We had a wonderful evening at the Hickory Red Lobster last night. Not only was the food delicious, but the service was excellent. There were 3 servers in our dining room and all of them were cheerful and friendly. Our server, CJ, was attentive and professional. I really think that level of friendly service is a tribute to the manager, both in hiring and training. As a former restaurant worker, I was very impressed. read more

June 27,2025 Hello everyone, Just want to give a great great review Just got back from having dinner with my hubby and Ms Gabriela ( our waitress) and the Restaurant Manager were Amazing the service was amazing and the food was great and the Asparagus was on point even my husband Salmon was thick and perfect!!!! New dishes to choose from and it was great to see Red Lobster to come back with a great menu P.S. OMG They have a Seafood Broil looked sooo good but unfortunately it was to spicy for my taste I don't do any hot or spicy just salt and pepper ... But overall I give a High 5 to everyone in that Restaurant especially the manager she understood me and was super helpful with my request... read more

Red Lobster - The new menu they came out in June - Seafood Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

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We were so fortunate to have LEVI as our waiter!! He was perfect. We haven't visited a Red Lobster in years and were pleasantly surprised . The salads that LEVI created were 5 star amazing. The Monday shrimp lobster special was worth the trip- very good AND those cheese biscuits to die for haven't changed. The manager was also amazing! We will definitely return and SOON read more

My husband and I ate at Red Libster in Hickory. First at dinner time there were only two couples . We should have gotten a clue from that. We ordered and my husband ordered fish and chips. They brought the fish and were told fries would be ready in about 1 1/2 minutes. After my husband had eaten his fish they brought the fries. They didn't seem to care. My shrimp scampi was just room temp. I advise to not go there read more

Last visited this particular Red Lobster back in September 2016. Did not post a review at that time but did post one on TripAdvisor so I could reconstruct my visit for Comparison. Don't know why I did not post a review other than I probably got busy and did not get around to it. At the time my friend ordered the Creamy Linguine Alfredo while I ordered the Seafood Trio with Shrimp and Scallops. We also had some of their signature, Cheddar Biscuits and they were then and still are delicious. Other observations at the time were that service was generally good, service was OK but not outstanding and it was a pleasant place to dine and the value was there. This afternoon, my wife went to the Twin Mills Club at Trilogy to watch the Steelers game on TV with her Friends. Not being too interested in the game, decided to visit the Valley Hills Mall in Hickory and grab an early dinner. Couple of good restaurants around and in the mall but have not had Seafood in a while (my wife does not like Seafood other than Scallops and Crab)) so it was only me. Walked in a bit after 4 and was immediately seated with menu presented. Friendly hostess but it took a while for my server to show up, Looking around I did not see many other servers, so I guess that they, like many other restaurants are having staffing issues. I ordered my unsweetened tea and went ahead and ordered my dinner which was the Ultimate Feast which was a Lobster Tail, and two types of Shrimp. For sides I had the Sea Salt Fries along with Steamed Broccoli. All in all, there meal was pretty good although si9nce dinning back in 2016 they have gotten a bit pricy for what you get. As I pointed out, service is spotty but as I have already pointed out, I think that is due to staffing issues that most restaurants are facing. It was a good dinner though not what I would call a great meal. read more

If I could give this negative stars, I would. This was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. I had a party of 6, they said it would take 30 minutes... no problem I guess? There were only 3 tables in the dining room taken. Other people started to walk in and the host was no where to be found, when they came back they had the worst attitude. Not to mention the uniform... were those fishing boots?? Man... We finally get sat, and the server sucks!! I asked about bourbon and she looked at me like i was an idiot. I then just said "liquor? bourbon?" she said she didn't know. Ok... Fine, i'll get a beer. I waited 30 minutes for this beer because the bar was apparently "backed up". How was it backed up when no one was in the restaurant!? When she comes back with my beer it's in an unopened can... she didn't ask me if i wanted a glass or anything, just an unopened can. The crab legs had like no meat in them. There is a reason they offer to toss it in sauce... it covers up the fact that there's nothing in there. Waitress didn't ask us about dessert just offered to bring boxes. She tried to be nice at the very end. No manager table touches, not sure if one was even present. my expectations already weren't high... 0/10 would recommend oh... pretty sure there was a dead lobster in the tank missing a claw as well. read more

Red Lobster - Lobster missing a claw - Seafood Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

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The food came fast and the waiters were very nice as soon as they came with my food they gave me gloves and other accessories to help me with my food they were very helpful read more

My family and I went out for a fun Friday evening dinner, our waiter Levi was very friendly and professional. He even went out of his way to allow our daughter to take a picture with a lobster! We had a great time and we can't wait to go back! read more

Service was very nice. Food was great and hot when it came out. Will be back. Come on out and support the restaurant.

The service was great, the workers were very attentive and helpful. The food was on point, I will be eating there again!!! I suggest others enjoy our experience. read more

Not a very busy location for the wait to be so long but overall the food was good. Had to request silverware and napkins. Endless shrimp was limited due to the wait time to bring it out. Request additional orders as soon as you get your food. read more

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We passed this restaurant and agreed that we've never had a Red Lobster so we wanted to stop in and try it. Long story short, we have still never had a red lobster. We did have the biscuits and a salad, but sat there for over an hour AFTER putting our order in. Nice people, but not attentive at all. We sat at a low top in the bar. The time we sat there, we saw (maybe) 1 or two orders come out, and the place was packed. Not to mention the fact that after sitting there for 45 minutes (after putting in the orders), a door-dasher was able to come in, pick up and order, and leave. It's terrible that ordering online has a higher priority than guests sitting in your dining room. We just asked to pay for the salad, cancel the order, and left. If you have a few hours on a not-so-busy night, this will be the place for you! read more

My husband and myself ended our night after eating at this location with food poisoning. We're guessing the lobster since that was the only thing we both had that nobody else did. Definitely won't be eating at ANY red lobster again. This is the worst experience I've ever had in my life. read more

A few days ago my Aunt treated me to a meal at this location. I ordered the shrimp fest and my Aunt ordered the Crabfest. Our server was a lovely young lady named Marieta. She was very knowledgeable about the menu and was able to make suggestions to accompany our order. I watched her as she attended every table that she served with the same knowledge, kindness, and patience. The food was delicious and Ms Marieta made sure we were well taken care of. The restaurant wasn't very packed so it was very a relaxed atmosphere. I'll definitely be going back and hopefully Marieta will be there as well! read more

After seeing the commercials on TV of the new lobster dishes - I had to try...they looked so good! Unfortunately the lobster and stuffed shrimp dish was a big disappointment. I literally got 3 bites from the lobster tail, no drawn butter was served, the shrimp were not stuffed but rather had little dollops of the new dressing on top. The shrimp were very small. The meal cost over $40.00 and that was with a 10% discount. The glass of unsweetened tea was $3.69, no refills either. I know inflation is having dramatic effects on the cost of eating out - but the quality and quantity of this meal was terrible. What a waste of $40.00! read more

Red Lobster - Shrimp with new dressing - Seafood Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

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Celebrated my birthday here! Good was good and they made a fuss with the birthday song! My fiancé and kids treated me well!

The first time that I came here was right before Christmas around lunch time. My daughter and I wanted to order take out. We went to the bar and waited for almost 30 mins for the bartender to take our order. After waiting 45 mins after ordering had to track down the bartender again to ask when the food would be ready. AN HOUR after we placed our order, the food finally came out and the bartender was rude. That was 90 mins to order and wait for 2 plates of food for takeout. Last Sunday, my daughter wanted to eat here for her birthday. We sat down at 1:20 and ordered immediately because we wanted our food ASAP. After waiting and waiting, our food came out 50 mins later and the order was wrong. I stopped the manger and he went back to the kitchen. An hour after ordering, we had our corrected plates and were so frustrated we just put them in boxes and left. Aside from the wait time and rude bartender, the tables and walls were d read more

Red Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

Overpriced new menu less food with a huge price tag now a salad is 5.99 more sad loved eating there not anymore

Quick service today. $5 extra for all you can eat shrimp seem high just because of a weekend. Catfish tasted a little to fishy and coleslaw is mustard base. Overall it's ok. read more

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They play this game of being out of bread . They hold the bread and tell you that they are making it just to save on bread. It's too overpriced for what they give you. We will never go back read more

Worst service ever. Didn't see out waitress most of the meal and never got my food that was ordered. The sever Aidan took forever to greet us at the table and took almost 30 minutes to bring the check. Had to as other servers for refills on food and drink. read more

Overpriced, avoid anything fried, the shrimp lobster tacos was fried shrimp in a taco shell. I kept looking for lobster but none there. My wifes salmon was tasteless and small. Service was good read more

Food tasted great, but slightly overcooked. Cheddar bay biscuits of course we're awesome- and enjoyed a randy ice tea! Large portions and fast service. Did have to wait a bit to be seated. read more

The All You Can Eat Shrimp Special is on. They offer five kinds and they are Nashville, Mediterranean, Shrimp Scampi, Shrimp Alfredo and breaded. They are all good but the Mediterranean ranks first with the Nashville shrimp, a breaded spicy shrimp, a very close second. Price tag is $17.99. You also get one side and a salad. I've been going there for around six years and I'll keep going back. Service is great, the food is superior however my only dislike is the price. So I keep the visits minimal. Don't get me wrong, seafood is not cheap but by the time we all eat it's a car payment. Lol. Anyway, go, eat and enjoy. You won't be disappointed. read more

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It has been a tradition to go to Red Lobster for my birthday dinner ever since the endless shrimp started. Tonight was a huge disappointment however. Me and my girlfriend both ordered the endless shrimp but when we would order the same kind the server brought ours together instead of separately requiring us to share when we both ordered our own. The server did not take our next order, each time we had to wait to catch her to tell her we wanted more. The last and final thing that ruined the night was the server gave the table pay to my father who was treating us for my birthday and told him how to pay. Once he did that she told us she couldn't serve me anymore cause the bill was paid. We were frustrated but didn't make an issue, however, as we were leaving we saw how big the line was waiting for seats. We were rushed out to make room for someone else. I understand that waiting is not great, but we had to wait also. Hands down the first and only bad experience at a Red Lobster and I have been to many. read more

Red Lobster is a pretty good example of a place that is thought to be "upper class Applebee's," and this location is a good example of why it isn't. The staff is generally poor. I wouldn't expect service to be that great if you do go. The food is usually pretty good and the drinks are generally good for the price. If you're choosing chains, go here if you want seafood. read more

One star because I can't score lower. Crappy service if you can get seated. Cold food. Plan on two hours from walking in to walking out.

Went to Red Lobster in Hickory for Crabfest with my husband. Unfortunately, my order never arrived. I ordered the Ultimate Crabfest Trio. First they brought me a steak. After waiting another 30 minutes for them to correct their mistake , I was brought an Ultimate Feast Dinner. The waitress took it back and the manager came out to say that my dinner was free. Of course it was free, I never got it. Needless to say I ended up leaving with nothing. The place wasn't even crowded and they couldn't get the order correct. read more

On 2/4/23 we visited the this location. I put our name on the waitlist and it said 30 minute wait time. We arrived about 30 minutes later let the host know we were there. After waiting another 30 minutes I asked where we were on the list and he said we were next of the ones on the waitlist. We were seated right beside the host table so were hearing him tell everyone that came in 30 minutes and after we had letting him know we arrived he changed to 45 minutes to an hour. We sit another 15 minutes now 1 hour and 15 minutes after putting our name on the list and we are noticing people that came in after us being seated. After another 10 minutes I asked where we were on the list he again said you are first on the waitlist I said we've been here close to an hour we are seeing people be seated that came in after us and counting the time we put our name on the waitlist 1 and a half hours. I said ok explain the waitlist to me then he said I have to seat all the people before I can seat people on the waitlist. I said OK where are we on this list he said next on the waitlist , I said no how many are ahead of me he counted and said 7 looking around there was about 7 families in the wait room whom arrived and put their name down after we let him know we were there. I told our party whom was there to celebrate 2 birthdays that we were leaving because we would never get seated here because anyone that comes in will be put ahead of us on the list. That is the last time we visit this location. Train your people. TK read more

Probably the best service we have ever had here today! I had the blackened salmon - New Orleans style with shrimp with garlic butter sauce-- amazing! The portion was huge! Very impressed even with their limited menu read more

Last evening my sister and I were presented with the worst meal we have ever experienced at Red Lobster of Hickory, NC and possibly at any restaurant. It was not busy at all so we were hoping for a nice meal. The stuffed mushroom appetizer was great, but it went downhill following that. We waited 45 minutes (or more) for our food. When we got it, oh my. My broccoli side was hard as a brick and I couldn't get my fork through it. The plate presentation was terrible with very little orzo on it, and what orzo there was looked like it had been chewed and spit out. My lobster tail was not succulent and was dry and barely warm as was all of the food on both of our plates. The slaw served with my sister's plate was disgusting and tasted spoiled. When we told them our concerns and that we could not eat the food, the waitress told us the slaw was made with honey mustard and that may be the problem. Ok, I love to cook (and eat), and that did not taste like honey mustard. Then the manager came out and attempted to cover everything up with excuses about the slaw, lobster, and the rest of the meal. He finally admitted they had not had any lobster thawed out and they had to try and thaw it for my plate and that it probably didn't cook all the way through. Red Lobster. . . WHY DID YOU NOT HAVE LOBSTER THAWED DURING DINNER HOURS AND YOU ARE A LOBSTER RESTAURANT?? And really? It doesn't take that long to thaw lobster under cold water. Please Red Lobster, be more prepared than that for service. We weren't charged for our meal, thankfully, even though we offered to pay for the teas and the mushrooms, but still very disappointed in Red Lobster of Hickory. read more

I'm honestly shocked at the good reviews of this restaurant! We haven't been here in several years, and should have known there was an issue when it was basically empty at 6:30 on a Friday night. The hostess asked if a booth in the "lounge" (aka bar) would be ok, even though there were very few tables or booths filled in the main dining rooms. When we asked to sit somewhere else, she was barely friendly. There was a musty/mildewy/stale sweat smell in the hallway and in dining room where we were seated. The sunlight that was glaring in the west facing windows just served to highlight the dustiness of the blinds and other areas. It all just felt dirty. Trying to remain positive, we ordered our food. The server was nice and attentive. However, my husband unrolled his utensils to find them to be dirty....literally there was still moist rice on his fork. I unrolled mine, and they were dirty with dried-on food. Our server apologized and brought fresh utensils, which were clean. Salads were ok but obviously not very fresh...browning lettuce, soggy croutons... but the worst part was that it was DROWNING in salad dressing and I couldn't even eat most of it. The cedar-plank salmon was delicious, but the colossal shrimp (isn't that an oxymoron?!) was overcooked and tough. The pieces of broccoli were huge , and apparently because of that, they were not cooked properly and were even hard to cut into bite size pieces. Overall, the food was absolutely NOT worth the price, and the lack of overall cleanliness was disturbing. Won't go back, that's for sure! read more

We love the red lobster in Hickory North Carolina we were there yesterday afternoon and we had a wonderful lobster dinner because of the lobster fest is going on now and we just loved Monica her customer service was outstanding I will ask for her every time very friendly and she took care of our every needs. She was very professional and very helpful on our choices on the menu. She even mention the Red lobster app that now I'm part of and I've already earned a treat thank you for all you do Monica !!!! read more

My bf and I have been here plenty of times but our last service was exceptionally wonderful. Our waiter was Jaquan (I hope I spelled it right) and he started off with "I'll be taking great care of you guys" and he most certainly did. He has a great charisma and was respectful. Our food was wonderful :) read more

Red Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

I realize I don't go to chain restaurants that often because I tend to support local businesses, but I was in the boyfriend's hometown and his dad really wanted to go to Red Lobster so what can I do but go along? They actually had a pretty decent deal of $14 for all the shrimp you can eat in a multitude of preparations, so I decided to try that. All I can say is holy moly that is some motherfucking salty shrimp they're putting out. I got some shrimp scampi and shrimp with Parmesan to start off with and good god I had trouble getting it down to my stomach even with hunger gnawing at me. Please I'm begging you Red Lobster tone down on that salt shaker before you give everyone eating at your fine establishment diabetes. Service was fairly friendly if a bit spotty. There was a hiccup with one of my orders but our waitress seemed very sorry about that and apologized so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. I'll make sure to ask for low to no salt next time I eat here. read more

I still stand by my comment about how the wait staff are uptight jerks. My waitress today was especially rude. The waitress hasn't asked if everything is okay or made any eye contact with us other than for our order. The food took forever to come out. Haven't gotten any refills either. I tried. Probably not coming back after this visit. read more

This is quickly becoming the worst Restuarant on the planet. Waitress was great but the kitchen, bar and management suck big. Hard to believe Red Lobster will be around much longer. read more

Absolutely wonderful experience! Staff are very friendly and helpful. We were seated right away and a high chair was already at our table and sanitized. The food was phenomenal, everything was cooked perfectly and the taste was spot on! I highly recommend this restaurant as it goes above and beyond for its customers. read more

Normally a great experience but tonight's experiences wasn't that great the clam chowder had hairs in it.

Our server Jacqueline was sweeter than a glass of tea. Really great service and the food was delicious. Huge portions from the lunch menu also. read more

Red Lobster - Sailors platter - Seafood Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

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