Red Lobster’s Ultimate SpendLESS Shrimp, Reviewed by a Food Editor

• What Is It: bite-size shrimp, fried crispy until golden brown, with seasoned fries and cocktail sauce

This was the most plentiful shrimp dish on the plate by far. The breading was fried to a drool-worthy, crunchy golden brown, and it clung beautifully to the shrimp. The pieces were very small, so if you like more of that shellfish crunch and flavor in your fried shrimp, you may find yourself missing that here. (It’s pretty batter heavy.) The punchy cocktail sauce made it a lot more enticing to me with its zesty, horseradish-y zing. As for the fries, they lacked salt, even despite a dusting of Old Bay. 

• What Is It: shrimp baked in garlic sauce, served with lemon

Although I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the overall plate (the Ultimate SpendLESS Shrimp is a good deal—it’s a lot of food and variety for just $16), I was bummed that there were only seven shrimp here, compared to a boatload of the fried. This is probably cost effective for Red Lobster, but I would’ve appreciated equal-ish portions of each dish.

That said, the shrimp were well cooked and tender, albeit a bit small. The garlic settled at the bottom of the butter, so as long as I thoroughly dunked each piece to the bottom to scoop up as much of the good stuff as possible, the sauce tasted very flavorful and indulgent. The lemon brought its savory, herby notes to life, although I think a touch more salt would have as well.

• What Is It: shrimp in creamy garlic Alfredo sauce, served on a bed of linguine

The noodles were al dente and very well coated in Alfredo. The sauce itself was creamy and mild; not intensely cheesy or salty like, say, Olive Garden’s Alfredo sauce. I enjoyed its flavor on the shrimp more than the linguini, perhaps because they were salted separately, making for a more robust flavor than on the pasta. The shrimp were tender and well-seasoned, but I found myself wanting more of it. Fresh lemon amplified this dish as well.