw!! How in the world is that a half pound. Another thing.. Some of the servers are very rude and impolite. WORST RESTAURANT EVER.. - Customer read more

Red Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

The food was average! I wish they had more flavor in there food.The service was good and the waiter josh was fun n lovely. They let me hold a lobster which was cool. The only thing I really enjoyed was the biscuits . Otherwise it wasn't really worth it read more

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Red Lobster for the "casual" Seafood lover in me. For the past couple years, we've been coming hear for a colleague's birthday lunch. They have affordable lunch specials on the last page of the menu and big booth seating for group outings. Our waiter was kind enough and asked if we wanted to separate our checks from the beginning. If you're crunched on time, I suggest coming for an earlier 11am lunch or after 1pm. We came at noon, and realized it was the lunchtime crowd, rush hour and our service was slower than usual. Vegetarian? Fill up on the garlic cheddar biscuits & Ask them to make any of the plates vegetarian, and replace the meat option with more veggies or pasta. read more

Red Lobster - Raj's birthday lunch with the Column team - Seafood Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

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A typical Red Lobster. I had a lunch with a few friends here as ongoing Four course for $15 deal and soon expiring gift card. Food was fine. The service was great. I started with Clam Chowder Soup which was pretty tasty and not too salty(surprise!). Never really liked their salad. My entree was breaded shrimp as I know if I ordered other shrimp, it would be too salty. Once the breading was going, the shrimp was pretty tender and fresh. The brownie dessert with vanilla ice cream was the best part! I also tried a few bites of wood grilled Tilapia which was tasty and tender (should have ordered that). Shrimp with Alfredo pasta was fine but it was kind of salty. The complimentary bread was as good as I remembered but also on the salty side though. As quite a few yelpers pointed out below, they put too much salt in almost everything. Our server was very nice and helpful. read more

The food here for the most part isn't good. Can't knock the biskets though. The worst part is the awful service. Got some carry out here today and part of the order was missing, didn't realize until we got home. Called and they were apologetic and wanted to rectify the issue to their credit. But no offer to take a little off of the bill or throw in a freebie like extra biskets. It's the little things that just continue to prove how terrible this franchise is. I'm just happy my in-laws finally agree that Red Lobster is trash. read more

I need to come here with it's endless shrimp! Can't believe I haven't! But their $15 for a 4 course meal definitely brought me in! Starters: Clam Chowder Soup - pretty good and flavorful House Salad - just like any other salad Entree: Wood grilled tilapia - tilapia doesn't have much flavor, but WOW did they cook this to nicely. It was extremely tasty and not over cooked! Enjoyed it! Dessert: Brownie a la mode - hmmmm warm brownie with ice cream how can you NOT like it? As for the boyfriend he had their seafood shrimp trio (fried, scampi, and alfredo shrimp) - he really enjoyed all of it besides the fried, but that's personally reference. I also tried the alfredo portion and really liked it because it was light on the sauce, but still packed a punch! Service: our server was great. Since I had asked her for fat-free dressing/balsamic and vinegar she caught on that I was on a diet so when I told her I didn't want sour cream or butter on my potato she asked if I would like it salt free also? Of course I said yes! But seriously how many servers will ask you that? Awesome! read more

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Normally not a fan of RL but the food at this location was great. Our server with the face piercing was so nice, wish I could remember her name! read more

Red Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

horrible food!!! Two people, no alcohol, one appetizer: Bill $100!!! The only thing I ate on my plate was the baked potato. The rest of it went in the garbage. even the cheddar biscuits were so greasy, no thanks. never go back here again and you shouldn't either. read more

Service was terrible tonight. Poor server was nice but service was poor due to lack of support from the rest of the crew. Sirloin was chewy. Green beans was over cooked. We spoke to the manager but her excuse was that it was late on the evening and that's why the food was bad. read more

the last time ive been in a red lobster i was maybe 8 years old. anyway, i live in downtown chicago and i was in downers grove for an interview. i was next door at brick house and i had come to red lobster after having a drink there. i hadn't been there (like i said earlier) since i was 8 and i wanted a treat. i had called in advance and asked about the specials they had after i had researched on the internet. a man told me about a $15 special they had. i came in from next door and asked for that specific deal i was told on the phone. after a thousand years a girl pops behind the bar. there was another man bartending but he was just on service well. when the "blonde girl named kelley" finally came she was short (attitude wise). she asked me what i wanted and i told her. she then asked me which salad i wanted and which side. so i proceeded to tell her. unbeknownst me this was the wrong deal all along. i also asked her if they had Fox Sports 1, which is an extremely popular channel, to watch ten DePaul/Seton Hall game. she said no, once again with an attitude. so much so i didn't believe if that was true and later asked the manager to confirm this. it turned out to be true and must i say, they really should invest in more channels, it's bad enough the tv's are so small. i received my food with no silverware and napkins. i had to ask the nice food runner. i used bev naps which were nearby in a caddy for my soup which came out first but when the entrees came out i needed real napkins. when i finally received the check it was almost $40. now imagine my surprise. i had agreed to oh a $1.50 upcharge for my draft beer in a larger glass. and i agreed to pay an upcharge for the lobster bisque soup (and there was a different upcharge listed than what i was charged). i asked why it was so high to the same nice service well bartender i had talked to earlier and he kindly got a manager for me. this manager is clueless. when i had asked her about the channels earlier she wasn't even sure which is crazy. and then she went behind the bar and changed it to the bulls game and said "there i got it". i questioned if she was even listening to me in first place because i never asked for the bulls game. then when i was talking to her i asked her to open the menu to where the prices for soup and salad are listed. she had no idea where it was and had to get the rude bartender kelly s. how do you not know when even the rude bartender told me what page it was on. then at the very end she only agreed to take off the $5.49 soup. what she should've done is honor the price of the special. ridiculous, i know this isn't the big city but i don't think i'll ever enter a red lobster again. might i add i've been a bartending in very busy and popular places for over 10 years and this is the first time i have even not left a tip. i will be contacting corporate about this. read more

15 minutes ago my family and I found bugs in our salad. The manager said they were normal because they buy the salad in bulk. She was not very sympathetic and they looked like cockroaches. Will be calling the health department. read more

Red Lobster - Great dinner! Great manager! She said the bugs were normal and didn't apologize! - Seafood Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

The cheese biscuits were amazing (as per usual) I never tried seafood before but I did try the Salmon, which was to my liking. We ordered a lot of food but one thing that was lacking was how fresh I wanted it to taste. Everything tasted good but it felt as if it were prepared way earlier in the day. Will probably give this place a try again. read more

I had a lot of high expectations when going to Red Lobster. I was very hungry and wanted to try everything! I walked in and it took a long time to be seated, and for someone to come and take my order. The waitress was nice but the service was very slow.. maybe bc she was the only one waiting many tables. I decided to go with the endless shrimp since it's very popular right now. You get biscuits, a salad, and a side with different styles of shrimp for $18.99. The biscuits were life! They were the best part of the meal! I ordered shrimp alfredo linguine and the Nashville shrimp, and then asked for the hand breaded shrimp. Honestly the food was a disappointment. None of it was like 'wow' besides the biscuits. I liked the Nashville shrimp the most out of the three shrimp dishes I tried but I didn't think it was extraordinary. I couldn't try the shrimp scampi or the Mediterranean shrimp because it had alcohol in it. Also, it was really cold inside so my food got cold real quick. I was just too disappointed that I didn't even want to take any food home with me. read more

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