The Dirty Truth About Red Lobster Silverware, According To One Employee
Ah, Red Lobster, the upscale big brother of Long John Silver's. From humble beginnings as a family-owned seafood restaurant in Lakeland, Florida (via Red Lobster's history), the main goal of Red Lobster has always been about one thing — bringing fresh seafood to everyone, even those who don't live by the water. Whether you're a fan of Lobsterfest, clam strips, shrimp scampi, or the endless baskets of cheddar biscuits, you can certainly say that Red Lobster has been living up to its goal.
But behind the lobster bibs and popcorn shrimp, just how much do you know about what goes on in a Red Lobster? While there are no doubt rules and guidelines in place to help ensure that your food is cooked and prepared in a safe and hygienic manner, there have been some reports that something fishy is going on in Red Lobster's kitchens. Some workers have attested to being called into work while sick, exposing customers and food alike to germs and other contagions (via Popular Information). The Guardian reported in 2015 that Red Lobster's shrimp was sourced from places that used child labor to peel the shrimp, casting a shadow on the chain's claims of "sustainability."
In an unsanitary turn of events, one employee of Red Lobster claims that your utensils, from the knife you cut into your crab cakes to the fork you cut your fish with, might be carrying traces of their last user's meal with them
Is Red Lobster's silverware really that dirty?
In the subreddit r/IAmA, a thread that has been deleted by a now-deleted user revealed some interesting things about what goes on in the kitchens of one of America's most popular seafood restaurants. A user in the comment section by the name of u/Unspoken_Myth claims to be an employee of Red Lobster. The question of the thread seemed to be about unsanitary things in the kitchen, and u/Unspoken_Myth revealed what some may see as an unsurprising answer — the "dish pit."
While they claimed that food standards were "pretty high," they went on to say that half of the utensils in the "dish pit" were still filthy when they are brought out. Many are still crusted with half-eaten food and had to be run through the dishwasher two or three times to get them clean.
Before you get worried about eating someone else's popcorn shrimp residue the last time you were at Red Lobster, there are two things to consider. The response was posted six years ago, and the user seemed to word it as if it was an isolated problem. Chances are that your trip to Red Lobster was complimented with clean, thoroughly washed silverware and moreover, this isn't on the list of things Red Lobster employees wish you knew.
This doesn't mean that Red Lobster has been free of hygienic incidents, however. A Red Lobster in Florida was recently hit with an assortment of hygiene violations from bug infestations to employees not washing their hands (via The Villages-News).