The Butter-Soaked Red Lobster Meal That Diners Say Isn't Worth The High Price

Whether it's on your radar thanks to those new seafood boil bags or the chain's over-the-top promotions, Red Lobster is frequently making headlines. Red Lobster lost a staggering amount of money on its Endless Shrimp promotion in 2023 and filed for bankruptcy the following year, but there's another shrimp dish becoming a thorn in the restaurant's side: the shrimp scampi.

There are plenty of dishes you should avoid ordering at Red Lobster, according to online reviews. The worst are pricey with low-quality seafood and poor execution. Red Lobster's shrimp scampi fits this bill. Reviewers just do not like this dish all around — which is ironic, since we love to use Red Lobster's scampi sauce on crab legs. The sauce as a dip for crab legs might work, but as a whole, this dish does not mesh.

The shrimp should be one of the best parts, but customers often find it rubbery and chewy in a seriously unsettling way. It lacks that succulent shrimp flavor and instead tastes more like fishy frozen shrimp (and Red Lobster reportedly uses flash-frozen shrimp, farm-raised or wild-caught). There's an oddly artificial movie-theater butter feel to the scampi sauce itself, with a pungent smack of garlic that just doesn't work. Plus, if you order the shrimp scampi linguini, we've found that the portioning is way off — tons of pasta, tons and tons of butter sauce, tons of salt, and increasingly scant amounts of shrimp. Did we mention the dish's $20 price at one location?

Red Lobster's recent financial struggles are no secret, and the chain may have started cutting corners or using lower-quality ingredients to stay afloat. Butter is, arguably, the main ingredient in scampi. Swapping in cheap butter might feel like a small, no-stakes shortcut, but it can completely wreck the final flavor. Former Red Lobster employees have claimed that the restaurant's recipe calls for artificial butter (plus, seasoning packets rather than real garlic), and fans have clearly noticed the lack of freshness. 

White wine is another non-negotiable for scampi, and Red lobster reportedly uses Chablis. The type of wine does matter — a dry, acidic wine is ideal for brightening the sauce. Chablis can be okay, but it can lean towards the sweeter side, and there are better options.

As for the shrimp itself? It seems like the cooking method is really what's ruining it; nearly every scampi recipe warns against overcooking it. Overcooked shrimp end up tough and rubbery, which kills the dish.

If you're determined to try Red Lobster's shrimp scampi, we'd suggest asking for light sauce, and maybe try a protein other than shrimp, since most people find it overcooked, rubbery, and, well, actually hard to find in the dish since there's so little of it. Sop up the sauce with those trusty Cheddar Bay Biscuits and maybe try a new dish next time!