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| - I haven't eaten at a Red Lobster for about 15 years, and my daughter talked me into going here. My previous experience (in Central California) was, in my fading memory now, pretty decent. This was a contrast.
The server was good, helpful and doing her best. She could not be held responsible for the food. Biscuits were ok/good, but not great. That was the best part of our experience.
19-year-old had lobster shrimp fettucine. It was okay. Just okay. It wasn't "bad," but one would expect better from a seafood specialty restaurant.
Partner and I split the shrimp wrapped in bacon and steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli. We ordered the steak "medium." The shrimp was "okay," but the bacon was undercooked and rubbery. the broccoli was good and not overly cooked. The mashed potatoes were runny and tasteless.
The steak was browned on the outside, but bloody and red throughout. It was definitely "rare." We sent it back. The waitress explained that this was how they cooked their "medium" steaks. When the steak came back, it had been cooked a bit, but was still pink all the way through and "rare." We sent it back again. The waitress explained that "next time" we should order "well done" if we wanted "medium." We were still not happy, but they did cook the steak well the third time (which we took to go at this point).
The manager came by with a laminated card showing a picture of how each steak should be cooked at "rare," "medium," etc. I was amazed: their corporate policy is to undercook steaks at each level (compared to what are standards for how steaks should be cooked everywhere I've ever been). (Did I mention I used to be a restaurant cook?) The manager did comp our meal, which was generous.
The staff really did their best, but the food was substandard and their policy on how to cook a steak is strange (and against industry standards). You can do better elsewhere.
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