Joe’s Crab Shack

Bridger was a fantastic waiter! And the food was fantastic as well! Quick, fast, fresh, and hot!

Great food, nice staff & very big and spacious location. We came an hour before they closed on a Sunday & there was literally no one there but our party of 4. At first we were a bit hesitant no one wanted to be those customers who come at last minute but everyone was friendly, we weren’t rushed or didn’t feel rushed, and our food was great

Stopped in here to watch the Texans playoffs game because Brick House was a mad house. The service was slow and the food wasn’t that great. Plus, biggest issue of all, they wouldn’t turn the sound on for the game. Pull the stick out of your butts, Joe’s…Go Texans!

While in Galveston for my nephew’s graduation from Texas A&M University, we had a mini-​family reunion, with family members from several states in attendance. We would be here for a total of two weeks so we wanted to explore the local eateries and needed places that could accommodate our group of twelve. We were in the mood for seafood and decided on Joe’s Crab Shack for their «all you can eat crab» special. There are two in Galveston.
Heeding advice from «locals», we avoided the one on Harborside Drive and headed to the one on Seawall Boulevard. Turned out to be sage advice and a smooth move. We arrived early, so while waiting on our table, we availed ourselves of the «happy hour specials» at spacious bar at the front of the restaurant. Service was quick, efficient and friendly. The house margaritas were excellent, by the way. And the three large screen TV’s with news and sports was a nice touch.
This restaurant was different than any other Joe’s Crab Shack we’ve been in… And we’ve been in a number of them in Nevada, California, and Arizona. This one was missing the eclectic stuff that you usually find hanging all over the place and from the ceiling and rafters. This one had clean lines had a nice industrial décor reminiscent of dock-​side businesses… Wooden beams, corrugated metal paneling, and painted stencils on the wall. Very clean and nice.
When our table was ready, the meet, greet, and seat was friendly, quick, and efficient. Menus placed and drink orders were accomplished at high speed. Dinner orders went flawlessly… Timely explanations, quick notations, and a fast return to the kitchen. The orders came out in a timely fashion and it was all prepared to perfection.
Our server, a young man named Stormy, really brought his «A» game. A perfect blend of fast, efficient, courteous service with a flair for anticipating our needs; he ran his butt off but easily kept up with the demand. He was spot on, with a steady stream of refills of both drinks and the various flavors of the all-​you-​can-​eat crab we had at the table, all of which were steamed and seasoned to perfection… Not a mushy piece of crab in the bunch. Well done indeed.
The snow crab feed was absolutely delicious. The initial pot contained two crab halves, red potatoes, and corn on the cob, with 6 piping hot hush puppies on the side. Refills were one half crab each time, as many as you could eat. I highly recommend the Fire Grilled flavor. In a word excellent, and well worth the $ 29 per person. I rate this Joe’s Crab Shack as one of the very best I’ve ever eaten at. Kudos all around.

Great prices, great for kids, our daughter had a blast! Kids eat free on Monday, the entire children’s menu. She had crab shrimp sausage and corn all for free. Great fish and chips, mild not greasy! Wife had the Mahi tacos, they were very tasty. Staff was very courteous, prompt service! Daryl and Ryan were very polite professional and friendly. Large place good for families.

Food was disgusting. Even the desert tasted and smelt like lighter fluid. Didn’t trust it at all. At first we sat outside but no one would wait on us. This was our second time at this location. Never again.

We have been to this location a handful of times, but last week was a nightmare. Our waitress gave us a fake name as a joke, and then she disappeared for long periods of time. It took over 30 minutes just to get drinks and then straws. We ordered the crab dip and she told us (probably 45 minutes in) that she had accidentally placed it as part of the meal, but would try to get it to us. MUCH later, our meal came out at the same time as the cold but overcooked crab dip. My plate had undercooked fried shrimp and the sauces kind of haphzardly spilled down the plate, and all of our food was just not prepared well.
Thoughout our meal, our waitress would disappear to chat with her boyfriend who was hanging around the parking lot by the patio. At one point she jumped the fence to be with him. The rest of the waitstaff seemed equally distracted and lazy. It was a super disappointing birthday dinner for me and my husband and 4 children. I don’t recommend this location, just go to Landrys and spend a few more bucks for good service.

Went in for drinks and appetizers. We decided to sit at the bar. Our drink orders were quickly taken and immediately served. One thing I love about Joes Crab Shack is their wide selection of fruity, girly drinks that still manage to get the job done.
The bartender was quite attentive and made sure our water glasses were full and we were okay with our drinks.
The appetizers took quite a while to be prepared. When restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, maybe 6 other parties. I’m not quite sure what the hold up was, but more than 40 minutes for a bunch of fried appetizers seemed a bit much to me.
Though I can’t speak for this location’s entrees, the appetizers definitely left a lot to be desired. They had very little flavor and were a tad cold.
The drinks were good, however, due to the service of the server, length of time it took to prepare the appetizers and price, I will not be returning.

Lack luster service and low grade food! Went there so that my grand daughter could play on the playground, that SHOULD be the only thing you go there for.

Went to this location with my family on Thursday August 6^th around 5pm it was the first stop on our vacation trip so we’re all excited and happy. We get there and right away this bum outside walked up to us and started telling us this sob story and wanted to shake our hands and stuff which was weird and my dad told him to go away but anyways we go in and my dad told the front desk about the guy and they said that there’s a wait for inside but no wait for the outside deck so we chose the deck. Our waitress shows up about 5 mins later and she says her name is «Sam I am» and my dad jokes and was like «dang your parents really named you that» and she was like «…No… it’s Samantha. Not Sam I am I was kidding.» She had no personality at all right off the bat. She took our drinks and the table was awkward now we just ordered water all around took a while for her to bring the water to us and when she came back we ordered two shark bite drinks and every question we had she had some lame answer to or didn’t know the answer and had to go find out but she wasn’t nice about it either. She took our order and our drinks and we got our food and it looked really sad. The portion sizes were small and I had the shrimp wrapped in bacon but the bacon was really burnt and it was on top of the nastiest rice I’ve ever tasted. Tasted straight up like dirt. So basically all I had to eat was these tiny shrimps that were burnt for $ 15. Anyways she brought my shark
Bite drink out right after she brought out the food only because we asked where it was cause we had been waiting for it for a while and when she brought the drink the tube that hangs off the side with red liquid in it fell on my food and I was like «wow» and she just didn’t care she was like oh well. She didn’t care or offer anything she wanted me to just deal with it I even said like «thanks for caring.» Sarcastically to her and she didn’t even budge and now my food tasted like some drink. She was just lousy and not nice about anything and she was making our first outing in Galveston a total dud. She never refilled our water drinks and the shrimp and was sooooo spicy! I don’t know why it but it was, because of that we were drinking water a lot and it sucks when your mouth is on fire and your waitress is MIA. My sister and husband got chicken tenders but the strips were not even finger long. What a waste of money. I felt like she was avoiding us the whole time because she knew we were annoyed with her. It eventually came down to me going and telling the front to find her because she hadn’t come to our table in over 30 mins. She needs to find another job. she wasn’t friendly or outgoing or nice she seemed a little dazed if you ask me.

Crab Shack’s are notorious for crappy service in touristy locations because they know they’re going to make money regardless, but we were seated for over 15 minutes and couldn’t even get a drink order in at the Seawall location. We finally gave up and walked out to go to Brick House next door, and on our way we saw a cluster of servers and hosts just chatting at the host stand like they had nothing better to do! Definitely will NOT be going back.

Had dinner on the patio. A little windy but made it work. The snow crab tasted super fresh. Great service from our waiter.

We tried to give this place another try after the last fiasco. Unfortunately it got worse. Food was not hot and not enjoyable at all. We had a nice waitress but we got no results when we modified our orders a little from the menu. We did get the Appetizer this time; now wishing we hadn’t.
Also had the Pineapple Pina Colada… not good at all.
We will not go back again. The «old» Joe’s was really good, now it just really BAD!
Gave it a 1 star because they wouldn’t let me go any lower!

I came here with my mom and kids and we had a good experience. We started with the appetizer sampler which was good. My daughter had the kids hamburger and fries and ate most of it which is a good sign because she is 5 yo and a picky eater. My mom had the boiled shrimp appetizer and it was pretty good. Service was great, our waiter was nice and helpful. My daughter spilled the pepper shaker on the floor and the glass container broke which made a mess. After that my older daughter spilled her drink over the table. The waiter helped up clean it up and was nice about it. There is a kids playground outside which is a plus. I would come back.

The Food was cold and the grease was very old. Go for drinks skip their seafood. Neither location in Galveston is worth the money

Horrrrrrrrible!!! Bad food! Bad service! Bad all around! This was my first time at Joe’s and I’m relatively sure I will never be back. We got charged $ 16 in hush puppies because we asked for them as an appetizer, which somehow translated to sending us multiple orders. We tried to send them back because we just wanted a few but they were sent back to our table and charged for them even though we told multiple servers we didn’t want them (nor did we eat 30 hush puppies!) We got food before we got our water… but even then only half the food showed up. We canceled the other half of it because we were almost done eating before we got hold of the waiter to tell him 2 of the 4 people in our party were missing food. We ended up at Whataburger, after an almost $ 100 tab, because it was so bad… Not a fun experience at all.

I guess I time traveled into the future «Joe’s Crab Shack» and miss all of the ocean themed articles strewed about on the walls. Where is my big shark hovering above me? My boat with the one paddle on the side? Where are the large ropes that tie the ships to the dock and a few plastic crabs n lobsters? Iz gone, no mas. What you’ve stepped into was a brightly lit, loud Joe’s year 2050 restaurant, the only thing they’ve kept was the loud acoustic cement noise that you must talk a little loud to conversate.
I had the fish and clam platter which consisted of that, fries, cole slaw and tarter sauce. The fish was moist, fall apart between your fingers and tasty. The clams were not your average mini strips of hard fried morsels but instead a nice sized commercial picked elongated nuggets of chewy but still moist meat.
The seafood Gumbo… stay away… stay far away! If you want to taste the worst gumbo that you’ve ever had in your life well here is your huckleberry. I can’t describe how horrible the taste was except that yes, a pot of soiled, oily, stinky and crusted batch of used undergarments would probably have tasted better. If you ate the Gumbo here and liked it then you might want to get your taste buds checked, yucky, acky poo poo! My server Niki was nice enough to acknowledge my dissatisfaction for the Gumbo and promptly had it taken off of my bill, great service.
Speaking of that did I tell you about Niki? You are in luck if you get her as your server. If she suggests the Gumbo to you… then I don’t think she likes you.
Prices are steep but people will still pay for it for they not know what they do. Hell I guess I fell into the trap as well.
Don’t rub your hand under table #14 because I think I saw the next table over’s kid stick their gum under the underside of it.

My boyfriend and I came here for lunch after going to moody gardens. The food is good so I don’t know why a lot of people criticize this place for its food and service. There were only two servers when we got there and they were friendly. I guess the manager should arrange more servers because obviously he or she doesn’t know how tiring serving is. Overall I had a nice experience with them because the steampot is amazing!

Maybe I’ve been spoiled by fine dine seafood restaurants but this place fell well below my expectations.
This particular one was a nicer remodeled location, the service was quick and prompt but the food was trash!
I honestly wanted to ask to speak to a manager about it…
The everything was over fried and soggy, crab cakes that tastes so bad my girlfriend spit it out into a napkin.
Over all some of the worst food I’ve had in a while.
The night ended up with a bill for 122.00 for 4 people, I’m learning my lesson to stay away from these big chain restaurants.

Food was great, but I wasn’t impressed.
I brought my grandparents and other elders, some handicapped. They didn’t even try to help ease confusion or take a little time to accommodate, this made it difficult for me!
* LIKED * LIKED * LIKED * LIKED
Ragin Cajun Steampot
Dancing waitstaff
— DISLIKED — DISLIKED — DISLIKED
Kids party next to table of elders
Rushed Subpar Service
Incorrect Checks
No help with Understanding the Menu
No table maintenance during the course
Of the meal
Cold Drawn Butter
Small Snow Crab Legs