On my way to Hy-Vee for some groceries I was again amazed at a sight I have come to see often in Independence. And throughout my occasional travel from city to city it remains a sight I have not seen anywhere else. Not from California to Virginia, Wisconsin to Florida or anywhere in between.
Yet, every night of the week, it doesn’t matter, the Red Lobster of Independence is always busy.
Even on Christmas they were busy.
So what’s the draw? How can a average, national chain, seafood place always be this busy? Why aren’t other Red Lobster’s this busy?
Several months ago I dined at the Red Lobster hoping to get these questions answered. It’s not the nice display of crabs in a tank by the door that keep people coming back. It’s definatley not the “Long John Silver’s-esk” decor. The moderate menu, average service and average food gave me few clues.
My questions linger.
Crab cake anyone?
This Life Journey 
Let me tell you a little something Mr. Burns, to answer your questions. First you need to look at the location of this restaurant. It is on Noland Road. Where else in Independence (especially the heart of Indep.) can you find upscale seafood. Maybe not even upscale, but seafood you can eat with out clogging all of your arteries. You can go further down Noland and find Captain D’s or Long John’s but you can smell the year old, grease soaked fish a block away. This is true for St. Joseph as well. Anytime you pass I-29 you can see from the side of the road that Red Lobster is just as busy, b/c you can’t get seafood for 90 miles. For that matter Red Lobster isn’t that bad. They may have average service and decor that isn’t up to a “design artist,” as your self, standards, but they get the point across. They do have good cheese biscuits and they have lobster in their front tanks, not crabs. That is why it is called Red Lobster and not Red Crabs! Frankly I am a bit disapointed in this posting. I mean you haven’t written in over a month, and you have had so many good stories about the colorful city of Independence. Lay off of Red Lobster, they do what they do best… feed Independence quality seafood a step above Mr. Long John.
I say it’s definitely gotta be the cheddar garlic biscuits. Those things are like heroin.
Maybe it’s traffic patterns. I think there’s a lot of traffic problems there & maybe these are lost KC residents who are really hungry. I think its cause to move the sports teams downtown. Yep, yep.sb