"Seafood-loving Americans. Would you take your relatives to Red Lobster?"

[PartyPooper]

I have taken my folks there. The food and beverage service always has been great.
The tantalizing menu is varied and terrific. We were never disappointed with our selections.

And, I love it when they have an aquarium in the lobby!

What about you? Would you take your relatives to Red Lobster?

:9

[Bluebear]

1. Well in New England we call it Dead Lobster

Then again we have zillions of fresh seafood restaurant choices. I do like RL's cheese biscuits though :)

[NJCher]

13. I once had a job with them

I was in marketing and my first "mission" was to re-introduce lobster in the Boston stores. Seems the fools made the stupid mistake of trying to sell Florida lobster to New Englanders! One of the restaurants even received bomb threats. LOLOL. So they decided to get it right and sell Maine lobsters.

That was some job. I learned New Englanders take their seafood seriously. Real seriously.


Cher

[screwfacecapone]

2. hell yeah!

If it wasn't so friggin expensive.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. I live 200-300 miles from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

I'd be willing to make the drive for a special occasion to spring for GOOD seafood (as opposed to the stuff that isn't fresh, which can only be mediocre once you've had something else)

[rockymountaindem]

4. Do you work for them?

That's a ringing endorsement.

[PartyPooper]

9. No, I don't work for them. This is a "parody" thread.

But, what I said is true based upon my own personal experiences.

BTW, see the thread "Italian Americans. Would you take your Italian relatives to Olive Garden?"

I understand that both restaurants are owned by the same corporation.

:-)

[ironflange]

17. Olive Garden?

By gosh, I'd take my Sicilian granny there in a second. They have the most authentic Italian cuisine this side of Pizza Hut!

[PartyPooper]

18. Pizza Hut? LOL!

It reminds me of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman."

:D

[ncrainbowgrrl]

5. Not unless I was being forced to pay the bill for a seafood dinner...

Then I'd take them to RL- much cheaper than a non-chain seafood place. However, if I had the money and knew that the relative would appreciate the difference, I'd definitely not go the red lobster route!

[Bridget Burke]

6. Lots of other options on the Gulf Coast, too.

Plain Southern seafood (mostly fried oysters & shrimp). Spicier options from Louisiana (Cajun or Creole). Lots of Mexican restaurants specialize in seafood. Vietnamese & other Asians also have some fine places.

Why bother with Red Lobster?

[noiretextatique]

7. nope...but i live in an area with a lot of great, small restaurants

so i don't have to eat at the big chain restaurants. i detest corporate food anyway.

[MercutioATC]

8. Actually, I'd just cook for them.

I'm in Ohio (NOT close to the ocean). Almost any seafood that makes it here is frozen, anyway.

I have a shop 3 blocks away that has fresh sushi-grade tuna, live Maine lobsters and almost anything else you could imagine.

If I wanted to entertain...well...anybody, I'd just cook.

[KG]

10. live on the gulf coast of FL - but the cheese biscuits are to die for.

yum!

[thebaghwan]

11. My understanding from what I've seen on DU is they are Rush L. sponsors

so I don't go there anymore.

[LynneSin]

12. According to God eating fish without fins is an abomination

And if we're to live according to what is written in Leviticus we should be outside protesting

(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. Nope...

There are too many great seafood restaurants nearby that aren't owned by a corporation.

[Lisa0825]

15. No way!!! I briefly worked there in college....

Overpriced and under-quality food! Most of it is either frzen or reconstituted. This was in the late 80s,but I remember the ONLY hting tht was fresh was what was on the "fresh fish board" or in the lobster tank. If you ordered anything off the regular menu, you could BET it was frozen. And the soups were reconstituted. They had the same parent company as Olive Garden, I think. And I see the same poor, mass-produced, crap coming from Olive Garden.

If you want good food of ANY type, find a nice, locally owned restaurant.

All that being said... and as much as I have reservations about the family, the Pappas chain out of Houston has some excellent restaurants. I also worked at one of theirs, and I would eat ANYTHING that came out of their kitchen... all fresh, all individually prepared, nothing nuked or dehydrated.

[noiretextatique]

16. thanks...some are accusing people of being food snobs

but you gave a really great reason for not eating at places like red lobster and olive garden: the food is *literally* crap!

[sir_captain]

19. To be fair

almost all seafood, whether you buy it in a restaurant, market, or wherever, has been frozen at one point or another. Even the most expensive seafood restaurants use frozen shrimp, for instance.

That being said, I'd still rather just cook it myself for a lot less money.

[THUNDER HANDS]

24. yup

to kill the bacteria in seafood you must freeze fish. it's the law.

[MaineDem]

20. Not on your life!

There's a reason there isn't a one here in Maine. :)

[Atman]

21. They actually buy local seafood

At least, they used to. Years ago when I lived in Florida, my business partner's husband owned a scallop boat. The buyers from RL came to the docks at Port Canaveral to buy the fresh seafood for the Central Florida stores. It shocked me when I heard this. Then I had an opportunity to bid on a design job and visited their home office in Orlando. I asked about it and was told, sure enough, the regionals buy from the closest ports available to them. Which was fine living in Florida or near the New England coast, I suppose. But I'd stay clear of raw oysters at the Kansas Red Lobster.

On edit...just to clarify...I can't stand Red Lobster. Except those cheese rolls, which you can make with a box of Bisquick in about ten minutes.

[2bfree]

22. Ewwww!

No! But of course I live on the coast and wouldn't eat at a resturant that served all that frozen seafood.

[MissMillie]

23. Never

Native New Englander here.... there are much better places to get seafood.

[scarlet_owl]

25. No. I used to work there and I know what it's like

"behind the scenes". They also try to brainwash their employees with Republican propaganda. I'd rather cook fish at home or go to a locally owned restaurant.

[BurtWorm]

26. I grew up in Maine, so I wouldn't go there just for the sea food.

I'd go there if I were on the road and the choices were Red Lobster and Arby's or something canned like that.

When I was growing up in Maine, you could get a lobster dinner--with steamers, salad, clam chowder, corn, roll or blueberry muffin--for about $12. Now it's more like $25.

[Bertha Venation]

27. I have a terrible confession to make.

First, my opinion: Red Lobster sucks.

Now: less than a year after I moved to Maryland, home of the famous Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab, my eldest sister visited from California, where we'd been born & raised. One day we went for crab cakes, but the only two restaurants I knew of were both closed for lunch. So she suggested Red Lobster. I demurred, saying I knew we could find better crab cakes somewhere -- I just didn't know where. "She said it's okay, I like Red Lobster."

So I took my dear sister to Red Lobster in Maryland for crab cakes. Oh, the shame. :cry:

[noonwitch]

28. They are not the restaurant they used to be, at least in the Detroit area

Their food tastes good, but the proportions are skimpy. We go there for birthday lunches (for coworkers) and that's what I've found. The cheese bread is awesome, however.

[bkcc]

29. good lord!

Seeing so many people praise Red Lobster and Olive Garden makes me wonder what the hell is going on in the country outside of NYC.

I was considering moving, but now I'm not so sure.

;)

[PartyPooper]

30. A kick for the lunch crowd.

:-)

[Zomby Woof]

31. no

I remember when one opened up near our subdivision in Va Beach VA back in 1975 (I believe they were brand new as a chain), and we tried it.

I never stepped foot in one again.

For good seafood, we ate at a family-owned place called Fass Brothers.

[Whitacre D_WI]

32. Is it lobster? Is it crab? Is it cheese biscuits? Is it fish?

I DON'T KNOW! IT ALL TASTES THE SAME! :scared: :cry:

[Quahog]

33. No point

Too many other good choices here in RI, most less expensive, less noisy, better views, etc.

I often marvel that Red Lobster survives here. But then, Olive Garden and Pizza Hut survive here, and RI has some of the best Italian food I've ever had (yup, including NYC, Chicago, even Italy!). Why anyone would go eat that microwaved stuff at Olive Garden when they could go to a little mom & pop place and chat with the chef and have a liesurely home-cooked gourmet meal for less money is beyond my comprehension. But there you go.

[arwalden]

34. I Prefer To Take Them To "Phillips" At Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Most excellent.

-- Allen

[JCMach1]

35. Red Lobster is the McDonalds of seafood

No thanks,,,,

Then again, I'm a seafood snob... (native of coastal florida)

[Whitacre D_WI]

37. That's unfair...

...McDonald's is WAY better than Red Lobster!

[JCMach1]

38. ROFLMAO

... and hey a quick shout to McD's for showing a little corporate nobless oblige in the ending of the supersize meal...

Also for offering healthy alternatives...

Hey, it's the NEW McDonalds!

[sus]

36. no way man