By Logan Farmer ‘24
Red Robin is a franchise of fantastic food, ebullient environment, and superb service. Since 1969 Red Robin has been serving up gourmet burgers as well as other various cuisines. They also have a bar in which they serve unique and classic beverages. Their food is sure to leave a great taste in your mouth and a longing in your heart.
Red Robin was founded in 1969 by restaurant entrepreneur Gerry Kingen. He bought and expanded the restaurant Sam’s and changed it to Red Robin. It started as a 1,200-square-foot building, however has expanded to over 500 buildings varying in size. The original small restaurant was a favorite hangout spot for University of Washington students. Growing each year in revenue and locations, by the end of 2023 Red Robin had made over 700 million dollars increasing from 2022 by over 27 million dollars. What also continues to grow is their menu. They rotate their menus adding new favorites and removing forgotten burgers, they are always trying to please the next person coming in. The Red Robin I go to and work at is 2350 Lincoln Hwy E, Lancaster, PA 17602.
Being the next person coming in, a worker and regular customer, my expectations are high; however, I am as excited as ever to dine in. Being greeted at the front by my coworker, and a friend, we are taken to a table to the right by the wall. It is a quiet Thursday night around 8:30 pm, and very few other people are in the restaurant. We are immediately greeted with smiles and warmth. We feel extremely welcomed and are excited for both the conversation and the food that will follow.
Red Robin is a little more than dimly lit; however, it is a soft warm lighting that makes the environment feel very homie and as if you’re in an old restaurant. There are vinyls on the walls, cassette tapes, and various arts and culture references. Einstein and baseball players share the same wall, while on another is Rubik’s cubes making up designs. The floor of half the restaurant is carpet while the other half is hard floors covered with rugs to keep guests from slipping. The floor has a few crumbs and small bits of trash, however, our server is taking orders while also cleaning her section to pristine condition. The outside of the building is clean with interesting designs and famous artwork on the windows with the famous RR on the doors. All in all, it is an extremely unique design for the building, and the interior is much the same.
Because we went at a later time on a weeknight, there were few people there, making it a great place to converse and catch up with an old friend. However, over the weekends it is often packed. You find Families with small children, couples going out for an evening date, as well as single people just wanting to grab some good food. So, if you prefer quiet and a good space to talk to someone, I would recommend going either before or after the dinner hours on a weeknight.
Our server, Jenn, greets us with big smiles and genuine excitement to see us. You may think that this is because we are co-workers, however, seeing her interact with her other tables we find she genuinely is excited to see everyone. She takes our drink order and delivers us two glasses of water and two cookies and cream milkshakes. The water is stereotypical, however, the milkshakes are fantastic, they have bits of cookie in them, with both the taste of vanilla and chocolate topped with whipped cream in the old ice cream sundae glass. There is a second metal cup that houses more of the delicious drink. We quickly down those as we await our main meal.
I ordered the Island Heat Boneless Wings with bottomless fries (About $10) and my friend ordered the Pig-Out Tavern Double burger with bottomless fries and a small bottomless salad (About $11). Both meals arrived in under 15 minutes and the second they did we didn’t waste a moment to dig in. The wings were saucy with the Island Heat sauce adding an element of both fiery and sweet that made them fantastic. You would expect the sauce to make the wings soggy, however, they remained crispy. The fries were much the same, still with sauce on them, but also salt and the signature Red Robin seasoning. They were embrittled and delicious. My friend’s burger had bacon on 2 smaller glazed beef patties, with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. He finished it very quickly and said it was tremendous. His fries were similar to mine, and his salad was a solid dish of greens, croutons, and cheese. In the end, the meal was devine, especially for the price.
Seeing as our milkshakes were free (because we work there) and we got water as opposed to more expensive beverages our meals combined were about $25 before our employee discount. If you were to go to Red Robin alone and were to get a milkshake (or other beverage) as well as an entree you would probably expect to pay around $18 for yourself. If you added in an appetizer it would be around $25. For our price, our meal was both filling and delicious. If we had wanted we could have taken home additional fries and salad, but we chose not to, we were stuffed. Overall for the amount of food, and how good it was, the price was fair.
Before leaving, our server talked with us for a solid 15 minutes about various topics. She made us feel welcome and as if we were long-lost friends. Jenn is one of many servers who will converse with her customers to make them feel welcome and comfortable as opposed to just another customer. Everybody greets you with a smile and when you leave anybody who sees you will (or should) make sure you are told to have a great day, and many of the workers mean it. Red Robin is a franchise about hospitality.
Working at Red Robin gives a similar warm experience. All of the managers genuinely care about their employees and will stand and talk to you about things you are interested in. If you had a soccer game, they’ll listen as you rave about it, or if you simply love Star Wars they will nerd out with you about it as well. I work in hospitality as a host and busser and man the front of the operation. We always have something to do, whether it is cleaning off a table, seating a guest, or doing other various things for the restaurant. My team are all friends, and while some workers are better than others, everybody gets the job done when needed. The servers treat us well, as long as we do our jobs, and 90% of them are extremely friendly towards us. Some are worried about their customers (understandably) and ignore us, however, overall everybody is pleasant towards each other. In conclusion, Red Robin is a great place to work, with great people, and simple tasks to complete at all times.
After many years of business, Red Robin has never faltered on its customers, nor its employees. Red Robin cares about making everybody feel happy and welcome. From the freshly grilled burgers to the clean floors, to the warm greetings you are sure to leave Red Robin with a grin on your face. We are sad to see everybody go, however we hope you will return for an even better dining experience next time!