"...I ordered the new “gigantic” lobster roll: 7 oz. of lobster meat stacked high in a bun that could barely contain it, and didn’t so much eat it as had a moment of spiritual enlightenment. Look at that thing!"

GROTON PATCH
CT Magazine Offers SECT Shoreline Seafood Guide

"...incredibly fresh, simply cooked seafood in abundance in a clam-shack atmosphere with plenty of porch."

USA TODAY TRAVEL
10 Great Places to Snack at a Seafood Shack

"This is the place to order a hot lobster roll, a regional variation on the dish that's usually served cold..."

IT'S LOBSTER SEASON - Get Cracking!
June 15 is National Lobster Day

... You have a limited amount of time to get to the famous Abbott's Lobster in the Rough until the last lobster in the season is served, or so says the prominently placed countdown on the Web site!

Enjoy hunks of sweet meat drenched in butter with the sounds and smells of sea air at this BYOA joint, where you'll sit on wooden picnic tables stretched over the Mystic shoreline.

As soon as the Abbott's famout 'hot lobster roll' hits your tongue, you will be in seafood ecstasy... "

Sandwich of the Week: Hot Lobster Roll at Abbott's in Noank, Connecticut

(excerpted) "... At Abbott's... "Our Famous Hot Lobster Roll" is not, in fact, a lobster roll as most of the world understands it. Instead, it's nothing more than a quarter-pound of lobster meat (about what you'd get out of one whole small lobster), drenched in butter and heaped on a toasted sesame seed-topped hamburger bun. ..."

MYSTIC, Conn., June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire -- Summer 2012 has arrived. Below is one of the 10 top reasons to consider Mystic Country, Connecticut for a vacation:

...Eat seafood. At a clam shack, fine restaurant, wherever. Fresh New England clam chowder, lobster, scallops and more are off the docks and delicious. Abbott's Lobster in Noank was recently selected as one of the "Bests" by Connecticut Magazine...

LOBSTER SHACKS
A Road Trip Guide to New England's Best Lobster Joints

Abbott's Lobster in the Rough has been geatured as one of the best lobster shacks in New England.

Author Mike Urban selected Abbott's as one of his dozen favorites during a May 2012 interview with Roadfood.com. "Abbott’s is a long-running lobster picnic. Hugely crowded on nice summer evenings, it specializes in warm-weather shore dinners. Start with bracing, steel-gray chowder, then littlenecks on the half shell and/or steamers or mussels by the bucket with broth and butter for dipping. The centerpiece of the feast is a big, steamed lobster in whatever size you think you can handle (and afford)."

YANKEE MAGAZINE SPRING 2012
Best 12 Lobster Shacks in New England

Abbott's Lobster in the Rough has been selected as one of the 12 best lobster shacks in New England.

"Abbott's cooks its lobsters via the low-steaming method, in massive cast-iron vaults, to seal in all the crustaceans' natural flavor. Dine next to the scenic harbor on a dock where striped bass feed on chowder crackers below. Abbott's is also famous for its hot, buttery lobster roll--the version that's a Connecticut original."

USA TODAY TRAVEL
Best Lobster Shacks in New England

"Low-steaming" to seal in moisture. Dine on a dock."

ABOUT.COM 2012
New England Reader's Choise Awards

Abbott's Lobster in the Rough has been selected as the winner in the 2012 About.com New England Travel Readers' Choice Award for Best Place to Eat A Lobster in New England.

Abbott's Lobster in the Rough, Noank
"Abbott's Lobster in the Rough in Noank, Connecticut, is known for its lobster dinners and hot-buttered lobster rolls, its BYOB policy and its picturesque waterside setting. Long lines at this seasonal seafood shack are testament to its popularity."

COASTAL LIVING: SUMMER 2011
America's Favorite Seafood Dives

From Coastal Living's annual guide to the top eateries where food is fried, broiled, grilled or otherwise slapped on butcher paper for your finger-licking, crab-cracking, French fry-munching pleasure. This year, winners (and finalists) were chosen by readers.

CONNECTICUT
Abbott's Lobster in the Rough, Noank
"This classic summer-only shack dishes out lobster rolls hot (on a burger bun) or cold (on a long bun). Picnic tables along the rocky waterfront offer views of Long Island Sound and the Mystic River."

SAVEUR: JULY 2011
New England Primer: Abbott's Lobster in the Rough

“On the way back from the Cape yesterday my boyfriend, his two kids, and I made a stop at Abbott's Lobster in the Rough in Noank, Connecticut. When Abbott's opens for the season round about Memorial Day, it's a harbinger of summer for those in the know. The place really gets rocking around the fourth of July. My original hot lobster roll was incredible and well worth the wait in the long queue. Abbott's sells straight up lobster, steamed and in the shell, but I prefer the lobster roll...” 

CLAM SHACKS: SUMMER 2011
The Ultimate Guide to New England's Most Fantastic Seafood Eateries (featuring 'sister restaurant, Costello's Clam Shack')

For water views, one can’t beat Costello’s, little brother to Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough, perched at the end of a pier in Noank. Urban says it holds its own with lobster rolls and steamers, plus its fried bivalves.


Abbott's Lobster was also featured on the CT.NOW / FOX News story.

NEW YORK TIMES: Connecticut Dining Seasonal Restaurants
Places That Reopen When the Flowers Do

May 2010: IT’S late morning on May 7, and Deirdre Mears is surveying the lunch crowd as the outdoor picnic tables get one last wipe-down. This is the day her family’s restaurant here, Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough, opens for the season, and some of her customers have been camping out since the morning before. “I answered the phone this morning,” she said, relaying the conversation: “When’s opening day? ” ... “Today.” ... “ Oh, thank God it’s summer.”

Abbott’s is among a dozen or so seasonal restaurants in Connecticut. For the most part, that means they are open only in warm weather — a notion that has been stretched far beyond the traditional span of Memorial Day to Labor Day to one that begins as early as St. Patrick’s Day and ends, in one case, as late as New Year’s. Many, like Abbott’s, have histories that go back decades through more than one owner, and almost all are family businesses with nostalgic underpinnings complementing the classic summer fare they offer — lobsters, clams, corn on the cob. At Abbott’s, where opening day includes gift certificates for the first customers (hence the extremely early arrivals), the aroma of lobster from 50-year-old low-pressure steam ovens mixes with a fading smell of fresh paint and the salt air from Long Island Sound out back.

“It’s like, O.K., winter’s officially over,” said one of the opening-day winners. Ms. Mears said customers in search of a continuous supply of her signature hot lobster rolls on round buns have urged her to open year round — and at the start of the season, when she’s energetic, she has contemplated it. But only then. “October rolls around and do I really want to do this?” she asked rhetorically, noting the 14-hour days. “I can’t imagine doing that year round.”

FODOR'S CHOICE: 2009
Restaurants In New Haven to Mystic

Fodor's Review: If you want some of the state's best lobsters, mussels, crabs, or clams on the half shell, head down to this unassuming seaside lobster shack in sleepy Noank, a few miles southwest of Mystic. Most seating is outdoors or on the dock, where the views of Noank Harbor are magnificent.

NEW ENGLAND TRAVE GUIDEL: 2009
Best Of New England Award

An unassuming BYOB lobster shack with bare wooden tables, Abbott's happens to offer some of the best seafood in the state. Bring a six-pack (or champagne), arrive early to avoid crowds, and order the hot lobster roll. You can thank us later.

CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE: APRIL 2009
2nd On The List Of 50 Places To Visit

The Seafood Feast at Abbott's Lobster in the Rough, Noank. This is one very good version of the New England shore dinner. The meal begins with clam chowder and shrimp in the rough followed by a heaping bowl of steamers and mussels, topped off with an Abbott's steamed lobster - accompanied by potato chips, coleslaw and drawn butter. All with a water view, too!

CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE: APRIL 2008
Readers' Choice Restaurant Awards 2008

Abbott’s Lobster voted Best Seafood Outdoor Dining by Connecticut Magazine's 2008 Reader's Choice!

ROADFOOD: FEBRUARY 2008
By Michael Stern | The Roadside Editor
February 21, 2008

Reviewers Write up

Abbott’s is a long-running lobster picnic. Hugely crowded on nice summer evenings, it specializes in warm-weather shore dinners. Start with bracing, steel-gray chowder, then littlenecks on the half shell and/or steamers or mussels by the bucket with broth and butter for dipping. If you arrive with a big appetite, you will need to eat many hors d’oeuvre because the lobsters, cooked to order, can take a while. They are beauties, available whatever size you need, up to ten pounds!; but if you don’t have the energy to crack, pick, suck, and pluck your way through a whole one, this is a grand place to have a hot lobster roll – nothing but hunks of pink sweet meat bathed in butter, sandwiched inside a warm bun. (Cold lobster salad rolls are also available, as are hot and cold crab rolls.)

Abbott’s is one of the prettiest places in Connecticut to dine al fresco. Seating is at bare wooden tables, either in the open or under tents. Some civilized sorts actually bring their own tablecloths as well as their own wine. The air is filled with the salty smack of shore breezes, and background music is provided by gulls screeching in the sky (but kept away from the tables by invisible netting).

Abbott's generally opens early in May, but at first only on weekends. It is open every day through Labor day, then weekends-only again in October.

Click here to read the full review

HARTFORD COURANT: FEBRUARY 2008
By MARYELLEN FILLO | The Hartford Courant
February 21, 2008

Connecticut Has Three Of "The Best Sandwiches In America"

Seems Connecticut can more than hold its own when it comes to serving up a good sandwich. The fried cod fish at Cove Fish Market in Stonington, the Hot Lobster Roll at Abbott's Lobster In the Rough in Noank and the Grilled Lobster and Cheese sandwich at Restaurant Bricco in West Hartford were all featured in an article headlined "The Best Sandwiches in America" in the March issue of Esquire.

"Wash it down with a glass of prosecco. You'll feel like you're celebrating," the author writes of the Bricco sandwich.

"When a fish starts its morning in the ocean and ends up in a deep-fryer that afternoon, the result is reliably tasty," the articles says in describing the Cove Fish Market's winning sandwich.

ESQUIRE: MARCH 2008
The Best Sandwiches in America

Hot Lobster
Roll Abbot’s Lobster in the Rough, Noank, Connecticut The best way to get to Abbott’s is by boat -- float in, tie up, and order the classic, made with a quarter pound of meat, melted butter, and not a drop of mayo. Get a table out on the dock. (117 Pearl Street; 860-536-7719)

Excerpted from


The Great Lobster Shack Tour
by Robb Walsh

Abbott's Lobster in the Rough, the final lobster shack on my itinerary, is located in Noank, Connecticut, which takes a magnifying glass to find on the map. But it's actually right across the water from Mystic Seaport, the area's biggest tourist attraction. It's 5:30 on a Saturday afternoon when I arrive, yet the parking lot is already full and there's a long line out front. Out back, there must be eighty or ninety picnic tables spread out over a grassy lawn that looks out on a gorgeous bay dotted with tiny islands. I am meeting my brother and his family here, so I claim an empty table and wait.

As soon as they show, up, we get in line. Since Abbott's specializes in giant lobsters, I decide to go all out and order a three-pounder with all the trimmings, "I'll share with the kids," I tell my brother. As we wait for our order, I take a look around. Abbott's is a BYOB restaurant and we've brought a six-pack, but I'm jealous of the folks next to us who are icing down a bottle of champagne in a silver wine bucket. Other diners have even brought linen tablecloths. The lobstermen probably wouldn't approve of such frippery, but evidently the folks down here in Connecticut aren't as shy about living it up.

When our number is called, I go get the appetizers. The clam chowder is outstanding, and the steamers are hot and tender. Finally, the lobster is ready, and it turns out to be the size of a sea monster. The claws are as big as my hands, and the tail is as thick as my wrist. The kids eat next to nothing, so I finish the tail and claws by myself, then discover that each leg also has a huge piece of meat inside.

As I crack another leg open, a restored whaling boat cruises by a few hundred yards away. The youngsters are intrigued and run down to the water to see, They don't want any more lobster, and neither do I, actually. But I'm still a bit sad that this is the last stop on my tour. Eating lobster on a paper plate seemed unusual to me a week ago, but as I sit here at my picnic table, finishing off a beer and watching the magnificent old ship head out to sea, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever really enjoy lobster in a fancy restaurant again.

"If you don't mind waiting at peak summer meal times Abbott's Lobster in the Rough just might be the best place on the seaboard for lobster. With picnic tables spread out on a lawn overlooking Noank Harbor, the air perfumed by the sweet smell of pink lobster meat plucked in big pieces from its shell, it can be summer paradise,"

-- Jane and Michael Stern, USA Today