Ok, I might take some heat for this, but [+Silver Seafood]

has anyone been to the Red Lobster lobsterfest?

i know it's red lobster...the McDonald's of seafood...but still lobster is lobster...am i right? i mean, it's not like they serve up processed lobster or something like that.

so basically, what can i expect to pay say per lb. of lobster during this whole lobsterfest deal.

come on people! fess up...someone here has to have been there.

This question has been pondered once before, though we certainly have a few hundred more posters since last go around.

If you search and find a thread of the same topic, then add to it ... it will pop up to the top to be reread, resavored and added to it.

Back in December, my 11 year old and I were going out to dinner the week before Christmas. I asked her what she wanted, and her answer was "Shrimp!! Lots of shrimp!" I used to have a roommate who worked at Red Lobster back in the '70's, and ate there too often -- hadn't been back for years. I took my daughter just to see what it was like.

We had to wait a good 1/2 hour on a Friday night, and it was already after 8:00 p.m. when we got there. The line of people waiting to get in never stopped. When we finally were seated, our server made sure we got our drinks and garlic cheese biscuits quickly. Both of us had the shrimp lovers special, which I think had three kinds of shrimp -- fried, in butter sauce, and the scampi. We also had steamed veggies which were much better than I expected.

It's still a chain restaurant, but I thought the service at the one near our house (Matteson) was good, the food was good, and my daughter never stops asking me when we can go back. I'll probably take her again soon, but not on a Friday, especially during Lent.

Red Lobster was good! I wouldn't recommend trying to visit the River North location on a Saturday night (even with a reservation we had to wait 20 minutes and the service was ridiculously slow) but all in all the food was pretty good. Those little cheddar cheese biscuits were addictive (I had 3+ while I was waiting for my food) but I really liked my entree...the rock lobster tail (very tender and good), king crab legs and sauteed shrimp. My only complaint was that the shrimp were ridiculously salty sitting in a vat of lemony, salty butter...yuck, but so good! I seriously rolled out of the restaurant and have been singing it's praises at work today to anyone that will listen...I'd definitely go back!
Where else can we get good, inexpensive lobster in the city? I went to the Palms Steakhouse last May during their lobster promotion and enjoyed their entrees very much but they only included dishes with lobster in them...not whole lobsters...

"Where else can we get good, inexpensive lobster in the city?"

Chinatown, various.

Silver Seafood. live, 1.5-2.0 pound coldwater beauty plucked from the briny bullpen and delicately wok-fried with ginger, sacallions and chiles, or S&P style, or balck bean: 22 bucks. (My Lenten fav).

Sabatino's, esp. Wednesdays. 21 bucks for a big tail with all the classic free Sabatino's extras. Otherwise, the zuppa di pesce is very lobster-oriented, including the red sauce.

JeffB wrote:

Silver Seafood. live, 1.5-2.0 pound coldwater beauty plucked from the briny bullpen and delicately wok-fried with ginger, sacallions and chiles, or S&P style, or black bean: 22 bucks. (My Lenten fav).

My kind of Lenten observance!

JeffB wrote:Silver Seafood. live, 1.5-2.0 pound coldwater beauty plucked from the briny bullpen and delicately wok-fried with ginger, sacallions and chiles, or S&P style, or balck bean: 22 bucks. (My Lenten fav).

Jeff,

Silver Seafood back up to speed?

Last time I was there, about a year ago with Ellen and RevrendAndy, they were off their game.

Enjoy,
Gary

I'd like to say, yeah, they're at 100%, but I'm not sure I can go that far yet. But they are miles better than early last year. There was a management change that seems to have been a little rocky (for SS, not personally, since I have no idea what happened). Unfortunately, the lovely HK woman who ran the place when it opened is gone. The guy running the shop now does a good job, though. For a period the food was so terrible, I think that there was no real "chef" in the kitchen. It is not like that now, and the crowd that had split seems to be back by and large.

I have the impression that the current chef raises his game for things such as lobster. The "greens" (mustard, pea, chive, ong choy) are especially good, also, and they seem always to have all of them, which is somewhat unusual in my experience.

JeffB wrote:I'd like to say, yeah, they're at 100%, but I'm not sure I can go that far yet. But they are miles better than early last year.

Jeff,

Sounds like time for another visit to Silver Seafood, thanks.

I'd also agree, but mostly by proxy, to Sabatino's Wednesday lobster special. My wife goes once every couple of months with her sisters/sister in-laws and always has very positive things to say.

Enjoy,
Gary

JeffB wrote:I'd like to say, yeah, they're at 100%, but I'm not sure I can go that far yet. But they are miles better than early last year. There was a management change that seems to have been a little rocky (for SS, not personally, since I have no idea what happened). Unfortunately, the lovely HK woman who ran the place when it opened is gone. The guy running the shop now does a good job, though. For a period the food was so terrible, I think that there was no real "chef" in the kitchen. It is not like that now, and the crowd that had split seems to be back by and large.

I have the impression that the current chef raises his game for things such as lobster. The "greens" (mustard, pea, chive, ong choy) are especially good, also, and they seem always to have all of them, which is somewhat unusual in my experience.

I ate at Silver Seafood on Sunday. It's definintely better than the negative reports in the past, but I'm not sure it's all the way back to its earliest glowing reports. The salt and pepper squid was great, one of my favorite versions of this dish, with the squid almost melting in your mouth, the black pepper beef ribs were good, and while the vegetable chow fun had that "wok Hay" there were canned mushrooms in there. Also the pea leaves were a little watery, as if the wok wasn't hot enough.

"chow fun had that "wok Hay" there were canned mushrooms in there"

That's what I noticed first about the BBQ duck noodles at LTH! (Maybe this is an authentik HK touch?) Still, great stuff.