J's Lobster & Fish Market

This is one of the popular stores in Garage food hall. It’s mainly for order and pickup, the seating area is in common space, right in front the store. They have some live lobsters in a small aquarium. The menu had lots of seafood goods like sammiches, rolls, shrimps, crab cakes, taco, salad and bunch of sides. They were having 5 year anniversary special of $20 lobster roll. We ordered 2, one cold and the other one hot. Took them little over 5 minutes to prepare the rolls. One person was taking all the orders and also handing them out. I loved the lobster roll. It was warm, with hint of butter. There was an abundance of lobster meat in the roll, so much so they were spilling over with every bite. The side of jalapeño was really hot. The coleslaw was good too.

J's Lobster is located inside Garage Food Hall. Parking lot in front and street parking around it. We were lucky They had a promotion for lobster roll $20!! I had a warm lobster roll with chips. Wonderful flavor. Big portion. Definitely a good deal. The staff were friendly. We put in the order and waited for the buzz to pick up food. Short wait. It's inside the food hall so many tables and seats. Some standing tables too. But it could get really crowded during peak time.

Tried J's lobster 3-4 times over the last couple of years. It never hits. I've had the lobster roll, hushpuppies, fries, and the clam chowder on different visits to The Garage. The lobster roll was cold and lacked any flavor or juiciness. The hushpuppies were okay. I don't like breaded fries and I asked ahead of time; they told me they were "seasoned" fries. Well, they are definitely breaded. I can see how someone would like them, but I did not and when I asked again, they told me it was just seasoning. It was definitely fried in some kind of coating. I let it go, but if this was an allergy or someone was gluten free, this would not go well. The clam chowder tasted bland, like it came out of a can. While the concept is exciting, the quality of the food doesn't justify the prices.

We tried J’s Lobster in its new location at The Food Garage in Bottleworks. They’re reasonably priced at $18 for the lobster roll and $15 for the crab roll. We found their lobster mac ‘n cheese to be delicious, but at $18 I am not sure if we would reorder. Both their lobster roll and crab roll are served with the seafood purposefully cold, which we weren’t a big fan of. There is also no sauce or seasoning to the seafood in the rolls, just a large heaping scoop of lobster or crab meat. The bread/bun, however, was served warm and buttery. Their coleslaw is vinegar based which was a different touch that we enjoyed.

What we ordered was okay. I will definitely try more of the menu. I really enjoyed the hot honey lobster, just not the pickles. The default chips that come with the meal are unnecessary, or at least choose 1 type to serve. The crab in the nachos were cold & too many peppers (which were soggy). Lobster Rangoon was not the best but the side sauce helped a bit. I love seafood, so I will give another try at something else, but overall it has my attention.