A woman who ordered takeout from Red Lobster said she asked for a refund after receiving moldy food, but the restaurant’s staff made a bizarre demand for her to bring her own garbage from home to prove that the food she received wasn’t up to par.
A TikToker who goes by Dr. Kennedy posted about her recent takeout experience on social media. She said that she ordered a seafood boil from her local Red Lobster through Uber Eats on October 4, but what she received was “visibly molded and spoiled,” adding that “it was gray, slimy, and had greenish patches.”
“I was instantly sick to my stomach,” Kennedy said.
She said she called the restaurant to request a full refund, and a manager asked her to send pictures of the meal to assess its quality.
Kennedy followed up the next day, asking for an update, but the manager only tried to justify why the food looked discolored.
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Kennedy argued against his assessment and was forwarded to the general manager, who requested that she bring the meal back to the establishment, so the staff could examine it thoroughly to determine if they should fulfill her request.
“The manager told me to bring my garbage from home and I told her, ‘My garbage has dirty diapers and other trash on top of that food.’ She said, ‘Bring it anyway,'” Kennedy wrote.
A now-viral video shows Kennedy returning to the restaurant and delivering a full bag of trash to one of the staff members, who confirms they’ll look through its contents and then give her a call once they’re done.
Her video garnered nearly five million views on TikTok and was reshared to other platforms.
Some viewers were shocked that the restaurant would go that far just to determine whether to issue a refund and advised Kennedy to escalate the matter to corporate. Others thought the request made sense.
“I thought it was a health violations to accept food back after a customer had it? WTF is this?” an Instagram user wrote.
“So everyone can just call up and say they didn’t like the food and get a refund without proof? Where do they do that?” another person commented.
In video updates, Kennedy confirmed that she received a full refund on Oct. 5. What’s more is that after she forwarded the issue to Red Lobster’s Corporate Compliance Team, the Director of Operations and the CEO, Damola Adamolekun, followed up with her after learning about her experience.
She said both corporate officials were “apologetic” and “empathetic” and gave her two gift cards valued at $50 and $100.
Adamolekun, who was appointed Red Lobster CEO in 2024, also sent her a personal message, apologizing and assuring her that her experience was not the “standard” the chain seeks to practice and maintain.
“I want to sincerely apologize again — that’s not the kind of experience we ever want anyone to have at Red Lobster,” Adamolekun wrote. “This certainly isn’t our standard … We’ve shared your feedback internally to reinforce our quality and hospitality expectations.”
