Red Lobster Lunch Menu 2026: Prices, Hours, and Best Deals
The Red Lobster lunch menu is a weekday-only lineup of smaller, cheaper seafood plates served Monday through Friday, typically from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM at most U.S. locations. If you have ever pulled up at 1:30 PM hoping for shrimp scampi without the dinner-sized bill, this is the menu you want, and this guide breaks down exactly what is on it, what it costs, and how to stretch it further.
I have ducked into Red Lobster on a weekday more times than I can count, usually squeezed between errands, and the lunch menu is genuinely a different animal from dinner. Smaller portions, faster kitchen, lower prices, same warm Cheddar Bay Biscuits piled on the table. Here is everything worth knowing before you go.
What Does Red Lobster Lunch Cost?
Red Lobster’s weekday lunch menu runs from about $8.99 to just over $20, with most entrees landing between $9.99 and $14.99. The $10 Lunch Specials are the cheapest tier, the Lunch Classics sit in the low-to-mid teens, and the Daily Deals (sometimes called the $15 specials) top out around $24.99 for combos like Steak & Lobster. Every lunch order comes with a side and unlimited Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
What Is the Red Lobster Lunch Menu?
Red Lobster splits its offerings into two distinct menus. Dinner is the full-size, full-price lineup you probably already know. Lunch is a scaled-down version built for people who want to eat well and get back to work. Portions run smaller, but the flavor and quality do not really drop off, and the price gap is real. A dish like Garlic Shrimp Scampi that might run close to $19 at dinner can show up closer to $10 to $14 on the lunch board.
The lunch menu is generally organized into a few buckets: the $10 Lunch Specials, Lunch Classics, newer sandwiches and bowls, and the rotating Daily Deals. Every entree includes a side dish and Red Lobster’s unlimited warm biscuits, which honestly might be the real reason half of us keep coming back.
Red Lobster Lunch Menu Prices: The $10 Specials
This is the tier most people are actually searching for. Six items, all hovering right around the $10 mark, each served with a choice of side and those bottomless biscuits.
| Item | What You Get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Soup, Salad & Cheddar Bay Biscuits | Choice of soup, garden or Caesar salad, four warm biscuits | $8.99 |
| Garlic Shrimp Scampi | Shrimp in garlic butter over linguini, choice of side | $9.99 |
| Popcorn Shrimp | Bite-size fried shrimp, cocktail sauce, choice of side | $9.99 |
| Crispy Clam Strips | Golden-fried clam strips, tartar sauce, choice of side | $9.99 |
| Crispy Cod Sandwich | Hand-battered cod, slaw, tartar sauce, brioche bun, choice of side | $9.99 |
| Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp | Coconut-breaded shrimp, piña colada sauce, choice of side | $10.99 |
If you are trying to keep the bill under $10, the Soup, Salad & Cheddar Bay Biscuits combo is the move. A cup of clam chowder, a Caesar salad, and four biscuits is a genuinely full meal for under nine dollars, and it is the one I default to when I want something lighter.
Prices can shift slightly by location and by year, so treat these as a solid ballpark rather than gospel. Your local restaurant or the Red Lobster app will always have the current number.
Full Weekday Lunch Menu: Seafood, Salads, and Non-Seafood Options
Beyond the $10 tier, the weekday lunch menu opens up into full-size lunch portions of the classics, still priced well below their dinner counterparts.
Seafood Classics
- Walt’s Favorite Shrimp, hand-breaded and fried, around $13.99
- Hand-Breaded Flounder, a lighter fried option, around $10.99
- Sailor’s Platter, a mixed fried seafood combo, around $15.99
- Grilled Salmon (lunch portion), around $13.49
- Full Garlic Shrimp Scampi, around $13.99
Salads and Lighter Options
- Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken, around $11.99
- Caesar Salad with Grilled Shrimp, around $12.49
- Classic Garden Salad, around $6.99
- House Salad + Soup Combo, around $8.99
Non-Seafood Options
- Chicken Tenders with honey mustard, around $9.99
- Cheeseburger with fries, around $9.99
The salads are worth calling out for anyone watching calories. The Caesar Salad with Grilled Shrimp comes in lighter than most fried options while still delivering the protein you’d want out of a proper lunch.
New Sandwiches and Bowls on the Red Lobster Lunch Menu
Red Lobster has leaned into brioche-bun sandwiches and grain bowls as newer lunch additions, and they widen the menu well past the classic fried seafood lineup.
Sandwiches (all on toasted brioche, roughly $12.99 to $16.99)
- Crispy Cod Sandwich, hand-battered wild-caught cod with crunchy slaw and tartar sauce
- Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich, spicy-sweet tenders with ranch and banana peppers
- Wagyu Bacon Cheeseburger, marbled Wagyu beef with bacon and sharp white cheddar
Bowls (roughly $16.99 to $18.99)
- Baja Shrimp Bowl, seasoned shrimp with avocado, black beans, and quinoa rice
- Sesame-Soy Salmon Bowl, glazed salmon with Brussels sprouts, edamame, and kale
- Kung Pao Noodles with Crispy Shrimp, sweet-and-spicy noodles with cashews and green onion
These sit above the $10 tier but still come in under most dinner entrees, and they are a good pick if you want something that reads a little more like a modern lunch bowl than a classic seafood plate.
Lunch vs. Dinner: How Much You Actually Save
The biggest reason to time a visit around lunch hours is the price gap, and it is bigger than most people expect.
| Category | Lunch | Dinner | Approx. Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $8.99 | $14.99 | About $6 |
| Average entree | $11.99 to $14.99 | $18.99 to $28.99 | $7 to $14 |
| Shrimp Scampi | Around $13.99 | Around $18.99 | About $5 |
| Grilled Salmon | Around $13.49 | Around $19.99 | About $6 |
| Flounder | Around $10.99 | Around $16.99 | About $6 |
For a table of two ordering similar dishes, that gap can add up to $20 or more on the check, without giving up much in portion satisfaction since lunch sizing is built for a midday meal rather than an evening one.
Calorie-Conscious Picks
If you are trying to keep the meal lighter, a few lunch items stand out. The Soup, Salad & Cheddar Bay Biscuits combo comes in under 400 calories and is genuinely filling thanks to the biscuits and salad bulk. Hand-Breaded Flounder paired with a side salad instead of fries keeps things lean while still delivering real protein. Grilled Salmon with steamed broccoli is probably the single best combination on the lunch menu if you want something closer to 500 calories with plenty of omega-3s. The Sesame-Soy Salmon Bowl runs a bit higher in calories but packs in the most protein of anything on the newer bowl lineup, which makes it a reasonable trade if you are training or just genuinely hungry.
Fried options like Popcorn Shrimp or the Crispy Cod Sandwich are not diet food, but pairing them with a steamed broccoli side instead of fries knocks a meaningful chunk of calories off the plate without changing the entree itself.
Red Lobster Lunch Hours
Lunch at Red Lobster runs Monday through Friday, generally 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, though a handful of locations extend closer to 4:00 PM. After that window, the kitchen switches over to the full dinner menu and the lunch pricing disappears. Weekend availability is inconsistent. Some restaurants run an all-day menu on Saturday and Sunday, others jump straight to dinner service, so it is worth a quick call if you are planning a weekend visit specifically for the lunch deals.
If you want the full selection, aim to arrive before 2:30 PM. A few locations start prepping the transition to dinner as 3:00 PM approaches, which can mean fewer lunch items available if you show up right at the wire.
A Few Ways to Save More
Beyond the built-in lunch pricing, a few habits stretch the value further. Joining My Red Lobster Rewards is free and earns points plus a birthday appetizer, and members occasionally get email coupons worth stacking onto a lunch bill. Buying a discounted gift card through a warehouse club before your visit shaves a bit more off the top. And if your schedule allows it, lingering past 3:00 PM rolls you straight into Happy Hour pricing on drinks and appetizers at most locations.
The Red Lobster lunch menu is one of the better deals left in casual seafood dining. Smaller plates, real savings, and the same biscuits everyone actually shows up for. Check your local restaurant’s current pricing before you go, since it does shift by market, but the structure above should make ordering a lot less of a guessing game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Red Lobster have a lunch menu?
Yes. Most U.S. locations run a dedicated weekday lunch menu from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with smaller portions and lower prices than dinner, starting around $8.99.
What is on the Red Lobster $10 lunch menu?
The $10 tier includes Garlic Shrimp Scampi, Popcorn Shrimp, Crispy Clam Strips, the Crispy Cod Sandwich, Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp, and the Soup, Salad & Cheddar Bay Biscuits combo. Each comes with a side and unlimited biscuits.
Is the Red Lobster lunch menu available on weekends?
Not reliably. Some locations run an all-day menu that covers weekends, others move straight to dinner pricing on Saturday and Sunday. Call ahead if a weekend lunch deal is the whole point of your visit.
How much cheaper is lunch than dinner at Red Lobster?
Lunch portions typically run 20 to 30 percent cheaper than the equivalent dinner dish. Garlic Shrimp Scampi, for example, is noticeably less at lunch than the full dinner-size version.
