I no longer fear hell as I have been to a Red Robin Gourmet Burgers & Spirits

[underpants]

http://www.redrobin.com/

My mom came into town last night to take Josie for the afternoon and she suggested that we go to this place that has been advertising heavily out in her neck of the woods. The last time she was here we went to The Olive Garden.

Okay first off in a very telling way both I and my mother got mixed up when turning off the main drag I, however, didn't get out of the car (thanks to my wife) and actually walk into the Applebee's next door.

The motif of the Red Robin is sort of a wanting to look like it has been there for years mixed with a neon infused retro-50's burger joint mixed with Chuck E.Cheese mixed with the old Wendy's turn of the century news clippings type thing. Oh and they have a TV in the floor in the lobby!

This place was ROTTEN with kids. All ages and all screaming to beat the band. Add in a mascot-a mascot in the restaurant- walking around in a heat stroke inducing outfit and mute. The kids were everywhere and they just kept coming in.

Our waitress had NO FLAIR at all (my wife asked about that first off). I order iced tea and then realized that they had BOTTOMLESS (more on this later) flavored...well Kool Aid basically. I was informed by our waitress that I couldn't switch without being charged for another whole drink...but the tea AND the flavored drink were both BOTTOMLESS and she didn't refill my glass she kept bringing another whole glass. Aside from being costly (from a management stand point) this really sucks-I had the sugar reserve down at the bottom and the lemon already in there, that is why tea is so good IMHO. Okay I stuck with the tea.

I ordered the onion rings as an appetizer while my wife went over to get my mom and our daughter out of the Applebees. What came out was a 18" stack of onion rings on some sort of corporate engineered iron thing WITH little holders for ranch dressing on chipotle thousand island dressing, I think. Oh and these were right out of the fryer. The "HOLY S**T!" I let out on the first bite had to be audible across the whole restaurant WHOOPS.

Did I mention the neon-nightmare that this place was?

Okay let's cut to the food-Bland. My wife said that her "gourmet burger" was basically a Whopper with a big bun. Our daughters Chicken Parmigiana Pasta was served (and initially put down on the table) piping, skin burning hot. My chicken sandwich was nothing of note. The fries had been frozen.

Still no flair.

Almost everything is BOTTOMLESS- fries drinks neon everything.

In another bit of corporate engineering and design the table had fold out wings that allowed it to go from a 2-top to a 4. Great except the wings kind of sagged to the sides which was a problem with Josie's milk THEN it become much more when we all heard this loud CRASH!! My mother's glass of water had slid right off the side. CRASH!!! Now we have no idea if there is shards of glass in any of the food and no one seemed all that worried about it except the busboy who swept it up.

The mascot was on a smoke break/ "cooling off" for about 20 minutes.

THEN the manager came over to debrief my wife on why she didn't want a box to take home the Chicken Parmigiana that my 2 year old daughter hadn't eaten.

The waitress actually brought over the check kind of early on (which I liked) and no we had NOT been complaining. She brought it over with the dessert menu (good idea I think) and said "just lay it down when you want are ready to pay" My mother looked over the bill and laid the thing down and SWOOP! in came the flairless one- we had to stop her before she got to the register with no cash and no card in it.

All in all it was throughly un enjoyable. They seem to have taken the most obnoxious parts of cookie-cutter sprawl restaurant chains and combined them into one craptacular neon back lighted colon bloat.


But then that might just be me.

About the time we were leaving the "night crowd" started coming in (7:30) which I think is why there is such a prominent placing of the ginormous bar in the middle of this kids place. Ladies, I am feeling your pain on this one- every couple was a brainscratching hottie/unblieveable-dork-who-would-take-a-date-to-a-place-like-this-one combination. :shrug:

[Pithlet]

1. I think location is a big factor with that chain.

Yeah, it's a chain, so some will look down their nose at me, but there's nothing I can do about that. We're limited in where we can take our kids for various reasons, so we tried our local Red Robin that just opened up. The food and service were excellent. The mascot wasn't there, which probably helps a lot, so while there were kids, it wasn't overrun with them. But, when we visited my mom out of town, we decided to go to the Red Robin there since the kids like it so much, and it was just like you described.

[TommyO]

7. There are four Red Robins in my area

I've eaten at two of them. The older one is OK, but the newer one, located in a "lifestyle center" is definitely the better one. The layout of the restaurant is much better, the decor toned down a bit from the garishness that the original poster described, and the service is good. The last time we went with five adults and two children and everybody had decent food, it wasn't gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, but everything was more than acceptable.

[DS1]

2. Gourmet Burger and Spirits?

Spirits? As in, I'd like a double-cheeseburger and a Diaka Vodka Martini ?

Odd combination. And no flair? How are you supposed to enjoy your meal without interesting trinkets on your server's chest to look at?

[underpants]

4. Yes exactly

Burgers and hoitytoidy cocktails (for the "I want to look like I drink" crowd).

The waitress had none of either at least our waitress didn't :grr:

I was just telling a co-worker about the couples there and he, accurately I think, said "Programmers Capital One programming droids".

[Zookeeper]

20. My husband is into the foo-foo martinis...

First, the server had no idea what Vodkas they had. After she made a couple of trips to the bar to check, my husband settled for whatever they had, then the drink was so bad that he didn't finish it anyway.

I keep telling him that in a place like Red Robin or Applebees or TGIF, you order a BEER.

[matcom]

3. "The last time she was here we went to The Olive Garden"

*points and laughs*

[underpants]

5. AND...

the stock market crashed

Seriously.

[AllegroRondo]

6. my local one is pretty good

they have Guinness on tap - always a plus in my book!

kids - yes, but not overly rowdy or taking over the place. Ive never seen a mascot there, so that may be it.

food - decent. Try the five alarm burger. We dont bother with the onion ring appetizer, just ask the waiter to bring the bottomless fries out before the burger is ready. They've never had a problem with that.

[bluethruandthru]

8. Red Robin used to be great!

When it was a small, local place in Washington State...it was a nice, quiet restaurant with good food and a great bar. Since it's become a gigantic chain, it's turned into Chuck E. Cheese!
A big pet peeve of mine is the lack of places to go for a quiet meal. It is so irritating to go to a restaurant after a busy, stressful day but then not be able to think..let alone have a conversation with your companion(s) because a herd of servers is screaming "Happy Birthday" and singing some inane song at the top of their lungs every 5 minutes!
Whenever I go to a restaurant, I asked to be seated in the "No Birthday section". It's not just Red Robin...but they are one of the worst! (Sorry for the rant)

[Left Is Write]

21. That's why I refuse to go to Joe's Crab Shack.

Music so loud you can't hear your own table conversation, and incessant songs and skits and birthday crap.

I must say, though, that I have never had any of the Red Robin experiences recounted here. The food is pretty bland and uninspired, but I've never been to one during screaming children/birthday song time.

[Omphaloskepsis]

9. I like going there..

The all-you-can-eat fries is great. It is nice knowing I will leave a place full.

[Critters2]

10. Okay, so I'm at this meeting of women ministers and I'm

in the computer room of a Dominican convent, and all these clergy are checking their e-mail to make sure no one back home has died or anything, and I read the subject header of this thread and burst out laughing.

Thank you. Thank you very much.



Oh, and I've never been to a Red Robin, and appreciate the warning. :hi:

Off to morning prayers...

[LynneSin]

11. They just opened one near where I work

Guess we'll skip that place

[Aristus]

12. The Red Robins in my area are pretty good, actually. The nearest one has the TV in the floor thing.

They are well run, well staffed and the food is pretty good. I like the way you can order smaller sized versions of the burger you want. I'm able to substitute fresh-sliced fruit for the fries. They rarely have hyper-noisy kids all over the place. They must be good places to work, because I've seen several staff members working there for years. The RR lounge is a nice place to hang out for drinks and snacks.

You must just have a bad one there.

[underpants]

13. No

we were looking for "grandiose agreement with the original poster"

:bounce:

Apparently this one is not so good. :shrug:

[SOteric]

14. Agreed. Red Robin restaurants in the PNW are the bomb.

Not really 'kid-centric' at all, noisy or possessed of inattentive staff. In fact, that's against their corporate cornerstones. Of course, they're a Seattle company, -got their start out in the U-district.

I think underpants should write or e-mail the company and tell them of his disappointing experience. There could be a gift certificate and some fine goobersmooching in it for him.

[bbernardini]

15. It's another in a series of "crazy crap on the walls" restaurants.

Ever since I heard it on "The Simpsons," every Red Robin, Applebee's, etc., is a "crazy crap on the walls" restaurant. As Moe said:

"If you like good food, good fun, and a whole lot of…crazy crap on the walls, then come on down to Uncle Moe’s Family Feedbag."

[bbernardini]

16. It's another in a series of "crazy crap on the walls" restaurants.

Ever since I heard it on "The Simpsons," every Red Robin, Applebee's, etc., is a "crazy crap on the walls" restaurant. As Moe said:

"If you like good food, good fun, and a whole lot of…crazy crap on the walls, then come on down to Uncle Moe’s Family Feedbag."

[Missy Vixen]

17. Another PNW'er who remembers when RR's used to be great

My husband and I force ourselves into the RR at Overlake (Bellevue, for those who live in the area) each December 9th. The Overlake RR was the location of our first date.

I used to LOVE Red Robin, especially the Banzai Burger. As they've expanded, the quality's suffered. I might also mention that we left a RR two years ago mid-meal because a woman decided to change her baby's diaper on the tabletop less than 20 feet away from us. We now go to the bar, have appetizers, and stay out for another year ;-).

Julie

[nini]

18. The one by me is good. The veggie burgers are the BEST

It's obviously an individual franchise thing.

[I Have A Dream]

19. I absolutely love Red Robin. I can get any of their burgers with...

a boca burger. As a vegetarian, this is such a treat. Mmmmm.... Whiskey River BBQ burger. :9

Red Robin is my favorite place because of this!

[bleedingheart]

22. I like Red Robin...

it's a step above the fast food burger and the burger with the pineapple (can't remember the name)...is very tasty...

My kids like it too...then again they are angels and you should be so lucky to dine in their presence...;-)

[jobycom]

23. The three I've been to are good. One in San Antonio, two in Austin.

They let my kids run around and be themselves. I save a lot of money, too, because my kids can eat off other tables, so I don't have to buy them anything. All that screaming works up their appetite...

Okay, seriously, I've had good luck with them. I'm vegetarian, and they have veggie burger options for most burgers, so I can eat with my carniverous family. The service is better than most places, and I can forgive the decor, which is no better nor worse than any other restaurant I've been to. Lots of stuff on the walls and shelves to distract you while you wait--I don't really give a damn what the stuff looks like or represents, or how much neon there is, they all look the same to me. I try to dine with people I would rather talk to than look at walls with, anyway.

Oh yeah, and their shakes are good.

[underpants]

24. So that was your trophy running around?

I just mentioned the decor because it looked like it came out of a marketing focus group. It was going in several directions.

[distantearlywarning]

25. I think Red Robin burgers are quite tasty, myself.

I like the "Kool-Aid" drinks too. They have a lime one this summer that's really yummy.

But I completely agree with you about the atmosphere. Too noisy, too oppressively busy, frantic waitresses, too many small screaming children.

And before I get flamed out of existence by some overly-sensitive parent who thinks I'm talking about their darling Susie and Johnny, yes, I realize it's a "family" restaurant, thus I should expect to have to put up with small, screaming children. Which I do, although I still maintain that this entire country needs a big swat on the rear and a lecture on appropriate restaurant behavior, ages 6 to 65.

Anyway, that's why we always get our Red Robin to go. It's much better that way... :-)

[Left Is Write]

27. Yes, you should expect to put up with small children at a family restaurant.

No, you should not be expected to put up with screaming children.

[Smooth Operator]

29. we had group of 20 last time we went

The girl worked her butt off. The food was good and the atmosphere was kind of noisy but on the whole a nice experience. One thing they should do is get rid of the balloons. Not to be a party pooper but kids crying because their balloon popped gets kind of old real quick.

[underpants]

31. I forgot all about the balloon popping

THAT added an element :eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

26. Last time I was there the food was so bad, they comped the meal.

It was disgusting. My burger was raw, the kids' food was cold, gross, gross, gross.

Manager asks 'How is everything'. We told him. Got comped for the meal and went across the parking lot to Maggiano's.

[underpants]

32. The worst part is...

I stole two $1 off burgers coupons from a basket while we were waiting to be seated and forgot to use them!!!
ON EDIT-out in Short Pump right next to it is a building that I thought was a bank (sizing it up from the side) turns out it is the Club Blue or Blue Fin "Fish club" or something like that. It didn't look like a restaurant.

[Midlodemocrat]

33. Blue Point Fish Club or something like that.

Good food, but way over priced in my opinion.

[LSdemocrat]

28. I've never really thought of Red Robin as a kid's place

I've been to two in my area and neither were swamped with kids or had a mascot. The ones in my area, St. Louis, seem to me more like an over the top nostalgic diner type place more than anything.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

30. I was told that Red Robin started out as a bar, which is why they have so much booze.

[Javaman]

34. www.stainedapron.com you won't regret it. nt

[Pool Hall Ace]

35. I still haven't been to Red Robin, because I still associate

it with "thumb in the salad."

I know it's old news, but I can't drive past a Red Robin, or see a Red Robin commercial, without thinking, "thumb in the salad."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/03/05/offbeat.fingertip.food.ap/

[TrogL]

36. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN OLIVE GARDEN

Olive trees grow in groves.