I had a bad dining experience today at one of my all time fave restaurants in a new location I hadn’t been…the Mishawaka Red Robin
I never complain to places I eat but since this was a chain and it was really bad I wrote them a letter
I will now share with you my letter to Red Robin.
Sucks for them they have a writer as a non non fan of the chain that is called Red Robin. A chain I have blogged about before.
A burger I might not ever eat again if this goes unresolved.
it really did ruin my fricken day.

Dear Red Robin,
Let me start by saying I am very familiar with Red Robin.
In the 1980’s you put a Red Robin in Newark, California.
I ate there every month with my mother till I grew up and got married and moved to Seattle
1994. Four Red Robins in The Seattle area near me. Of course being the best at Eastlake.. The mothership as I called it.
I ate at Northgate more. Going through two remodels.. Moving from one end of the mall to the other.
The closest being Lynnwood. And the Bellevue near my husband’s work.
Then came Redmond. And there I would get done with work a couple times a month as it was walking distance from the restaurant I worked at.
15 years of sometimes twice monthly visit to red robin.. if we drove south we’d eat in Federal way..
I preferred the Guac Burger and my husband the Blue…but we tried it all. And this was the one spot no matter how broke we liked to go.
Anniversaries and birthdays etc.
Then in 2008 we moved to the Midwest. First one we found was Orland Park,ILL. Then Valparaiso. We ate less often at these two well really because we moved out here to take care of relatives that were dying and money was a lot tighter and Both are far from us. Almost 2 Hours to the Orland Park so really only every couple months when we go to Trader Joe’s and Valpo is almost 40 minutes.
Both treat us great and love to hear tales about the original one at Eastlake now that is just a legend.
Today we had to drive to a computer store in Mishawaka. Imagine my surprise when I see a Red Robin hidden back behind a few other restaurants.
Since this was a day off date day for my husband and I we decided to go to our fave burger place on earth.. Yes really.
The line was long so since we are both well over 21 we went to the bar to eat.
We were seated at the tall tables directly by the bar not out of the way and everyone had to pass us to get to the bar.
So forgotten is no excuse for how bad we were treated.
One hour and half can change over 25 years of dining love.
Our Server Kristin seemed to be impatient from the get go and did not seem to like that I needed time to look over the menu. I wanted to see if there was anything new to try. To be fair we were in the bar so we ordered a beer and a drink. She carded me. I am 43..Did not card my husband.
And she came back wanting our order within seconds really. I asked for another minute and it seems as if she timed 60 seconds exactly and was back. I was just gonna order my usual as she seemed rushed and I really didn’t want to bother her too much.
I asked her about a new item. The spicy avacado chicken wrap. I didn’t want it to have cooked cabbage and she assured me it was great and talked me into getting soup salad combo. I agreed as I told her I really would love to have avocado today. My husband got his usual.. Blue burger well done.
She stopped by once about 30 minutes to say food is on its way.15 minutes later a different person brought us our food.
The French fries were cold as was my husband’s burger just warm and my wrap had warmed a bit under the lights.. I was starving so I dug in anyway. Clearly she had forgotten us.
She walked by quickly and without even looking at us she asked if it was all good and kept going.
She never checked to see if we were still OK or even needed drinks or water. As we had waited so long for our food we were done drinking the beer and drink we had each ordered.
I tried to motion her back a few times. We were right in front of her at the bar yet she did not make eye contact.
Finally she came over. We had had our food about 15 minutes with ten of them trying to get her to the table.
I showed her how I opened my wrap and although very tasty there was no avocado anywhere in it. I ate the first half and hoped there was some in the second.
She said she would get me a slice of avocado to finish with the last of the wrap she talked me into.
I put the wrap down and waited. About 5 minutes later she walked by without stopping and said sorry were out of avocado today. Walked away and came back with our bill.
Never once asking if we wanted anything else or apologizing that I had gotten a avocado free spicy avocado wrap. It also had very very little chicken. It was a total rip off really. Warm sauce and a few teeny pieces of chicken. And of course none of what I ordered it for.
Seriously I should have been informed you had no avocado and given the choice to alter our order. Nothing.. just served me something less than perfect.
She never spoke or made eye contact with us again and we paid her and left.
I could not find anyone to ask for a manager and I was clearly upset at the mistreatment at a red robin.
10. 49 cents I paid for basically cabbage and warm sauce and a hint of chicken. And a french onion soup..
And I still did leave my 15 percent tip having been a server and that is how I do things. Though she clearly did not deserve it. The Bar was not full maybe 5 tables when we got there and not everyone at once.
There is no excuse for this. All these years with the same service and now this.
I will not go back to Mishiwaka Red Robin again.
Thank you for all the good years we have enjoyed.
May you fix this problem pronto so you do not turn away new customers along with old.
Thank you.