A remote laboratory provides users with remote access to real physical experiments, enhancing accessibility and offering greater flexibility in time management. Yet, the application of remote labs in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research and teaching working with social robots introduces unique challenges. This study examines both perceived and objective task performance of a typical undergraduate HRI laboratory task, comparing remote and presence laboratory settings. We developed a remote lab setup that enables users to visually and verbally communicate with a humanoid robot. To investigate potential differences in task performance between these conditions, a user study was conducted at two universities, with 24 participants in total. Our study indicates that perceived task performance and usability are lower in remote laboratory settings compared to in-person setups. In addition, objective performance metrics—such as task duration and the number of questions asked—also favored the presence lab. However, there was no notable difference in grading outcomes. Overall, the observed differences are subtle and only partially statistically significant. We suggest further research into usability and training efforts in order to enable the potential of remote labs for enriching HRI research and teaching between physically distinct sites.