Mike’s Crab House

Went there with about 8 people, service was terrible. We had to bus our own table. Forgot some of our appetizers. One person order fish that was way over cooked. Dessert was a nutty buddy from the Highs store. Haven, t been back since

Went in July, Saturday midday. Service was slow… but great food, yum crabs.
Full bar. Live music. Location is fantastic.
I think they can fix/​update the menu a bit.

To the owner of Mike’s: You could be doing so much better.
I’m also a restaurant owner, so I know what its like to feel a harsh review. But, you guys need so snap out of it.
The best part of your restaurant is location, location, location. The worst part of your restaurant is your menu. On first glance at your menu, I thought, «Ugh, that font!». My second thought. «The 1980’s called and they want their menu back».
Have you guys eaten out in the past 20 years? I asked the server what was good on the menu. She responded,“The bacon wrapped scallops are real good. They are served on a bed of rice with teriyaki sauce.”… Wow. That is best you can do?
The customers you want don’t eat food like this. Just look at any food bloggers website. Try Instagram. It doesn’t have to be complicated food. Just simple FRESH food will work. Bottled sauces and Sysco brand battered shrimp have to go.
We ordered the wings because they were $.50 for happy hour. Tasteless. The garnish of kale and orange slice on the plate with our wings was another clue into who you have running your kitchen. Perhaps a older banquet chef? We left to enjoy dinner elsewhere.
It looks like you do a good job with crabs in the summer, but no one wants to eat crabs all of the time. And because your menu is so boring, outdated and just plain unappetizing, the people you want to spend money at your restaurant are also going elsewhere.

First arriving either by car or by boat, you will see a hoard of people waiting to be seated outside during the summer season. Mike’s has plenty of boat docking slips for hungry sailors and plenty of parking for hungry patrons. So far, I have been at the bar, took part in outdoor seating and even have been inside, however, never upstairs where apparently they hold plenty of wedding receptions and/​or dinner rehearsals.
They do check ID at the door on the weekends if you are coming alone/​meeting up with people or just look super young and entering through the bar area. On the weekends there is live music located on the patio of the outside bar area. Please note that if you plan to sit outside you WILL need sunglasses and maybe even some sun tan lotion since the umbrellas can only cover so much.
The mango-​orange crushes were amazing. I am not even a liquor drinker and WOAH were they yummy. I had two or three – can’t remember, but yum yum yum yum yum! The only downside about the outside bar was the bartenders. They totally IGNORED me and my two friends. They had the worst customer service… I would just order from the waiter once you have been seated unless you really want to stay seated at the bar (if there’s enough room) because if you’re a female under the age of 50 (every customer at Mike’s tends to be over 50 or at least they look like it…) they ignore you.
Oysters, crab cake sandwich and the Chesapeake chicken is what our table ordered and there were no complaints! Everything came out fresh, proportioned and tasted amazing. All of the prices here are reasonable, unless you want crabs. My family has been in the crab industry forever and a dozen bought here would make my Grandfather have a heart attack – plus they get their crabs wholesale from I believe Casey’s Crabs which buys from Louisiana. They do have a great deal though on the weekends before 3:00pm: ALL YOU CAN EAT CRABS. Now that would be worth it =)
Note: Their kitchen closes at 10pm Fri/​Sat and 9:45pm Sun-​Thurs.

I’m pretty disappointed here. Our waitress (Dannie I think) was wonderful, but the rest of the star were abomible. We spilt some butter and our waitress sent someone over, he said I need a mop, then went to talk with other bus boys, and was told «not to do it, just ignore it.» Then when our waitress realized she asked him again and he told her he was told not to clean it. The manager finally came over and sprinkled salt on it. Then at the end of the night the whole wait staff sat down at a table next to us to COUNT OUT THE DRAW for the night. Tons of cash just sitting there. Just so unprofessional. I’m not from here but wouldn’t return if I were.

We ordered several dozens of crab.
The ambiance was nice… you are right on the water… Tons of outdoor seating.
Most of the interior seating has views of the water.
I will be back as this place isn’t overly crowded.

Very good food (try the huspuppies) and service on the (HOT!) deck on a sunny summer day.
Reasonble price for crabs, crabcakes and other seafood delights.
Crab Quesadilla special was just OK — too much cheese and not enough crab and JARRED salsa (Old El Paso??).
Gorgeous waterfront views and a big full-​service bar.

I arrived by boat and they have plenty of boat slips for their visitors. The pier is quite the walk and you have to cross a road to get to the actual restaurant. But that’s okay.
The drinks are good and if you get a crush make sure you get the mango orange one. It’s so delicious.
If you get an appetizer make sure to order the bacon wrapped scallops. The glaze that is on them is amazing. I had the bacon chicken and cheese melt sandwich for my meal which was so delicious. Definitely the place to be in the summer.

We came in Saturday ⁸⁄₂₂ around 6pm and had HORRIBLE (I could use other words because really this doesn’t explain how bad it was) service from the bartender. There were only 10 people (if that) sitting at the bar and we tried to get her attention multiple times. We got a guy helping with the foods attention who told her we were waiting and she still proceeded to serve people who came to the bar AFTER we had already been here 20 minutes WITHOUT service. We let the manager know, who came around to the bar and then of course she decided to act like she wanted to help us. We waited over 30 minutes (when told 15) to be seated where there were 4 tables open but because the manager said they couldn’t seat anyone to let the servers catch up. We’ve visited here multiple times and the service was definitely better. I can say next time we’ll take the longer boat trip to Rics and will certainly be letting all our boating friends know about this.

Always come on Sundays for happy hour foods. Service is good when they open, but declines the busier they are. Completely understandable. The early bird gets the worm ;) maybe I will try the bar next time, but i definitely will continue dining here.

Came back to visit Annapolis and decided to go past Mike’s. This place has a great deck area and the waitress was really great to have. She suggested either the crabs or the broiled seafood platter, I went with the platter and a Summer Shandy Beer. Great music and atmosphere.

Gibson island night club! Please do not let this sway your opinion of Mike’s Crab House in Annapolis. This restaurant had terrible food! We asked for side salads and had to serve ourselves at the buffet which was half empty of product with no dressing. I had to go to the hostess stand where there were 4 people, employees, standing around chatting and interrupt them to refill the dressing. I feel like this is a huge reflection of the management! We waited 45 minutes for a table which was fine, the bar was crowded and live music was awesome. However, the live music ended around nine prior to us being seated. Our table was filthy when we arrived and the pile of rubble underneath of our table was never cleaned. Our server was awesome and he was very nice. I felt that the food was absolutely atrocious! We ordered the crab dip which was very bland, the bacon wrapped scallops which were doused in very salty teriyaki sauce over what I would assume is ‘boil a bag of rice’ we also ordered the fried shrimp platter which had a very definitive flavor of being previously frozen, breaded shrimp. Overall, the only reason that this place gets two stars us because our server was very kind and quick to get us what we needed. I think that the biggest flaw for me, which was the most disappointing, was that when we asked for house salads and we were told that either the server was going to go to the buffet to make them or we could go to the buffet to make them… Personally a salad buffet is disgusting to me! There were butter containers in vegetable areas, the cucumbers were not cut all the way through so it was pick one up and get 12, the green pepper slices were such erotic sizes, the splash guard was almost null, etc. Overall this restaurant acoustics were even worse! We will definitely, definitely, definitely never go back. This had more of a meat market/​nightclub atmosphere feeling than a dining experience. I was so disappointed that I spoke so highly of Mike’s Crab House prior to our dining experience tonight. I felt that I was let down by going to this restaurant and not to the one in Annapolis. Ultimately this falls on the manager’s shoulders!

Dani was an awesome server. The crabs were great. We were visiting from Oregon and needed our fix of crabs. We got them. Thanks Dani.

Food is good, I haven’t eaten there enough to judge, but the outside Tiki bar is Awesome and very relaxing.

Great end to fantastic weekend. Nice heavy, spicy, tastey crabs. Cliff our waiter kept the beer and the crabs coming. Shawn and company run a great restaurant. This will be my new getaway from all the annoying Annapolis tourists. Mike’s North does not disappoint.

We went with our whole family of 12 during commission weekend for lunch. The service was delightful and spot on (thank you to Lainie) she was so friendly and never forgot a thing even helped show is how to crack crab. And now the crab… just get it don’t think twice about the cost. It was so good and perfectly seasoned. Just a perfect lunch on the waterfront could not have asked for more.

Mike’s North is the «newer» of the two Mike’s Crab Houses, (the other being in Riva/​Annapolis). Mike’s like many crab houses depend heavily on the summer crab season for business and only retain a bare bones staff in the winter. Consequently, they hire a lot of temporary kids in the summer, which can sometimes make service a little slow and disorganized during the peak months.
That said… this version of Mike’s has a huge new deck, a large brand new covered tiki bar, freshly made orange & grapefruit crushes, has live music on most weekends during the summer, and a great elevated view of the the Rock Creek waterway.
The food, whether you pick surf or turf is reasonably good and the crabs are usually good too. But show up early or call ahead if you have specific sizes of crabs that you want, Large & Jumbo often run out later in the day. But this is something that happens at most crab houses and isn’t unique to Mike’s.
If you’re arriving by boat, there are lots of slips available. Just don’t pick a windy day unless you have some extra fenders because the location of Mike’s marina really gets beat up by the wind, especially in cooler months.

I was in town for the weekend to attend a party at a friends house.
We went here to try the crab and the place was packed! The place is OK for food. The service was good and the view of the water is nice.
I found the crab to have to much of the seasoning put in it for my liking and it overpowered the crab meat.

Update: throughout the last couple of experiences I’ve had here I can say that the food quality is horrendous and the staff /​management in the dining room are obvious to proper customer service.
For example: I ordered a sautéed soft shell crab sandwich and was so disgusted by the quality half went back to the kitchen. Not only was it dripping with oil but the shell had been removed from the top leaving a soft mass of oiled crab to bite into. Not to mention the crab was not cooked fully.
This wouldn’t be an issue had I not been here three previous times and left dissatisfied from the meals I have had — mostly all those dishes went back as well.
The floors are disgusting as there was a large sauce spill before the entrance and no one was doing anything about it. The staff simply walked by it with a nonchalant attitude as if «this isn’t my job to do anything.» That plus everyone is partially under 20 and have terrible people skills, it’s no wonder this is happening. Maybe the outside staff is different, but the inside conditions and the table management was appalling.
1 star — the location might be appealing to dock to and have a few drinks in the evening, but dining is regrettable unless you’re ordering Maryland Crabs.

Sometimes, out of whim, I foolishly go on the interwebs and look for ambiguous travel tips by typing stuff like «Best Crab Restaurant in Maryland,» because I’m way too lazy to scroll through the filters on Unilocal to find something that fits my criteria exactly. (my brain has two modes: OCD and HOLYCRAPI’MSOLAZYRIGHTOMGLOLWTFBBQ)
While I was planning out a last minute 48-​hour trip to Annapolis, I figured I would try my hand at some of Maryland’s famous crabs and this particular establishment was the closest to the place I stayed at in Annapolis on this random uncited article I found on the internet called «Top 10 Best Crab Restaurants in Maryland.»
Only when I got to the restaurant did I realize that I probably should have looked up the reviews prior to driving here (it was getting dark and the weather was getting slightly dreary that evening) and to my disdain I found out the restaurant was only averaging 3 stars. My second moment of disappointment came when the only agreeable beer I found on draught at the bar was a Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA, but by this time I’ve given up almost all hope in coming across restaurants that meet both criterias A (great food) and B (great beer) outside of major cities so it wasn’t a big deal at all.
So this is where I start rant… I mean, talking about the food. My travelling companion and I ordered the seafood sampler appetizer and he for some reason decided to get hush puppies. His questionable choice of ordering a potato dish at a seafood restaurant aside, everything on the seafood sampler from the oysters, clams, mussels, and shrimp were all steamed to perfection — seeing as how my stomach didn’t play the «Étude in GI» that evening, I think it’s safe to assume that all their offerings were fresh.
My main course was the Imperial Crab and I was so glad I ordered it; the sauce does get progressively rich and unnecessary with each bite, but the crab. Oh my damn the crab. I still dream about the fresh crab meat inside their little gratin-​plate smothered in the sauce and catch myself drooling at work every now and then. Although next time, I’m probably going to just order a steamed soft crab and save myself the uphill battle of the delicious-​at-​first Imperial Sauce.
Service was very attentive; there was a 30 minute wait before we were served curiously not because the joint was packed, but because they didn’t have enough waitresses to service all the tables; I’m assuming this location is new-​ish, but then again I didn’t see a help wanted sign on the outside either, but since there was a good number of people waiting even after we were served, maybe management should think about hiring some extra/​seasonal help. Just a thought.