It gets a MEH from me. Nothing spectacular here in my opinion, but it's ok if you want to eat safe seafood. I think I may be a bit bias on this though because I am from Hawaii and I've had my fair share of \"Chicken of the Sea\", and the quality of the stuff from Red Lobster just doesn't even compare with what you can catch with your own bare hands from what basically used to be my own backyard.\n\nI remember the days, parties with platters upon platters of raw, fresh sashimi (oh how I miss you hot mustard & shoyu!), places quality sushi, and the lovely aroma of fish tempura with a squeeze of lemon, some tartar sauce and Tabasco (Da Kitchen on Maui, that's you!)...but Red Lobster how you are none of these things. On Maui, we don't even have a Red Lobster! Freshness is everything when it comes to seafood, and for me it's not top notch at Red Lobster. But, being a big chain I guess maybe it shouldn't be.\n\nWe ended up at Red Lobster mainly because of their heavily-rotated ads on TV, that 4-course seafood feast for $14.99. The wifey wanted to try it out. I hesitated but finally relented. I should have hesitated then suggested somewhere else for dinner. It wasn't bad per se, but man for the money you can do so much better. \n\nI couldn't believe the wait at this place for a table. Took us 20 minutes for us to get seated, and the place was PACKED. Why all these people for mediocre seafood drowned in butter and cream? Mind boggling I tell you. Although I did see most folks were with their families, which makes for one big average bill. No wonder Red Lobster stays in business. Is is strange for me to say that our entire time there, I only saw 2 lobsters come out from the kitchen to our side of the restaurant? And we were literally sitting a few tables away from the 'fresh' lobster tank that resides at the front of the place. Made me a little uneasy. Either folks don't feel like dishing out cash now for lobster (thanks, economy), or those lobsters aren't keeping up on the freshness meter. With lobster being the bread and butter of Red Lobster, I now know why they probably introduced this 4-course feast to the lineup.\n\nAfter ordering 4-course seafood feasts for the both of us, the wifey and I waited. And waited. And waited a bit more. Took a good 25 minutes for our 1st and 2nd course to arrive. And guess what, they forgot our friggin' Cheddar Bay Biscuits! For shame! I was looking forward to them. Took another 15 minutes to get those. I understand they were busy, but forgetting the biscuits to go with your soup? Borderline ridiculous. Plus, our salad and soup weren't that great either. Not only was the salad on the tiny side, the lettuce on mine was a bit wilted. Average at best. Wifey had the clam chowder which actually had some clams in it but was overly salty. I had the strange choice of chicken tortilla soup (yes, in a seafood shack) but it was actually not bad. In no way authentic but at least it was seasoned right. However, this soup with a Cheddar Bay Biscuit? Not the greatest combination, ha ha! \n\nOur 3rd courses were pretty average. I love a good coconut shrimp and these were ok. A tad on the overcooked side on the breading, at least the shrimp was not dry. I liked my grilled honey BBQ skewers a lot better though. Sweet, tangy, and juicy, they went great with a dash of hot sauce. Thing I really hated on my dish? Rice pilaf. Why is rice pilaf served anywhere? It is usually horrible! I just can't get my taste buds to ever like it. I liken it to having birdseed on one's plate. It's useless! Please afford me the luxury of choosing white rice or potatoes over this. I would even take another steamed veggie over rice pilaf. Rice pilar is PILAU! That's Hawaiian for 'yucky'. Wifey went with garlic alfredo shrimp and scallop pasta, and that wasn't much better. It was a bit too creamy, very rich, and hard to finish in one sitting. It had a decent amount of shrimp, but I'm not a fan of those itty-bitty baby scallops they put in it. It's like scallop leftovers. It would have been much, much better if Red Lobster had put 2 lovely scallops on top of the dish. But I realize they have to cut corners somewhere to offer a decent price on your meal.\n\nI actually enjoyed the 4th course the most, dessert. We tried the triple chocolate brownie a la mode, and the apple crostada with caramel drizzle. These actually were pretty good. The brownie was gooey and not overbaked, and was yummy with the scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top. The apple crostada was good as well, flaky with a good amount of apples in the middle. I only wish this was served a la mode as well.\n\nService was very slow but our waiter was apologetic so that made up for it. But the food just wasn't up to par for me. I would probably rather go to a local pub for a fresh batch of fish & chips, or to a down-home southern eats place here for some fried catfish with hot sauce. Chain like Red Lobster? MEH.
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