Red Lobster

We visited the Red Lobster in Gadsden, AL on Saturday, January 6th at 5 pm. It was only me and my husband. When we got out of the car, I immediately said I smell a skunk and my husband said or something else (meaning pot). We were told the wait time was approximately 55 minutes. During our wait in the main lobby I observed several of the cooks go in and out the front door. I also observed one of the male cooks come back in and go to the ladies restroom. I observed a different cook go into the men’s restroom and come back out quickly and there is no way he could have washed his hands and I know from my 25 years of working at the health department that you have hand washing stations in the kitchen but they are suppose to wash hands before leaving the bathroom. They had several tables open but I only saw 2 waitresses all night. I did see what I think was a cook waiting on 2 tables closest to the kitchen. She was an older lady wearing gloves and a hair cap. We waited in the lobby for an hour and a half and then another hour and a half in the back. The waitress was doing as well as could be expected and just as sweet as she could be. However; she also made a trip out the front door while we were waiting on our food. We knew we were in trouble when we were seated and two tables beside us had been seated quite a while before we were. One table had drinks and the other table still had nothing. We started to leave at this point. I have already contacted someone I know from the police department and he said that he knew several of the cooks that did work there smoked pot. It is still illegal here and I hope the police will start keeping an eye on these cooks going in and out. I am also going to speak with a friend from the health department when she gets back off leave. I tell you all this to say; I like Red Lobster and the Gadsden one is closer to us but until they straighten up their act, I will not be back. The 2 tables across from us said it was their last time there. They have gone so far downhill that I hope they are able to climb back up. They say they can’t get help, but I just would like to know what kind of decent employees are going to want to work in a setting like this. I WOULD NOT! Management needs to step up and put a stop to this. It is definitely unacceptable!