Endless Shrimp....

For about two months, Red Lobster has been offering an "Endless Shrimp" promotion at virtually all of their chain locations. For $15.99 plus tax and tip, you get the luxury of sampling five varieties of shrimp concoctions until you've had your fill.

I went with a friend to the Red Lobster in Cerritos after we unsuccessfully attempted to corner the White Rabbit Food Truck for their 6-lb burrito challenge (more on them and their shenanigans in a future post). We were disappointed and incredibly famished, so we decided to inflict our stomachs upon the promise of unlimited seafood.

Since Red Lobster is a traditional sit-down restaurant, one's access to the food is limited by the wait staff and the cooking line. If you get a kind and agreeable server - as we did - you'll be in for a good time. She definitely deserved the tip she received. She brought us 18 orders of shrimp apiece, and that really hit the spot on a hungry night.

I say "orders" as opposed to "plates" (which is my typical metric for tabulating food at buffets) because the plates and portions used by Red Lobster are small. They start you off with a side salad, baked potato, and two entrees. Then you receive one entree at a time until you're satisfied.

I started off with Parmesan Shrimp (in the dish), which was an incredibly rich way to start. The Shrimp Linguine Alfredo was also rich but heavy. Anyone looking to get that "full feeling" from this promo needs to load up on the linguine, because the fish portions just aren't that massive.

Like my friend said over the meal: "I have this theory that the body can't absorb more than 2000-3000 calories in one sitting." I sure hoped he was right, because with all of this oil and butter we were probably putting down 700-800 calories per order!

The only issue I can raise with this promotion is the lack of variety, being as it is limited to five choices: Parmesan Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp Scampi, Shrimp Linguine Alfredo, Garlic-Grilled Shrimp, and Hand-Breaded Shrimp. But - for $16 and the convenience of having someone else cook and present the food - it's tough to complain. We would have liked some coconut shrimp though.

Then it was on:

Hand Breaded Shrimp with cocktail sauce (think bready and low cost)

Garlic-Grilled Shrimp on a bed of vegetables and rice. This was really lean and flavorful. I'd say it was my favorite of the night.

Garlic Shrimp Scampi. The oiliest, but possibly the most delectable. I wouldn't have eaten it if I wasn't at Red Lobster. It tasted similar to the Parmesan Shrimp.

Now that we had sampled all five varieties, it was time to chow down on some repeats and see what "Endless Shrimp" really meant in a chain restaurant.

Another skewer of grilled... skimpy with the rice.

Four skewers at once! This technically counts as four separate orders of shrimp. We averaged 9-10 shrimp pieces per skewer. On this plate alone I got at least 35-40 pieces of shrimp.

Shrimp Linguine Alfredo, in generous form! We needed that!

Five skewers means five orders! Looking a bit done, but still worth eating. This plate contained at least 40-45 pieces of shrimp. They skimped on the accompanying rice, but we weren't exactly complaining (okay, we were complaining a bit. It would have been nice if they provided more side items to vary the seafood consumption).

Two orders of hand-breaded, for a change of pace

And finally:

One last order of that rich Garlic Shrimp Scampi.

We estimated our total food consumption at approximately 5 lbs each. We ate identical orders, but I saw little point in taking photos of my friend's food, since it would have been completely redundant.

The experience was satisfying on the whole. My friend joked with the server about dessert - suggesting Shrimp Ice Cream Sundaes - but nothing much came of it. It would have been interesting, that's for sure.

The White Rabbit might have disappointed us, but the Red Lobster came through!

Eat All You Can!

Back in February 2010, I had the opportunity to eat at the Choices Buffet at Pala.... for those wondering, Pala is near Temecula. Choices was a good experience for me, easily one of the most satisfying all-you-can-eat binges I've been on. Lots of their food was delectable, and I sampled a few things I'd never eaten before.

I must apologize because I didn't take a photo of my second plate, but I think the pictures I did take do justice to the offerings at this Pala restaurant. Italics will denote the foods that I was sampling for the first time.

 1) King crab legs, jumbo shrimp, lobster tails, and swordfish

2) Prime rib, sirloin steak, lobster tails, roasted duck, veal, potatoes, and leg of lamb

3) Hamburger patties, ketchup, piles of cheese, french fries, lobster tails, and curly fries. This is standard fast food mostly, but it was there - and it tasted better than usual. I really enjoyed the pepperjack and provolone cheeses, which you don't often find at McDonald's or Burger King.

4) This is one of the things that separates higher-end buffets from the rest: custom desserts with real ice cream! I was impressed with this vanilla-banana split, buried as it is under a pile of M&M's. It was refreshing to eat some sugar after all the preceding salt.

5) These fancy desserts came from a display case. I asked the server to put one of every kind on my plate.... they were all good, but I especially liked the ones with chocolate in them.

6) Strawberry shortcake sundae, with an extra chocolate chip cookie

7) The desserts from the other side of the display case. I was feeling a massive sugar overload by the time I got through the offerings on this final plate. Again, I really dug the chocolates, but the tiramisu was awesome too. I'm still impressed by the printed designs on the dessert items.

I had a great time at Choices Buffet, and I think that anyone who likes their food will too. It was not easy thinking about food for several hours after I completed my meal. At about $15-30 depending on the meal, I think this a higher-end California buffet worth visiting.

Go there. Eat.