Last Updated on January 16, 2021
From time to time, Aldi likes to trot out a pair of seafood-pasta dishes as part of its frozen Special Buy rotation. Let’s take a look at them.
Specially Selected Lobster Mac & Cheese
This particular frozen entree comes in your standard frozen plastic tray covered in film. There are two ways to cook it: conventional oven and microwave. The conventional oven instructions, which are listed as preferred, involve preheating the oven to 400 degrees, removing the tray from the sleeve, peeling off the film, and then cooking the tray on a baking sheet for 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165 degrees. Once cooked, you let sit for two minutes before eating.
The microwave instructions, by contrast, call for piercing the film 3-4 times, then cooking on high heat for 8-9 minutes, following by allowing it to stand for one minute before stirring and serving.
The box says the tray is good for two servings. It’s not a massive amount, but we thought it was generous enough for two people, especially if supplemented with a side or two, which makes a lot of sense (to us, at least) with a dish like this one.
Overall, this entree is pretty good. The pasta is good, with a solid white cheddar-style cheese sauce. Baking it gives it a little crispiness on top that you’ll be familiar with if you’ve ever baked macaroni and cheese. Most importantly, there are real, honest-to-goodness chunks of lobster meat in the mixture. My biggest fear on something like this was that it would scrimp on the lobster, but that’s not the case — there’s plenty here, enough that you’ll feel like it’s a real lobster mac and cheese, not a mac and cheese with bits of lobster in it.
Specially Selected Shrimp & Lobster Bake
The Shrimp and Lobster Bake has identical cooking instructions as the Lobster Mac & Cheese, both for the conventional oven method and the microwave approach. This means, conveniently, that you can cook both trays together in the oven or perhaps in a large microwave.
Unlike the Lobster Mac & Cheese, which is a macaroni style dish, the Shrimp and Lobster Bake is more like a thinner version of seafood lasagna. The sauce is a combination of tomato and cheese, and there are both mini-shrimps and bits of lobster scattered about the bake. Like the Lobster Mac & Cheese, the seafood component feels like a real part of the dish rather than an afterthought, and while the two-serving amount isn’t huge, it’s good for two people, especially if you throw a side or two into the mix for good measure.
This tastes different from the Mac & Cheese — the tomato base is one reason — but it’s good on its own merits. We’re not sure it’s quite as good as the seafood lasagna recipe we like to make, but this is pretty good anyway, and it’s a lot faster, even in the oven, than cooking up a recipe from scratch.
The Verdict:
We found both the Specially Selected Lobster Mac & Cheese and the Specially Selected Shrimp and Lobster Bake to be solid entrees, with a good set of ingredients, good flavor, and just the right amount of seafood in each. We recommend both.
Save your money folks!
After searching for anything even remotely looking like a piece of lobster I ended up trashing this horrible meal. It was dry, NO lobster and more breadcrumbs than cheese.
I found the lobster Mac & cheese to be bland, dry, and very blah. It was so yummy and flavorless I ended up throwing it out. I did enjoy the shrimp and lobster bake. It had good flavor and texture. There was nothing left so that’s a good sign!
I found both dishes to be pretty good for the price. The mac and cheese was a little dry but I felt I probably cooked it a little to long. I did find some seafood in it but not much but again for $5.99, who can complain.
The lobster Mac n cheese is very good. Could use a little extra seasoning but the quality of it is excellent. Actually better than some upscale restaurants I have had it at. And there is a sufficient amount of high quality lobster in it as well. Great value and very good taste. Highly recommended.
We didn’t care for the Seafood bake. It was a little too salty. There was some seafood in it, but mostly tasted like cheese.
A joke !
Not enough lobster to use the name.. Rest bland and tasteless.. Save your money — avoid this “Lobster” Mac and Cheese..
I searched and searched for a piece of lobster, I finally found one dry piece! This was a complete disappointment and pricey (for Aldi).
Fishy!!! Sooo gross! Had to throw it away!!! It smelled super fishy amd tasted just like it smelled. I like fish and lobster but this was horrible!!! I find it interesting that people seem to either like it or hate it but no one loved it. Bummed my money went in the trash 😞
Total garbage complete rip off I swear there were 3 tiny pieces of lobster so glad I only bought 1 I literally threw 3/4 of this entree out lots of bread crumbs very bland I’m really mad because I spent like $7 or $8 on this shit
No lobster at all in ours and it smelled like dead fish from a very nasty ocean. Tossed it after first bite. Horrible product.
Same here
Not one piece of lobster or shrimp in my entire carton. Just some foul-smelling seafood mush that looked it was put through a blender. I love Aldi’s but this is far and away the worst product I’ve ever purchased from them.
I agree! I was so looking forward to having this as a side dish. Fortunately, I tested it out one evening before serving it to guests. It was very foul tasting. The chunks of lobster (so they say) were evident but the flavor was terrible! Very bottom feeder if that makes sense. Crayfish from a suburban lake is what I relate it to. Aldi should disscontiue this product at once!
Its defo not lobster in aldi’s lobster mac n cheese..its almost certainly crayfish tails..I’ve never known lobster that tiny n that shape
Mac and cheese was very good, I had plenty of seafood and that was a pleasant surprise. Such a nice alternative to the American Kraft and other ‘instant’ mac and cheese and held up well being microwaved. I wasnt as keen on the lobster and shrimp bake. While it was tasty enough and I didn’t hate it; it wasnt my great; almost too rich with a confusing taste. However, if u do get it. I’d suggest baking versus microwave.
I was disappointed with this Lobster Mac & Cheese. Mac & Cheese was dry and a few very tiny pieces of lobster sitting on the top. Looked like crawfish tails . They were tough too. Wasted money on this Aldi try.
Per my wife: “The Shrimp and Lobster Bake tasted more like someone vomited a crabcake in between two noodles. It was a contributing factor in the punitive nature of our existence. Would not recommend.”
This was absolutely disgusting and it smelled like rotten fish. I made it for my son and he said it was horrible tasting. I tried it and spit it out. I love just about everything from Aldi but this meal was really really bad. I wish I could get my money back.
Neither my husband nor I liked the lobster mac & cheese at all. It had a strange texture, more like scrambled eggs than cheese. It even tasted a bit like eggs gone bad. I saw no evidence of lobster in mine, husband has a couple small chunks. Wouldn’t bring this home again, even if it was free.
The Lobster Mac and Cheese was horrible. There was nothing in this dish that resembled lobster. I threw it in the garbage. The Shrimp and Lobster Bake was also terrible. There were about 4 tiny shrimp, but nothing that resembled lobster. I threw this in the garbage.
The Lobster Mac and Cheese was NASTY… Consistency and taste was bad… Only had 4 little pieces of lobster in it and a very strong seafood taste and the cheese sauce. I couldn’t eat it.
I was really looking forward to the lobster and crayfish mac and cheese , what a dissapointment that was. No lobster, very few bits of crayfish and so bland absolutely tasteless not worth £5.99, i couldn’t eat it .
Found this on sale 5/3/23 for $3.49 at a Cleveland inner city store. What was presented as lobster was probably langostino, not the US beastie pictured on the package. Tiny shrimp-like pieces, very little flavor. I find it inoffensive at best.