Once a month, if Ky is out of town for work, O and I go out for dinner to somewhere “peak Americana”. We’re not trying to recreate the French Laundry experience; we’re trying to see what all the fuss is about.
Last month, we tried Texas Roadhouse. Very good service, fun atmosphere, decent food and reasonably priced. Even though it was PACKED, we were in and out in an hour, and happily so.
This evening, O and I went to Red Lobster.
Running a seafood restaurant is brave. You have an expensive input, it doesn’t travel, and it’s polarising in a way a pizza restaurant isn’t. On a random Wednesday at 6pm, it was only 20% full, so that tells you everything you need to know.
For such a quiet evening, we waited longer than I expected for our waiter to greet us. Apart from that, the service was rather good; attentive, helpful, polite.
There were three highlights:
- The fact that they had a lobster tank was a thrill for Octavia. She named the closest one to her “Snappy”
- The cod and the prawns were surprisingly good, and O loved the scallops
- The price was very reasonable at $40 for two (albeit one very small person). I have spent more at our local fish monger on a few fillets of salmon, and I had to do the cooking and washing up!
However, I wouldn’t go back. There just isn’t a need for me to do so; for me, seafood is “give me the best or give me nothing”. I love it, but I’d rather have it a few times a year done really well, than have a 6.5/10 experience semi-regularly.
That said, they have a $29.99 unlimited shrimp special on Mondays, so never say never!