Summer may be winding down, but Tender Crush is giving New Yorkers a couple more reasons to keep the seasonal food runs going.
The SoHo favorite, known for its crispy chicken tenders, indulgent sides and over-the-top coolers, has added two limited-time specials to the menu: Crispy Shrimp and a Pineapple Coconut Cooler. Both are available through August 31, making them an easy excuse to squeeze in one more summer food stop before the season officially winds down.
First up is the new Crispy Shrimp ($15), Tender Crush’s first menu item to move beyond chicken. Fresh shrimp are coated in the brand’s signature house batter and fried until golden and crispy, then served with a creamy buttermilk chili sauce for dipping. The result is essentially a seafood spin on the crispy tenders that helped put Tender Crush on the map, with the same crunchy, indulgent approach in a different format.
For anyone who likes a little heat with their fried food, the buttermilk chili sauce adds a creamy, tangy kick that pairs well with the crisp shrimp. It also gives the new menu item a familiar Tender Crush feel while marking a small departure from the restaurant’s chicken-focused lineup.
Our NYSF Experience
We stopped by the SoHo location on a Thursday afternoon to put the Crispy Shrimp to the test, and the batter stayed impressively crunchy several bites in. That’s worth mentioning because fried seafood doesn’t always keep its texture when it’s been hanging around during a busy lunch service. The buttermilk chili sauce is more tangy than genuinely hot, so anyone looking for a serious kick will probably want to add some extra hot sauce. After years of covering the fast-casual scene around SoHo, we’ve seen plenty of restaurants try branching out from their signature protein. Sometimes it works, sometimes it feels like a detour. Here, the shrimp feels much more like a natural extension of what Tender Crush already does well.
Then there’s the Pineapple Coconut Cooler ($15), a frozen tropical drink inspired by a piña colada and topped with vanilla soft-serve custard. Sweet, cold, and creamy, it’s very much built for the final stretch of summer heat. The combination of pineapple and coconut gives it a vacation-inspired flavor, while the vanilla custard topping adds the signature over-the-top touch that Tender Crush fans have come to expect from the brand’s coolers.
Our NYSF Experience
The frozen drink topped with custard is really about the contrast in textures, and honestly, that’s where it works best. We found the coconut flavor noticeably more prominent than the pineapple, giving it more of a coconut-forward piña colada vibe rather than a perfectly balanced pineapple-coconut mix. We’d recommend ordering this when you’re already planning to sit down for a meal, because it’s substantial enough to work as dessert by itself. It also begins to separate relatively quickly, so you’ll want to get stuck in rather than letting it sit around while you finish your food.
And if you already got hooked on the Diet Coke Cooler earlier this summer, there’s good news: it’s sticking around a little longer. The frozen treat, which combines Diet Coke with vanilla custard, has been extended due to popular demand. It’s now available as part of a $20 combo with two crispy or grilled tenders, making it an easy option for anyone looking to turn the cooler into a full meal.
The extended Diet Coke Cooler also gives diners another way to experience one of Tender Crush’s more playful takes on the classic fast-food fountain drink. Served frozen and paired with vanilla custard, it lands somewhere between a nostalgic soda treat and a dessert.
Our NYSF Experience
Of the two options we tried, the $20 combo is the one we’d choose for a proper lunch. Two tenders plus the cooler make it feel like a complete meal rather than a quick snack. One small but noticeable detail: we preferred the grilled tender with the cooler. The grilled version provides a better counterpoint to all that sweetness, while the crispy tenders can start to feel a little too rich alongside the custard. It’s not something you’d necessarily pick up from the menu alone, but after eating the entire combo, the difference becomes pretty obvious.
With the Crispy Shrimp bringing something new to the menu and the Pineapple Coconut Cooler leaning fully into summer flavors, the limited-time lineup offers a little bit of everything. Whether you’re stopping by for a quick lunch, grabbing dinner in SoHo or simply looking for an excuse to treat yourself before Labor Day, the specials make a timely addition to the menu.
The Crispy Shrimp and Pineapple Coconut Cooler are both available for a limited time through August 31, so if you’ve been meaning to check out Tender Crush, this is a pretty good excuse to make the trip. And if you’ve already visited, the new offerings give you a reason to go back before they disappear.
Visit Tender Crush online at www.tender-crush.com and follow along on social @TenderCrush. You can also find Tender Crush at locations in SoHo, NYC, Rio Las Vegas, and JFK Terminal 8.
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Ron Rossi is a New York native, marketing director, and self-styled “Jaded Traveler” who has spent a career crossing borders — both professionally and culinarily. Having lived and worked across Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America, Ron has eaten his way through nearly 100 countries on six continents, always with the same philosophy: the best food belongs to the people, not the guidebooks. He gravitates toward mid-range, budget, and street food — the kind of meal a local nurse, teacher, or taxi driver would actually eat — and believes that a country’s character is most honestly revealed not in its fine dining rooms but in its markets, cart stalls, and neighborhood joints. At New York Street Food, Ron brings that same globe-spanning hunger to the five boroughs, hunting down the dishes that feed everyday New Yorkers and the stories behind the hands that make them.
