My wife and I did a road trip and one of the cities we stopped in was Salem. I knew that The Lobster Shanty was here, and I had seen the episode on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, so I thought, let’s hit that one as I love lobster.
On a Saturday, it doesn’t open until 12:00 noon, which kind of surprised me, as there were quite a few waiting for it to open. There were 4 of us for dinner, and our server was fairly good, but I got the feeling she knew it may be a long day, so you could feel a bit of her frustration. I ordered the crab cake appetizer and was disappointed for 2 reasons:
1. The crab cake was a bit over done and the the taste of that was there,
2. I found it a little too wet for my liking.
For the main, I had the lobster roll, traditional style (cold) and yes there was tons of lobster in the roll. I wish I had chosen the other option, as I found there was no real flavour to the roll. Yes, it is messy and large. For me, being a chef, I felt the sandwich was an awkward creation that was loaded with lobster yet underwhelmed with flavour.
The food is pricey, and for the two of us eating, it cost $80. My wife had the chowder, and it was amazing…get the chowder! She also got the lobster roll and added tater tots. She loved the tots, and found the roll just okay.
The service is pretty good but not as attentive as they should have been, for how many were on duty. I am somewhat critical because as a chef myself, it is engrained that customer service is how you make your money. I, myself, would not go there again, but I can say I did eat there…in the end, that is all that matters.
