Throttle the Red Robin!
Written: Feb 14 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's red.
Cons: You will be too after experiencing the service and food.
The Bottom Line: Stay away! Stay far away in another galaxy in another time and try to forget Red Robin ever existed! Regretfully, their concept of food and service is difficult to forget.
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| philmils's Full Review: Red Robin |
There is an old joke in Washington, DC, about the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception that is in the city. (Please don't take this as an offense against a religion - it is not intended as such - but as the simple joke it is and to build on for this review.) When the shrine was built, it was (and is) in bright colors with an architecture that seems to be some cross between 1970's modern and Byzantine. Shortly after the completion of the Shrine, the Virgin Mary appeared to a little girl just outside the Shrine, pointed directly to the Shrine, and said, "On this place, build me something beautiful."
Red Robin certainly is not a religious shrine and can never be mistaken as such. It is, however, in very bright colors and an architecture that evokes some memories of 1950’s architecture.
The Red Robin of my experience is in Sterling, Virginia, in a section of town sometimes know as Dulles (don't know why when you almost have to pass through the center of Sterling to get to Dulles Airport). It is the only restaurant in this chain I have ever used. I do see many more are opening or have opened nearby.
When I first heard of this restaurant, it was because it was about to open. I looked them up on the Internet and thought it might be fun to give the restaurant a try. I took along a friend who loves to try out new restaurants. We are both sorry we tried this one.
We went for lunch. Maybe that was a mistake. The first thing that hit us was the noise level. The televisions were loud and all the screaming kids were even louder. The longer we stayed in the place, the more unbearable the noise became.
The parking lot is shared by about four other popular restaurants. Expect it to be very crowded in the evenings. If it is also a holiday that brings in lots of shoppers to the shopping mall on the same property, you may not be able to find a parking space.
This is one of those restaurants where the wait staff is supposed to be overly happy and friendly. That certainly wasn't the case for us. From what we could see, that wasn't the case for any of the other patrons, either. Additionally, it seems that they take the "wait" in "Wait Staff" to heart. We had to wait and wait and wait and wait ...
Yes, it was very slow and bad service. At least they got our food order right, but not the liquids. We asked for water along with our soft drinks. Actually, we had to ask four times before we got the water. Now think about this. We arrive and wait a couple of minutes to be seated in a restaurant that is less than half full. Once we get our menus in hand, we had way too much time to review it (and I am very, very slow with a new menu) before we could finally flag someone down to take our orders. That person would only take our drink order and not the food order. After a long time, the sodas came out, but not the water. We reminded him that we asked for water in addition to the sodas and said we were ready to order. He promptly excused himself to get the water, but without taking our food order. Several minutes later, we spotted him walking nearby and managed to get his attention, stating we were ready to place our food order and still had not received the water we requested. Again, many minutes went by and we still had not received our water or had anyone to take our food order. Finally, we flagged down a member of the wait staff who was passing by. She said it wasn't her section, but would find someone to help us. Eventually, another woman came to take our orders, first asking if we would like to order something to drink. We simply pointed to our half-empty sodas and said we also ordered water and had not had a chance to place a food order. She took the food order. We asked what had become of the guy (we gave his name) who had taken our drink orders and she said she had no idea.
We each had a salad. The wait time for the salad was only about 5 or 6 minutes. My friend said it was the worst Cobb salad he ever had. My Caesar salad had no taste. I never knew that was possible until this experience. Half-way through the salad, the onion rings (I love onion rings!) arrived. I had requested that they come out at the same time as the burgers, but they came out without the burgers. They were hanging on sort of a peg tree. My first thought was that at least the excess grease might drip out this way. The onion rings were without taste and still managed to retain too much grease. They were also cold. Still no water and we are almost out of soda. We had not been given any refills, either. The salad and onion ring stuff was cleared away about ten minutes after we completed them.
The burgers were brought out by one person whom we had not seen before and yet another stranger brought our water immediately after. All this arrived about 15 or so minutes after our salad and onion ring stuff had been cleared. We were offered no refills and were in no mood to push the point. We both had their Sauteed S'hroom Burger. We were still hungry and decided to choke the things down. Oh, it was bad! It was very, very bad. The funny taste stuck with us into the next day. It wasn't a mushroom taste, it wasn't a hamburger taste. We simply never could identify it. The water didn't help. It was the worst tasting water I've ever had! After we managed eat the burgers, it took another ten minutes or so to get the attention of anyone to bring us a bill. Of course, it was another five minutes or so before the bill actually arrived. Since the bill was approximately $40, it added insult to injury.
In my very early teens, I did something that is now illegal - they'd now have the place up on child labor laws. I worked as a carhop at a drive-in restaurant. I know what a person is expected to do - even in a drive-in restaurant - to give good service to the customer. I know what the conditions are like for people in food service and I know what some customers can be like. I also know what a tip means to a member of the wait staff. I also believe the tip should reflect the service given by the wait staff. The tip we left was exactly one sound penny.
Since our bad trip to Red Robin, I have asked others what they thought of the place. Each person said they hated it. One person said she had eaten in the same one I experienced, thought it very bad, and has an adult daughter who had tried two others only to find them bad. My experience with Red Robin was a "two fer" - two trips in one - my first and last.
Do I recommend Red Robin? If you can't answer that at this point, you didn't read all of the review. The place is revolting. Even the fast food joint of the Evil Clown, another place I do not like, is better. I do not and will not recommend Red Robin. Do yourself a favor and avoid all contact with the bloody red bird. I'm sure any day now the Virgin Mary will appear to some small child, point to this Red Robin, and say "On this place, build me a restaurant that serves digestible food."
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
philmils
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Location: Sterling, Virginia, USA
Reviews written: 39
Trusted by: 30 members
About Me:
Unthinking regard for authority is the greatest enemy of Truth. - Albert Einstein
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