Hey, Red Lobster: Please don’t cut bait on your surprisingly good Times Square location
Let’s hope “Endless Shrimp” won’t be the end of Red Lobster Times Square.
The once-thriving national seafood chain closed at least fifty of its roughly 650 US locations this week.
Among them were fourteen outposts in New York State and New Jersey — and more might follow.
The chain, whose majority owner is seafood supplier Thai Union Group, is reeling from post-pandemic losses and from foolishly giving away too much free food in a recent “Endless Shrimp” promotion.
Red Lobster is expected to file for Chapter 11 as soon as next week, though bankruptcy might not necessarily mean more closures.
I’m rooting for the Midtown outpost — the only one in Manhattan and one of two in the five boroughs — to not sink.
Elitists will sneer — but despite tacky and aged decor, it’s a restaurant that the tourist-trampled “Crossroads of the World” needs.
Its food is a lot better than at the nearby Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. or at any of the innumerable fast-food joints in the area.
The mammoth, three-level eatery at the corner of Broadway and West 41st Street was the chain’s top-grossing location twenty years ago, when customers waited up to an hour for a “table is ready” buzzer to go off.
The food then was questionable — I’m still haunted by the foul-smelling “basil-infused haddock” I had 19 years ago — but the popularity was certain.
Today, it’s the opposite of that — a place that was lonely on two different afternoons this week, but with food that’s better than ever.
Of course, you shouldn’t judge Red Lobster by Le Bernardin or Marea standards.
But, a leviathan “Bar Harbor Lobster Bake” ($45.99 and easily shareable by two) gracefully combined lobsters claws from Maine and tails from the Caribbean with tiny bay scallops; sweet, small shrimp; mussels; tomatoes; al dente linguini and a garlic-and-white wine broth.
The generous lobster portions were served in opened shells, buttery and tender. If they were frozen at some point in their journey from New England or the tropics I couldn’t tell. (They don’t come from the live tank on the ground floor, where whole lobsters are sold only for retail.)
The dish was so good I pinched myself. Even the out-of-season bay scallops tasted fresh.
I returned the next day to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.
The Lobster Lover’s Duo ($51.99) featured the same crustaceans as the Bar Harbor Bake, but the specimens were somehow larger and far less juicy. I suggest you go with the Bake.
But the real surprise was grilled Atlantic salmon ($31.99). I regard the simple dish as a benchmark of whether or not a kitchen has its act together. At Red Lobster Times Square, it was smooth sailing.
The salmon arrived perfectly pink and medium-rare, as I requested, with a nice char. The chain’s famous cheddar biscuits were a reliably delicious side.
Still, the place needs work if it survives the crisis. The elevator creaked. So did my booth seat which had only a passing relationship to the floor. The dark, gloomy second and third floor dining rooms desperately need new furniture and art.
But such aspects of the ship could and should be righted easily enough.
Red Lobster Times Square is a worthy vessel that deserves to stay afloat.
