Are Urban Lobster’s $11 Specials Worth the Extra Buck?

Every once in a while twitter presents some interesting lunching options. The other day, Urban Lobster Shack (in the basement food court on 3rd btw. 49+50th) was shouting out some of their daily specials and a couple things caught my eye: the Chef’s Special, a lobster roll served on garlic bread (!?) drizzled w/scampi sauce with a side salad and cole slaw and the personal deep dish shrimp pizza served w/small soup and side salad. Only problem was both lunches were $11. Could they be worth the extra buck?

Urban Lobster's Chef's Special Lobster Roll

I’m a big believer in garlic bread as a sandwich base. If Chicken Parmesan = delicious, then Chicken Parmesan on garlic bread = more delicious. (We’re looking at you Papa Perrone!)  Could the same be said for lobster rolls? Now technically lobster rolls should already be smeared with butter so it does seem like BS you have to pay an extra $1, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Urban Lobster's Chef's Special Lobster Roll

Essentially the Chef’s special lobster roll is Urban Lobster Shack’s standard lobster roll (mayo haters and lobster roll traditionalists beware–these rolls include mayo and celery) with a little bit of scampi sauce drizzled on top served over a super buttery and garlicky toasted bun. While the scampi sauce drizzle was subtle, the visible garlicky bits on the bun were not. The combination was tasty for sure, but–dare I say it–kind of unnecessary especially since it brings you $1 out of the ML price range. If you like lobster rolls, the $10 lunch is worth the price. The garlic bread version will cost you $11.95 with tax, so unless you’re a huge garlic fan, we’d stick with the original.

Shrimp Pizza Special from Urban Lobster Shack

The $11 shrimp pizza special definitely made for a more complete lunch. While the pizza isn’t huge, the lunch special comes with your choice of small soup and a side salad. I chose the spicy crab and corn chowder as my soup. The soup had a little bit of a spicy kick, I was disappointed that it was heavier on the corn that on the crab–my soup didn’t actually have any discernible meaty crab pieces. The pizza was as you might expect a personal deep dish pie–a bit on the doughy side, but that’s part of what deep dish is all about.

Shrimp Pizza from Urban Lobster Shack

If you are a deep dish personal pan pizza fan, this lunch does deliver in terms of the quantity of food, so those with a hearty appetite might consider giving this a try. None of the lunch components are particularly filling on their own, but when you bring them all together you get a decent meal.

Virgin Mojito Lemonade from Urban Lobster Shack

As for me, next time I’ll stick with the regular $10 lobster roll special, and kick in for a virgin mojito lemonade, made from fresh lemon juice and mint ($2.50). Not too tart and not too sweet, this lemonade was super refreshing and summery. I don’t typically add drinks on to my lunch (I’m normally the kind of cheapskate the asks for a cup of water rather than purchase a bottle), but this lemonade is worth springing for.

Urban Lobster Shack, 805 3rd Ave. (btw. 49+50th) in the Basement

Related:
Urban Lobster Shack’s $10 Lobster Roll Is Worth the $$ (But More Importantly, the Price is Permanent)

38 Comments

  • Garlic bread= extra calorie

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    I’m adding “summery” to my list of foodie words that should never be used again.

  • Garlic and lobster roll do not mix well for me. I will stick with the regular, although I can’t fathom how people can despise mayo and celery in lobster rolls–since both are authentic essentials.

    • I think it’s a regional thing… there are lobster roll purists who believe that butter is the only thing that should go on a lobster roll.

      And then there are those of us who love ’em either way! (I discriminate against no lobster roll)

      • I grew up in Boston (and occasionally ventured to Maine and points in-between). Trust me, ‘authentic’ lobster rolls do include mayo. Eastern New England is the home of lobster rolls and all good things lobster, and this is the real recipe. The ‘authentic’ roll is a split-sided hot dog bun, toasted.

        Not sure if I’d want garlic on my lobster either, unless it was *very* subtle. I could see it overwhelming the lobster’s flavor, esp. if the lobster meat isn’t super-fresh and has been chilled too long.

      • Some people do a little mayo mixed in with the lobster meat. Some people just do butter mixed with the lobster meat and butter on the roll. It can be quite the divisive issue. I grew up in CT but come from a long line of Mainers on my grandmother’s side (we’re talking Massachusetts Bay Colony Mainers) and my grandmother was a butter-only purist. She was also born in 1912, so maybe it’s also a generational thing.

      • you can try both at the “Lobster Pound” stand in the Brooklyn Flea Market. They will run you about $14 each.

      • oops. reason i mention this place is because they use lump meat for the drawn buttered and the mayoed versions

  • i don’t like their shredded lobster meat approach… i like lobster chunks… and the butter on the roll was overpowering… i like butter, but this was bathing in it…

  • Given a choice, I prefer a touch of mayo with a wee bit of finely chopped celery (nearly all of the lobster rolls I have enjoyed in Maine are made like this), but I rarely complain about ANY style so long as the lobster is NOT over-cooked and rubbery, and is chopped into small CHUNKS – not shredded!

    My wife and I have been known to drive all the way to Maine (on a weekend) JUST to have a lobster roll or three. You can see photos of many of our favorite Maine lobster shops on my website.

  • I got urban crabs once, and you don’t want to know how much I paid for those.

  • When did lemonade with mint become a “virgin mojito”? Mojitos are made with limes, soda water, mint, sugar cane juice and rum. The only common ingredient between those two drinks is mint.

    • User has not uploaded an avatar

      What pigiron said. Virgin mojito lemonade? Or, you know, mint lemonade.

    • Well ‘pigiron’, since you are so active over at Roadfood.com (calling me a ‘professional troll’ and a ‘homophobe’, and a lot of other names which I will NOT mention here — I am a bit surprised that you have the time to visit MTL.

      I have informed the Sterns and their “moderators” about your references to Midtown Lunch.

      Perhaps, “pigiron” you need to get a job — or at least a life.

      • Man Sentenced for Harassing Communications::
        A Baxter County man accused of harassing employees of The Baxter Bulletin and Gail House, an employee of First Federal Savings and Loan, pleaded no contest Tuesday in Baxter County District Court to a single misdemeanor charge of harassing communications. District Judge Van Gearhart entered a finding of guilty against Dr. Charles Treuter and sentenced Treuter to 90 days in jail with all but 10 days suspended. City Prosecutor Roger Morgan brought reams of papers to the hearing that were allegedly faxes and printed copies of e-mail authored by Treuter containing untrue, derogatory and profane statements directed at the victims or their employers. Morgan told the judge that Treuter’s communications with The Bulletin had continued for more than seven years and had recently become increasingly personal and defamatory in content.

  • Well, ‘mghu777’ perhaps if you read this: http://www.classreport.org/usa/tx/houston/rhs/1960/

    you may be able to understand why I “claim” I am from Houston. Will you need me to READ it to you, perhaps?

    Ignorance is bliss. LOL!

    • …and if anyone can speak of ignorance, it is our poster boy on the subject, DocChuck

      I am not certain why he is in such an extra special hissy fit today, except maybe there have been some repercussions from his coming out as a homosexual (ala Seinfeld – not that there’s anything wrong with that!) on Roadfood.

      Of course, he could come out as a hetero tommorrow. Who knows. Truth is fluid and changes with the day (and sometimes the hour) in the utterly contrived world of DocChuck

  • YEP, BigBear bought Louise (FRED) another bottle of PAVLOV and she has once again raised her ugly head (literally, ugly head).

    Louise (FRED) and her alter-ego ‘Pigiron’ are having a gay old time over on Roadfood.com.

    And Docchuck is lovin’ EVERY minute of it — ROFLMAO!

  • OK, I’ll be contrarian again and point out that real deep-dish pizza (talkin’ Chicago style–what else is there?) is NOT about doughy crust. The crust on a good deep-dish pizza is not thick or chewy; it’s dense and a bit crunchy on the edges. The ‘deep’ comes from the depth of the fillings inside (sauce, cheese, meats, veggies), which fill the crust like a large tart or a straight-edged pie. The crust is never doughy and doesn’t add to the depth. You slice a fresh deep dish pizza and the fillings flow off the sides, at least before it has cooled off a lot.

    • Thanks for chiming in on the deep dish stylings. I’m a New Haven girl and any deep dish I’ve had has probably been an East coast imitation of the real deal. I wish this pizza had a little more of a crunch to the edges. Is there anywhere that serves good real deep dish in the city?

      • I wish I knew! My sister has lived in Chicago for about 25 years and I visit periodically. She knows a lot of the good deep-dish places, and I always make sure to get some! It is a different beast, not just a thick-crusted pizza. The sausage deep-dish is to die for–when you cut and serve it hot, a mix of rich tomato sauce, melted cheese and huge chunks of sausage spread over the plate. You simply cannot eat a real deep-dish pizza with your hands unless it is served as a cold leftover. Gotta use a knife and fork!

        Now that I’ve made myself even hungrier, no, I don’t know of any real dd pizza in NYC. I wish there was one! Uno’s claims to be that (check out their pics to get an idea of what one should look like!), but they’re not quite it.

  • Great post. I prefer the butter-only style myself and am always wary of the shredders. But for $11, I don’t think you can be that picky.

    Will you talk a little more about the shrimp pizza? Sounds weird to me. What kind of cheese on this pizza?

    • I’m not wild about the shredded meat either, but as you say for $10 or $11, you really can’t be too picky–it’s definitely a decent amount of meat. And a good price for the city.

      The shrimp pizza has mozzarella cheese and a pretty standard tomato sauce–not particularly memorable. The shrimp were tender and covered a decent amount of surface area. Interesting concept, just maybe not the best of executions.

  • Pigiron, apparently you confuse me with someone who gives a shit. Your GOOGLING skills would be much MORE impressive had you continued to find out that the “Doc” appealed the case, won a reversal, sued the newspaper for an ‘undisclosed’ amount of money, and won his case.

    He is NOW NEGOTIATING with the owner of the bible-thumping, redneck newspaper to purchase it from its nearly bankrupt owner, Gannett News.

    You, “Pigiron”, and I can expose you for who you REALLY are anytime I choose, are a pathetic loser in life.

    Now scamper back over there to your group of redneck, retired military, uneducated, Palin-lovin’, beer suckin’ buddies traveling the ‘backroads of America crowd’ — ROFLMAO!

    Carrion, please.

    • User has not uploaded an avatar

      Oh Doc, look how lovingly you courted those “redneck, retired military, uneducated, Palin-lovin’, beer suckin’ buddies traveling the ‘backroads of America crowd’ “. Anyone can revisit your recent flurry of posts and see you seeking approval like a little puppy dog. You were like a little school girl in love hoping the boy you love would throw you a glance. You were posting so fast and furious just so those you now berate would give you the love and adoration you so crave. How pathetic are you that you so desperately tried to fit in among people you now claim to hate. Oh Charles, you don’t need a PhD to see how sad that is. Poor DocChuck, scorned by his love yet again.

  • Oh yeah, Roadfooder Pigiron, check out this link that addresses your buddy, “Michael Hoffman”

    http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=432352292&blogId=532842102

    THEN, have a good day, Pigiron.

  • This latest hissy fit from DocChuck has been brought to you by Roadfood, where DocChuck was unsurprisingly banned sometime within the last couple of days. Loss of a huge audience to get the attention he craves so desperately has really been a kick to the nards for him.

    ML Mods may want to take note that the link above indicates he is stalking a member of Roadfood in real life, and is also brazen enough to advertise it here on this website. Is this really – really – the kind of person you can accept as a commenter here?

    • ML Comment Moderators: what’s next for DocChuck? Will you wait til he post a picture of where YOU live? Where the Brooks family lives? Do you really, really want such a person able to write comments (with such links) on your website?

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Kenneth W. Treuter on April 5th, 2010 8:30 pm

    Charles, you really do have a vivid imagination. Your my space account of your quite insignificant life is as much as a fantasy as the life “history” of the Chief B HO of liberalism’s collective bholes. In his case his ancestral claim to knowing anything about healthcare is the fact that his Kenyan grandfather was a tribal witchdoctor…how funny. Yours is that your Mormon wife (third wife, I should add…Barbara Craig, your first wife kicked you to the curb while you were working for KMart as an assistant store manager and then for a short time as a store manager until fired for your childishly “keying”/scratching one or more customers vehicles. Lily, your second wife, you know the one you pretended was a model?, divorced you and turned you over to Syracuse, New York law enforcement officials).
    You have recently tried to clean up your ludicrously outrageous claims about your education on your my space profile but we all know it’s still a crock of crap. You worked in retail chain stores (Kresge, a drug store chain, Marshalls as a night stocker) for most of your life and to pretend otherwise is side-spittingly hilarious. A “professor” and academic?, LAUGHABLE to the nth degree. Your wife, a mere nurse, who has been employed in the correctional institutes of Arkansas and now Maryland is a world renowned neurologist?, but only makes $250,000.00 a year? a graduate from John Hopkins?, Charles, you imbecile, think about those false claims to fame. They’re sad but amusing. I’ve received confirmation from John Hopkins that Elizabeth Ann Treuter is no more a graduate from the university than you are in possession of a PhD from the University of Texas. Would it help for me to post those denials from both universities to bring you a step closer to reality?
    Sad, sad, sad, “DocChuck”/Charles Richard Treuter of Columbia, MD! What a pretender. What pretense. What a crock of bs! You are to be pitied, Charles. Little wonder that your parents disowned you and that now your current beef with life is that you were disinherited from a very sizable and impressive Treuter family estate. Should I post several letters written in hand by your late mother, Nellie Vernon Treuter, as to why she thought of you as such a loser, such a racist, such a fraud, and so in need of psychological assistance with your pathological delusions and lies and mental disorders? Just say the word and I’ll happily post them for the world to read.
    Charles/”DocChuck”, you are pitiful and pathetic: http://www.myspace.com/docchuck
    “Doctor of Psychology” (ROTFALMAO!!!!!) heal thyself.

  • My, MY, haven’t we all had fun today hacking DocChuck’s account (AND his Roadfood account, no less — LOL), changing his avatar, his password, his posts — and fabricating some of the funniest and most juvenile, inane stuff I have ever read!

    Gotta hand it to Fred (who is really Louise in Georgia and whose boyfriend is a professional hacker), to Pigiron, and to Leigh — they REALLY need to get a life

    BUT, back to the lobster sandwiches. Those photos made me hanker for some good lobster rolls, that I think my wife and I may just drive up to Kittery this weekend and pig out.

    In the meantime, you MTL’s have a great weekend.

    • Interesting. You want to pretend your account on Roadfood was hacked. Not particularly original or well thought out, but at least you came up with an excuse some folks might buy.

      Unfortunately for you, this is disproven in two different ways.

      First, if your Roadfood account was indeed hacked, the admin team will see to it that the hackers are dealt with and the account restored to you. Let us know when that happens, ok?

      Second, one of the RF moderators has openly declared in one of his public posts that you have been removed for good as a Roadfood member. So again, to review…..not hacked, but rather banned by the RF admins.

      I remain unsure why you are in such denial about this, as you have been banned from most active food-related websites on the internet. For you, being banned is a common occurrence. Aren’t you used to it by now?

    • Hacked? I contend sir that you #10 are the hacker! Anyone can look at our respective avatars and see mine is the more realistic likeness of old Charlie the liar!

  • FRED, you are a pathetic loser who has been trying to get me kicked off of this website for over a year.

    Your boyfriend, ‘BigBear’ – also known as David Wyers, a professional hacker there in your Atlanta trailer park, along with “LEIGH” and “Pigiron” and others.

    FRED, I know that you are pissed because I closed down your website at the CassandraCrossing. I know that you are pissed because I exposed your friend ‘JerzeeTomato’ who NOW claims to be living in the “South” when she actually lives in New Joisy.

    I know that you are pissed, but we are all tired of your BULLSHIT, FRED. When you sober up, PLEASE try to understand how STUPID you, and LEIGH and PIGIRON sound.

    Carrion, please.

  • I just wish my poor husband would reconcile with his younger brother, Kenneth. Kenneth has been saying very hurtful things about my husband and about ME on the internet lately!

    Things came to a head between them when the wire transfer from Nigeria failed to come through and they both lost a considerable amount of money. Money that was needed for dental work for my husband and reconstructive surgery for Kenneth (his wife shot him).

  • The Lobster Roll on Garlic Bread is good! I also tried the spicy corn soup which was enjoyable on a 90 degree day.

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