Brian Nagele
Savor Red Lobster’s seafood specialties and seaside flavors as we take a culinary tour through their menu of excellence. This article explores Red Lobster’s extensive menu to find the best-of-the-best among their delicious offerings. A seafood lover’s paradise known for its fresh catch and creative preparations, Red Lobster has an extensive menu full of mouthwatering choices. Everything from the rich feast of crab legs and lobster tail to the flavorful treat of wood-grilled fish and shrimp scampi demonstrates the restaurant’s commitment to providing top-notch seafood experiences. We will highlight the menu items that stand out from Red Lobster, highlighting their flavors, inventiveness, and the culinary excellence that comes from being inspired by the coast. Come along as we navigate Red Lobster’s menu, pointing you toward the best dishes that guarantee a seafood feast you won’t soon forget at this well-known seafood destination.
Seaside Shrimp Trio
If you’re a genuine shrimp lover and can never quickly decide between lightly fried shrimp (called Walt’s Favorite Shrimp), grilled shrimp, and shrimp scampi, you’re in luck with this dish. Because if you order the Seaside Shrimp Trio, you can get all three! I love the delicious garlic shrimp scampi, especially because they come with an equally delicious cocktail sauce and a lemon to add an even more punchy flavor. Plus, the grilled shrimp does not stand alone but comes on a bed of linguini Alfredo that is creamy, seasoned, and definitely filling. The best aspect of this meal is that they don’t skimp out; there is a significantly large portion of shrimp in this dish. If that’s not enough, this dish comes with two sides so you can add more feel-good items or a few vegetables for a more balanced meal.
Ultimate Feast
The Ultimate Feast is the best Red Lobster Menu item for those times when you haven’t eaten all day and are completely ravenous. It’s also a family-style meal that’s worth sharing, especially if every member of the party loves seafood and can’t choose which seafood item to order. With this dish, you’ll get lobster, snow crab, garlic shrimp, and fried shrimp. All of the meat is quite tender and juicy, which is why this dish is the most popular menu item of all. The snow crab is a relatively popular menu item on its own, as you can get a full plate of crab legs served with butter. But if you want more variety, the Ultimate Feast gives you just that. However, there is not as much meat within the lobster and snow crab, which is why many people order the meal just for themselves. You’ll also have a way to liven up those items with butter, lemon, and cocktail sauce. If you want even more choice, you have the option to choose two different sides with this meal.
Wood Grilled Shrimp
Red Lobster’s Wood Grilled Shrimp Skewers are fired up on a grill for a smoky and savory flavor, then drizzled with a delectable butter garlic glaze. This dish is usually served with broccoli and on a bed of rice, which provides a lighter and more balanced meal than some of the other Red Lobster menu items that are more fried, creamy, or cheesy. That said, I love this meal for a lighter yet still filling and satisfying dinner, or a heavier lunch when I’m hungrier during the daytime.
Admiral’s Feast
This Red Lobster menu item, called Admiral’s Feast, is perfect for families or groups of friends having a family-style dinner. You get a range of the restaurant’s most delicious seafood items, with Walt’s Favorite Shrimp, clam strips, bay scallops, and wild-caught flounder. All of these items come fried, which makes for a scrumptious, ultra-satisfying, and comforting meal. If you’re significantly hungry, you can have it all to yourself and also select two of your favorite sides.
Cajun Chicken Linguini Alfredo
The Cajun Chicken Linguini Alfredo is one of the best Red Lobster menu items for people invited to Red Lobster who don’t actually like seafood and prefer poultry instead. The chicken is not just a simple substitute, however, but holds its own with Cajun-style seasoning and a spicy, punchy flavor. Enjoying this chicken alone would suffice, but getting it on a bed of creamy alfredo sauce-smothered pasta makes this dish a winner in many respects. The alfredo sauce probably won’t be the best alfredo sauce you’ve ever tried, but the entire combination of ingredients is worth a try.
Crab Linguini Alfredo
Red Lobster’s Crab Linguini Alfredo is similar to the Cajun Chicken Alfredo mentioned above but served with crab instead of chicken. It’s a little more expensive than the Chicken option, but people might prefer this dish over the chicken, especially if they’re coming to Red Lobster specifically for their seafood. The crab in this dish is on the sweeter side, which complements the salty parmesan cream sauce very nicely. I love choosing this dish for a tasty and gratifying dinner, although sometimes the alfredo sauce needs a little bit of help from salt, pepper, and roasted red pepper flakes.
Crunchy Popcorn Shrimp
Many of the Red Lobster dishes mentioned above are appropriate for personal meals or split between two or three people. However, if you’re looking for a big appetizer that a larger group can munch on at the very start of the meal, you’d be remiss not to order the Crunchy Popcorn Shrimp. These bite-sized delights are fried until they are crispy, with a golden-brown color that is inviting to the eye almost as much as the mouth. They come with cocktail sauce, but I like eating them both with and without the sauce. Whether you choose to eat the popcorn shrimp with sauce or without sauce will depend on your taste preferences, but I think they taste great either way!
Key Lime Pie
Red Lobsters typically have four different dessert options — Chocolate Wave Cake, Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, Triple-chocolate Brownie, and Key Lime Pie. Their Key Lime Pie is arguably the most interesting of the four, as this is a less common dessert option for a casual restaurant chain. It’s also the lightest dessert option on the menu. Additionally, this key lime pie is perfectly tart and served with extra limes if you need even more tartness. The recipe comes from Mike’s Pies, a highly-rated Tampa-based bakery.
Lobster and Langostino Pizza
Lobster connoisseurs will appreciate the Lobster and Langostino Pizza because it combines three different types of lobster — Langostino, Maine, and Norway. This might sound like overkill, but there is actually not too much lobster on the pizza. This pizza emphasizes quality over quantity, as every bite of lobster you get is a special treat. It’s also covered in fresh tomatoes and sweet basil for a more dynamic and impactful overall flavor. The
Maple-Glazed Chicken
Red-Lobster has a Maple-Glazed Chicken dish, one of their three wood-grilled selections. The chicken is made in a somewhat standard way, using ingredients such as salt, pepper, and onion powder. However, what makes this chicken stand out is the use of real maple syrup, as its name suggests. This is an excellent Red Lobster menu item for diners who love dishes that are both sweet and savory. It’s also one of the best items for people who are going to Red Lobster with seafood-loving friends and family but who do not actually enjoy the taste of seafood themselves.
New England Clam Chowder
It’s not too surprising that a seafood restaurant serves clam chowder, and Red Lobster’s New England Clam Chowder is a classic take on the dish that won’t disappoint. It’s best to eat this soup during colder months and rainy days, but people enjoy it any time of year and any type of day. The clam chowder is rich, creamy, and super filling — exactly what you want from comfort food. It’s also served with garlic bread, which is a nice dipping item. However, if you’re not a fan of super salty dishes, you might want to stay away from this dish.
Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp
Red Lobster’s Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp is similar to their classic fried shrimp in that they’re hand-dipped and fried to a light, crisp brown. However, this shrimp is larger, juicier, and covered in delicious coconut flakes. It’s also a great dish if you are craving a fried item but want something that feels a bit lighter than the other fried Red Lobster menu items. The tropical theme of this dish continues with the inclusion of a pina colada sauce on the side for dipping.
Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms
Red Lobster isn’t known for particularly innovative or unique dishes, but their Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms certainly stands out on the menu as a more intriguing and daring item to try. These mushrooms are soft, cheesy, and stuffed with a Red Lobster’s signature seafood stuffing that includes onions, bell peppers, celery, Monterey Jack cheese, and crab meat. This is an excellent choice for a small personal meal, or you can order it as an appetizer for a small group of friends.
Buffalo Chicken Wings
Sometimes you don’t want anything fancy or complicated, and you want to order a safe and easy menu item that you know won’t leave you with food regret. In that case, getting Red Lobster’s Buffalo Chicken Wings is a good bet, especially to start off your meal or for a midday snack. It’s not the healthiest meal, but the high-fat content in these wings is why the wings are juicy, highly flavorful, and incredibly satisfying all around.
Classic Caesar Salad
The Classic Caesar Salad at Red Lobster is one of the best Red Lobster menu items for people watching their calories, wanting a lighter meal, or going to the restaurant for lunch or a quick bite to eat. Like any classic caesar salad, you’ll get chopped romaine lettuce, croutons, and caesar dressing. You can eat it as a light meal or order it as a side to a larger, more filling meal.
Hand-Breaded Shrimp
The Hand-Breaded Shrimp at Red Lobster is called Walt’s Favorite Shrimp because it was Chef Walt’s favorite way of making shrimp. It’s not only hand-breaded but also lightly battered and butterflied, so it’s a specific style that you might not find at other casual seafood restaurants. This shrimp can be ordered as its own meal, but it is also included in several other dishes at Red Lobster, such as the Ultimate Feast and the Seaside Shrimp Trio.
Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Probably the most popular and loved menu item is not a meal but a complimentary extra. One of the reasons Red Lobster stands out from other casual restaurant chains is because of these delicious, soft, and scrumptious Cheddar Bay Biscuits alone. Two of them come with every entree, but you can order more if you want to (which, in my experience, is very). You can enjoy them at the restaurant, but you can also find them at your nearby frozen food aisle to bake at home.
I had gone to a Red Lobster location. I had ordered a lobster. Or so I thought. I ended with a mountain of pasta noodles on my plate. I told my server “Oh, I thought I had ordered a lobster.” Server had an assured me that that was a lobster. Well, I never found it. It wasn’t just any visit to any restaurant either. I had paid for my table with gift cards from my job that it had take me three years to earn. And it was lat very last time my mother and I were able to eat out before she had moved to Alaska. I’ve trying to find out what the correct phrase is to use when trying to order lobster and to receive lobster and not something like a mountain of noodles but no one seems to communicate well.
Red Lobster is not what it was. I ordered the stuffed mushrooms but what I got was buried under cheese, little seafood stuffing and tiny mushrooms. Greatly disappointed in the calamari. Won’t make a return trip anytime soon. Attempting to cut costs cuts quality.