Pappy’s Crab House

After reading the reviews on Unilocal,we tried Pappy’s tonight for dinner. Our experience surpassed 5 stars!
There was four of us and we all arrived hungry. Everything on the menu was appealing but we finally narrowed things down. We started out with appetizers. The Baltimore fries, hush puppies, and Chook-​style (spicy onion and butter sauce) peel-​and-​eat shrimp. The fries were AWESOME! The other couple we were with didn’t like hush puppies. Our friend commented, «What’s the big deal? They are only balls of fried dough.» My husband and I convienced them to try the Pappy Crab’s hush puppies and now they are fans. After the former non-​believer popped that «ball of fried dough» into his mouth his tune changed to, «Oh my God, these are amazing!» The peel-​and-​eats were equally delicious.
For entrees two of us had the Pots. One Pappy Pot and one Delco Pot. Each pot is certianly enough food for two people or one starving giant. I was the one who ordered the Delco Pot, the abundant seafood was perfectly cooked and had amazing flavor. And after the other couple tried my accopanying pasta they both commented on how good it was which is the highest complimet from two Italians.
The two other entrees were the seafood combos, one boiled and one fried. My husband loved the broiled combo and he was especially impressed with the green beans he chose as a side. He claimed that as amazing as the seafood was the green beans competed to be the best thing on the plate. Our friend was equally impressed with the fried combo. He loved the homemade breading.
The service was attentive. They are more than accomidationg. We brought some beer with us (it is BYOB). They made provided us with an ice bucket and even made room in there fridge for the beer which didn’t fit in the bucket. It was impressive that both the owner and the chef stopped at our table to check on our experience. The love and attention that go into running the establishment is more than evident.
You know you have had a great dinner when the whole car ride home you make plans for a return trip.

We landed at PHL for a long weekend in hometown Philly. For cost reasons, we were staying at a hotel in southern burb area and the hotel’s only recommendations were chain restaurants and pizza joints. After driving around a bit, I checked my trusty Unilocal app and it led us here, to Pappy’s. We walked in and were a bit hesitant since the only people in the joint seemed to be locals just hanging out, and because as a now-​San Franciscan, I’m pretty picky about my crab. But the server and cook were super nice, and after glancing at the menu and being assured that everything is fresh and nothing is processed, we decided to give it a shot.
While we waited, we were served broiled peanuts, which were amazing! I don’t really like peanuts by themselves, but these were soft and salty and really tasty. They kind of reminded me Laura Scudder’s peanut butter.
I ordered the crab cake sandwich with housemade tarter sauce on the side. I wanted to try the Baltimore fries as well (with fresh crab meat and cheese, minus the pappy seasoning). Our friendly server and Zeus, the awesome cook, just added a couple of dollars to the dish and subbed the fries that came with the sandwich to Baltimore fries. They were also good, although the blue crab meat is pretty small and hard to eat with fries, in my opinion. The broiled crab cake, though, was quite possibly the best crab cake I’ve ever eaten. It was full of lump and claw meat with very little filler. For the filler, they use Ritz crackers, which gives it a little crunch. Really good! And the portion was massive – definitely big enough to share.
My fiancé ordered the broiled seafood combo, including one of the amazing crab cakes, crawdads, flounder, scallops, and shrimp, which also came with fries.
Pappy’s was a great find. We made sure to let our hotel know about it, and we’ll be sure to be back if we’re staying so far south again!

I wanted to wait on this review until having tried Pappy’s at least twice. The first time I had a crab cake sandwich, which was good. It didn’t blow me away, but it was a solid sandwich.
Last night, I tried two of the pasta options along with the calamari. Unfortunately, the calamari was a bust for us. It was overcooked, heavy on the breading, and served with a fra diavlo sauce, which tasted like marinara with Frank’s hot sauce in it. Strange. The pastas were both good. The South Philly Crab Gravy was a sweet marinara with a bit of crab, linguine, and topped with a whole crab. Presentation was awesome. The other pasta, cavatappi with Cajun cream sauce, was spicy but somehow bland at the same time.
For me, Pappy’s competition is The Clam Tavern in Clifton Heights. Clam Tavern offers the same crab gravy and while Pappy’s takes the award for presentation, Clam Tavern wins for the amount of crab in the dish. I also prefer the crab cake at the latter. Having said that, there is definitely a place for Pappy’s. It is a great addition to MacDade, which generally lacks anything decent to eat. I absolutely love the New Hope sodas they have; lemon is my favorite! I do hope they do well here and I’ll probably be back to try the crabs this summer.

Ordered take out again this week. We enjoyed two crabby crab cakes — no filler, steamed clams, fries, and hush puppies. The crab cakes are consistently good, well-​seasoned and worth the price. The clams were perfectly sreamed, although a little bit more butter than I care for. My only critique is that the clams were quite sandy. Don’t let this stop you from going there for the crabs.

From the storefront looks of this place, you might imagine it to be like any of a hundred other specialty restaurants… a neighborhood haunt but little more. You’d be wrong.
In truth, Vince and his staff make some of the best food I’ve ever had, and they do it with natural ingredients. In fact, if you engage Vince in a conversation, he’ll tell you all about the process he used to find the absolutely right ingredients for his (delicious) bay seasoning, or how he experimented with several recipes before deciding to include cheese in his (outstanding) crab gravy.
The truth is that if you like crab and you appreciate people who take pride in using the best, homemade ingredients in everything they make, you will really like Pappy’s Crab House. And it is a BYO!

I’ve eaten here 3 times. Once, we ate in and brought a bottle of wine. The décor is very simple and the place is spotless. We had crab cakes and mussels. Excellent! The dirty rice is great too! The owner makes everything himself, including his own version of Old Bay seasoning. He makes sure everything is natural and doesn’t have artificial colors, high fructose corn syrup and other junk you don’t want in your food. They even have local fountain sodas from New Hope! No high fructose corn syrup! The watermelon is so good! When I got take out I had calamari (delicious) once and a shrimp caesar salad another time. They even make their own croutons! Their hush puppies are fabulous! If you like seafood, go to Pappy’s. Keep it local people!

Wow! Really impressed by the quality of the food here. Seafood in PA has been iffy at best and the crabs here are first rate. Bonus points for the cleaning option!

Where to start…
I didn’t expect much at first glance. This area of MacDade boulevard has seen many restaurants come and go.
I hope this one is here to stay.
We sat as a party of 8 — taking up much of the front seating area — but didn’t feel squashed.
With so many choices to pick from, my wife and I settled on crab nachos and hushpuppies for appetizers. I had the South Philly crab gravy. My wife had the pappy pot.
Oh, yeah, where to start, I’ll start at the beginning. It’s as good a place as any.
Soda (at least from the fountain) is New Hope — pretty generic, cola, lemon lime, etc. But, considering the very interesting tact of nothing here having high fructose corn syrup in it, it’s perfectly acceptable, and downright tasty. I ended up with a bottle of Pepsi Throwback — one of my favorites.
The Crab Nachos — insane. Good amounts of crab, some diced jalapenos, guac, sour cream, cheese… This was a meal by itself. After polishing off half of this platter (and a few of my wife’s hushpuppies — which were also pretty good — ask for some maple syrup to dip them in… Don’t laugh until you try it!) my platter arrived.
This was a huge portion of linguine, with crab meat and chunks of tomato in the sauce. Yeah, sauce. I’m Irish. Sorry. To crown it, a cleaned crab sat on top.
Wow. For $ 16, this had to be the meal (and bargain) of a lifetime. I’ll return just for this meal. The sauce wasn’t watery, the crab was firm and sweet. Wow. Just wow.
Did I mention wow? My meal came with a salad, which was pretty typical. A salad. Lettuce. Tomato chunks. Some onions. Cucumber. Ranch dressing. It was a salad. There’s no way it could compare to my pasta. :)
My wifes crab pot was mostly devoured — she had to take some home for lunch the next day. Again, the crabs were cleaned, firm, and sweet. If I had to guess, they were #1 males — not exactly the low end of the crab totem pole — and there was plenty of meat. No scrawny crabs here.
There were a bunch of desserts, but there was no way we’d have had room for any.
I hope to return here again. And again. And again. Just hope it manages to break that mid-​MacDade mojo that seems to have doomed so many other places here. I think it has the stuff — so give it a shot!
So, yeah, Steve… I’ll give it a 5.

No high fructose corn syrup. Mrs. Pac Man. Metal Mondays. Fresh Seafood. Folsom. Sounds like an awesome lunch at Pappy’s!
I have grown accustomed to drastically lowering my expectations when dining anywhere remotely close to or on the Mac Daddy. I normally have to drive somewhere else, away from my neighborhood, in order to find decent food that isn’t a weenie or a slice of greasy pizza.
Pappy’s was most definitely a pleasant surprise, the food ended up being some of the freshest seafood I have tasted in a long time. I ordered up a tasty pure cane cola (coke should be ashamed), and the crab cake sandwich. Simplicity is the key to great seafood, and this crab cake was not hindered by cover-​ups and fillers. The recipe allowed for the star of the show to shine: fresh lump crab meat. The roll was delicious and the «pappy» fries that came along with it were just fine.
The atmosphere was very laid back and no frills. The young gentleman who served us was genuinely friendly and prideful in his work. The menu had some variety to it so I will most definitely be back to try something new.

This is my very first Unilocal review, and I decided to give the pappy’s my first five star review. I have been a big fan of Unilocal,but I have never felt like to give any restaurant any review. Just simply I have not found any restaurant that impresses me. I am from California, and I happened to be around this area for a business trip. I found the pappy’s from Unilocal,but I was a little skeptical in the beginning due to the 6 five or four star feedbacks. My coworker and I decided to give it a try since we were craving for crabs. You know what, this is the best crab restaurant I have ever been to. Fresh crab with unique seasoning, perfect combination. We order a dozen of Philadelphia style of crab (sorry, I forgot the exact name). The seasoning was just right, and it gives you a pleasant flavor and yet it does not take away the taste and freshness of the crab. Try their pot as well, you will not be disappointed. I strongly recommend this restaurant for the best crab in town. Later I found out from Vince (chef/​owner) and Bridget (the best waitress in town) that they just opened the shop about 3 months ago. No wonder they had only few reviews. I will definitely come back if I am around this area. Try it and you will know the Unilocalers are always right!

In short — amazing food, awesome owner/​chef, completely easy to miss. If you’re up for a longer review, continue on.
Had a work dinner with some people from out west, and wanted to do something decidedly coastal. Quick look on Unilocal for seafood around the area, returned Pappy’s. I’m pretty discerning, and won’t go to places with fewer than 4 stars. When I saw Pappy’s had 5, I figured it was probably the place to go.
As some of the other reviewers have noted, this place is *extremely* easy to drive right past. Their website tells you that your GPS probably won’t send you to the right place, and ours tried to do exactly that. Luckily I had a navigator who pointed it out. I was a bit skeptical going in, but as is often the case, looks can be deceiving.
We went on a Monday night around 6:30, and it was fairly empty. Two tables seated, and there was a very imposing gentleman in the kitchen. We took a spot up front, and that’s when the magic started.
Boiled peanuts? Awesome. I’ve spent a few years down south, in peanut country too. These were fantastic. Don’t know how everyone else failed to mention these. Perhaps they’re new. They are entirely different than roasted peanuts, if you’ve never had them. Remember — peanuts aren’t nuts.
The (new) waitress came and read us the specials. They sounded great… then she said how much they were. I nearly slid out of my seat — such great value. The couple at the table next to us proceeded to say how great of a value everything was. They weren’t wrong.
What we ordered —
Baltimore Fries and the special Pierogies. Normally I have to order my fries well done, but forgot this time. They were served crispy and delicious even though I forgot. I didn’t have the pierogies, because milk and I have a bad relationship. Compatriots said they were good, though.
For dinner we had 2 Blackened Voodoo pots, one Broiled Stuffed Shrimp, and I had one dozen #2 crabs (#1s were out, snap!). There’s only so much you can say about crabs. These were definitely good. The corn it came with was also dipped in Old Bay style seasoning, which makes everything better. The pots were generously stuffed with a wide assortment of seafoody goodness.
I don’t eat desserts, but the Key Lime pie and extremely rich chocolate cake got good reviews from the rest of the party.
As we were wrapping up, the aforementioned imposing gentleman came to chat. He’s the owner/​chef, and he’s fantastic. We talked for about 15 minutes or so. He explained his vision of the place, and I that’s when I knew I had to write a review. HFCS? Not in this place. I’m a huge fan of «simple» food, and he really hits a homerun with that.
If you skip Pappy’s, you’re missing out. Don’t let your tastebuds suffer.

WOW! I went to Pappy’s for the first time tonight on the recommendation of a friend, and I’m so glad I gave it a try. Firstly, I am extremely picky about crabs and consider myself a major foodie, so I was a tiny bit nervous when I pulled into the tiny strip right off of Macdade Blvd. Don’t let the somewhat humble digs fool you; this place is the real deal, with super fresh ingredients, from-​scratch recipes, locally sourced ingredients and a fantastic staff. Having had only a light breakfast of toast, we were starving, so we started with hush puppies, perogies and macaroni salad. All were perfectly seasoned and delicious. The hush puppies were the the best I’ve ever had, and far surpassed even deep Southern versions I’ve tried while traveling. They were moist, tender and cripsy. The danger with hush puppies is that they can be dense and/​or greasy. These were light and almost creamy, yet cooked to perfection, served hot and bursting with flavor. The perogies were equally excellent, sauteed in butter and topped with fried onions, they melted in our mouths. It was easy to tell that the macaroni salad was homemade, with spiral pasta, a perfect ratio of mayo to noodles and plenty of celery flavor.
I had the South Philly crab gravy as my main course and my husband had the pasta with gravy (he’s allergic to seafood and it’s fantastic that they had some non-​seafood options available). The crabs and linguini brought me right back to my grandfather’s table, when he would serve a traditional recipe handed down from his parents, who were from Southern Italy. The crabs were sweet, juicy, tender and obviously very fresh. Eating crabs and pasta is an almost primal experience, especially when one has childhood ties to the tradition. Gravy gets everywhere, hands are covered with bits of shell and pasta, conversation stops, and it’s all about the food. That kind of euphoria is difficult to achieve, and this place delivers it.
My husband loved his pasta, too, and the bread they serve with dinner is spectacular, with really strong and tasty parmesean cheese and butter on top. Even the salad was fantastic, with fresh crisp romaine, slivers of bell peppers, onions and house-​made croutons. For dessert, we chose the pound cake «made sexy». That means smothered in fresh strawberries, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Despite having had a huge dinner, we finished the entire thing.
A conversation with Vince, the owner, revealed that he’ll accomodate any diner, whether they’re a seafood lover, seafood avoider or even a vegetarian. He uses no high fructose corn syrup in the restaurant, which we really appreciate, and takes obvious pride in the small details that make a restaurant great.
I can’t wait to go back and try the crabcakes, peel-​and-​eat shrimp and chocolate tall cake. I’ll be thinking about Pappy’s until I can return. Thanks Vince and the whole staff for a fabulous Sunday night dinner!

Excellent! Delco Pot was phenomenal. So happy to find a good seafood spot in the area.

this place hit the spot in every possible way. I am a huge seafood fan, especially crabs. It seems the local places have the «crab nights» for the Alaskan crab, but it is getting harder and harder to find BLUE CLAWS on a menu, let alone ALL YOU CAN EAT on a random night during the week. LOOK NO FURTHER WE HAVE FOUND THE MOTHER SHIP… not only do they have the BLUE CLAW CRABS, they offer ALL YOU CAN EAT… not one night a week, not only just a week night… but they offer ALL YOU CAN EAT 7 DAYS A WEEK as a menu item.
this place offers additional items on the menu which include Po Boy sandwiches, seafood selections as well as hamburgers and salads… they have something for everyone who has taste buds.
Very casual atmosphere, like hanging in a friends house, kicking back enjoying the great food and great company… and if you want to have a cold beer, don’t forget to bring it. cause it gets even better. IT’S A BYOB.

To my fellow residents of the general Mac Dade Blvd area, and even to some of you a little farther away… If you like crabs in any way, shape, or form, you have to give this place at least one shot.
It’s just opened within the past couple of months. I’ve been driving past it wondering what they were all about, and tonight decided to pull in. On the outside, it doesn’t look like much. Just a humble storefront in a small strip. And it’s in a location where if you know this area well, a lot of businesses seem to have come and gone in this spot.
This one I think has the chops to stick. Inside, it’s actually quite a nice and clean dining area. It’s a few notches above a take out place, and it’s BYOB.
But there’s two things this place has going for it… food quality, which judging on what I had is out of this world, and friendliness of staff, which is outstanding.
They have a counter seating area which allows you to watch the chefs at work. I always like that about some small places that do that. Let’s me get to see how they are making things. I got to talk to the owner, Vince, at length and he strikes me as a real down to earth nice guy. He could also pass for the drummer of any heavy metal band. Yeah, he’s one of us Delco guys for sure.
Now, while talking to him, I happened to mention that I never really learned to properly eat the Maryland Blue Crabs. I tend to be a crab cake and crab dip kind of guy. That is, I’ll eat it gladly when it’s already out of the shell. Well, he offered to steam a couple of them up for us as a sample, and teach me how to really eat one. It was a really nice gesture. But I still had to see if the crab cake was up to snuff. So it was a crab cake sandwich and Pappy’s fries for me, with a steamed blue crab for dessert to sample.
So the great thing about the crab cake is that this isn’t a place that pulls a couple of Mrs Paul’s out of the freezer and drops them into the fryer. No, they have a legit recipe which they top with melted butter and bake in an oven. For the sandwich, they pop it on a Portugese roll, and serve it with the Pappy’s fries which is a mix of parmesan and old bay.
Needless to say that sandwich never stood a chance in front of me! It was a perfect sandwich, and I wouldn’t hesitate to vote it as a Best of Delco. What I really liked about the fries is that they didn’t kill it with old bay like some places sometimes do (Chickie’s and Pete’s… are you listening?), and the blend with the parmesan was again perfect!
After that, I got to properly learn the technique from Vince, and sample the blue crabs themselves. Well, I’m a convert now. I’m already organizing a group of people to go there to bring our own beer and order up a dozen or more.
So obviously I haven’t tried the whole menu, but I will say that from what I saw, there were a number of people enjoying the fresh steamed crabs served up with dirty rice and corn on the cob (I caught a taste of the dirty rice too… nice Cajun kick to it), and I saw at least two Surf and Turf burgers go out which were big burgers topped with crab cakes and looked like they were out of this damn world! If you don’t like crabs, there are other choices for you such as the pretty good burger selection.
Heck, I might have to go back there just to try the pierogies. Pierogies and crabs might be a good meal combo.
So, really, here’s hoping this place sticks. This place has the potential to be a hidden gem on Mac Dade Blvd.

If you love crabs and don’t want to drive to Maryland… this is the place! They opened only 1 month ago and they are doing everything right. The staff are all extremely friendly and inviting. They make you feel at home right when you walk in the door! We got a dozen crabs and hush puppies. MMMM MMMM They serve the crabs with some special recipe rice that my husband could not eat enough of… The rice has beef in it so unfortunately… as a non beef eater I could not partake. The hushpuppies were very tasty… Only possible complaint would be that the crabs were on the small side — but it’s a bit early in the season to expect large ones. I hope they have an option in the future for Large, X-​Large & Jumbo. The price was extremely reasonable and we both left full and very satisfied. We were happy to hear that it is BYOB and will definitely bring a 6-​pack the next time we come. The chef came over several times to make sure we were satisfied… and there was no question we were. We drove from Gulph Mills to get there and it took no more then 20 minutes. I suggest everyone support this local establishment not just because they are local, but because you won’t be disappointed. With all of the crappy Joe’s Crab Shacks popping up… do yourself a favor… save yourself some money… and go where the food is great and you can tell the owners really care!

We needed a place like this close to home. Had the blue claw crabs. The crabs were as fresh as they can get and tasted great the spice had the perfect amount of heat. The corn pappy style was very good. Also had the dirty rice which was a nice touch. The staff was very approachable and friendly. I will definitely be going back again but next time I am going to bring a few beers and hang out.

Looking for excellent seafood and don’t know where to go? Well search no more! This place knows how to do seafood! I had the crab cakes which were by far, the best crab cakes I have ever had! The cocktail sauce is the perfect mix and is spicy good! The owner is as friendly as ever and his staff are extremely accommodating! BYOB.