We used to go to our local Red Robin every few months and it always was generally pretty good overall.

It’s been a good 8-9 months since we’ve been there last but went tonight.

It felt VERY “off” to us this time. They apparently eliminated all bus boys and now force the harried waitstaff to clear dishes, clean and reset tables now which is pretty stupid. The place seemed dirty and everything was “blah”, I swear the burgers are smaller now too as my burger seemed more bread and toppings than anything else.

I’m not sure what’s going on here but it’s not good and I doubt we are going back much anymore after this.

Has anyone else seen a drop off in this place?

As someone else ranted about, I knew I was done with them when I got a "cup" of soup that was about 4 spoonfuls. The food is just meh to me.

We've had similar experiences with the Red Robins in the Dallas area. There's one in particular that looks really run down. I had been there several times before and I was shocked at how bad it looked. The food is nothing special anymore either. I doubt I'll go back.

I found out they also eliminated the expeditor positions from the kitchen which is the person ensuring the food orders are correct and moved out quickly and it shows. All our food was lukewarm like it had sat a while before being delivered to our table.

They better get their act together soon as there is too much competition out there to have to put up with this garbage.

It seems a lot of these changes happened after the founding CEO committed suicide in 2018.

The last few times we’ve gone there the service was really slow and if you wanted to take advantage of the bottomless fries, you had to mention to the waitress to bring some every time she passed by. We haven’t been in a while and definitely go there less than we used to.

The waitress was explaining the tablet allowing ordering from the table. She said it would allow the wait staff to better bond with the customer. I explained that if a robot would bring out the food, she would not be necessary at all.

I agree. Fries are smaller initial portions now, refills are tough to come by. Have not been back for a couple of years now.
Really getting down to only a handful of places we eat around here now. Most places are disappointing. Three bad experiences in a row and they are forever off our list

Was it ever up on the hill? Ate there a couple times and thought it was pretty marginal. Maybe it was the restaurant I went to. Always thought there were better options than RR.

I had never even heard of Red Robin until it was discussed here, a while ago. Had never been to one.

A few months ago, I was with my wife while she was car-shopping, we decided to take a lunch break, and I noticed a Red Robin place.

"There was a lot of talk about this chain on SIGforum," I said. "Let's try it."

We were both underwhelmed. To describe it as mediocre would be generous. For restaurant chains, Fuddrucker or Ruby Tuesday will get you a much better burger. Even Wendy's is a better value in terms of cost / quality ratio.

Now my wife doesn't know whether to trust SIGforum's food recommendations.

Of course, that's how she became a Chick-Fil-A fan.

Sounds like, at this rate, they will soon be like this:



I've never been in one, and there are no locations within 50 miles of me, FWIW.

A 18 months ago, Red Robin cut back on labor inside of its restaurants, using what it called a team service model designed to improve labor productivity.
It worked. Labor costs as a percentage of sales in the company’s first quarter fell by 70 basis points, and the company had strong labor productivity last year. At a time when wage costs are skyrocketing because of higher minimum wages and demand for workers, that kind of improvement was impressive.

But things aren’t so simple—not these days.
In the quarters since, Red Robin’s same-store sales have deteriorated. They fell by an increasing amount each quarter last year, bottoming out at a 4.5% decline. They’ve improved only modestly so far this year, down 3.6%. They recently appointed a new CEO who attributes the weakness to the competitive environment but also the company’s decision, starting in the first quarter last year, to significantly reduce labor hours in the stores, which is believed to have directly impacted service and, subsequently, traffic,”.
This is the lesson of Red Robin’s past year: Staffing cuts at a time when the industry is ultracompetitive can backfire.

I'm fortunate in that the last time I went, in 2015, it was an excellent experience with a best friend. It was the one on E. Elliot new I-10. We'd been in a music store where she was checking out djembes for music therapy. Then the restaurant. Double play for a happy day.

Bubba’s 33 has become our go to for sit down burgers. If you are lucky enough to have one. The only thing I liked about Red Robin was getting more fries.

Fuddrucker’s
Whatabuger

Both, hands down, beat RR like a pimp beats his ho.

The last time, and I mean last time that we went to Red Robin, we ordered a couple of burgers and soft drinks. The check was $38, for TWO BURGERS AND NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS!!!

Did I mention this was the last time?

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Bubba’s 33 has become our go to for sit down burgers. If you are lucky enough to have one. The only thing I liked about Red Robin was getting more fries.

This. Everything I have eaten there has been very good and there wait staff did a great job.

I never could see what was so great about RR. Better food at better prices lots of places. Then I had their onion rings. Best onion rings ever. Still don't go there to eat a meal, service, prices suck; but onion rings and a beer yum.
Rod

I looked up Yelp and FB reviews of Red Robin from the past year and they are almost all universally bad.

I hope they are paying attention here.

My local Fuddrucker's just closed down.

I've loved that place since I discovered them back in 1987.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

My local Fuddrucker's just closed down.

I've loved that place since I discovered them back in 1987.

We had a great one here in Altamonte Springs, FL. My wife and I always went there for the best burger in seven counties (that's an expression I just coined). Then one day, we went for a burger and the doors were locked. There was an official looking paper that said something about tax problems. So we had no Fuddrucker's for many years.

Then, just recently, happy happy joy joy, a new Fuddreucker's appeared in the adjacent city of Apopka. I stopped in to get a burger.

Nope. Where the old one had a big chart on the wall showing burgers in varying degrees of done-ness, from rare to well done, so you could order yours just the way you want it, this place followed the trend of the new generation of boutique burger places like Burger-Fi, Five Guys, etc., and they offer their burgers two ways: medium well (translation, way over-cooked), or charred to a crisp. I left without a burger.

Back in the 1970s, Snickers sales had slumped. The candy was losing money, and bean counter types figured out how much the bar would need to be cut in size in order to offset losses. But someone there made a brilliant counter-decision: they increased the size of the bar by 25%. Sales soared.

Companies of all sorts have a knee-jerk reaction to declining sales, and that is to decrease the product/services. It usually means a slow death.

My LGS is showing the same signs. They used to have an armorer on site all the time, and they cut him. They used to offer gun cleaning service, and they cut that. They used to mail out guns for customers, and they cut that. In other words, they have eliminated everything that would get you into the store because its something you can not get from online gun sales, like Gunbroker.

Another counter example: Sheetz service stations. Whenever you were on the highway and needed a bathroom break, you had to go to a station that gave you a key on the end of a baseball bat to let you into a bathroom that was dirty with no toilet paper or paper towel. And the attendant gave you the key in a "stop bothering me" way.

Sheetz realised that it's not a bother but a good thing if someone comes into your station for the bathroom key. A percentage of them will buy something. They kept bathrooms immaculately clean and well lighted, and open 24/7 with no key needed. Starting small and local, they are all over the northeast now, and have kept expanding offerings, so that they now not only have a coffee bar, but a sit-down restaurant.

The lesson: business faltering? Do MORE not less.