St. Louis Red Lobster Restaurants Get New Look and Menu

Liz Miller

"Chesapeake Shrimp with Crab," one of Red Lobster's new menu items.

Then, we're not exactly hard to please. Our hostess assured us -- at our request, obviously -- that the "Cheddar Bay Biscuits" were the same, which was enough to immediately pacify us. She also said the south county restaurant completed its exterior and interior remodel this summer, which included knocking down a wall in the dining room to create more open space. Indeed, the dining room is large and open and just as dimly lit as the lobby. And why shouldn't it be? Gut Check glanced many a two-person party at Red Lobster, perhaps out for date night.

Maybe the real sign of a true catch is one who buys you endless shrimp and is still attracted to you after you wolf down five plates worth. In that spirit, Gut Check opted for one order of endless shrimp at a reasonable $14.99 (this special cannot be split or shared and is dine-in only, so don't even think about asking for a take-away box lest you relish the red-faced embarrassment we experienced) and one of many new menu items, the "Chesapeake Shrimp with Crab" ($14.99). Both menu items come with choice of salad, and of course, "Cheddar Bay Biscuits." Though we had a lot of work ahead of us, Gut Check gobbled up our salad and all the biscuits. Our server could hardly keep up with us. We came to be an endless biscuit and shrimp eating machine, and we tore through both as if was programmed into our internal circuit board.

The new "Chesapeake Shrimp with Crab" dish also didn't disappoint. It includes a grilled shrimp skewer with crab butter and five crab-and-seafood-stuffed shrimp topped with a lobster beurre blanc, served with wild rice pilaf and choice of accompaniment (Gut Check opted for mashed potatoes). It's a lot of food. It's so much food that it makes endless shrimp look like a raw deal. It's why we need to go pants shopping.

Like the "Chesapeake Shrimp with Crab," much of the entrees clock in at under $15, for what we can't stress enough, is an avalanche of food. Lighter options exist too, as does a catch of the day type menu that changes daily, promising "today's fresh fish." Had our strategy been to eat sensible portions of healthy fare we would have had many options, perhaps more than our past, deep-fried popcorn shrimp memory of Red Lobster would have imagined.

Red Lobster's eight restaurants in the greater St. Louis area are open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and till 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.