Ate here tonight and very disappointed in the slow and inefficient service, under cooked food and general dining experience. The servers were friendly but very slow and inefficient handling simple requests like having utensils with the food arrival. Our Lobster was under cooked. Our drinks were mixed up and the salad was to be split but we were charged for 2 salads. The staff was accommodating but lacked empathy and efficiency. The ambiance was nice enough and the place was clean. Just disappointed because last time we had issues also. read more

We had been looking forward to eating here all week only to be disappointed. It took an hour if not longer for our food from the time we were seated. Prior we asked for more bread sticks as we had to wait & straws for our drinks that took 20 minutes from the time we asked. It even took a long period to order food from the time we ordered our drinks. Same thing with paying the bill as we sat there trying to find the waiter so we could close out. As you looked around so many tables were waiting long as well. Not to mention please tell the manager in charge to at least comb his hair & get it out of his face, that is not etiquette. In the end this was a long disappointing night. read more

Decided to order takeout through Uber... Uber wasn't the problem. I ordered the Cajun chicken linguine..... 22$ it comes with no salad and 2 bisques. The pasta was dry, no Cajun flavor, 4 strips of chicken and the 2 biscuits were old.... I would expect more for paying that much pasta and coming for a food chain I would expect it to be up to par.... Very disappointed and dissatisfied.... read more

Our server Lee was so absolutely amazing! He was kind and very attentive. Although the restaurant was busy and he was with many other tables he made sure to stop and check that we were doing okay. The food was excellent as well! My wife and I pan on coming back and hope to be served by Lee again! read more

In general the experience is bad enough for me to write a review. I came here for the ultimate endless shrimp to try their new items added. But they don't have the crispy dragon shrimp, shrimp Rangoon, nor coconut shrimp. When I knew red lobster decided to put the endless shrimp as a permanent thing, I was excited because this is a pretty good deal. But if this comes with decreased quality, then I am disappointed. They have a new menu page called fish caught of the day. My bf ordered salmon with jalapeno and mango salsa. There is no price listed on the menu. My bf asked the waiter how much it is. The waiter didn't know and had to ask someone to get the price, which took 5 minutes. When the food came, it missed the jalapeno and mango salsa. The guy who served the food is not the same as the original waiter. When we asked him about the salsa, he had no idea what the salsa was. He tried to help and brought us two different sauces. It's so obvious none of the waiters have been trained for the new menu item, probably also the chefs. What made the experience worse is the super long waiting time. I expected much shorter waiting time because it was 3pm Saturday. The restaurant seems not busy at all. To be fair, the waiters are nice. The bad experience is mainly on the very bad management of this restaurant. I will try other red lobster places, but I will not come back to this one definitely read more

Always find a Red Lobster when in USA as none in England where I live. Always go for the Ultimate Feast as love lobster and crab claws and m,y wi=fe loves the Coconut shrimp and the biscuits. Just a pity I can't get my points added up as although I get the emails and register when paying on the table top tablet I still have only 38 points ! ROB Next time back in March on cruise down Mississippi and will find another RTerd Lobster as part of my holiday ROB read more

I have been going to Red Lobster restaurants for more than 40 years and all across the country. I have eaten here a few times in the restaurant and about a dozen times to go. My experience on April 12, 2023 was such that I doubt I will ever return and I will warn others away as well. When I got there at 11:45 I was worried that I would get caught up in the lunch rush, but there were no cars parked next to the restaurant. At that point I worried that maybe they were closed but no, they were open, only they had less than a half dozen tables occupied. The hostess was very nice and seated me with a menu. The waiter came over a few minutes later with a basket of biscuits. I noticed that the menu had changed and few of the lunch specials remained on the menu. I was hoping for scallops and shrimp but that was no longer an option so I decided on the Coconut shrimp. "That comes with one side", the waiter informed me, and ran down the options from salad to rice to baked potatoes or french fries. I was used to the last 40 plus years where an entree came with a salad and a choice of a side, but he said that was no longer the case. I decided on the salad. I opened up the basket with the usually wonderful Cheddar Bay Biscuits and they were cold and flavorless. No cheese or spices were discernable. It was like they decided to make them taste crappy so people didn't want so many of them. My salad was brought out at the same time as my 5 shrimp. The salad was in a small bowl, not a plate, and the 5 shrimp sat alone on their plate. The salad was OK, nothing to write home about, and the shrimp were likewise OK but not really worth $16.99, expecially in an area known for its seafood. There were little devices on the table that encouraged you to pay to play games on them (would anyone really do that since we all have a million free games on our phones) and it had the ability to pay for my ticket. It showed the amount due as $21.83. They were charging me $2.99 for the salad which I was told was an option as my one "side". I brought this up to my server, Lester C, thinking surely this must be a mistake and he said, no, the salad is considered a "premium side" and there is a $2.99 charge. There was nothing premium on my little bowl of lettuce with a few chunks of onions, diced tomatoes and croutons. (I declined the bacon). I told him how I was a long time client for Red Lobster and had never heard of this. "Oh we changed th menu about a month and half ago", he told me. Really? Don't you think you should have warned your guests? He refused to take this crazy charge for the little salad off of my bill and he and Red Lobster have lost a customer for life. read more

Had a great anniversary dinner today with the works. Also had their coconut shrimp, yumm, hubs had their Caesar salad side and things to bring home. Justin was our waiter and he was great! The hostess Fatima (Mimi) was also amazingly attentive. Thank you for making our day special. read more

Red Lobster - Rock Lobster Tail with broccoli, shrimp scampi and loaded baked potato. - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

I'd really give zero stars if I Was able to. Ordered lobster tacos and the lobster was dried and crusty and stringy. I'm a big seafood person aNd this was the first time at a red lobster. Disappointed. Poor waitress felt so bad because our seafood stuffed mushrooms were absolutely disgusting and clearly previously frozen. Only thing that was edible was the biscuits. Because I can't just easily redo pins to the business owner and the link is broken.... I gave notice to a manager who said her kitchen manager wasn't in that night and gave me an excuse of that being why the food was disgusting .... why not just take care of your kitchen and the nasty conditions it is in?? Thanks read more

The service is so nice and the meal is absolutely beautiful and the drinks taste heavenly also their interview of this restaurant is so nice

The waiter was slightly rude in the beginning of our visit, she gave us the menus, I got some type of shrimp thing, I forgot but it wasn't the greatest. After we finish our food we wait for our check, we wait at least 25 minutes. When we get the check it takes forever for the waiter to roll around and pick it up and when I gave it to her, I gave it in the slightest aggression and she said "I'm gonna call the cops,". So I walked out read more

We were really looking forward to dine in to red lobster before the rush hit, and we were treated with the most worst service ever from Red Lobster. We dined in around 3:50pm. There were about 5 tables served, and the rest were empty, thinking we were gonna have great service, especially since we hadn't been to red lobster In a good minute. My husband got a 3lb live lobster, and I got a filet mignon medium well, and as you can see in the picture, that looks raw, more like rare. There were other tables that got seated after us. After seeing they got there food, ate it, and were paying their tabs, we thought it was time to speak to the manager (Laura) and after 20 minites she decided to come with our food and said it took 1hr to cook the 3lb lobster. But the waitress (Karina) said the order was in and she didn't understand why they kept skipping her ticket because some of the food had been sitting in the kitchen and she didn't understood why the cooks kept cooking and taking out other tables food and not ours. So the manager (Laura) lied to us and gave us a shitty attitude, which I didn't appreciate. She gave me the ugliest look ever. It was not fair that we dined in to enjoy our warm food and we ended up taking the food home like if we had ordered food "to go" and still had to pay a $300 bill. Very dissappointed with Laura's service aside from being a big liar! I highly don't recommend this place when Laura is managing it! read more

Red Lobster - Mear not fully cooked, still raw! - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

They have the best alcoholic drink options! My favorite is their piña colada. Also their unlimited shrimp meal is so worth it and delicious! Quick service and very attentive. read more

Terrible service, Angelica is her name..... arrived at 12:30 6/11/23 place was completely dead the hostess made us wait for 10mints to get seated for no reason lol when she took us back to get seated she went and talked to a server and started giggling like if they had a dumb plan. We felt like they where making fun of us and to top it off my son didn't get a kid menu no one ever approached and welcomed us as we got seated. Ended up leaving felt so disrespected. as we walked out the hostess seen us leaving and started laughing. I see now y the place is empty. We ended up going to Applebees my family loved it and the way we got treated was 100% great costumer service read more

Let me start off by saying this is my first time to Red Lobster, given the name Red Lobster I must say I had high expectations to have great lobster. I will also say the best lobster I've had was at shogun Kind of a Benihana style cooking where I had filet mignon and lobster. I must say I preferred the lobster as it was very succulent versus the fillet mignon and believe me the filet mignon was very good it's just the lobster was phenomenal. Upon arrival I was told the wait was 20 minutes so went to the bar to have a drink but no one tending the bar, sat there for about 12 mins and was called to seat. That was kind of a bummer felt like having a drink before dinner but that ok. Looking at the pics you can see in the first picture the lobster looked overcooked it was slightly crunchy which I wasn't used to having with lobster. I sent it back to have a better cooked lobster. the second version was even more crunchy on one side and less cooked on the other side and tasteless, they did not even cook it with butter or garlic so it was literally tasteless. I believe the waiter could tell that I didn't like the freshly cooked lobster as I wasn't eating it, I told him that it was crunchy I don't believe lobster supposed to be crunchy and have no taste. I ended up not eating the lobster. only other time I felt like I wasted more money is when I lost a $100 bill. I am confused why people would like the way they cook lobster here, it's certainly not great cooking. The filet mignon was great the mashed potatoes were great I guess I had very high expectations for this place and ended up being very disappointed. I was hoping they were going to credit half the meal but nope they didn't. Management never came by to see what was wrong even though I didn't eat either lobster. On the way out I saw the aquarium of lobster and felt bad they are there with amateurs cooking such a wonderful food. read more

Red Lobster - Over cooked rubber with crunchy something, is lobster supposed to be crunchy! I do t think so. - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

See all

Bait & Switch. Went to this Red Lobster for lunch today because I received a promotional email this morning advertising "Endless Shrimp" for $20, not including beverage, tax or gratuity. I was seated, and the server told me about their "Endless Shrimp" offer -- but for $23.95. I questioned this, and told her about this morning's email, and also that Red Lobster's corporate website -- AND the local store's website -- also confirmed the price to be 20. So I left. I don't patronize businesses that use false information to lure me in. read more

50 minutes to receive your meal. I worked at Red Lobster for years and this was unacceptable to company standards. Got food to go because an hour went by and manager was unapologetic about the wait. Last time visiting this location. read more

This place is disappointing I asked for Arnold Palm she brings me lemon aid. Then I repeated my order and brings back a semi clear drink. I asked what is this? She's say an Arnold Palmer! At the same time there was another costumer complaining about being over charged by her. My shrimp came warm to near cold! read more

Red Lobster - Dose this look like an Arnold Palmer? According to the waitress it is! Yeah watered down version!! - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

Food and service are adequate. I realize they are a seafood restaurant but I do wish they offered more non-seafood options.

Not sure how this place has 3.5 stars, it is absolutely horrible. They could not do anything right! It took 15 minutes to get a waitress once we were seated, 35 to get our drinks (4 of 5 were wrong), an hour and 20 to get food (most of which was cold) and an hour 25 to get utensils. I tried ordering a second drink (the lobster punch) and they gave me sangria instead. It's like they were trying to get everything wrong. Trust me, wait the hour that BJ's gives you nextdoor. read more

Over the years I go usually on my birthday and it feels like service has gone down hill and pricing has sky rocketed. Always use to get my seaside shrimp trio and foods good but this time no salad but yet plate more expensive. Can't believe they raise the prices on everything but yet take back the little things read more

I was pleasantly surprised how good this location was, with a lot of other restaurants around, with poor reviews. Admiral's Feast was very good, as was the lobster Alfredo and fish and chips , both bring on point. The wait was about 30 minutes, but accurate and prompt. A new favorite in the area, we'll done. read more

Twilight Zone at Red Lobster? Do not order Filet Mignon!!!! Twice in a row at this location we were served sirloins when we both ordered filet mignon!!! The first time we agreed to eat the sirloin and even pay the higher price because it had to be a fluke right?! Apparently not! We came back a couple of months later and the damn thing happened a second time! How is that possible? Anyone can tell the difference when looking at a sirloin cut and a filet mignon can they not? And if not you surely would know the minute the steak hit your lips right? We felt like we were in the twilight zone! read more

Wow, I'm really surprised by all the low ratings some others have given this place. I had a positive experience here yesterday. The atmosphere was very upbeat and the service was good considering it was a busy Saturday night and I didn't wait for more than 20 minutes. The food is a bit pricey but overall not a place I would dine often because of the price. The portions are good and I really like their biscuit rolls (I ate them right away) I ordered the cedar plank seafood bake, it was delicious. I don't go to Salinas often, but when I do this will be a place I stop by for dinner or when I'm in the mood for seafood. I recommend this place. read more

Red Lobster - The Cedar plank seafood bake...yum! - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

See all

Wasn't all that I love red lobster but the lobster was very thick and chewy I didn't even get to finish it it had way to many read more

Red Lobster - Lobster linguine - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

Quality is going down.We had dragon broccoli and sweet chili shrimp for appetizers. The dragon broccoli was lightly deep fried and in between the florets they had some "dragon sauce" which gave it a mild kick. We were served the appetizers approximately 15 minutes after we ordered it. Our entrees was almost an hour. Their exclamation was there was a large group ahead of our order. We ordered the Seafood Shrimp Trio and the Salmon New Orleans. Both dishes had shrimp. Sad to say that the shrimp in both dishes were all under-cooked. They were slightly pink on the outside but definitely transparent/grey in the inside. So after waiting such a long time they could not cook it for another 2-3 more minutes? We made a comment to our server and she told us that is the way it suppose to be cooked. Obviously we were not happy eating here. We may come back but not for awhile, that is for sure. read more

Ordered crab linguini and shrimp salad to go. The salad that was picked was the size of a side salad and half wilted. The pasta looks like it was sitting there for 45 minutes. We were given two rolls for two entrees.... So disappointing and won't be back. read more

Red Lobster - Classic Caesar Salad with shrimp - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

Every single visit we've had great service and good food love the biscuits and I usually get the lobster bake and the server suggested to have it Cajun style it was absolutely delicious and that's how I ordered it today .. server today was extra attentive that was nice glad they're open for outside seating read more

Red Lobster - Lobster bake - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

Service was great. Host saw us coming with a baby and was ready to seat us immediately. They were attentive and made sure we had everything we needed. My only complaint was my burger. It had no flavor - but I guess they aren't known for their burgers. Other than that we had a great time. read more

Food was so bland . Calamari and mozzarella sticks tasted like old oil. Came in for the endless shrimp special and let's just say the food wasnt as tasteful as you would believe it to be .. my waiter was amazing overall read more

The service was excellent. The food, meh. First of all, I don't understand why a seafood place only has "sweet" relish tartar sauce. I have to ask...am I the only one who cares about the tartar sauce? I'm only a fan of dill. So that ruined a big part of my menu choices. The baby scallops and shrimp tasted as if they'd just been taken from the freezer & deep fried. My husband got fish & chips. I've seen the exact same fish in the freezer section at my local grocery store. He said it was mushy and nothing special. (Wouldn't you expect amazing fish when ordering the fish and chips at a Red Lobster?!! I wish I'd taken a photo of the presentation. It was horrible. The best part of the whole meal was the too die for cheesecake with berries. Probably 400 Weight Watchers's points but so worth it. A couple suggestions for this company would be to just garnish the plate more. The tiny scallops & shrimp looked over fried & lonely on the large plate. And they really should have "both" sweet & dill tartar sauce choices at a place that specializes in fish. read more

Decided to do a take out order rather than dining in. Everything was great. Food was ready for pick up at the promised time. Nothing was missing and everything was made correctly. Great job tonight. Thank you. read more

12-16-18 At 3pm to 4pm So upon Finishing the Clam Chowder..I noticed a Dam Flea/bug in the Soup.. I immediately showed my server as no he takes it to Show his Manager..Anyway, The Solution to the Problem was, taking the Clam Chowder off our order, and Family Discount.. $80 Bill turns into 73 Dollar Bill Red Lobster is usually 5 STAR SERVICE but tonight was 1 Star read more

Red Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

I really enjoy eating seafood and this has a nice selection. My low rating is due to the last time I was here with friends. We waited over 15+ minutes just to have a the waiter bring us waters. It wasn't even busy. They waited another 10 minutes to bring our salads. Of course this review is prior to the COVID 19 pandemic. I recently ordered pick up during the pandemic. Let's just say service is a bit better now that you decide when you want you want to pick up your food. read more

Red Lobster - Half Shrimp Linguini Alfredo - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

Haven't been inside this place in a long time, came here today for lunch. Didn't understand why it took these guys 10 mins to seat me to a table when there's 3 tables occupied and 95% of the restaurant is empty. Service was exceptional, cheese biscuits are always good, had the Crab Alfredo, Lobster Bisque, and stuffed mushrooms. All 3 of them tasted like Sand and had loads of salt, little bit of salt is good but almost half a canister ? Overall if your looking for a seafood place come this place and try something besides these items read more

Mondays seafood shrimp promotion was not what I was I hoped for. The lack of food choices, was shocking seeing as it was their Monday promotion no baked potato, no bread, they said they ran out, and might be sometime before we got some. Although the service was great! The seating was too close to takeout and you could hear employees talking on the phone. During our visit, we never received refills on drinks or shrimp. read more

Service needs some help... My wife and I went in for dinner and it took longer than I expected to be even acknowledged. I spoke to the manager Jonathan but by that time it was already too late I was already irritated. It wasn't meant to be so we took our money and business elsewhere. Red Lobster is overrated anyways.. #disappointedcustomer read more

We went for lunch for the first time on Monday, all you can eat shrimp, There was only 6 or 7 tables, service was very slow, the breaded shrimp was way over cooked, so was the coconut shrimp, you could tell the grease hadn't been changed.It's a shame the only shrimp that was good was the garlic shrimp, we had dirty silverware, they were in napkin rollups, which means they were dirty before they were put in the napkins, the second set was also dirty, the waiter finally cleaned them,after we ordered more garlic shrimp,my friend got his but it took 20 minutes to get mine, the waiter completely ignored us, it got so bad, my friend called the restaurant and asked the Host to send our waiter to our table ( now that's Bad), so we asked for our check, all I can say is I'm glad I had a gift certificate which covered half of it, my friend was not happy about the cost of the rest of the bill, we left, I really wanted our money back , because our experience was terrible, We were really looking forward to going here, it's a shame. read more

Not a good start . I'd like to mention before continuing my review that people who read this be aware and careful of the places you eat from. At this time of the year we usually take a drive to Salinas to have lunch with my mom after the Christmas activities are out of the way. It's been hard to look for a regular spot to have a decent lunch in Salinas. But we typically drive around looking close to my moms area or end up driving to Cannery Row. Well we ended up at this Red Lobster location again. This would be the second time I've taken my family here. There was always something about this place that didn't feel right and I wish I would have listened to my instincts. But sometimes when you are hungry you just can't help it. This is not at all a bash review of Red Lobster. I have taken my family to eat at several locations around my area for many occasions. Birthdays and anniversaries or just to have a decent meal. At times quality of the food have fallen short of expectations. But my wife and I always thought it depends on the location or how bad the cook is going to be. But I have had it when quality is not there. Specially when it comes to food safety handling. Ok on with the review. We came in and was shown to our seats. Unfortunately we were told to wait for the complimentary bread. Come on everyone loves the bread right . Oh well we gave the waitress our orders and my order happen to come with salad. I picked Cesar Salad. Drinks came out and was kinda trippin how wet my glass was. It didn't look right Oh well. Now the waitress came out with my salad. Looking at the salad I had thoughts of people getting sick of eating salads. ( that's just me right ) But also can't help myself think that I was overreacting. So I picked up a fork and started eating the salad. At the same time my wife was looking over and made a comment that I was kind of enjoying my meal. As I chew I gave her a nod and said yes I am. While I was chewing she got her fork to help herself with my salad. That's when I stopped chewing waived her hand off to not have a go at the salad. As I chewed I felt something sharp and my first guess it that it was just plastic. As I rolled my tongue to kind of guess what it was . I just had this terrible and awful feeling that. Why me? Then I pulled the object out of my mouth. We all looked surprised at it and from our point of view it's a piece of wire from a steel Brillo pad used to clean pots and pans. This was around 1" . How could this happen? I can't help myself but remember watching some TV show where people was getting sick and for a while not know what was the cause. At one episode the person finds out that a piece of metal used to clean a grill have been lodged in his intestines . Sorry for sharing that but I had to. This is just to remind people that sometimes reviews help . I should have gotten more information about this Red Lobster location. But at times we loose sight of things. This review is also to remind people to be safe . Customer service is a must and Quality is a must. People get sick and hurt if we are negligent. Please understand that the reviews I post are from my personal experience of the area. Please be safe out there. read more

Red Lobster - Seafood Near Me - Salinas, California

See all

I haven't been to this Red Lobster in more than a decade. As a result, I had no idea why I stopped coming in to begin with. As a lover of all things sea food... I decided to give it another shot. Unfortunately for me however, I was reminded of the very reason I stopped coming to this establishment, very quickly. Upon arriving, my mother and I were seated far away from all other patrons. I found this quite weird not only because the restaurant was nearly empty, but because we gave no special requests or seating preferences. Once seated, we began to peruse the menu to see what we wanted. **Disclaimer: Our server though sweet, was difficult to work with.** When the server came to the table, we asked him to give us a moment while we looked at the menu. He agreed and left. After 2 minutes, he returned to ask if we were ready. We told him to give us more time. This little back and forth repeated at least 3 more times before we felt pressured into ordering something. My mom asked for fish and chips but the server told her that after the "lunch time" menu was removed for the day, they no longer served it. This is not advertised anywhere and not widely known, so you could imagine the disappointment. After a few minutes of back and forth about menu options, we ended up canceling our order and leaving, only paying for the drinks that we barely touched during the whole ordeal. I do not see a return visit on the horizon, but I hope the customer service and overall experience improves for other customers sooner rather than later! read more