Question for New England Dopers about lobster pounds.

Cafe Society
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I’m not sure if Cafe’ Society is the proper spot for this thread but I’ve seen a lot of threads dealing with food and restaurants here so I decided to at least start it in this forum.

I’ve never been to New England (I know my travels have been quite limited but that’s another story) but I do know about the many lobster pounds and shacks that dot the roadside during summer. I was just wondering how expensive these places are when compared with a typical seafood restaurant. Also, is lobster significantly cheaper in New England than in other parts of the country? It’s definitely a high-end menu item here in the Pacific Northwest. Finally, I’d like to find out what places you recommend eating at for the time I end up in your part of the U.S.

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I am not a huge lobster eater but you can definitely get it pretty cheaply around here, especially the further north you go from Boston. I doubt you can get it anywhere in the country cheaper than you can in coastal Maine, for example. There are lots of little places along the way that sell it, usually along with other types of seafood.

This place looks pretty typical: http://www.lobsterhouse.com/
Many places are even more basic.

I’m having trouble finding exact current prices. The couple of places I have found say “market price, ask your server”. You would basically be buying it fresh off the boat.

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And it is indeed cheaper than most elsewhere in the country, because everyplace else has shipping and handling charges.

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It also depends on where you go for lobstah, prices can range anywhere from $8-14 for a full-on lobster dinner with all the trimmins’, lobster rolls range from $6-12, at least here in Southern coastal Maine (York, Kittery, Wells, Kennebunk, etc…)

what I find amusing though, is that in the mall district in Portsmouth/Newington NH there’s a Red Lobster resturant, that makes NO sense, having a “McSeafood” resturant in an area known for REAL seafood resturants…

(Yes, i know it’s because there’s an Olive Garden in the same lot and those two resturants are built together, but there’s a MUCH better Itallian resturant down the road, “Mama D’s Casa Di Pasta”, family owned, hand-made food, the big-bowl-o-salad you get with every meal is exeptional, the dressing is awesome, and their pasta, well, i think Homer Simpson put it best when he said… <droools…>)