You’ll notice from the title of this post that I personally feel the main attraction of the ubiquitous Red Lobster seafood chain is the fact that they hand out those sorta greasy, sorta cheesy biscuits.  Those babies are mmmm, mmmm good.  For those counting at home, that’s an 2×4mmmm recommendation, which means they’re really good.

The rest of the food?  So-so.  If you like your seafood battered, fried or soaked in butter and served as a big ol’ smorgasbord of oceanic goodness, you’re probably a Red Lobster fan.  If you’re living in flyover country and can’t get much in the way of fishy chow elsewhere, it’s also an okay choice.

Me?  I have this thing about fish.  I love it, but will generally order it only when I am within sight of the waters from which it was caught.  There’s something that happens when fish goes from fresh, to frozen, to defrosted, to cooked to served that just doesn’t work for me.  Again, though, not everyone lives on the coast.  Thus, Red Lobster serves an important function.  It’s the only seafood contact much of the American interior has.

Red Lobster is generally a pretty affordable joint, all things considered.  Yeah, it will cost you more than a trip to Chili’s, Fridays, etc.  Those places, however, are more reliant on cheaper and readily-available stuff than is Big Red.  When it’s chicken vs. halibut, you can bet that the chicken will cost less.

The nice thing, though, is that you can use Red Lobster coupons to equalize the price points.  In some cases, you might net a good enough coupon to make Red Lobster cheaper than its chain-restaurant counterparts.

You can start by heading over to RL’s own wesbsite and signing up for their “Fresch Catch Club“.  This is the restaurant’s version of a customer loyalty program.  It gives yout the chance to buy gift cards and gift coupons for others, and will also give you access to occasional Red Lobster coupons.  They also send you some sort of super-special offer if you decide to celebrate your birthday there.

Once you’ve done that, hit up the online coupon sites like SlickDeals or RetailMeNot.  There are many different Red Lobster coupons floating around out there.  Some are “buy one, get one” deals, but most are just a flat $4 or $5 off your purchase.  That’s enough to make up the difference between a Red Lobster meal and a trip to Applebee’s or some place like that.

There’s something you DON’T want to do when pursuing Red Lobster bargains.  Don’t accept a RL gift card when you’re being subjected to a pitch for a travel club or some other similar arrangement.  Apparently, the bad guys use this as a way to claim that you’ve used their services and that may contractually entitle them to bill you big bucks.  You can read more about this nasty bit of chicanery if you’d like, but the big ol’ takeaway on this one is:  Don’t sign anything in order to get yourself some free Red Lobster–or anything else for that matter.

I’ve also seen the $50 Red Lobster card used in those “free” online giveaways.  The catch is that you generally have to get involved with some other potentially underhanded business endeavor before you get your card and it’s usually just as sneaky as the travel club gambit.  In the immortal words of everyone from your father to Milton Friedman, “There’s not such thing as a free lunch”.  Even at Red Lobster.

One last big of advice.  Sometimes, they’re sort of stingy with those Cheddar Bay biscuits.  Don’t allow that to happen to you.  Ask for them.  Ask for a second plate, too.  They’re the best thing going at RL!