Darden Restaurants announced that beginning next week, it will install wood-fired grills in all 680 Red Lobster restaurants.
The company has been testing the wood-grilled menu for over a year, and will train 3,500 employees on the grills. New items will be going on the menu, such as wood-grilled lobster, wood-grilled sirloin and shrimp, and wood-grilled fish. According to the chain's president, Kim Lopdrup:
This is the most comprehensive culinary and menu change in Red Lobster's history. Wood-fired grilling introduces our guests to a whole new way to enjoy seafood.
Red Lobster's announcement to add these costly new grills comes at a time when the casual restaurant chain industry has stumbled. Chains such as Bennigan's, Steak & Ale, Ponderosa, and Bonanza have all filed for bankruptcy protection in the past year. Do the wood-grilled menu items sound appetizing to you, and will they be enough to turn Red Lobster around?
Nuovegioie
Ray-Ban
Isabella Oliver
How about better quality fish, or not drowning everything in that slimy oil?
1Yeah, I with FlamesofJune. Maybe the chains are failing because people have realized how bad the food is.
2I agree with the above posts. The first job I ever had was as a hostess at Red Lobster... I know the quality of the food sucks and the preparation is nothing short of microwaving...
3well i don't eat fish anymore since i'm a full vegetarian, but back when i did go there, i found the food to be oily and too fatty so i think that if they are able to revamp the menu with these new wood grilled things, and have the recipes become more health conscious - then they might have a chance. i think that red lobster got their name from the all you can eat type specials that they would have every few months, and now that's not really the way that we're all learning to eat.
4i've been to red lobster twice in my life and both times it was because it was a last resort. i can't imagine that this would change much.
5i've been to red lobster twice in my life and both times it was because it was a last resort. i can't imagine that this would change much.
6Still only interested in the biscuits.
7The chain is failing because all the people that go to it are dying off....the 70-on group.
8No one my mothers age 64 or my age 34 or under me goes to Red F-ing Lobster anymore!
9The cheddar biscuits are the only good part!
10Wood grilled seafood is yummy, but wood grilled Red Lobster? I'm still not tempted.
11I like Red Lobster. Sometimes a girl just wants some mediocre shellfish
Oooh, those cheddar biscuits are rockin'!
12I make MY own cheddar biscuits baby!
2 cups biscuit baking mix
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons margarine, melted
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic salt
DIRECTIONS
13Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet, or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine baking mix, Cheddar cheese, and garlic powder. Stir in milk. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Brush biscuits with melted margarine, and sprinkle with parsley and garlic salt. Bake for 5 more minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom.
Dude, you are making me SO HUNGRY today.
14sorry Jude!
15You need to post some of your recipes. You sound like an awesome cook.
16okay, i will.
i usually bastardize some celebrity chefs recipe, I have to tweak them.
17Yeah, it's fun experimenting like that.
18I remembered traveling for 2 hours for the closest Red Lobster. The food was okay not spectacular and I remembered how buttery everything was. Maybe the grilled food will get more people to come.
19I love me some Red Lobster biscuits. I haven't had it in so long because chain restaurants aren't that appealing to me now that I live in NYC, but I'll always be a small-town suburban girl at heart.
Heh.
20Oh, I didn't even answer the question. Oops. I think it sounds like a great idea (healthier), but I wouldn't go out of my way to try it. I don't think it'll make a huge impact on sales though.
21I probably wouldn't try it. Living in the bay area there are too many other good options for seafood that I wouldn't resort to Red Lobster. I used to go there when I was living in land-locked Colorado and there wasn't anywhere else. But you wouldn't catch me there now if you paid me.
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