The Lobster Shanty

On principle, I don’t believe in reviewing a restaurant without actually eating there. But I am making a exception for the Lobster Shanty — their service was embarrassing before even walking in the door. Arrived on a Saturday — posted hours say they open at 12. At 12:10 the crew is still setting up with no sense of urgency. I understand ten minutes isn’t a big deal but customer service 101 is acknowledging your waiting (growing) crowd and assuring them you will be with them in a moment. Once they started «seating people» it was one gentleman taking a group at a time while the rest of the staff sat there looking completely clueless. I finally walked away when the second group to be seated asked for a specific area and the server responded «I’ll seat you where I can» — THE WHOLE RESTAURANT IS EMPTY this is your second customer of the day. I have serving experience and I understand seating each waiters section evenly but that was not what was happening here. It’s one thing if your schtick is rude waiters — I love some sarcastic banter as much as the next person. It’s another thing if your staff is clueless and poorly trained.

My sister and I went there yesterday. The service was good. I had been there last spring alone and got the steamers. They gave me an overflowing bowl and they were delicious! Not this time. We got about 6 each and they were undercooked. Very disappointed. And embarrassed. I raved to my sister about them. AND they were $ 20! I could have got twice as many at market basket for $ 4. So unworth it.

A new season calls for a new review. I’d say that most of my most enjoyable nights this spring have included time at Lobster Shanty – in some cases long stretches of them putting up with our disorderly table on the patio. So far, I haven’t experienced any of the kitchen issues that were spoiling the fun last year. I live next door so I want nothing more than their continued success so my fingers are crossed as the tourist onslaught builds.

Came into Salem & came across The Lobster Shanty! Great atmosphere & food! Only reason it’s getting 4 stars and not 5 is because they were out of canned champagne, and we were really hoping to get the «posh combo»…canned champagne & a hot dog! Definitely would go back if I’m ever in Salem!

The service is AWFUL… on a slow Wednesday night it was terribly slow… the waitress was very sweet but unorganized.
The chowder is not very good, the ice tea tasted old, the coke had a weird aftertaste.
The lobster rolls were very good as were the sweet potato fries… the mussels were decent
Don’t believe the hype

My pals and I will never go there again. Customer service is offensively bad.

Service was awful and took over hour for a burger. Will not go back. They need better service. Advice to the waitress, dont make eye contact and ignore your customers for 15 minutes

Fun little shack with great good. I highly recommend the grilled cheese with lobster but the burgers looked awesome. Service was attentive but the kitchen was slammed and slow so we just kept drinking while we waited. Salem is a tourist town so there’s no need to hurry your meal!

Four stars because they had the best tater tots I’ve ever had in my life!
Came here on Halloween for lunch and there was a line outside, but come on, it’s Salem on Halloween! The staff was nice, but took quite awhile to get to us, but it’s likely that they were understaffed.
Lobster mac and cheese — I would not get this again, the breadcrumbs were not good and the cheese just didn’t have any nice flavor or real kick to it. Surely, it was cheesy, but just missing a little something for me.
Poutine — Yum! I like my poutine a little more crazy, but the gravy was good enough that I kept the bowl to eat with my other fries. Our table was not a fan of the cheese curds, but I still had a few pieces!
Lobster rangoons — These tasted SOO weird to me I couldn’t eat more than one and neither could my friend. Our other friend, however, ate all of them! They just had a really weird tang/​cheese taste to them. Not what I’m used to with typical rangoons.
Lobster roll — Too soggy! Not sure what happened or how long they were sitting there for until they were delivered to us, but I always imagine a toasted lobster roll to be nice and crispy on the outside.
Waffle fries — YUM! Hard to mess these up, though!
Tater tots — GAME CHANGER FEERRRRRR SHEEERRRRR. These were the best tater tots I’ve ever had, haha (well maybe with the exception of Umami’s cheesy tots). They were perfectly crispy and I would even slosh them around in the gravy left from our poutine. A+. Might come back just for these one day. MAYBE.
GInger Ale — WTF ahah. This was not ginger ale. :(

I always make a point to stop in here while visiting Salem. It’s a low key dive bar where you can find some locals hanging out. Just my kind of bar! The bartenders are always friendly and the drinks good, although I can’t bring myself to try a lobster martini. I’ve only eaten here once for lunch, and food was solid but not great. This will continue to be one of my go to stops on our bar crawls.

Incredible food, great service. We sat outside and took in the sounds of Salem over Halloween weekend. This is probably a more local hangout than a tourist place and that’s exactly what we wanted.
Great job, great food!!! Good prices.

I’m pretty sure this place’s heyday has come and gone. My mother comes to visit from NY and we head up to Salem. Why Salem? Because that’s what mom wants. What mom wants, I’ll go along with and make fun of her for it.
She had seen this place on the Food Channel, and just had to try the Lobsterini. We actually get in relatively quick and get seated. She gets her martini, she loves the claw holding the lemon, but comments on how the martini is clear, none of that dark gritty lobster essence. As someone allergic to seafood and getting a burger I let her have her fun.
The rest of the food comes out eventually. I just overall wasn’t impressed. The owner was a nice guy but I think this place has no reason to be grander because they do have a steady stream of tourist dollars and no real regulars.
At least the trip is over.

Someone recommended this place and it looked good from the outside. But the old, crotchety bearded guy seating people was so rude we walked away without being seated. No way I am giving my hard earned money to help pay this guy’s salary. Too many other wonderful places to eat in Salem. I’ll review them as we try them!

After seeing so many 5 star ratings of The Lobster Shanty me and my friends chose it as our lunch spot while visiting Salem this weekend. The menu seemed good and while standing outside of the establishment the smells wafting over had us ready to dig in.
The small shack has seating inside and outside. When you go up to the host you tell them how many in your party and then tell you to stand in line across from the restaurant until they come get you. Our party of 6 was going to be a bit difficult to seat but they assured us that we had two tables to ourselves in the back corner of the restaurant. What they didn’t tell us was that our tables would be back to back and that we would have to essentially sit in groups of 3 and not speak to the other people in our party. We let it slide because we were on a schedule and eating needed to be done asap.
Looking at the menu there were a lot of choices that sounded good. When the server came to our table we were informed that they were all out of many of the menu items (lobster rangoon, tater tots, etc) We sighed and made new choices. My friends started out with some cocktails. One ordered the sangria and the other ordered some kind of Hawaiian Punch style drink they were offering. Our drinks arrived and my friend took a sip of her punch and sucked up a piece of glass from the bottom of the cup! Apparently the glass had chipped on the side without the server noticing. When it was brought to her attention she said she would have another one made. Now the smart thing to do at this point is to comp the drink because my friend could’ve literally sliced up her throat with a piece of glass from your establishment, but alas when we got the bill she was charged for her drink.
Onto the food. We ordered the poutine which wasn’t awful but really salty. Like burn your mouth salty. My friend ordered the veggie chili cup and was told that it was very spicy. It wasn’t. It actually had no flavor whatsoever and after a few of us tried it we decided it was disgusting. My table ordered lobster rolls (at 20 freaking dollars a piece). Two Connecticut style and one traditional. While the lobster inside was plentiful and tasty the bun it was served on was just a huge mess. A small hot dog roll is not the appropriate receptacle for 6 ounces of lobster meat guys, try something that won’t turn to mush before it even reaches the table. I had to just eat the lobster out of the roll and leave the bread behind (which is sad because they butter grill the bun and thats where all the real flavor is). My friend at the other table ordered the pulled pork sandwich which was featured on Food Network and supposedly very good. When I saw it I was very confused. It was just a roll with dry pulled pork on it. No bbq sauce like it claimed. Just dry meat and cole slaw. The only person that was happy with their meal was the one that ordered a burger and all she could say was «it was a burger how bad could they mess it up?»
The bill arrived at a whopping $ 189. Oh yeah did I mention that parties of 5 or more have gratuity included in the bill? How nice of them. The waitress came to check on us once during the whole meal and forgot many of the items we asked for when we initially ordered. Totally deserving of all the gratuity. Also its cash only. How convenient.
I’ll give the second star for the taste and quantity of lobster in the roll but I’ll never return to Lobster Shanty. I wish I had gone to Wendy’s down the street instead.

Rather awkward at first since they have a stand out front that asks you to please wait to be seated. No one came out, so after a couple minutes of standing there (in clear view I’m sure of the staff on the inside) we went in & were told to sit anywhere. Ok, maybe lose the sign outside then. Whatevers.
The food was really good, though. And our waitress did a good job. I’ve been ordering grilled cheese sandwiches pretty much everywhere possible lately & this was the first acceptable grilled cheese I’ve had in months. In fact, it was delicious. Whatever cheese (s) y’all are using, don’t stop. There was even a hint of… caraway seed? Fennel seed? I don’t know. Fabulous. The waffle fries were also really excellent.
Husband had the lobster roll & sweet potato fries & really liked both. Overall happy.

First experience… Awesome pickled beets made at Lobster Shanty, and good spicy pickles from Maitland Mountain Farms, along with portobello veggie burger for me… Everything awesome, but tomato and lettuce looked old. My husband and I brushed them aside and enjoyed the meal!
He had a fried fish sandwich! I tried some, excellent!
He also got «wilted spinach and bacon.» It was fresh and tasty.
When I ordered my veggie burger, I asked for no bread. Next time I’ll skip the «not so fresh looking» tomato and lettuce! lol
That meal came to only $ 25, which included tax and 20%plus tip. We didn’t get drinks, just tap water.
This is how to eat cheap! No drinks! lol

Cute little place! This place was mobbed last time we were in Salem. But today we could get a table. I’m not a lover of seafood but I had the Red eye burger and it was delicious! Tried Poutine for the first time too. yum!!!
Indoor and outdoor seating. Sit outside and soak up the sun and the people walking by.

I’ve been to this establishment a few times when my friends use to have an apartment in Downtown Salem. I’d say my experience is pretty much hit or miss. Once I ordered a pulled pork sandwich– it was good, but certainly didn’t omg this is so delicious, I have to come back here again! Yeah NO. Another time I ordered the Guinness Steak Tips– I think they must’ve had a new chef in the kitchen because for what it’s worth, I received only a few slices on my plate, not even enough to feed me-​a semi-​skinny person. I never ordered the steak tips ever again after that. I’ve had their lobster mac-​and-​cheese and that was good.
It’s a really small shack. Good luck finding elbow room inside. You can sit outside, which I recommend, and people watch while you eat and drink.
Overall, I give it to two stars. I haven’t been here for a while because of my past experiences, what it lacked (consistency). Maybe I’ll have a different review if I visit again, but who knows, Lobster Shanty might just surprise me.

Ever since they were featured on Diners, Drive-​ins and Dives, I had to come here. During my December trip last year, I planned a day out to Salem and made sure I was able to eat here for dinner. Of course, I had to order the lobster claw martini (Lobsterini). It was anti-​climactic only because I was so excited for the drink and don’t get me wrong, it is interesting and delicious, but my claw was small in comparison to the others in my party who ordered it and it was served two fingers below the rim. When the claw was removed, the two finger space was lowered to almost half of the glass. Price aside, it was just upsetting and the drink seemed hardly worth it.
Now, to eat I ordered the lobster roll New England-​style with a side of tots and that was totally worth the money. The lobster claws, yes claws as there were many of them in my sandwich and falling out of it and into the basket, were not seasoned so you can just enjoy the natural flavor of the lobster. They were perfect with a squeeze of lemon and left me wanting more. I’d definitely come back for another roll!

Wife and I came last night to have dinner.
It is a divey little place with plenty of outdoor seating which we utilized last night for a nice evening in Salem.
We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table outside. During that time we grabbed a couple of seats at the bar and had their signature drink, the Lobster-​Tini.
Once we got seated we perused the menu and decided to split the mussels in a wine and herb broth. I thought it was ok.
For entrees we had the Cioppino and the lobster jambalaya. The Cioppino had plenty of seafood in a spicy tomato broth. It was served with two slices of bread to sop up the broth. My wife thoroughly enjoyed it. I think that we the first time she actually ate the whole thing. The jambalaya was served in a small cast iron skillet piled high with rice, lobster (of course) and a little bit of a kick. Our waitress was kind enough to suggest ordering the mild as the medium was very spicy. Great call on her part.
Even for dinner prices are very reasonable. Except maybe for the Lobster-​Tini.
Would recommend this place to friends.

Super Lobstr Role und Lobster Mac’ n Cheese. Solltet ihr Salem besuchen, ist dieses Restaurant einen Besuch wert!