I had the opportunity to dine at the Red Lobster located in Clarksville, Tennessee last evening. While Red Lobster was not the first choice for our meal, through circumstances beyond our control we ended up there. Our first choice was Outback Steakhouse, when we arrived, the hostess asked if we had called ahead. That is never a good sign. She then informed us that the wait would be over an hour. We opted to go elsewhere, as our children were at my parents’ house and I did not want to be too late coming back to get them. We then went next door to Longhorn Steakhouse; there we were told the wait would be around forty-five minutes. We initially decided to stay and wait, but after a few minutes, my husband said we should find another restaurant where we could be served faster. I wholeheartedly agreed.
My husband gets a bonus check every year around this time. When he gets the check, we pick a nice, more expensive, restaurant and treat ourselves. Money is generally tight in our household so we do not splurge often. Our meals out generally consist of fast food or buffet restaurants. He had a taste for a steak and was disappointed that his first choice would have taken so long.
We ended up at Red Lobster, the hostess informed us that the wait would be no longer than fifteen minutes. She gave us the pager and we had a seat on a bench located near the hostess stand. We were seated in less than five minutes. Our server was very personable, making jokes and being genuinely friendly.
My husband order the “create your own” pick three. He chose stuffed flounder, grilled salmon, and the sirloin steak with a side of potatoes. I ordered the shrimp and lobster alfredo pasta. We ordered the crab and shrimp fondue as an appetizer. Our server brought a basket of Cheddar Bay biscuits. If you have not eaten at a Red Lobster in a while, you must go, if for nothing other than these biscuits. These biscuits are delicious. They have cheddar cheese melted on top with what tasted to be French onion spices. I could be wrong about that, but they were excellent. I could have filled up on that alone.
Our server brought out the fondue and refilled our drinks (true southerners, we drink sweet tea). The fondue looked great, a creamy cheese dip with crab, shrimp, and lobster inside a sourdough bread bowl. I was much more impressed with the visual effect of the fondue than with the taste. I made a mental note never to order cheese with seafood in it again in my life. It would have been much better if it were just a plain fondue, without the fishy taste in the cheese. Even my husband, who does not dislike much of anything, was not thrilled with the fondue.
Our dinners arrived without a long wait. The entrees were perfectly arranged on our platters and they were very eye appealing. By the time the main course had arrived, I was nearly stuffed on Cheddar Bay biscuits. I ate about one fourth of the huge platter of pasta. Looking back, I should have ordered the “half order”, but, ever the penny pincher, I opted for the full order since it was only $2.00 more. It was good, not the best I’ve ever had by far. My husbands dinner was tasty, the only thing wrong was he ordered the steak medium well (I’m more of a medium girl myself), his steak had more pink in it than it should have, but it wasn’t so bad he could not eat it. He said his meal was good as well, but, like me, he’d had better.
Overall, our experience would rate three stars out of five. The atmosphere, service, and biscuits were excellent. The appearance of the food was great; the taste however, left something to be desired. We did not try the desserts; we were too full by the end of our meal. The check was much higher than our normal restraint dinners. We did however get extremely fast and friendly service, and I am willing to pay a little more for that.
When we were pulling out of the parking lot, we both said in unison, “We should have went to Ruby Tuesdays.”
