cook

server

host/hostess

bartender

shift leader

Red Robin

The actual job (serving) was challenging but very doable and fulfilling. You will do great if you are a social person with customer service experience. Managing multiple large tables can be difficult, but other than that it's a pretty straight forward job. However, I would not recommend working at the Langley (Willowbrook) locaton.

The management and work environment were poor, overly critical and quite literally insane at times. I don't know if it is true, but the manager supposedly watched the cameras from home, which made everyone feel on edge. Even if this was not fact, the reputation was there for a reason - they were extremely critical of minor mistakes and punished servers they didn't like by cutting their hours and 'silent firing' them. The management team was mean often, and to many of the staff. The upselling practices were shady, we were only told that we could tell customers something had an upcharge once we pointed out the shady practices. I know this is common, but the pressure they put on us seemed excessive. Any change in hours was very disrespected; they would say they'd change the hours in 2 weeks and then would completely ignore the new agreement, but then if you pointed this out, they would claim they were unable to change the schedule for another 2 weeks. There were simply mountains of issues at this place due to poor management. The few long-term employees they did have also expressed that the servers were very transient with a very high employee turnover rate.

While it's common in most places for servers to stay longer than their quoted shift end, this was taken to the extreme, and we often had to stay there hours (1.5-2.5) after our shift very consistently.

Overall, the actual job was not any more difficult than other serving jobs and came with decent tips. However, in my opinion, it was not worth the stressful and pressuring work culture, extremely extended hours, consistent mishandling of availability changes and harsh criticism despite high performance.

I walked into red robin and gave my resume I was hired on the spot, I was excited. My first shift was 4:30 pm - 12:30 am I am only in high school and it was my first job so that first shift was hard especially as a dishwasher over the course of my first three days I had 24 hours!! as a teen it was my second day as a dishwasher and they put me on cold side those who worked there understand like wraps, fried food and all the microwaved food. It was so stressful most times during lunch rushes I was the only on cold side the management would expect so much with no mistakes the management was very unprofessional also this place after working there for about 5 months all my clothes smelled bad. the only fun times i had there were talking to fellow employees who were pushed in and out of dish washing and on Line like me We talked about all the weird things that went on the people who have been working there for a long time you all know who I'm talking about(he always ate food while on line and made you feel really uncomfortable and took a  break every 10-15 mins) But there was one kitchen shift leader that was actually reasonable you all know how I'm talking about. Then in the summer I cut back hours and I felt like everyone hated me for it and when I quit on the phone I was on stressed and done with the place all the kitchen manager said was so your not giving notice my sister literally forced me earlier that afternoon to quit without notice before my shift I was dreading to go to. I talked with several other employees who said the manager always asked why they needed to take time off. I just hate this place I will never go there again for any reason it was so dirty and not food safe in that kitchen but when the health inspector came the manager quickly cleaned everyone and got a group to come in at 5 am to clean that day which never happens All food is prepared without washing hands after potential cross-contamination everything is microwaved or frozen.

I worked at the Burnaby location. The managers are very kind and hard working. You get to choose your hours/shifts. Very flexible with booking time off, even if it’s last minute. Very forgiving if you’re a couple minutes late sometimes. However, head office prioritizes money over everything. This means that new people get two days of training and then you’re on your own. So lots of people don’t know what they’re doing and orders get messed up constantly. If the day shift is too slow, they panic about labour costs, cut all the servers before they even know how busy dinner is going to be, so there’s only like 2 servers, 1 food runner and 1 host, and then they get slammed. If you can handle doing the work of 3 people in a full restaurant with angry customers, go for it, bartender servers make at least $100-150 in tips a night. Communication is terrible. The schedule is never out on time and sometimes they change it halfway through the week and forget to tell people. Tip pay outs for hosts and cooks were sometimes a few days late because they “forgot to go to the bank”. There is a “strict rule” that all staff are not allowed to sit at the bar yet the shift leaders and managers completely ignore this rule as if it doesn’t apply to them while they enforce it on others. I think if you expect workers to do the work of 3 people most nights, you should be paying them more than minimum wage. Hated working here. Came home absolutely exhausted every night. Was not worth it. Again I actually liked the managers and I don’t blame them at all. There isn’t enough support from the owners/head office people for the managers to be able to do their jobs and run a smooth shift. If they prioritized training and having enough people on shift, maybe the managers would actually have time to be managers and people wouldn’t quit so often or shorten their availability so much. 

I started working here as my first real job. This gave me my first taste of a real job in high school and what was required of you. A typical date was arriving early at 4:30, filling out a duties sheet, starting at 5pm and work non stop until 8:30-9pm depending on the day or the rush hour. This was the first real example I got that just because your schedule is 5-8 doesn't mean you will be off exactly at 8. The management were very kind to me and always helped me improve my skills at Red Robins, I remember getting injured and they were all very supportive and helped me out through it. The workplace culture is focused on getting food out on time, which can be daunting at times considering on busy nights we would have a huge amount of people ordering food at the same time. The hardest part of the job was definitely when the rush of customers come in at 5:30pm and not stopping till around 9pm on some nights! This is where I really had to learn to communicate effectively with my co-workers. Such things as "Sharp Behind" to indicate a worker moving behind others with a knife or something. Even just asking someone to drop food into the fryers or cross food over to Hot side where they prepared the burgers and other things. The most enjoyable part of the job was just talking to co workers when work had slowed down and just being in the moment. There were some very interesting characters at Red Robin's that I will never forget. All in all a great starter job for those in high school who enjoy working with food and meeting great people.

I was very excited to start working at red robins. I enjoyed working there up until one of our managers had to leave. After that, the management went drastically downhill! Currently, the managers are not very good they are rude and only give good shifts and seating to people they like. The scheduling is horrible and if you can't work it can be very difficult to get your shift covered. The inventory is horrible half of the time there aren't any clean cups and most of them are broken, they have absolutely no cutlery so a lot of the time you have no cutlery to give to guests which makes you look stupid and looks bad on the restaurant. They are constantly running out of food products so most of the time there are a few things on the menu you cant even serve. The managers can be disrespectful and very unhelpful if you're struggling with something. Currently, there aren't enough hours to even give full-time staff working there and there still posting jobs on indeed which makes no sense! The other servers there are very sweet and helpful but management makes it very difficult to do your job! On the positive side, the setup of red robins makes serving very easy and fun. The hours can be extremely helpful if you are doing school and can only work small shifts. All of the coworkers are very nice and sweet so that makes work fun! Overall I wouldn't recommend working here if you want managers who respect you! 

Good atmosphere with co-workers; always willing to help each other. Would be great if Management was any good. Constantly messing up shifts and scheduling against availability and then making staff figure it out on their own. Not encouraging, sometimes downright mean to staff. Don't treat their staff like they want to keep them (as shown by constant turnover) and really good employees are not treated as such.It's like the manager feels threatened by people who do good work. The manager at my restaurant hires like minded individuals as assistants so he doesn't look incompetent but he is terrible with people and lets the restaurant always run low on supplies, I assume to make profits look better at the expense of customer satisfaction (example: constantly running low glasses an cutlery and then refusing to let staff hand out disposable options --making people wait for freshly washed cutlery even if food is delivered to their table and then making the serving staff look incompetent).
Some new ideas that have come from corporate to try to streamline things but having less staff on to do those things didn't really work while I was there. (Ex. We used to have someone traying up orders and anyone who was free would take it out. It changed to everyone having to get their own food for their own tables, even when it was really busy, so customers we made to wait longer for things.)

Management talks down to staff constantly, makes employees cry, they're rude and incompetent. High turn over rate as they don't set you up for success, training is done poorly, as some things won't be covered in training that your expected to know and managers will tell you contradicting things, based on their own opinions. Hosts get 1% or less-- severe confusion about pay as your never told what it is when your hired and all the staff will tell you something different . Managers will try to intimidate you into doing things that conflict with labour laws.--  The employers don't cover cost of getting a uniform or dry cleaning costs like other restaurants, and you are obligated to purchase one from your own paycheque. As well as they'll change your schedule less than 24 hrs in advance and then threaten to write you up for not showing up, on a day you had scheduled off. It's a good stepping stone in terms of restaurant experience but this restaurant is very mis managed and I've never been treated worse at any job then here. Get as much experience as possible and move on to a better atmosphere, if you can manage to stay long enough that is ...

I worked at Windermere Red Robins till right before it shut down. It was one of the most wild and memorable jobs, as well as being my first legitimate jobs. Working there on a Friday evening was crazy, first week on the job we had a 50 order rush and crashed. The atmosphere in the back was chaotic and still really fun. Every employee was uniquely memorable, and I mean it in the best way possible. The managers were also super fun and put up with how slow I was for way longer than they should have, but I’m still thankful that they did. Pay was really good and tips were even better. The only downside was that there wasn’t anywhere to sit during lunch break and if you weren’t leaving the building for a smoke break, you’d end up pulling up a crate, and sitting by the trash and back entrance. That wasn’t too bad unless the weather turned cold, and when you’re facing -40 degree Edmonton weather. You’ll find that whatever grease was trapped in your work uniform would freeze in seconds. Still a great place and I’m sad it closed

Management is bad. They bully you, talk down to you and the worst part is they are the most incompetent. Two managers are especially condescending and insult staff often . Severs break down in the back room and staff have walked off due to unprofessionalism and how they're treated. They expect you to do your jobs and theirs and when there is any miscommunication at all, you are to blame. To them, you are lesser than. They require alot and give very little . They're advertisement is very misleading as pay is different then what is stated and they don't offer you discounts on phone plans or concert tickets --its a lie. 
The atmosphere is demeaning and depressing and the pay is not worth the emotional turmoil that you endure. I got anxiety everytime I went to work there and defending yourself is frowned upon. Positions are not solid as everyone does everyone's job, no organization and staff deserve better . I honestly feel bad for everyone who works there except the managers... Red Robin gave me work PTSD .

Not going to lie, management when I started was incredibly lousy. Despite that, I still found enjoyment in this job as my coworkers were, for the most part, all amazing (of course there are going to be people you don't like but I rarely encountered one). The current management team is very nice, and listen to their employees, furthermore, they actually help if it's busy (they'll help a server who is overwhelmed, or help line if they are crashing). They are also very funny people who have a terrific sense of humour, and can get along with pretty much anyone.

When I do leave I will be a little sad, as I've made so many friends there, but I also know I will be fine precisely because of that reason. Because the friends that I've made while working there are all people that I see outside of work on a somewhat regular basis now. 

Working at Red Robins was/is awesome. I've made multiple new friends, and have developed many interpersonal skills that will help me succeed in the future. Red Robins rocks!!!

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Cook 40 salaries reported	$19.42 per hour
Server 44 salaries reported	$17.85 per hour
Host/hostess 39 salaries reported	$18.38 per hour
Bartender 28 salaries reported	$17.85 per hour
Shift leader 20 salaries reported	$20.75 per hour

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