When I first moved to New York City, the biggest craze around lobster was at Luke’s Lobster, this little shop in the East Village that was famous for lobster and crab from Maine, brought in fresh daily from the state that is famous for these delicious, rich, and expensive crustaceans. Luke’s aimed to make lobster “affordable” for the New Yorkers who couldn’t always shell out the $25-45 for full lobster or lobster roll, and when I first moved here, that sounded really exciting. I think back in 2008-2009, the cost was around $15 for a lobster roll.

I wasn’t very experienced eating lobster or lobster rolls then, so then, I thought, wow, that’s a good deal. So my friend and I went, and although we both preferred the crab roll over the lobster roll, neither of us thought it was small.

Now, fast forward nine years later, I have this work perk where I can get free lunch at work. My colleague organized a group order for all of us to get lobster and crab rolls. And I hadn’t had these in ages, so I was just excited to try it again.

When the delivery came and I opened my box, half a crab roll and half a lobster roll, I was shocked by how small they were. Each half roll was literally three bites. I made it into six bites by taking the tiniest bites possible to savor it longer. But the rolls just looked so sad and puny.

I realize these are first world problems, but now Luke’s, having expanded throughout New York in multiple neighborhoods and having increased their prices, really doesn’t have any spark for me anymore.