Red Lobster: A Good Value or Ghetto?

There are two types of people I've met from small midwestern towns: those that are skeptical of almost all seafood, and those that think Red Lobster is a fancy eating destination. Somehow I'm pretty sure the two are linked.

Of course, the younger generation is losing this what with their MTV and fancy college towns with crappy sushi places.

That Salmon club sandwich however is pure asswipe on a ciabatta bun.

Fueled by their mutual passion for fish, veteran restaurateurs Tim Curci and Chris Parker set out to create a new kind of dining experience. They wanted to build a place that would take the mystery out of fish for people who didn't eat it very often. They would help their guests understand where the fish they were eating came from, how to have it cooked, and best of all – how to have fun with the wide range of delicious flavors and sauces they would develop to perfectly complement a wide range of species.

They wanted the place to feel warm, comfortable and inviting inside, but below the surface would lie a dogged commitment to quality and excellence on every level. They would come to call this ambiance "polished casual".

"polished casual." delicious flavors and sauces!

are there really people intimidated by fish?

At 10:45, our plates were returned to us with only slightly less inedible fish on it. Bonefish fish costing what it does, we asked for the manager, and Alisha, our waitress, went to fetch him.

This guy wasn't fit to be a manager at Denny's. First, he asked us what the problem was, as if he didn't know. Second, he told us he didn't know how our orders were burnt because they cook all the fish for sixteen and a half minutes as per company standard.)

ONLY LONG JOHN SILVERS HAS THE NEW $2.99 TAIL PACK WHERE YOU GET FRIED LOBSTER BITS IN A FRICKIN CARDBOARD LOBSTER TAIL BITCH

http://i44.tinypic.com/21np5px.jpg

the tv commercial has a guy ripping open the front of the tail (there's a perforated pull-tab) and the lobster bites come flying out at you at a very high speed

wow! good value

i wanna go on a date there

if the date was going well and you were a massive slut you could be like, "sure hope this isn't the last tail pack we enjoy tonight"

yeah then if the dude was like, "oh yeah let's order another they're only $2.99," i would know it was a match made in heavon

if the date was going well and you were a massive slut you could be like, "sure hope this isn't the last tail pack we enjoy tonight"

― asplundh tree expert co. (iiiijjjj), Sunday, April 26, 2009 3:46 PM (10 minutes ago)

looooool

omg rofl

When I was a kid Red Lobster was definitely a steppin'-out, dress up nice treat. Guess that means we were ghetto and didn't know it.

Long John Silver's is totally dear to my heart. Unfortunately, everything from the hushpuppies to the fish to the BUTTERY LOBSTAH BITES kind of taste the same (I think bcz they are all fried in the same thing).

For some reason it is always PACKED here in town. It is in the dying side of town w/the dollar theater and the Samon's hardware store and 1,000 empty strip malls and a creepy Greyhound station. Anyway, srsly, it is all old people going crazy on the soda refills. The soda, actually, is my one beef bcz it is a 'Yum! Inc.' franchise, owner of Pizza Hut/Taco Bell/KFC/A&W. They serve only Pepsi products. Oh god do I not want a Pepsi.

The Wiki section on Long John Silver's 'Controversy' is great:

The restaurant chain was the subject of some controversy in the late 1990s for a commercial in which a police officer decided not to write a ticket to a motorist who gave him a Long John Silver's fish sandwich. Many police organizations objected to the commercial on the grounds that it depicted a police officer taking a bribe.

In March 2006, LJS began offering buttered lobster bites, and in the stores signs state "made with real langostino lobster." Many people felt that this was misleading because langostino is not a conventional type of lobster; however the Food and Drug Administration has stated that langostino can be named and marketed as lobster.

In South Florida, Long John Silver's -- and Arthur Treachers -- has gone the way of Taco Viva. Gone without a trace.

Still ubiquitous, thankfully: DENNY'S.

I have dinner at Red Lobster with my family every time I go back to Minneapolis--love it.

Red Lobster twice offered an endless snow crab leg promotion. However, in 2003 the promotion resulted in parent company Darden Restaurants taking a $3 million charge to third quarter earnings resulting in CEO Edna Morris' departure from the company. The ill-timed promotion was launched amid high wholesale crab legs prices. The chain also underestimated how many times guest would order more.[1] Further complicating matters at the restaurant level was the amount of time guests spent tableside in the restaurant cracking crab legs which increased wait times in the lobby and overall diminished guest capacity per hour.

Sucked 2BU, Edna, but that was a memorable pile of crab legs.

Langostino is crayfish, isn't it?

I wish "endless crab legs" would replace the term "perfect storm"

How is this shit up for six years and people are still using the phrase "ghetto" on it

fast food fish is so fucking horrible

cosign, j0rdan. won't go near the shit.

but get me near a popeye's and i sometimes succumb to the immense pleasure of 2 pieces and a biscuit for $1.99, which is a fucking unreal deal.

i used to looooove Red Lobster when I was in the burbs, but after living in New York for 7 years or whatever, I have no taste for chain food whatsoever (except Subway, obv)

(and white castle)

(and Nathans)

i still have a taste for Subway, but will only go to the one in Oberlin, Ohio, since i (along with many other people i know) believe it to be the freshest and most pleasant dining experience found in any Subway.

really, though, the only fast-food i get is tacos (El Farolito and Guadalajara being my preferred venues in San Francisco) and the $2.50 California rolls at the lunch-counter place near my school.

i fuck w/ mcdonalds - they really upped their chicken sandwich game in the past few years

wendys too

i don't eat at taco bell anymore

I still have my Long John Silver's name tag. I worked there for 2 years in high school. My sister was one of the shift managers. So no one talk shit about LJS or I'll throw petrified popcorn chicken at ya.

i think that it is because i am secretly terrified of bad fats that i stay away from fast food places. i know the bad fats lurk in fancypants restaurants (ahem, bistros) too, but i can't smell it in the air at the latter.

I'm lightly breading some skate now, guys. A wild rice side. Come on over.

wait guys, what about other 'casual dining' places....Olive Garden?

i admit that i have never been to a Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Ponderosa, Outback Steakhouse, or anything of the sort. i have been to Denny's and Chili's. do y'all have that weird ass Baja Fresh bullshit?

Does Chevy's still exist in CA?

there;s one in civic center that i know of.. actually yeah, they are all over

went there once as an 8-year-old.

chili's is my favorite restaurant

We have all those here, and I haven't stepped foot in one since grad school. But I'm not one for drunk/stoned late night dining anymore.

Chili's is not terrible. if i have choices in an airport, i usually do Chili's or Wolfgang Pucks or some BS like that.

If i need drunk food, i go to Orphan Andy's.

(the only time i step foot in the Castro)

do y'all have that weird ass Baja Fresh bullshit?

Kinda like this place. Fish burritos.

jordan 'popism' doesnt really work with food

XD

chili's is incredible, sorry

i used to go to red lobster w/my grandparents all the time when i visited them - one time when they were visiting me in boston we went to legal seafood - from then on whenever an outing to red lobster was announced theyd be all now its not like yr FANCY legal seafoods but we like it JUST FINE