We hope twin-lobster deal comes around again before the year 2020

As part of a Leap Year promotion, two steamed lobsters with two house side dishes were only $29 on Monday at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus, one of the most expensive restaurants in North Jersey. 

Normally, a single lobster with two side dishes is listed on the menu for $34.95.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On Monday night, the dining room at Legal Sea Foods in Paramus was filled with the sound of contented customer cracking open steamed lobsters and enjoying the sweet, tender meat.

The Leap Year promotion on the last day of February -- two lobsters with two house sides for $29 -- isn't scheduled to be repeated until 2020.

But our server said the restaurant, one of the most expensive in North Jersey, plans to offer it again before then. 

We hope so, recalling the shocking $81 lunch tab, including tax and tip, on our last visit to Legal Sea Foods in September.

On Monday, our total for four lobsters, four side dishes, wine and ginger ale was $91.04, including tax and an 18% tip.

Despite high menu prices, the service and the complimentary bread leave a lot to be desired.

Our waiter misunderstood our order, and another server brought us only one twin lobster special. 

Although that was easily remedied, the house-made rolls are awful, with doughy interiors that go to waste. They are served with butter, so you have to ask for extra-virgin olive oil.

A flight of red wine -- three 2-ounce glasses of pinot noir, chianti and malbec -- was $10.75.

With her lobsters, my wife chose the excellent coleslaw and delicious sauteed spinach, above. I had brown rice and sauteed spinach with mine.

Not long after we arrived for our 4:30 reservation, and was shown to a booth, the dining room filled up with customers who had read about the Leap Year lobster promotion in a local newspaper -- "an extra day, an extra lobster."

Legal Sea Foods, Paramus (201-843-8483), is part of Garden State Plaza, New Jersey's largest mall. Web site: Fresh fish in landlocked Paramus