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I mean ... I'm not sure they even exist in Maine... I don't think I've ever seen one in my entire life.
I've lived in New England my whole life and hardly any mass market seafood restaurants are around here. How they gonna compete with all the little places that literally caught their fish that morning?
Most places I've been round here have their own lobster business. How would they compete against fresh caught Maine lobster? It's our whole thing.
Yeah. Going to a Red Lobster in Maine would be like going to Taco Bell in Mexico.
I’ve never eaten at a Red Lobster. Are they going out of business?
No, they're just closing like 50 locations out of 600+
Ah
I couldn’t even tell you where the closest red lobster to me is, let alone the last time I ate there. I figured they’d have gone under a decade ago back when “millennials killed TGI Fridays” was a thing.
This is just the beginning. The next couple years is going to be a bloodbath in the generic upscale dining sector.
Serious question... is Red Lobster Generic "Upscale"?
That's putting the emphasis on the wrong word.
When you are in the middle class trying to squeeze blood from a turnip, Red Lobster is a five star restaurant. We only go there for my wife's birthday.
I have a friend who always goes to Red Lobster on her birthday. I guess when she was growing up, that was the "fancy" place to go, so it's tradition. I'll go with her, and it's a rather dismal experience.
It was the fancy place for us growing up as well. Crab legs and cheddar bay biscuits along with some shrimp scampi is still something that I enjoy.
Now that I am an adult, I think I’ve been there twice, maybe three times in the last 30 years. The nearest one is 90 miles away. So, instead, I make my own crab legs and bake the cheddar bay biscuits from a box mix. Haven’t figured out how to duplicate their scampi.
Yes yes yes. In 2004 it was “the” premier place to go. It simply got eclipsed by Better high quality restaurants.
They shouldn't have limited to one color of lobster. Lost market share.
They're not closing entirely, they're just closing a number of locations... about 7-8% of their locations.
I've only eaten there once or twice in my life. It's seen as more "white trash fancy" than an actual nice restaurant.
I’ll miss the bread, but I haven’t been to one in years.
Chilis is also close a bunch of restaurants.
Overall these type of chains fell out of fashion over a decade ago and I don’t know anyone who really frequents them unless they’re older.
You can get the bread mix on Amazon.
And Walmart and Target.
Damn is it? That sucks. About once a year I get a craving for their fried platter. That shit is good. I mean nothing special about fried shit but I just need to hit red lobster about once a year for it. Give me that and a couple baskets of their biscuits and I'm set.
Not sure I've ever been to one
I don't. Haven't been to one in a few years. None near me anymore.
Red Lobster sucked over 15 years ago when I ate there last. It always seemed like they dumped an entire box of salt on their fish. You can buy the biscuit mix at the store now, so what do they really have going for them?
Oh no where will I purchase overcooked lobsters now? Seriously I'm surprised they are still around. The only good thing there is the cheddar bay biscuits. I can purchase the mix at the store or online.
They're not closing. Zero locations in my state are shutting down.
A friend of mine worked at fancy restaurants in New York, and told me that the supply chain in big cities is absolutely terrible, and you're much more likely to find fresher seafood at Red Lobster.
I have a copycat recipe of their cheddar bay biscuits, so I'm good either way.
Edit: The news has spread, there's 4 locations in my state closing, including the one I used to go to when I lived in Princeton. I moved during the pandemic, so it won't be missed, and there's still the one I went to while I was growing up.
I don't think I have ever eaten there in my life. No particular feelings.
I have heard that they are a good "entry level" way for servers to break into fine dining, as in you work at Red Lobster for a while and then you can actually get hired at a nice restaurant. No idea if that's true but if it is then I guess that sucks for aspiring fine dining servers.
I can't remember the last time I went to one.
With that said, Red Lobster (and similar brands) live in a market segment that exists to provide a special experience at an accessible price and it would be unfortunate for many if these types of restaurants disappear completely. Red Lobster will never be the best seafood you can get, but it will be decent at a good price and extremely consistent.
These days I'm fortunate enough to be able to choose much better restaurants for special occasions, but there was a time growing up when a celebratory dinner at Red Lobster was something I looked forward to. There are millions of people in this country for which that is still and may always be the case due to lifestyle mobility constraints, and if these places disappear, I'm not sure what options they will have that won't create an unnecessary financial burden, and that bums me out. Thankfully not all the locations are closing, and hopefully this is just a rightsizing of their operation and not the beginning of the end, but I'm not holding my breath.
Never set foot in a red lobster, the internets tell me this is due to the endless shrimp thing.
Read about that yesterday and forgot until this post.
I never found Red Lobster to be as appealing as it's sister restaurant Olive Garden. In fact, I'm not sure if I've ever been to one. Living on the East Coast and the Chesapeake Bay especially we have no lack of real seafood restaurants.
I haven't set foot in a Red Lobster since Obama's first term, I believe. I don't know where there's one near me now.
Never went there. I feel like it's a bit sketchy and not really interested anyway.
Their biscuits are amazing, but other than that I couldn't care less. Don't remember the last time I saw a Red Lobster, much less went to one.
Was one of my favorite places to eat as a kid. Last couple times I've been to one I was disappointed.
I've never eaten at one but them closing down one month after "all you can eat shrimp" promotion strikes me as hilarious. That was a lot of shrimp.
Just looking at the closures in Texas and it's like eight statewide. I there are five Red Lobsters in San Antonio alone, none of which are closing.
That said, I can't stand them - I've had something bad happen on each of my last three visits to different locations. I'm done with them and refuse to go, my wife and daughters still love it though. It's become a running joke in the family.
They aren’t closing, are they? Just thinking about filing for bankruptcy protection/get bailed out by the government?
My family in Colorado will be so upset. But here in Massachusetts no one would bat an eye.
I'm pretty sure it is illegal to go to red lobster if you live in New England.
Haven't been there in 15 years or more. Don't care.
I drive by a Red Lobster every day on the way to and from work. I've still never eaten at a Red Lobster.
Ours isn't closing, but I'd be mildly sad if they did. It's one of the few places in town to get decent seafood. (I didn't say excellent, just decent. They are that, or at least ours is.)
It's really not surprising, though, because it's really getting expensive to dine out anywhere, and they seem like the kind of place that would be among the first to go.
I've been in a RL once in my life, and only because my elderly mother insisted I take her. Let's just say it was not the epoch-shattering dining experience I've ever had.
I've been to Red Lobster twice. The first time was to eat there, but I remember absolutely nothing about it. The second time was to inquire about buying a live lobster straight from the tank to keep as a pet. They didn't let me
Red lobster is closing their doors because cheap people bring there whole family and just buy one order of endless shrimp to feed the whole table and expecting to get all the shrimp their cheap asses can eat and in turn they putting red lobster out of business. Thanks idiots
I laugh at people who think just because you have a table of 6 that their all supposed to eat from the order of endless shrimp that is for one person not your whole family cheap ah mf
Happily, they’re not closing any in Massachusetts.
Oh, wait, they don’t have any in MA.
Who cares, we don’t eat shellfish anyway.
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