Lobster House At Shalimar Resort

WATCH OUT! This place gives out coupons in the local papers and makes it seem as though you would be getting a great deal, but then when it comes time to pay, things aren’t what you expected… here are my three experiences with this restaurant.
Visit #1: We went to the Mother’s Day buffet and had a coupon for $ 10 off the buffet. It did not say anywhere on the coupon that you could not use it on Mother’s Day. The waitress took it (I handed it to her as soon as we sat down), no problem. The service was horrible… never brought our drinks, had to actually get up and hunt her down. She also never took our omelet order (you have to order the omelet at your table). When it came time for the check, she came over holding the coupon and informed us that it was not valid on Mother’s Day. I politely asked her to show me where that was stated. She got all flustered, and then disappeared for awhile. She came back with a manager, who tried to tell me the same thing. I once again asked to be shown where that was written. The manager finally agreed to honor the coupon, but acted like she was doing me a big favor. Come on, it was YOUR coupon, why do you issue them if you don’t want to honor them? When I got the check, I noticed that they had taken the liberty of adding a gratuity to the bill, and it was a lot of money! I crossed out the amount there and put in what I felt the service deserved.
Visit #2: I guess I should have learned my lesson from visit #1, but alas we decided to give them another try. We had a coupon (again!!) for $ 10 off the Sunday buffet, and the coupon language stated «must be two GUESTS per coupon, limit of 2 coupons per table.» Since there was four of us (myself, my husband, our two children), we went in with two coupons, expecting to get $ 20 off the total cost of the meal (per their coupon). Again, the waitress took the coupons before we started eating and did not have a problem. We enjoyed our meal… until it was time to pay. She came over holding the coupons and declared that we could not use both since the kids’ meals «didn’t count.» I pointed out to her that the coupon stated «guests», and did not specify «adults.» She told me that she agreed with me, but could not «change what the computer said and the owner is away.» We went back and forth for a few minutes, and she finally gave me a gift card for $ 30 to be used in the next couple of weeks. Okaaay… I didn’t really want to come back here, I just wanted what the coupon said I was entitled to, but now I have no choice… I was also very upset that we weren’t told this BEFORE we started eating so that we could have made other dining arrangements if we so chose!
Visit #3 (THE LAST VISIT!!!) Went to spend the $ 30 gift certificate. Went with another adult and 3 kids. The oldest kid was 9. The waitress asked the ages of the kids, but DID NOT TELL US THAT the 9 year old would be charged the adult price. You guessed it, we found out that bit of information when the check came! Why couldn’t she tell us that before we ate so that we could make an informed decision or at the very least not be surprised and aggravated when the bill came? So I left very aggravated… a meal that was supposed to be basically free to make up for being over charged in visit #2 ended up costing me $ 35 (plus tip). So I say WATCH OUT for this restaurant, they practice the fine art of BAIT AND SWITCH. They will find a way to make you pay after luring you in with a «good deal.» Plenty of great restaurants in this area, Shalimar is NOT one of them. I certainly hope that cheating me out of that $ 10 in visit #2 was worth losing a customer and getting a bad review!

The Food is phenomenal! The service is questionable :/​and the prices seem a little high to me but, comparative to another restaurant in the area, so Maybe I am just cheep. Like the other reviewer here I find it unacceptable to be charged for soda refills when ordering entrees. The price’s must have gone up since each soda was now $ 2.50. They now serve the soda in a nice glass but, it’s a tulip glass that seems small. I think the restaurant has recently been remodeled! It looks great and has very nice «muzac» playing in the background.
From working in the industry minor things caught my attention… We sat near the window to see the lake across the street and the underside of the awnings is gross! They had unlit candle holders at the tables made from cut liquor bottles. I think that with everything else so put together in the dinning room the looked cheezy. If they were cut well maybe they would work.
The bathroom was dangerous! The floor was moist and slippery! The décor in the bathroom was «tried to fix but, didn’t want to spend much» It was a conversation during dinner… LOL!
I will say again, the food was phenomenal! because we stayed at the resort over two nights we ate Lobster Alfredo, Chicken & Mushroom Penne in a red sauce, Chicken Marsala, Chicken & bacon Alfredo, and Baked stuffed Chicken. We also had some breads with oil, warm dinner rolls with butter, Minestrone soup and french Onion Soup! EVERYTHING was cooked to perfect!
To be fair about the service The visit was during «off season» and although one night was Pete (the owner) who I would have «expected» («expectations are premeditated resentments») to offer great service he was busy kicking off the new pasta buffet and over seeing things … and we were the only customers he was «responsible» for. I think that interfered with his ability to really «wow» us. The second night was a little less «excusable» The restaurant was very slow and the waitress got involved in a in depth conversation with a guy in the bar area. Good news is she got SO involved I got a free glass of wine she forgot to punch in (oh, and not the type I asked for) … Seriously, The WHOLE time we were with her a table was leaving, the guy came in and than at the end of our meal another table came in … It was SLOW and she was not focused on her job.
I would recommend the food! I just really hope they get a handle on customer satisfaction in the service area!

Had lobster here a couple of years ago and it was delicious. You pick the one you want out of a tank. Salads was typical uninspired iceberg lettuce but I didn’t come here for the salad. This place has been around a long time and it’s family run so I like supporting it. Décor is the same as I remember it from the 80’s which is ok by me. Takes me back to that period of eating there. Tables could use a little leveling out. Last time I was there there were matchbooks balancing it out. You can see Lake Winnisquam across Route 3 if you sit by the window.

This review is based on the restaurant only. Located inside the Shalimar Resort, the Shalimar Lobster House is open for continental breakfast (7AM-​10AM) and dinner (5PM-​9PM). I had dinner in the dining room over the weekend at the start of Bike Week and I could hear the karaōke in full progress in the Pub area. There’s a lobster tank with live lobsters (pick your own) as you enter the dining room. The casual dining room was dimly lit with hanging stained glass lights and candlelight at each table. The dinner menu offers appetizers, salads, soups, burgers, sandwiches, chicken, beef, ribs, prime rib, pasta, seafood, lobster, kids menu, and desserts (cheesecake, chocolate lava cake, grapenut custard, ice cream, apple crisp ala mode). The prices are moderate to high ($ 12 and up), plus a full bar menu from the Peter’s Pub. The regular menu can be seen at
I started out with a Diet Coke ($ 2), which was mostly ice in a Newbury Comics Thanksgiving 2007 pint glass. I have the same pint glass at home! I ordered the Baked Haddock Dinner Special ($ 14) which came with cup of soup or salad and rice, potato, or vegetable. I chose the soup which was New England Clam Chowder, which was a big disappointment with a lukewarm temperature, minimal very minced clams & tiny potato chunks in a thin milky broth. I should’ve got the salad. The dinner rolls with Cabot butter were hot & crusty. Since it was towards the end of the dinner service, the service took a while. The floor was really vibrating and shaking each time my waitress passed by the table. The Baked Haddock arrived 30 minutes after ordering, very hot and fresh & served with lemon, decent tasting. The rice pilaf was standard nothing special. As I was dining, the karaōke from the Pub was a bit comical with one guy singing female songs such as Torn by Natalie Imbruglia and Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes. I got a small chuckle to this very average meal.
For dessert, I got the Warm Apple Crisp a la mode ($ 5) which was a good dessert served with vanilla ice cream and topped with whipped cream & butterscotch drizzle and a refill on Diet Coke ($ 2) with mostly ice. Overall, the meal was just okay, the chowder was the worst I’ve had since having a can of Snow’s, which was still a lot better. The haddock was fresh and good and the apple crisp was homemade and good too. The service was paced, not the fastest, but not bad. I would give this place an overall 2.5 STARS, and deciding which way to round was finally determined, round down. Getting charged $ 4 for two Diet Cokes with 70 percent ice in the glass, is definitely not acceptable, especially at an average restaurant with moderate high prices for the area. If the place was fancy and the food was exceptional, then I’d expect it. Most chains in the area, even many independent restaurants I’ve been to will offer free refills on soda.