As a kid growing up in Tempe, Arizona, I never could have imagined that I would one day become a news reporter in Harpswell, Maine.
The notion that I would then eat a Harpswell-sourced lobster roll in my hometown of Tempe — and write a story about it — would have seemed even more far-fetched, like the lobster roll version of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.”
But life is filled with many unexpected twists and turns, just as the lobster rolls at Angie’s Lobster, an Arizona-only drive-thru chain, are filled with lobster meat from Mackerel Cove on Bailey Island in Harpswell. And since I was flying home to Arizona for the holidays, I decided to try a few.
Angie’s is the brainchild of husband-and-wife team Tony and Roushan Christofellis, who founded the company and named it after Tony’s late mother, a Greek immigrant and Boston-area seafood restaurateur.
Aside from the novelty of selling Maine lobster rolls in the Grand Canyon state, Angie’s is known for its low prices, bare-bones dining experience and the freshness of its seafood.
You can read an excellent piece on how the operation works by Harpswell Anchor contributing writer Jeffrey Good. The company keeps prices low by “chasing efficiencies” and owning its own wharf and lobster processing plant, both in Maine.
Still, I didn’t quite know what to expect when my dad and I rolled up to the six-restaurant chain’s Tempe location, in the parking lot of a Food City-anchored shopping center, sandwiched between a Taco Bell and a KFC.
We arrived around noon, and there were several cars lined up for the drive-thru, so we decided to go inside. It is possible to dine in when eating at Angie’s, at least at the Tempe location. Just don’t expect to see many other people in there.
The Tempe location’s dining area consists of four high-top tables, a few wall-mounted photos, menus and signs, and a metal counter with a small sliding door at the far end. No workers can be seen.
Orders are placed via smartphone, and the food is delivered by an Angie’s employee who only opens the sliding door for a few moments to hand over the order. When my dad and I visited on Dec. 29, that employee was shift leader Manuel Renteria, who was kind enough to pose for a photo before handing us our food and closing the door.
There were a few other customers in the small dining area, including Joni Oerter, who had just driven more than 25 miles north from the city of Maricopa to try Angie’s for the first time.
Oerter had been tantalized by the promise of a fresh, $10 Maine lobster roll and had been wanting to try it for a long time. She and her group agreed it was well worth the long drive.
“We love lobster, but it’s (usually) so expensive to get,” Oerter said. “It was really great.”
My dad and I decided to try three different lobster rolls: one served warm with melted butter, another served chilled with herb mayo and lemon butter, and one containing two fried lobster half-tails tossed in spicy honey with herb mayo and a pickle slice.
We ordered the warm and chilled rolls each with fries and a drink, and the fried lobster tail roll we ordered a la carte. The entire bill came to about $33.50.
And the quality? It was surprisingly good for the price. The freshness of the lobster meat in the two traditional rolls was just as you’d expect from a seafood shack in Maine, but for a fraction of the price. Each roll contains a quarter-pound of lobster meat. The butter and mayo each come in sealed pouches containing enough to add a little or a lot, depending on preference. Even the fries were good.
The spicy honey fried lobster tail roll was more of a mixed bag. My dad felt that the spicy honey completely overwhelmed the taste of the lobster. I found the honey taste delicious, but not very lobster-y. It’s probably a good item for people who like tasty fried things more than they do lobster.
Another lesser-known fact about Angie’s is that it serves quite a bit more than just lobster rolls. There are shrimp rolls (grilled or fried), and a variety of breakfast rolls with eggs and bacon, sausage or fried lobster. There’s even a breakfast meal with French toast. But we didn’t try any of those items.
My dad, Jim, who spent several summers in Maine in his youth and has visited multiple times since then, said the lobster rolls at Angie’s were just as good as the ones he’s eaten fresh in Maine.
“It’s a great deal — it really is,” he said.
