Avoid Ordering This Red Robin Dessert Or You'll Be In For Disappointment

Red Robin has a lengthy lineup of desserts, including cookies, cakes, and pies, but not all of its options are worth ordering. In fact, its Shortbread Chocolate Soufflé Cake not only landed in the second-to-last spot in our ranking of Red Robin's desserts, behind only the Cinnamon Sugar Doh! Rings, but it also made our list of 15 chain restaurant desserts you should avoid ordering.

"Just trust us!" Red Robin states in a description of its Shortbread Chocolate Soufflé Cake on its official website, proceeding to claim the dish features "a rich and buttery shortbread cookie topped with a chocolate soufflé cake, hot fudge, whipped cream, [and] topped with powdered sugar." Sounds pretty darn tasty, but sadly, what arrived at our table was flavorless and disappointing.

In addition to the chocolate being hard to detect, the texture of the shortbread was not reminiscent of the high-quality shortbread we would have expected. Instead, its texture was nearly identical to the soufflé cake it was topped with. As our reviewer noted, the ice cream was the dish's only saving grace. Otherwise, it was a real disappointment.

While there is the occasional rave review of Red Robin's Shortbread Chocolate Soufflé Cake, including one from Dessert Detectives on Instagram — who gave the treat a 10 out of 10, saying that the "shortbread and soufflé combination [was] genius" — others generally agree with our assessment.

As dessert lovers well know, shortbread is sweet with a crumbly, tender texture, while soufflé is rich with a much lighter and airy texture, along with a moist center. It's a duo that should, in theory, be quite the treat for your palate. Unfortunately, users across social media have found that the presentation often isn't as expected. 

One Redditor shared two photos, one of the advertised item and one of what showed up at their table. "The shortbread was underbaked and the soufflé was thin. No flavor to be found anywhere," the user wrote. After seeing that the dish had been served looking nothing like what Red Robin advertised, commenters on the Reddit post targeted the chain's "just trust us" tagline for its dessert. "Trust has been broken," one Reddit user said as another added, "This is why people have trust issues."

If you aren't opting for one of Red Robin's better desserts, like our top two favorites, the Mountain High Mudd Pie and the Gooey Chocolate Brownie Cake, there are ways to improve upon the Shortbread Chocolate Soufflé Cake. For example, you could ask for more ice cream or whipped cream for added moisture. Or, for more flavor, request extra fudge or caramel sauce.