Joe’s Crab Shack

Came here with my fiancé on a Friday at 4 pm it was nice and empty (before dinner rush) we had an AMAZING waitress named Vinikay who was Friday’s, funny, nice and extremely attentive. Food and drinks were on point ! We had crab nachos which are a must, joes classic steam pot and two drinks, watermelon sangria which was awesome and barefoot on the beach which were spot on and very tasty! Great time !

I don’t know who does quality control at this place, they serve the most pathetic small pieces of crab that are possible to find… these must be throw backs, they seem to be to young to eat… they open this huge stainless bucket revealing 3 tiny clusters of snow crab… they say its 1 ¼ PD… I think I scavenged 2 ounces of actual crab meat… I also ordered daddys lobster feast… this lobster was over cooked tiny in size and the meat wasn’t event white, more of a brownish cream color. Ive come to Joe’s crab shack about 3 times in my life shame on me… every time the same thought… that was my last time… oh BTW guys the sign that says all you can eat snow crab …SHOULD ALSO SAY WEDNESDAYS ONLY ON THE OUTSIDE of your establishment. 2 people, 2 drinks, 2 buckets… oh and 18 tiny peel and eat shrimp for 15 dollars. 125.00 of absolute misery.

Crab dip Nachos and King Crab Legs !!! Talk about a food induced coma. Holy crap this was GREAT !

Probably my own fault ordering fried shrimp In a steamed crab joint, but they were all coating, no shrimp taste. Hush puppies were just balls of fat. Fries — meh.
Server was charming, but between her and two backwaiters/​bussers nothing arrive with required accoutrements. Iced tea didn’t get sweeteners until I requested them. Shrimp didn’t get cocktail or tartar sauce or lemon until I flagged down someone.
So, bottom line, grease, weak service. And by the way it was empty, so nothing to distract servers.

So my boyfriend and I finally checked out Joe’s Crab Shack after making it our back up option for 2 years… wish i came here sooner. It’s definitely a fun atmosphere from the vibe, the service, the drinks and the food. Service was very attentive, drinks were oversized and awesome, and food was super fresh.
Oversized Drinks: Category 5 Hurricane
Mardi Gras Punch
Strong and Tasty (⁵⁄₅)
Shared Appetizer: Bucket of Shrimp (Hot)… seasoned with old bay (⁵⁄₅)
Entrees: Queen Crab w/​garlic butter (⁵⁄₅)
Island Steak & Shrimp (⁵⁄₅)
Food was devoured before it made the photoshoot. We’ll definitely be back :-)

What an unexpected surprise for a chain food restaurant. I was very happy with there customer service, there is a real team that shows that they care about there customers. The food was fresh, I have an allergy to preservatives and after eating there I had no allergic reation. I would definitely recommend this place.

Horrible experience and horrible service. The carb and lobster were dry, rubbery, and stale. The seasoning was either too salty or too bland. We waited over a hour on our entrées. Our waitress moved entirely too slow and continously messed our orders. I am mixes drink and returned it… it was weak and horrible. The most astonishing part was that the restaurant was empty and they were fully staff. We spent over 3 hours in this restaurant enduring crappie service and I WILL NEVER GO TO THIS OR ANY OTHER JOE’S CRAB SHACK AGAIN! My whole family was disappointed.

Amazingly, I have lived in the area for years and have never went to Joe’s Crab Shack, So finally on Friday the 3/​11, I went there for lunch at about 1pm.
The size of building was pretty big, very large Bar area. I was wondering why it so empty.
Looking at the menu, I realized there were no dinner or lunch categories. We ordered 2 appetizers. Clam basket and New England Clam chowder with the bacon/​potato. The bowl of soup was absolutely amazing with the clam shells left in the soup. very large bowl. The clam strips and fries were great too. Large clams and the fries were really good. We also ordered 2 main seafood dishes which had beer battered fish, shrimp, onion strings, crab cake and tons of fries and Cole slaw. Everything was really good and ended up taking food home. They do give a decent amount of food. We interacted with 4 employees during our visit and everyone was friendly and had a nice smile.
The downfalls: I think there should be a lunch menu. I don’t think it is unreasonable to say that
nobody wants to spend $ 61.00 on lunch for 2 people. The prices were high for lunch and maybe that contributed to the restaurant being empty. A lunch menu with smaller portions and maybe a cup of soup instead of bowl to go with a lunch special. A family of 4 going there for lunch would cost an easy $ 100.00 and that is excessive.
The service was a little slow for an empty restaurant but server was very nice so I will not deduct rating for that.
In conclusion: Food was good, portions were big, service was slow and prices were not accommodating or consistent with a lunch menu but overall, it was a decent experience which is why I gave a 4 rating.

This is a fun place to go with your family. The atmosphere is festive. I have an assortment of shell fish. It gets crowded on weekends.

Where do I begin, because this location has fallen from grace. 1^st upon arrival, the hostess cramped us — a party of 7 — on one of the picnic bench like tables. When we asked for a long booth (which one was avail right next to us), we were told it was being held for another party. Now the place was not packed & had plenty of seating, & we witnessed her allowing 2 different parties to sit where they requested. The party she sat in the booth we requested 20 min later, was a party of 3 — where was the common sense in that — 7 vs 3 & plenty of tables for 4 available?
A fight broke out in this establishment — cops were called, but management allowed the party to stay seated & continue their night. Should have been asked to pay up & vacate. Although guests were inconvenienced, no complimentary drinks were offered or any apology to witnessing/​remaining guest. Very poor management!
Food portions were terrible — crab legs missing legs & didnt make up for the missing portion broken off with equivalent amounts. Staff didnt dance like they used to. This location sucks now!
Only reason this even got a 2, was because we had a great waiter. He fought & got us the booth & tried to make up for the missing crab legs as best was allowable. In terrible need of new management.

I really like seafood but…
I went to a Joe’s in NJ on a Saturday and had a really good time. I was happy when I saw that there was one here. I’m not sure if it’s the same franchise because there’s a variation in the name but who cares right, it’s seafood?
It was midweek and I was seated immediately.
The «highlight» of this evening was looking at another customer trying to scam this establishment. I love people watching but I was appalled at what transpired! Will get back to this.
I was seated next to a table with a family that included a little boy around two years old. He tried to baby chat me up a bit and I responded in kind. After 5 minutes I was tired of this though. So you’d think his parents stopped him from climbing over their booth onto mine!?! No! Now it’s him and I in the booth I occupied. There I was, babysitting and trying to defend myself from a two year old cub! He touched and rubbed and clawed at me and all this time his parents had this stupid, vile grin on their faces! I really felt like I was gonna lose it and my face got hot and hard. It was only then they dragged his lil behind back over to their booth!!!
It was this same family that later on caused a massive uproar! I’ll give you a short version (but their performance was indeed quite long). When their bill came, they swore in Christ the waiter brought the wrong food and they’re NOT paying for it. Whaattttttt!
Okay okay you didn’t order it and truly got the wrong order by mistake BUT you ate it, all of it, said you weren’t paying for it THEN demanded the meal you said you DID order and said you weren’t gonna pay for that either!!! My gorsh!
Gotta hand it to the waiter then supervisor though, they kept their cool brilliantly. Much respect. **claps claps claps** I don’t know how the situation was resolved but these guys are professionals! The waiter even went as far as to play with the mischievous child for a long time!
The vibe: Just okay even as I in no way blame the establishment for my neighbor’s bad behaviour.
And I didn’t get any dancing (which was a big part of me coming here) so I imagine that’s a weekend thing.
The space: Booths are busted, literally and my table was sticky. The thing that offended me the most was when a member of staff took to sweeping while diners were eating! I mean sweeping!?! Right next to their feet etc. Thank God I had already requested the bill.
The staff (Excluding the sweeper): Awesome.
The LIIT: Yaaaaaaaas hunty!
The food: slowly shakes head.
I tried the $ 15.85 southern stuffed shrimp which is Jumbo grilled bacon wrapped shrimp, filled with seafood stuffing with crab dirty rice hushpuppies and broccoli.
And the $ 19.49 (two) crab cakes fries and Coleslaw.
Crab cakes burnt, shrimp salty, rice bland, hushpuppies dry (maybe it’s supposed to be that way, it was my first time having it).
I’ll probably come back for drinks and a takeaway crab dinner.
The End.

My wife and I came for dinner on a weeknight. Place was very crowded and noisy. The wait was long, the food just north of OK and the service was fair.
The waiters and waitresses seemed to be running around frantically trying to cover the tables they were assigned to.
Just wasn’t a pleasant experience. Probably won’t go back.

I went to Joe’s Crab Shack on a Saturday around dinner time with my girlfriend. High level, it was an enjoyable experience, nothing bad, no horror stories, but this place still gets a 3. I have a few disclaimers. Firstly, this is a family restaurant. Secondly, I’m rating this as objectively as possible but it’s hard not to measure it relative to The Boil in regards to quality. Thirdly, the staff did the Cupid Shuffle in a line which I thought was pretty damn cute. I try to give the most objective reviews in all of my reviews, especially for this one, because while I’d like to give it a 4, a 3 will do.
When you walk in, it obviously has a very beach shack feel. Restaurant is clean and there’s a very cooling ambiance. The staff is very nice — Ramel is my boy. They have two solo sinks so you can wash your hands, a bar, and plenty of seating. Now onto why it’s a 3.
The food was just OK. For appetizer we got the Garlicky Mussels ($ 9?), I ordered the Shrimp Boil ($ 20) and my girlfriend ordered the Ragin’ Cajun. The Mussels were well seasoned but way too salty. We had to pour water on top of the mussels in order for it to taste good. Otherwise they tasted fine. The Shrimp Boil was fine but the shrimp were dirtier than I would have hoped — I know shrimp aren’t supposed to look glamorous. They’re supposed to look shrimpy heh. But they were just ok. It was marinated with cajun on the outside shell but after you peeled the shell, the shrimp were just shrimpy shrimp. I asked for a sauce and Ramel hooked up this spicy mayo sauce but it wasn’t spicy enough, so he brought sriracha because sriracha is the answer for everything. It came with a side of coleslaw, pretty good. A side of mac and cheese, meh. Potatoes, nothing special. And I ordered a side of crab dirty rice. Very good. But again, I’m Asian so I love rice. It came with sausages which were meh and a cajun seasoned corn. The Ragin’ Cajun came with dungeness crab legs, king crab legs, some shrimp. I think that’s it. It had potatoes and sausages as well, meh. I think the dish was pretty small for $ 25 and apparently it was just mediocre. My girlfriend enjoyed it, I enjoyed the crab legs but it wasn’t anything special.
I think that’s the resounding statement in this review: it wasn’t that special. Nothing popped out to me. The food was too salty, the quality of the seafood seemed to be par, and there just wasn’t any oomph. This place isn’t a 2 because I still recommend going here for the ambiance, along with just having a good time with friends/​family, but just heed warning regarding everything said above. This place is a 3, it is what it is. It’s also hard to compare it with The Boil which was amazing (I rated it a strong 4). I did enjoy the staff and the beer was great. 22oz beer for less than 6 bucks yes please! Should you come here? Yes. Will you enjoy it? Maybe. Will I be here again? Meh, probably not. Will you be ‘blown out of the water’? Heh heh. No.

This specific location is pretty close to my home and I have to say that twice was enough for a life time.
The good part is that the staff is great and fun, the bartenders are fantastic and the drinks are very strong, but also very delicious.
Now on to the bad:
1) the food is so oversalted and overseasoned that it’s almost impossible to enjoy a full meal without downing drinks and water
2) the restaurant is EXTREMELY loud and rowdy. It’s encouraged to get out of your seat and dance or wear a bucket on your head if it’s your birthday. Could be fun, definitely funny but a bit much in the end.
3) Not a fan of the bench like seating (there are also booths, but always hard to get) or the feel of eating in a garage.
4) Wait time is soooo long on the weekends and people seem to drive from really far to come here and wait. The parking lot and wait time can be really crazy even at off times.
I suggest going for a drink and maybe grabbing and app by the bar, otherwise just skip this place and go get some real seafood at any of the nearby places. The lower prices don’t really justify the quality of food.

First time visiting. I really enjoyed it. A fun atmosphere, it was like I was on a picnic. The drinks where very good. I had a lobster pot dinner. The reason for the 3 stars is the shrimps I had to take apart and seasoning was very heavy.
My waitress was good. It was my sons birthday and they had a great son for him. So if your looking for a great place to have fun and relax, I suggest coming to Joes.

Brian was an excellent server. He introduced new beverages. As I ask about their TKO punch. (Automatically ordered to go the crab salad).
ORDERED: Mozzarella sticks., Maui Mahi., Double Shrimp., Beverage: Passion fruit palmer. Atmosphere very pleasant and Saturday dinning was extremely quite for five o’clock pm., which was a first., because this location always packed with pedestrian/​customers. Some children running around with their heads cut off. Not today., think they were excited to try something different on their palettes. Because every child on the premises were in order, crab legs in hands. Literally. Definitely convenient location, minutes from the parkway., other shopping venues in walking distance.

One of my favorite joes location! The customer service is always good, some nights better than other but oh well they’re always super nice and seem to try their best to accommodate your needs. The drinks are great, I love the Hurricane five and the patio punch which comes in a mason jar that you get to keep. The seafood has been getting less and less to me, I don’t know if it’s just me but it seems as though every visit there’s less food. But still the food is good, the seasoning is normally tasteful.
Would recommend because I love seafood, and drinks!

We came in at 6:30 on a Thursday. We got seated right away.
Our server, Brian, was very attentive and helped us navigate the menu.
The crab cake fritters were awesome.
I had the Ragin’ Cajun nice and spicy.
My 11 year old daughter had queen crab pot barbecue flavor. She are the entire adult portion and was grabbing at my wife’s dinner afterward.
The s’mores dessert was heavenly. Easy enough for two to share.
Overall experience was fantastic.

Always happy when i dine here. My husband and i lovee it. Great service, amazing seafood, scrumptious dessert, and the drinks are awesome! My favorite dish is the maine grill and the brownie sundae is just Heaven. The shrimp Alfredo is really saucy and tasty as well.

If Red Lobster featured crab pots as their main items, they would be called Joe’s Crab Shack… Enough said!