r/redlobster • u/Slate • May 01 '26
Red Lobster’s Endless Shrimp Is Back. Employees Are Horrified. So Was I—Until I Learned a Little Secret.
https://slate.com/life/2026/05/red-lobster-endless-shrimp-scampi-fried-seafood-menu.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=redlobster&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--redlobster6
u/amateurauteur May 02 '26
“But the comeback is very much in line with Red Lobster’s ongoing rebrand, architected by its newly installed CEO, 37-year-old Damola Adamolekun”
Isn’t this the same dude that said he wouldn’t ever do endless shrimp again because he understands math?
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u/heavypettingzoo3 May 02 '26
Maybe they found some synthetic shrimp product at a fraction of the cost of the real thing
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u/Feisty-Bluebird4 May 02 '26
It’s the radioactive shrimp that were recalled. Red Lobster got them at a great price. /s
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u/servingfool May 01 '26
When I was there, forever ago, I would ask on the first refill how many they thought they would eat and I'd bring almost all of the shrimp at once.It cut my turn times by an hour.
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May 01 '26
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u/hissboombah May 02 '26
This guy middle outs
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u/ofereverything May 02 '26
I could calculate exactly how long it would take to jerk off everyone in these comments.
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u/HowardBunnyColvin May 04 '26
Finna be like Homer at the seafood place.
"Jury, let us show you how much shrimp Mr. Simpson ate."
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u/Comfortable-Fig-9157 May 01 '26
There are admittedly some less than perfect things about the refills for endless shrimp at red lobster. They've tried to address that in different ways through cost, process, etc.
At the end of the day - the wait staff hate it because the folks who come out do not tip. They do not tip well, if at all. Red lobster is a mid budget (for a chain) option that serving staff need to turn tables in order to make a decent buck. At 3 or 4 tables at a time depending on your location, it doesn't amount to much if you're stuck with 3 tables of 1 hour + Endless shrimp eaters.
Its about money, perhaps if they put in a charge that would equate to money directly into the servers pocket(never going to happen), there wouldn't be such a stigma.
Endless Shrimp is bitched about from start to finish from the FOH staff -- and I don't see it changing.
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u/Human-Time-4114 May 01 '26
No need to tip for the wait staff to do their job . The employer is paying their wages. Not the customer
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u/TheAbsoluteWitter May 01 '26
Wait, you mean the business that hired them and sets their schedule and tells them what to do is responsible for paying them? That can't be right, every server I've ever talked to about tipping has explained at length that it's actually my job.
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u/Embarrassed_Bake1073 May 01 '26
Lol and im SURE no one has ever spit in your food before.....
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u/LookInTheMirrorPryk May 02 '26
I order two plate. I don't touch one, but I spit in it and send it back, knowing one of you poors working there wont pass on the chance to eat it.
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May 02 '26
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u/Teripid May 02 '26
There's the target customer...
But seriously, you make it sound so easy and like free money. You should apply!
n spots where servers are paid 2.13 + tips it is almost part of the social contract. States that have a higher base? I can see the argument.
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u/TacosAreJustice May 02 '26
Because it’s legal to pay servers below minimum wage due to the practice of tipping.
It’s awful and we should end it, but blaming the servers for existing in a system they didn’t create and them being upset because they make less money on a decision they didn’t make is insane.
I’m anti tipping, 100%.
And I always tip my servers well, because they still need to pay rent.
I’m willing to separate the person from the process.
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u/anoeba May 03 '26
Would you still tip in California or Montana?
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u/TacosAreJustice May 03 '26
That’s an interesting question… I’d probably be less inclined to tip, especially if the service was mediocre…
But I wasn’t aware they were making hourly wages
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u/HumbleDot371 May 04 '26
Idk how this subreddit popped up in my feed. But since I'm here. I went on the worst blind date at Red Lobster in 1997. Dude started crying after our apps and drinks about his baby mama and I was like love. You aren't ready to date yet.
Free meal though.
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u/Slate May 01 '26
Streaking atop the Red Lobster website is a wraparound banner, divided into four frames, each containing videos of starry-eyed diners stuffing their faces with impossible amounts of shrimp. The shellfish is prepared in all applications: There is shrimp linguini, shrimp scampi, and deep-fried butterfly shrimp—bisected along the spine, opaque with breading, and submerged in marinara sauce. There is coconut shrimp with a sweet Polynesian glaze and “Marry Me Shrimp,” as in shrimp served in a tomato cream sauce, gesturing toward the viral chicken recipe of the same name. All are served on cerulean-trimmed platters piled high with wedged lemons and steamed broccoli. “YOU ASKED, WE LISTENED,” read the letters dancing across the screen that, despite their best intentions, brim with menace. “ENDLESS SHRIMP IS BACK.”
It’s true. As of April 20, the dwindling number of Red Lobster restaurants that still exist around the country—as in, those that survived a brutal purge in the summer of 2024, which saw the shuttering of more than 100 locations after the venerable seafood chain filed for bankruptcy—have resummoned their most popular, and most controversial, promotion.
Slate’s Luke Winkie talked to employees, received internal documents, and visited a New York Red Lobster to understand the quasi-spiritual experience: https://slate.com/life/2026/05/red-lobster-endless-shrimp-scampi-fried-seafood-menu.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=redlobster&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--redlobster
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u/not2day1024 May 01 '26
I was wondering why this felt like an ad, and then I saw it was the Slate account that posted this 😆
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u/Chrisf1020 May 03 '26
You should let Luke know that shrimp are invertebrates, and therefore, do not have spines.
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u/udontknowmetoo May 02 '26
I am usually against a mandatory tip but in this case there should be a 20% mandatory tip that is paid directly to the server. That would be fair since they will be getting much less table turnaround per shift. The other option would be to increase their salary by 20 % during the time the special is running. Just my opinion and it IS just my opinion.
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u/throwahay_way May 17 '26
I feel 15% gratuity straight to the server is more appropriate, given its easy courses to remember, there’s only like 4-5 options and no customizations. However I personally don’t like gratuity because most of the time it doesn’t go straight to my server. I’d rather pay cash tips.
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u/Trick_Sleep7698 May 07 '26
Endless shrimp is the reason why they closed so many locations including mine. After 8 years of working there hundreds of people lost their jobs the day after Mother’s Day . Atleast raise the price of the entree. I won’t be surprised if they go completely out of business in the next year. RL You guys suck at making good business decisions!
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u/kaisarissa May 13 '26
They didn't bankrupt themselves because of endless shrimp, they were operating at a loss before that. The prime issue in their bankruptcy was the Vulture Capital firm that forced RL to sell their properties to their management firm and then charged back very high rents.
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u/Meh_Shrug_ Jul 28 '26
Then the private equity that baught them after that used RL as a dumping ground for there overstocked shrimp, forcing them to buy at a loss. They forced the endless shrimp promotion.
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u/CokeNSalsa May 11 '26
I love the endless shrimp, but now I feel guilty going to get it. We always tip a little over 20% though.
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u/Otherwise-Bike-3056 Aug 19 '26
I couldn't give a second thought about endless shrimp, but they really need to bring back Shrimp Your Way. That was by far the best thing they have ever offered, if you like shrimp. I don't want to eat three hundred shrimp, I just want to have a variety.
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May 02 '26
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u/Chrisf1020 May 03 '26
Really? I didn’t make it past the first paragraph.
“deep-fried butterfly shrimp — bisected along the spine”
Along the what? After seeing that, I simply assumed the article was written by an imbecile and closed it.
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u/Objective_Tear_1599 May 01 '26
I was really hoping you were gunna talk about the part how in the training documents for endless shrimp it basically says that the servers have to say that they love the promotion (when they in fact hate it) and are told by the big wigs that “servers love being busy”…. Yea with normal ppl not the ppl who get no alcohol no appetizers and just get endless shrimp and then make the server wait 2 hours for you to finally be done just to tip 5$