The Best Deal At Red Lobster Is Hiding In Plain Sight
It doesn't need to be Lobsterfest for you to get the most bang for your buck.
In my humble opinion, Red Lobster's Endless Shrimp is one of God's gifts to mankind. (But you all knew this, right?) Red Lobster brings the promotion back now and then, and it'll be back this weekend briefly from April 8 through April 10, according to Chew Boom. This got me momentarily excited, until I remembered one thing: Endless Shrimp is actually available year-round on Mondays. It's even listed on Red Lobster's website, under its Daily Deals section.
This is a fact that should be heralded way more. Trumpet that shit from the top of Mount Everest.
What makes Endless Shrimp so great?
All-you-can-eat specials feel like they're getting more rare by the day (Olive Garden 86'd the Never Ending Pasta Bowl), and at $17.99, Endless Shrimp is still a pretty good deal. You get your non-stop choice between Walt's Favorite Shrimp (breaded and fried), classic garlic shrimp scampi, grilled shrimp skewers, and jumbo coconut. Plus you get a salad and an additional side. The only minor drawback is that if there's a newfangled shrimp dish on the menu, it won't be included.
That being said, my favorites are the breaded shrimp and the scampi (which is really heavy, so I go easy on them). The skewers are a good light option, but boring on an all-you-can-eat menu, and I've always found coconut shrimp to be kind of a gut bomb because they're so rich.
Endless Shrimp is the only deal worth the money
Endless Shrimp is one of the best deals on the Red Lobster menu. A combo of two shrimp dishes on the regular menu (plus two sides) starts at $20.99. And guess what? It's not endless. If you want to drop some dough on a baller meal with a name like Seafarer's Feast or the Ultimate Feast (hell yeah, ultimate!), expect to spend well over $30 before tip, drinks, and appetizers.
Red Lobster does have little feature runs throughout the year, like Lobsterfest, which is a celebration of all things lobster, but do not be swayed. They're never discounted, plus have you ever had Red Lobster's namesake crustacean there? If you haven't, you're in for a major disappointment. For whatever reason, Red Lobster serves puny specimens. If you're really in the mood for lobster, you're honestly better off getting a fresh one from the grocery store and making one at home instead (I know, I know, home-cooked lobster is a pain in the ass, but way cheaper). And if you're missing the decor, just take a Sharpie and draw a ship's wheel on the wall or blow up a beach ball.
Plus, the Cheddar Bay Biscuit kits you can get for home are extraordinarily close to the real deal, if not an exact copy. Sure, you can't get a theoretically endless stream of those, but I think the actual human capacity for those things is actually pretty low, though I do not think there have ever been any scientific experiments to prove my theory.
So, there you have it. Red Lobster's best-kept secret is on Mondays, and if you've been waiting for Endless Shrimp all year long, it's been right in front of you this whole time, buried in its menu. Forget a treasure chest, the real gold is in the endless bounty of shrimp.