Red Lobster - Kelso

Menu has changed several times over the last couple years and the dinning area has low

Service sucked, took for ever to get waited on, food wasn't that great, and the wife a blond hair, in her mac-n-cheese, probably won't be

I normally hate rating chain restaurants especially owned by Darden. I'd rather give my business to privately owned establishments. However, this red lobster was convenient for my travel to the Portland area. The host and manager were friendly and helpful. The wait for the table on a Friday evening was 30 minutes which was better than I expected. The drinks from the bar were served fast. Our server was friendly but slow for some reason. I don't know if she was new or just an off evening. Food was tasty but the second round of drinks was long enough where I wish I could have said bring the check instead. All the other servers were hustling and we got the tortoise . It was overall a good dinner, but not great enough to warrant five stars.

My wife and I just ordered this via uber eats. $23.99 each. Half a handful of fries and 1 piece of fish. Ridiculous. We'll never order from you again.

Every Valentines Day weekend, my sister and her husband meet my dad and I at the Red Lobster in Kelso, WA.This year was the same. We were seated impressively fast, and our server was also quick to tend to our table to take our drink orders. She was knowledgeable about the special alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. We were served our beverages not long after that.When our server returned to take our dinner orders, she was very knowledgeable about the menu and specials. It did take a longer than usual amount of time for her to come back to take the food order, but the restaurant was exceptionally busy that night. Don't settle with that; the restaurant isn't getting off that easy.The issues and reason for the rating are mostly due to the food itself.~My brother-in-law ordered the shrimp special that was supposed to give him unlimited shrimp. The stretch of time it took the server to tend to his special between his shrimp plates was so long that he was only allowed one extra plate. By the time he received that (very small portioned) plate of shrimp, the rest of the table had long been done eating.~My father ordered a meal with two lobster tails. The tails were not completely cooked through. He didn't want to say anything. His baked potato was also not anywhere near cooked through. The inside of the potato was raw and crunchy. He only ate the outer ½ of the potato.~My sister and I did not order the same meal but we both had a side of mashed potatoes. That side was horrendous. It tasted like 5 day old instant potatoes that had been cooked with only water and not seasoned, then left to dry out before slapped on our plates.~I ordered the shrimp and scallop skewers. The first and largest scallop that I ate was raw inside. The shellfish all together was oversalted and overseasoned. The best thing on my plate was steamed broccoli. Ewe....Only the freezer section deep fried foods actually lived up to expectations.Considering the circumstances of a busy restaurant, the delays might be acceptable except that it was the weekend before Valentines Day. Any restaurant that would become busier than usual during certain times of the year, would know to staff up.Due to the hustle we observed from our server along with the rest of the wait staff, I am presuming the delays of service can be attributed to a lack of proper staffing support. This is such a regular occurrence at restaurants, it seems to have become an acceptable excuse for delays. The truth is that management or owners have placed unreasonable and unachievable duties on the wait staff causing them extra work at lower pay due to loss of tips.The undercooked food, though, is inexcusable. It seems kitchen staff was completely unprepared for what would obviously be an exceptionally busy night. Some restaurants might rush food a bit too quickly but a chain restaurant that specializes in seafood should NEVER put it's customers at risk the way the kitchen staff did that night.A restaurant that is considered to be higher quality Cuisine at a much higher price than other restaurant chains, would also be expected to not serve instant or baked potatoes that were inadequately cooked.I'm not usually this harsh but a restaurant that failed to sufficiently prepare for a exceptionally busy night, let their hard working wait staff down and left a bad taste in my mouth.