REVIEW
On a special date nite, my wife and I headed for Red Lobster located at 101 W. 12 Mile Rd in Madison Heights, MI to take advantage of their highly advertised Crab Fest. I have some positives and a few negatives I'd like to share.
First, the positives: The food was consistently well prepared and the staff was friendly and accommodating. The things we'd expect to be delicious, were. Actually, there wasn't an issue with the taste of any of the dishes, just some minor texture issues. The Caesar Salad was superb. One of the best I've had in a long time. The dressing was spot on and chilled to perfection. Even the croutons and Parmesan cheese shavings were a hit. The Cheddar Bay Biscuits were amazing as always. The calamari appetizer was adequate. It was a pretty big portion which had battered red bell peppers strips and tiny broccoli florets mixed in with the squid. The squid itself was tender and nowhere near as chewy as I thought they'd be. But, the overall texture of the dish was greasy. After being deep fried, the coating was a little darker than I would've liked.
I had been looking forward to the Alaskan King Crab Lover's Dream all week. When I looked at the menu I noticed that this particular combination came with four Alaskan King Crab legs, four Bairdi Crab legs, Crab Linguini Alfredo and a side. I asked the server if I could substitute the Bairdi for King and pay the difference. No problem. I was a happy camper. After finishing my salad and half of my app, the Crab Lover's Dream arrived. It was almost what I wanted. The baked potato was heavily salted on the outside skin. That was off putting since the skin is my favorite part of the potato and now I couldn't eat it. In this regard, the spud was a dud. I added an ear of Parmesan and cilantro buttered corn on the cob as an extra side for $1.99. I'm not crazy about cilantro, but this was pretty good. Those of you who love cilantro, will love this.
Now to rate the crab legs. The eight legs were very small. They were the same size as a snow crab. Alaskan Kings are supposed to be huge. For the money we were spending, I was expecting a creature that could take on Godzilla. I asked the server if they were indeed King Crab, and he assured me that they were. He offered to send the manager over to see if they can do something about it. After she arrived, I asked if the crab I ordered (and was willing to pay extra for) were Kings. She said that they were and that they weigh them out before serving.
She asked what my concerns were. I said that I was in doubt that they were Kings because they looked more like dukes. I had killed spiders in my garage that had bigger legs than what was on my plate. She offered to bring me four more legs at no charge, which would have cost me $19.99. I figured that as long as I got the meat I was looking for, that'd be alright with me. In this regard, they were able to make it up to me.
After I got home I realized that they never served me a crab leg with the big claw. Last week I went to Fuji Japanese Seafood Buffet and they had unlimited Snow Crab, including the Claws, and the whole sushi bar, soup bar, and about one hundred items in the buffet, for the same cost of what they would have charged me for the extra four small crab legs ($19.99). What I ordered at Red Lobster, not including the corn or calamari, was $31.00. Why they would leave out the big claw, one of the meatiest part of the crab, is beyond me. All in all, I did have twelve small crab legs without the claws, but learned a lesson or two about asking about the proprietor's crabs before I go to a place where they serve them. Either way, I think I got my crab fix in for the year, so the chances of me returning to Red Lobster for Crab is a long ways off. I might scout around for a place that doesn't skimp on the size of their kings and includes the claws.
For dessert I had the Key Lime pie. It looked more like a green disc and lay on a drizzle of what appeared to be raspberry coolly. The pie was not balanced. Too much sweet and not enough tart. It's not the old Key Lime they used to serve, so don't be expecting the good old days when Key Lime tasted like Key Lime.
I don't feel cheated at Red Lobster since they made it right, but if I hadn't questioned them I think they would've charged me the same amount for less food and not say a word. To their credit, they took responsibility and action after my questions were addressed.
My advise is to call ahead and make sure that what they're offering matches up with your expectations.
Happy Noshing,
~Bobby
Now to rate the crab legs. The eight legs were very small. They were the same size as a snow crab. Alaskan Kings are supposed to be huge. For the money we were spending, I was expecting a creature that could take on Godzilla. I asked the server if they were indeed King Crab, and he assured me that they were. He offered to send the manager over to see if they can do something about it. After she arrived, I asked if the crab I ordered (and was willing to pay extra for) were Kings. She said that they were and that they weigh them out before serving.
She asked what my concerns were. I said that I was in doubt that they were Kings because they looked more like dukes. I had killed spiders in my garage that had bigger legs than what was on my plate. She offered to bring me four more legs at no charge, which would have cost me $19.99. I figured that as long as I got the meat I was looking for, that'd be alright with me. In this regard, they were able to make it up to me.
After I got home I realized that they never served me a crab leg with the big claw. Last week I went to Fuji Japanese Seafood Buffet and they had unlimited Snow Crab, including the Claws, and the whole sushi bar, soup bar, and about one hundred items in the buffet, for the same cost of what they would have charged me for the extra four small crab legs ($19.99). What I ordered at Red Lobster, not including the corn or calamari, was $31.00. Why they would leave out the big claw, one of the meatiest part of the crab, is beyond me. All in all, I did have twelve small crab legs without the claws, but learned a lesson or two about asking about the proprietor's crabs before I go to a place where they serve them. Either way, I think I got my crab fix in for the year, so the chances of me returning to Red Lobster for Crab is a long ways off. I might scout around for a place that doesn't skimp on the size of their kings and includes the claws.
For dessert I had the Key Lime pie. It looked more like a green disc and lay on a drizzle of what appeared to be raspberry coolly. The pie was not balanced. Too much sweet and not enough tart. It's not the old Key Lime they used to serve, so don't be expecting the good old days when Key Lime tasted like Key Lime.
I don't feel cheated at Red Lobster since they made it right, but if I hadn't questioned them I think they would've charged me the same amount for less food and not say a word. To their credit, they took responsibility and action after my questions were addressed.
My advise is to call ahead and make sure that what they're offering matches up with your expectations.
Happy Noshing,
~Bobby
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