Lobster Box Restaurant

“Very tasty, lobster was good- not chewy or tough.”

“I spotted a shrimp, a fish , I think a crab box and finally a Lobster Box, just about the only box not preceded by the word "Sammy's".”

“There was even a nice party room in the back looking over the water.”

Lobster Box Restaurant

Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes

Price range.

$$$ Price range $31-60

8 reviews

  1. I don't remember if I've been to the Lobster Box before or not, if I have it has been many years. My fear with seafood restaurants on City Island is that the the quality of the food doesn't match the prices (because most of these places are expensive). While that's not true for some of the restaurants, I found it is here.  

    The restaurant is large and decorated nicely. Walking in, there's an impressive bar and a water tank on display filled with lobsters. Mostly wood tones are found throughout the dining room with splashes of blues on the booths and fish painted on the walls indicative of a seafood restaurant. They have the oddest selection of music blasting which was kind of distracting – I think they had the station set to 70s/80s soft rock on Sirius. The menu has a lot of sections: hot apps, cold apps, soups, sandwiches, salads, fried seafood, lobsters, seafood entrees, meats/poultry, Mediterranean specialties (i.e. seafood with pasta), lobster & crab combos, fried shrimp combos, and combo entrees (phew!).

    We wanted to start with some French onion soup, but were told they don't serve it anymore (it's still listed on the menu, they just haven't updated it yet). Instead we decided to go with seafood entrees which came with a salad. The salad was a basic mixed greens and I chose blue cheese dressing to go with it. They also gave us a loaf of garlic bread to start with as well (damn carbs!). For my main I had the broiled shrimp entree which consisted of seven butterflied shrimp with a side of roasted potatoes, broccoli, and carrots. The entree was really underwhelming; I was struggling to find flavor in the shrimp, and since it was cooked in a butter sauce everything was greasy – really no flavor at all.

    Our server was nice, but it really didn't make up for the meal, or the price. Lobster Box is expensive, but the prices they charge do not match the quality of their food – you can definitely do better.

  2. This was my first experience at The Lobster Box. It was a rather warm fall after noon, and my relative and I decided to escape to city island to have a nice, and rather lavished lunch.

    I know these places are very busy in the warm months, but this was a random time to come in, which is why it was empty, and I guess why they have such an excellent lunch deal. The quiet was super nice, and thus had pretty perfect service.

    The place is way bigger than I thought. There was even a nice party room in the back looking over the water. What a nice view for lunch! For somewhere around $17 we ordered a fish lunch ( i ordered crab stuff shrimp which came with potatoes and broccli) and my family member got the salmon. Both very nice portion sizes. The lunch came with a soup or salad ( we got the lobster bisque, yummy) AND it also came with a slice of cake and coffee. I was impressed with the deal. We couldn't even finish our meal because we were already full, so we took the cake to go. It was a really lovely place to visit on a sunny afternoon during the off season.

    My relative loved her salmon, they gave two nice size pieces, and I really enjoyed my crab stuffed shrimp!

    Hope to come here again for a beautiful lunch.

  3. Drove all the way City Island for seafood, but it was a disappointment at Lobster Box.

    Our waiter had an attitude, but the manager with a bow tie was nice and cute.  

    I ordered the ribs with no bbq sauce (low carb haha) and it turned out like a big chunk of tuna. It looked like dog food. It didn't taste good nor had any seasoning on it.

    I also tried the steak and shrimp combo. The steak was ok. Cooked to medium rare, but the shrimp was definitely not fresh.

    Service was slow, our waiter wasn't the nicest, food wasn't food. Meh.

  4. I really like this place.  The staff is so nice and really accommodating.

    I love that I can get a heaping amount of snow crab legs with a salad and a side of veggies and potatoes for a reasonable price!

    They always a have a great lobster special in house and again the food portions are huge for the price.

    They are at the end of the island so you have a great view of the water from the entire restaurant.

  5. Ehhhhh and I mean it, just ehhh.

    The beautiful weather led me in. The windows were all open giving me a nice view of the inside. I was like, what the heck, let me try it.

    The décor is very nice. It's actually beautiful inside. I was very impressed. The service was extremely blah. Our waitress looked bored. She brought the wrong dressings for our salads and took forever to get her attention to correct it and even longer when I needed the check.

    The food? Ehhhh….baked clams were DRIED. Very bland and no butter sauce on the plate. The plate was bone dry….I've never seen baked clams come on a bone dry plate before.

    The entrees? Ehhhhh….the fish had more breadcrumbs than anything else. The shrimp was good, but I would have enjoyed them better next door while paying literally half the price.

    It's wayyyyyyy overpriced and I left honestly wondering why I even chose to eat here. Will I be back? Ah NO.

  6. I came here tonight with my family for dinner. We used to go to The Harbor way back when and were told the same people own this place. We were not at all disappointed. The service is amazing! The wait staff, the hostess, the manager, everyone was awesome.

    I came in with my four month old baby and the manager stopped and talked to her then offered to grab us a glass of hot water for her bottle if we need it. That was sweet.

    Our waitress was a total sweetheart, very attentive, super friendly.

    The food was so good! We were all full half way through our meals but couldn't stop eating.

    We will def be back!

  7. i came here with my family over the summer. the restaurant is bigger than it looks from the outside. there is valet parking ONLY so just tip a few bucks. the food is mediocre. the prices are up there as if theyre in the city for certain dishes and the taste was just not that great. the portions are good because we ordered too much for the table and had plenty leftover to bring home but the point is, the food is really not that great. go to another place in city island. i've heard sammys is better but i havent tried that out but i won't be giving this place a second chance. i did learn from this place that lobster is not as bad for your health as everyone thinks! the little info sheet of lobster that they used as a placement was informative and telling us that the green ooey gooey stuff is edible and good for you! (for those who can take it!)

  8. 3.5 stars * family oriented. Casual with class. The restaurant is located at the end of city island Avenue. The adjacent restaurants are beyond casual, unappealing, patrons were not friendly.

    We did the best thing by walking over to the Lobster Box! Valet parking. Friendly hostess. Clean bathrooms. Actual linens and utensils. The other places were … Ok … I'll say it GHETTO!  Again glad Lobster house came to the rescue!!!!

    We ordered lobster and wanted a side of lobster bisque as an appetizer. The bowl of soup was too big a portion for what I wanted but I was able to order a cup of soup with my main course instead of the salad. As we began to break the lobster apart, we might have shot off a few pieces off our table lol. The staff was attentive by cleaning and providing a new plate to put away the shell as often as needed. Aaahh the experience of a true lobster hands on dinner is like no other. A few laughs and a corona later, Sunday dinner was a delight!

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Monday, 11:30 am - 12:00 am
Tuesday, 11:30 am - 12:00 am
Wednesday, 11:30 am - 12:00 am
Thursday, 11:30 am - 12:00 am
Friday, 11:30 am - 1:00 am
Saturday, 11:30 am - 1:00 am
Sunday, 11:30 am - 3:00 pm