The Harbor Grill and Crab Deck

It’s hard to tell exactly what went wrong, but this establishment’s new proprietor (s) managed to turn a reliably mediocre dining experience (Phillips) into a reliably terrible one. What’s worse, Harbor Grill and Crab Deck does so while charging a premium for Garçon de cuisine-​grade dishes. But that’s if its most basic of offerings are even available. No more Fish & Chips? What? No more Crispy Calamari? Excuse me? How is that possible for a restaurant whose menu is underpinned by fried bar food? I mean, even Sheetz can dependably put out an order of Fish & Chips while I’m topping off my tank. But a waterfront restaurant in the heart of one of the most prominent eastern seaports can’t figure out how to steadily serve up a few strips of fried cod — for $ 20.95? Seems at best like a terrible business decision. In any case, wanting something to pair with my overpriced draft beer, I settled (and I do mean settled) for the $ 19.95 Crab Cake Sandwich. And wow… nothing like biting into a mushy lump of lukewarm mayonnaise. I mostly passed on the accompanying «home cooked potato chips,» as they were obviously cooked in burnt oil, and the ketchup bottle set on the table was simply too filthy to touch. Enough said, though. This restaurant just proves that location isn’t everything!

Service is average at best. Hosting staff felt like a bickering mother daughter combo. For a seafood place, the menu was lacking. Ordered the steamed shrimp just to test the place out because we were already suspicious and ended up leaving without finishing. The potential is there with the location and views, but clearly squandered.

As a long time visitor of Annapolis, I desperately wanted to bring boyfriend to Phillips’ to get the infamous MD crab cakes. As I’ve been living in Florida for the past 4 years, I was out of the loop that Phillips’ had been bought out (or moved, who knows).
Came here at 7ish on a Saturday and wasn’t shocked to hear that there was about an hour wait for a table. No big deal, there is a bar we can hang out at. So we did. The hostess staff didn’t give us a pager, they just opted to call when the table was ready-​so make sure the person with more phone battery puts their number on the list. It did take the full hour for the table to be ready and then we were ushered up to the second floor «crab deck».
Where this place loses MAJOR points is that when there was an hour wait for tables, there were about 40% of the tables upstairs EMPTY. Either they don’t have enough waitstaff on a weekend night during the Christmas season (which is insane for a downtown locale) or they are purposely quoting longer waits to seem more in demand like a more high profile spot.
The food was amazing-​I don’t care where you get crab cakes around here, they’re pretty hard to mess up. Especially when you haven’t had them in a long time (me) or ever (my BF), you appreciate the MD crab. Florida stone crab isn’t the same thing. However you could tell our waitress was spread thin because she was few and far between, not exactly bothering us but also kind of not exactly attentive either.
I will say that I was impressed with the downstairs bartender-​I was in a bit of a Chardonnay haze between walking upstairs between the bar and our table and neither me nor BF noticed I left my purse on the back of the barstool. When I realized almost an hour later as I went to the ladies’ room, panicked-​I ran downstairs to ask and sure enough, it was behind the bar. That guy deserves extra points just for the sheer reason that my expensive smart car key didn’t need to get reprogrammed and replaced!

Just awful. Worst coffee ever, served in a small cup, only half filled. Turkey club with too much mayo and green tomatoes. Fries cold and way over salted. Bathroom filthy.

I loved the food there, we got there margarita flatbread and it was amazing! it was sooo good and we got chicken tenders that was delicious, i also saw wings and i wish i tried those too! The only reason i gave it 3 stars was for the lack of service, it was horrible, we went on a sunday and our waitress was miserable looking, she ignored us and went to a table that hadn’t even sat down to take there drinks and then we waited another 5 minutes until she came to ours to take our drinks. I would go back again but just for the food, it was down right amazing!

Had an awesome time. MJ was our server and he was amazing. Service with a smile and even accommodated vegan requests from my sister and I! The food was excellent as well. I ordered a margarita flat bread with no cheese and it was AMAZING. They backed with with a few peppers, some olive oil and a delicious balsamic glaze drizzled on top. The sweet potato fries were great also. The view is awesome and we felt well taken care of. Thanks a lot!

We were looking for a place to watch the football game on Saturday night and wanted decent food too. This restaurant is over by the water and not sandwiched between all the other places, so a little less crowded. We sat down in the bar area and it wasn’t noisy but had tons of tv screens. It turned out to be the perfect spot to not only watch the game but eat dinner too.
The crabcake sandwich was not bad… better than the one at McGarvey’s but not quite as good as the Dock side grill nearby. The bacon shrimp wrap was decent too. They have an extensive selection of beers on tap which was really nice. We even found some very similar to those we had been drinking in Germany just days before. The prices are pretty standard for the area.
The service was outstanding so for that and the menu selection would definitely return.

Wow the reviews are bad but I thought this place was good. We are at the crab deck. Good beer selection although they were out of the first two we ordered. The shrimp tacos rock. The squash and crab soup was lovely as was the fish and chips. Love the fries. Our server was very nice and everything came out fast. The only downside is that it’s a little pricey but not terrible.

As most will know it, previous location of Phillips…
Slow service to start with, but quick & efficient after my order was taken.
Crab cake sandwich had little if any filler, I substituted the chips for their onion rings which appeared fresh-​made with thick onion centers.
Great place to catch food while waiting for a harbor cruise or anything else in Annapolis.

Harbor Grill is located close to the water and the patio has a nice overview of the boats coming and going. I wish I had reviewed the Unilocal reviews before dining here, but it’s probably better that I hadn’t. The service is incredibly slow, and inefficient. Ordered beers to start, and they took FOREVER to arrive. In fact, I have a feeling they kept going to the wrong table. Eventually the drinks arrived, and then we waited another very long time to get our food. The crab cakes were high on my list as it’s Annapolis… and it’s a local fare. Am wondering if crabs are hard to find at this particular time of year, as the prices were quite high and they are priced seasonally. Had a crab cake sandwich, which was enjoyable. The crab cakes were quite small, but it had sufficient crab. The salad was nice, and overall had a nice time. The server was overwhelmed, but quite nice. More servers on staff in the busy tourist months might not be a bad idea…

Went with the family, food was great, little bit of a wait but it was worth it. We ordered the crab cakes special, and crab legs bucket. It was much better then another restaurant we visit on our last trip to the area. It is a little pricey but cheaper than other similar places. The portions were plenty for us, we didn’t finish it all. My 3 year old loved the atmosphere and opening the crab legs. Would go again for sure. Best crab cakes we have had!

We came here for lunch — got an order of medium sized crabs ($ 30 for six), two ears of corn and some Old Bay chips. The bill totalled $ 60 for that plus two beers and a cocktail. A bit pricey. It was a sunny Saturday and the place was busy but we were seated fairly fast in the open air dining spade. Yeah, it’s overlooking a parking lot, but you can also see the marina and docks.
We have nothing exceptional to say but overall it was decent. Good, fast service, the crabs were great (except for one which was terrible) and the beer was cold. The experience was good and we’d go back again.

I have to say I have never eaten here and now I never will. I talked to a server who had just been fired the day before at the Dr’s office. Apparently this kid had been told he had to work Sunday even though he was off and he told them he wasn’t feeling well. They made him work 11 hours on Sunday all the while he was telling them he didn’t feel good and he had a fever and a sore throat. Apparently he wasn’t well because today he is in the Dr’s office with strep throat. Beware all diners who were there yesterday. This kid was there sick and coughing on everything all day.
I expect the restaurants I patronize to have a healthy staff and to not spread germs all over my food. Eeew

I was expecting a very touristy place, and it is, but the food is good and service is better. The open air Crab Deck brings in some nice breezes, but the view is mostly the public parking lot. I ordered the fish tacos and was disappointed. They tasted good, but too much sauce and stuff rather than a simple fish taco. My kids ordered the crab cakes and it seems that was the right choice. Highly recommend this place after walking around the old town and make sure you order the crab cakes. You will not be disappointed.

If I could give it 0 stars I would. We went there with friends during the week. The place was empty so maybe we should have known better. The waitress screwed up the drinks, kept having to remind her what we ordered, the food was nothing short of ordinary and bland. We spent a small fortune for food I could have made 10X better at home for a quarter of the cost. I personally got mussels which were supposedly PEI (Prince Edward Island). Never have I seen smaller and more shriveled up mussels. I seriously doubt they were actually PEI’s (as I have been eating them for 25 years including at PEI !) No self respecting fisherman from PEI would serve those.
The décor is exactly as it was as Phillips. The ladies room is next to the kitchen and is brutally hot. Oh and to add insult to injury we asked for separate heck which got screwed up as well.
Too bad they cant get a decent restaurant in such a great location. Maybe the next one to move in there will be better.

I’m an Annapolis local. and I haven’t been to this location for ages. Seen it become a handful of different restaurants and just kind of shrugged and continued going to our local favorites. Last night, we had some family in from out of town and thought the nice open air of the «crab deck» and view of the harbor might be nice for them so, despite the awful reviews on Unilocal,we figured it would be adequate even if the food was mediocre, the view might make up for it.
All of us enjoyed the food greatly! It was a happy surprise to me after seeing these reviews, to the point that I felt I needed to come here just to offer counterpoint. I’ve eaten at plenty of overpriced seafood places that rely on the fact that they don’t need to be good if they have atmosphere or location but I’m happy to report that all of our food was a notch or two above what I’d expect from a place that knows they have the tourist money just on location alone.
I had a bacon cheeseburger, which is pretty basic, but I judge burgers by how the meat tastes on it’s own and it was flavorful and beefy. The bacon was crispy and the fries were suitably potato flavored, tender on the inside and crispy (and seasoned!) on the outside. Above average french fries show someone cares, I think. It’s a small detail but most places just toss anything next to a burger because, if you’re getting a burger, you obviously don’t care about food right? hah
The others got the snow crab leg pot, the fish tacos, a salad with a healthy looking slab of salmon on it and some cups of Maryland crab soup, all of which got enthusiastic thumbs up.
The only hiccup was that I ordered the French Dip and was told that it was being moved off the «crab deck» menu and only available in the main restaurant. Not sure why, but I was informed when I tried to order it, so it was easy to pick something else.
I liked the food enough and the scenery is nice (even for us locals) that I’d consider going there on our own. not just while entertaining. If it’s as bad as others think it was, then maybe I’ll amend my review but for now, we were extremely happy with the food and service.

SKIP THIS PLACE… ZERO STARS
After waiting 20 minutes to be seated, we were taken upstairs to an open air restaurant. We ordered our food and drink right away. The drink order (two waters and two sodas) took 20 minutes to arrive. After the waitress left, we realized that one of the sodas was wrong but we couldn’t get that resolved because she didn’t return to our table until 45 minutes later to tell us that our food would be right out. 10 minutes later, she returned to tell us that the french dip (one of our four orders) was not available. We left. I’ll be very surprised if this place lasts 6 months.

I have been here twice, both times I have been EXTREMELY disappointed in the service The first time I went was with a large group of 10 people, we were seated quickly (which likely wasn’t a good sign that they had room for 10 on a Saturday evening) and the hostess was very nice. We sat on the Crab deck where 8 of us ordered drinks (all beers). 30+ minutes later… we finally received our drinks. I did not get food this time around; but a few in our party did (maybe 4 of us), and we were there for nearly 2hrs; really unacceptable how slow the service was.
I visited again this past weekend in hopes that they had fixed their service. When my fiancée and I arrived, we were greeted by the hostess, and told there was a wait, so we sat at the bar downstairs to get drinks while we waited. I ordered a beer, it was poured incorrectly and for some reason was completely cloudy, yet this beer was STILL served to me (no the bartender did NOT question this for some reason). After mentioning it to the bartender, he did eventually pour me another beer to replace it. I then asked him for water, not once, not twice, but three times; each time I was acknowledged and said he would, but guess what, the water never came (there were 5 other people at the bar so its not like it was busy). Eventually, We paid our tab and were escorted to the crab deck for seating.
The seating area is nice, it has a pretty good view of the harbor. And man, we had time to enjoy it! We were seated and NO ONE even looked at us for nearly 20 minutes even though there were plenty of servers standing around chatting with each other. Eventually, I was able to grab the hostess who managed to gather one of these servers to help us. She was a nice server, but again told us she would get us water but it NEVER came (they seem to struggle with water for some reason, which is a BAD sign). Anyways, we got their crab dip, which was good but honestly was mostly cream cheese, I’m pretty sure that there wasn’t even a lump of crab in it. My fiancée had the fish and chips, I had the fish tacos. Both were good, but certainly not worth the price ($ 15 each).
So needless to say I will NOT be back here, the food is fine, but it is over priced, and the service is just TERRIBLE. There are plenty of other places in the harbor to go to, and I HIGHLY suggest going anywhere else.

This is a new spot where Phillips used to be. We went here to try it out at happy hour and kick the tires. The Crab Deck itself is upstairs on the right in the open air section. Although if you want to take part in happy hour you have to sit at the small bar downstairs which is unfortunate. We ordered the crispy fried Calamari and, It was horrible. Just really greasy and, not pleasant at all. It cam with some pickled onion salad thing that was not good either.
We finished our beers, that were good! and moved along to another restaurant.

Not great. Nice view and good potential, terrible execution. Deck was less than half full and they couldn’t find enough menus for our party of four. The server was overwhelmed — had to go to the serving station to get sweetener. I had a soft shell crab sandwich and onion rings. Both were burnt — the oil was clearly too hot. One of our party had the king crab legs — it was just a handful and they forgot the baguette. The calamari appetizer was served cold and came out with the rest of the food. Not sure why they had «Steakhouse» on their sign. There was one tenderloin buried deep in the menu.
Much better places to go in downtown; I expected better from the operators of Wild Orchid but apparently they don’t care anymore which may explain why the relocated Wild Orchid failed.