An American casual dining restaurant chain that is owned and operated by Darden Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company also has operations in Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan. As of May 29, 2011, there are 698 Red Lobster locations worldwide.

Red Lobster was founded in 1968 by entrepreneurs Bill Darden and Charley Woodsby. Originally billed as a "Harbor for Seafood Lovers", the first restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, was followed by several others throughout the southeast. In 1970, General Mills acquired Red Lobster as a five-unit company. With new backing, the chain expanded rapidly in the 1980s.

Red Lobster entered into Canada in the 1980s. The company still maintains a presence, but has since exited the Quebec market in September 1997 due to financial losses, and has never existed in British Columbia.

In 1995, Red Lobster (along with Olive Garden and other sister chains), became part of Darden Restaurants, Inc.. During that time, General Mills decided to release Darden into an independent, publicly-traded corporation.

True to its name and slogan, the brand specialises in most seafood, including lobster.

Red Lobster has offered an endless snow crab leg promotion twice in their history. However, in 2003, the promotion resulted in parent company Darden Restaurants taking a $3 million charge to third quarter earnings, resulting in president Edna Morris' departure from the company. The ill-timed promotion was launched amid high wholesale crab leg prices. The chain also underestimated how many times a guest would order more. Further complicating matters at the restaurant level was the amount of time a guest spent table-side in the restaurant cracking crab legs. This resulted in increased wait times in the lobby and overall diminished guest capacity per hour.