All You Can Eat Lobster Friday Night.
Should be called All We Allow You To Eat.
My wife and I have been going out to Fort McDowell for the All You Can Eat Crablegs for over 20 years. Its one of the special Arizona places we always bring visiting family and friends to. Its always been great and worth every penny.
So based on reputation we decided to try the AYCE Lobster on Friday night.
What a disappointment.
They ration you to 1/2 a lobster per trip. And they bring out one batch of about 24 half lobsters every 10 minutes. They are all rationed out in about 5 minutes and then about 5-10 people stand there in line waiting.
When you get your little half baby lobster it takes one minute to return to your seat. Two minutes to easy the shrimp-sizec tail meat. And another 2 minutes to eat the meat from the single claw. So every 5 minutes you get up, get back in line at the lobster rationing table, and wait another 5 minutes for your next little lobster.
Imagine how replacing and enjoyable your lobster dinner will be getting up every 5 minutes to stand in line. And since each lobster is the equivalent of 4 shrimp cocktail sized shrimp, if you're only an average eater, plan on repeating this routine at least six times. If you're thinking you are like me - with the Crablegs I would probably stack my plate FULL of legs six times - in order to be satisfied you would have to, LITERALLY, make 18 trips back to the rationing table. At 10 minutes per round trip (5 waiting in line, 5 eating) that is an hour and a half of this routine. For rubbery lobster.
The manager was strolling the room visiting tables and asking people are doing. We asked him about the rationing. He said "customers waste too much and people throw away too much so that's why they do it this way now. It costs us too much money."
Its a casino I said. Your short on money? He just shrugged and said "enjoy your meal" cutting off any further conversation and strolled away. He had no interest in whether we were actually satisfied or not.
Bottom line: Crablegs night? Go enjoy. Lobster night? Save your money. Buffet manager? Empty suit.