Joe’s Crab Shack

First of all I did not want to like this place. I have resisted going to two other locations always assuming they would be like Bubba Gump’s which is horrible. This location definitely has scenery on its side the outside patio sits right on the river and gives a beautiful view while you eat. I got the sampler which has amazing crab dip calamari which is ok and crab balls which were very good. What makes up for the mediocre calamari is the delicious Joe’s dipping sauce. I also got the 18-​piece boil bag shrimp which was good but I wish they should get better and distributed spice a little more evenly. Our waiter was super cool and on top of her meal and drinks. I also got the s’mores cake for dessert. It’s insanely heavy the one we received it was still fairly cold in the middle but the marshmallow topping was perfectly round and the big pieces of Hershey’s Bars were delicious I don’t think I would purchase this again I probably would have gone with the key lime pie if I knew. Overall I had a very pleasant experience and the view was amazing I would definitely consider going back to Joe’s Crabshack especially this location.

Came here last week with family who are vacationing from 8000 miles away and Joes never disappoint! Been coming to Joes at least once a month, here or in SF…
The ambience is always great! The staff are always lively and full of energy!!! The food is good, that’s just because im a seafood lover !
Keep it up Joes!

Some of the worst food I’ve eaten here. The crab nachos do not actually have any crab meat, and the chips were chewy.

Alright honestly like fuck Joes Crab Shack though.
Not necessarily THIS specific Joes Crab Shack maybe but honestly as a concept fuck Joes Crab Shack

First time to this place and I would like to say that Kevin was super happy and upbeat right since we got there to the end! Such a character he is! So I’d say service A+
Food: I ordered jumbo shrimp with fries. I really liked it, very tasty and fries with prefect not too crunchy or soft. Just right! Next time I visit I’ll definitely be back.

My first bad review on Unilocal.Hate to even write one, but please know what you’re getting into before spending a bunch of money here!
Came for the «all you can eat crab» for my birthday dinner. It’s more like «all you can manage to get your server to bring out», which for us was a half a crab every 90 mins. Eventually, you give up. The table behind us went an hour with no food. We ordered hush puppies out of hunger, had to repeat the order four times. It eventually came out — they were burned and hollow? Would have loved to have a couple glasses of wine for my birthday, but they only managed to get us one round the whole night the bar was so slow getting drinks out. They didn’t serve my wine by the glass anymore even though it’s on the menu, so I settled for the Chardonnay. Whatever came out was definitely not Chardonnay.
Service was so slow that people’s children became hungry and bored and left with nothing else to do, they were running around the restaurant. (I love kids, this is just an observation)
Also PSA (this is not the restaurant’s fault) do NOT come here with a baby! My daughter sleeps well at restaurants (lucky us!), but they blare loud music and the waitresses dance every 15 mins, which kept making her cry. I had dreams of a peaceful dinner out on the river — not so! When she finally fell asleep so I had two hands to crack crabs, the whole wait staff ran out to scream a happy birthday song next to us. Also — just getting to the front door — impossible with a stroller and you can’t bring the stroller to the table.
Basically this was like a bad circus :(we won’t be back.

Well they have an overly loud place with bad dancing every 15 min. I came on a Wednesday and sat at the bar and had the unlimited crab legs. They should call it unlimited waiting for a few crab legs. The bartenders would not refill my order when I set my empty plate out and when I asked for a refill I got a dirty look. When I come for unlimited anything I usually expect to over eat. I did not do that here! Maybe you will have a better experience not going to eat at the bar.
I do have to say there was a guy with a Mohawk that was doing well but the rest were snarky and didn’t want to be bothered. They looked annoyed that they had to be at work.

I would give this place one star but I have to give props to the back up server who did her best to make our dinner as best as possible. Dayon, you the best! Thank you for giving us great service even though it was crappy.
This was my first and last time coming here. We had a party of 15 and our first server had to back out because he couldn’t handle our party complaining that it was more than 15 of us from our reservation. There was only 15 of us and he couldn’t even get our drinks correctly and made us wait over a half hour before we can actually order. Really? The server couldn’t handle a party of 15 when really it’s his job to do so instead of complaining about it. Even though our second server was extremely better than the first, the service was terrible. The kitchen kept getting all of our orders incorrectly and repeatedly had to bring out a different tray each time where we didn’t even want to eat anything anymore. Not too mention, the all you can eat crab legs are extremely small and for $ 21 it’s not worth it. Barely any meat you get out of it.
Been wanting to try this place for a long time and extremely disappointed with the outcome.

Hm, Joe’s Crab Shack over in Old Sac was tired and very touristy with a chaotic kitchen and service, but had pretty solid food and is a good place to take out of town guests.
Joe’s is in off on the edge of old sac, but always seems like the center. They have really great views of the river and an outdoor deck, but the tables and chairs were old and the overall look was a bit run-​down. You get seated after checking in up front, and while there was no wait on my visit, it can get a bit crazy here on holidays and event times. The service was very friendly and the staff use an all-​hands-​on-​deck attitude. We had probably five different people providing service from seating to check, which was a bit annoying with a lack of consistency.
I came in for lunch with my Dad, a seafood lover. The kitchen was clearly overwhelmed despite the later lunch hour (I think well after 1pm on a Saturday). We waited over a half hour after ordering for our food, impacting the day’s plans. The kitchen also didn’t get our orders right. He had a big fat steampot with corn instead of potatoes, which he doesn’t eat. While the seafood was overflowing with crab, mussels, clams and more, it was full of potatoes as well. I had the chicken club, as a non-​seafood person (note, very few options for those like me, the menu’s turf section includes seafood). However, I can’t have the cheese and need it dry and it came with lots of sauces. Very yummy stuff once we got what we ordered.
Eat at Joe’s? Yes, you should if you really like seafood, can come on a non-​busy time and enjoy the view.

need to add more meat selection just cause not all people like seafood but may have friends that do and will go with them to a spot like this. I hope this place took care of the bees that have been flying around

Now I’m the type of person that likes to see a smile on her husband’s face and I do what I can to continually make him happy. We came here for his birthday with our friends and I secretly let the girl who seated us know that it’s his birthday so they can embarrass but make him happy at the same time. Well she nodded and said ok, it took a good 50 mins to get seated.
Then we got our food, my clam bucket was over $ 30 dollars with barely any clams, it was more potatoes than clams. Clams tasted really fishy and old like they’ve been sitting there for a while. Over cooked, and my potatoes were undercooked. So really the only thing good about my dish was the corn.
Oh and they failed to sing happy birthday to my husband. Over $ 130 and I didn’t even get full. Save your money go to Red Lobster, way better seafood and way more fresh.

My recent experience was definitely a 5 star. The last time I visited this place was around 6 years ago and it was so bad I swore I’d never go in again. The service was horrible, the waiter was rude to the kids, the food took over an hour to arrive, the chef was a fresh face that threw in 3 scrawny crab legs and called it a meal… All bad.
While walking around downtown, my kids really wanted to go in so… I gave in.
Mark was our waiter and basically the 5 stars are mainly because of him. This guy was on it. Seriously, Mark if Joe’s doesn’t work out for you, any other restaurant would be lucky to have you. He was quick, attentive and as one of my kids said, «super cool».
We ordered a few things and everything was delicious. I had coconut shrimp, they were delicious. I also had crab legs and more shrimp, corn on the cob and potatoes, delicious too.
Music came on and the staff got on the floor to dance. My youngest son decided to join them and he was welcomed by a young woman that took the time to show him the steps. Then Mark asked for a round of applause for my son. He was super excited about the whole thing and can’t wait to go back.

We love Joe’s Crab Shack! A perfect place for my husband to get his crab fix. Everything tastes so good.
This was our first time at this location. We went close to closing so it was quite empty. Our waiter was very friendly and even suggested a better bang for our buck. My husband usually orders 2 buckets mainly for the crab.
Make sure you wear stretchy pants when eating here to avoid the uncomfortable clothing restraint in your midsection.

Joe’s Crab Shack. Everyone in Sac knows Joe’s Crab Shack. It’s where you get crabs. However. Not all crabs are alike. There are good crabs and there are bad crabs. Bad crabs of course are the ones you don’t order. Good crabs are tasty yet reasonably cheap.
Alright so there’s good crabs, bad crabs, and just OK crabs. These are just OK. The price point vs. how full you will be is not up to par. I got a whole bowl full of «stuff» but by the end of the shelling process I got maybe 15% of the volume of what I was served. I did not leave a satisfied customer, stomach-​ly or otherwise.
It’s a fun atmosphere for sure. That’s what keeps people going back. It’s definitely something you need to experience, or should, if you come here. A tourist trap if you will. But I wouldn’t come back unless someone else paid.

We have wanted to try Joe’s Crab Shack for a really long time! Tonight was our chance. Since we have our dog with us, we chose to get ours to go. When I picked up our food, I found out that they are actually dog friendly and we could have brought our dog with us and had our dinner out on the patio. That’s something to think about next time for sure.
My rating is solely based on this one visit and our placing and picking up a to go order.
The ordering took awhile with being placed on hold repeatedly, but it is a Friday night and when I got there it was totally packed with an hour wait for tables. Our to go order only took 25 minutes and was ready when I arrived. If you are picking up a to go order, you don’t have to wait in line by the front door. Just go over to the left where there is a cash register in what looks like a gift shop area. That is where you pay for and pick up to go orders.
I had the Arctic Bay Steampot (Queen crab, shrimp, a whole Maine lobster, and smoked sausage «boiled in a garlic bath and topped with Old Bay Seasoning») with an ear of corn and new potatoes (which is gluten free). It was a whole lot of yumminess!!! I couldn’t eat it all, but I didn’t miss a bit of my seafood. ;) It’s all about priorities!
We shared an appetizer order of Garlicky Mussels. I totally recommend these. SOOO tasty! It also comes with two smallish pieces of garlic bread that my guys liked.
My son devoured his entire Arctic Bay Steampot with fries and hush puppies. Hubby had the Bucket of Pacific Dungeness Crab with an ear of corn and new potatoes. He is nowhere near the seafood lover as our son and I am, but he totally was into this tonight!
Our new potatoes were slightly under-​cooked and the shrimp was just barely over-​cooked, but it wasn’t enough to make them unedible. They still had a great flavor.
We definitely are looking forward to returning when we are in this area again in the future.

It’s hard to get too enthusiastic about Joe’s Crab Shack, but I keep coming back because they are one of the few mid-​level restaurants that offer a wide range of seafood (especially shellfish) at a decent price. Usually I have to go to your $$$-$$$$ on Unilocal to find that.
My feelings about Joe’s are love/​hate. On one hand, the aforementioned shellfish, including big buckets of shrimp, crab and lobster, are a relatively affordable, tasty deal, especially when you throw in sides of fries, corn or hush puppies. On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of places where the servers flash mob to horrible music. I’ve despised this tradition even more now that I have a newborn who cries because he’s startled by the sudden burt of music.
Keeping all this in mind, Joe’s is good for some occasions and bad for others. But if it’s seafood you love, they’ll most definitely keep you satisfied.

I haven’t been to a restaurant where I wanted to cancel my order and leave. We initially had to wait to get a table, so went to the bar and ordered calimari. Service at the bar and food was quick and delicious– no complaints what so ever. However, we were seated in a table for 10! It was just myself and my boyfriend, kind awkward and they never asked if it was ok. Our waiter Jared, was great. Poor guy was limping all through the restaurant, but he was probably the best thing about the restaurant aside from our bar service. I forgot what my order was called but it was suppose to be spicy and it was not spicy at all. The corn was raw AND we received our order an 30 – 40 minutes after we placed it.
Definitely will not be coming here again.

This 1-​star review is only based on my experience this past Saturday. Otherwise, I may have given them like 2… Pff.
We had a reservation for 7pm, but weren’t seated until 7:50 — really annoying AND no one seemed to care.
The service was a bit aggressive as in we felt pressured to order things on his clock instead of ours. The other server was disorganized, so we had to repeat our order 2 – 3 times throughout the night.
Now I can’t speak for everyone, but my food looked like it was dumped right out of a microwave meal onto my plate (See for yourself!)
Since I have to give at least 1-​star, I’ll give it to the bartender. She was great. But seriously, what a pathetic night for Joe’s Crab Shack. Granted, we were a large party and it was a Saturday night, but don’t take on more than you can handle! In fact, try cutting the restaurant in half — the place is huge! Ugh… Yeah, no.

Oh Joes, you’ve let me down. I persuaded my husband to come here today for lunch at 2pm on a Sunday. I say persuade because he doesn’t love it like I do. I hadnt realized it had been 10 months since I came. But with that said, I coudn’t get anyone who wanted to go with me either as it is no ones favorite. I thought they were nuts but I now see why.
I had hoped that the wait wouldn’t be too long but it was 25 mins and were seated almost on the 25^th minute. We ordered right away (always get crab pots) when she was taking our drink order. 25 mins had passed before we got our food. I was starving and had high hopes of my hunger being cured. I was immediately disapointed because usually it is steaming hot and it was room temperature at best. It also seemed smaller to me like this overflowing thing and instead it looked so small. The corn was not good at all and undercooked. No flavor. Just substance. Could also be that it is not in season so lord knows where they came from. The potatoes were again undercooked and hard as a rock. Someone with dentures would not be able to bite into them. I think the corn was a loss but told the waitress about the potatoes so she offered to bring more. She came back way too quick with them which means she didnt check and I was right. They were about as hard as the last ones.
I needed more seasoning as everything was so bland. The salt and pepper shakers were filled completely to the TOP and I couldnt get a thing out. I dont understand why places do this??? So in order to get any out, I dumped out about an inch. It still didn’t help much because the holes were clogged full of muck. Had to remove lid and sprinkle by hand.
Waitress was unattentive. Came a few times but was a total fly by meaning she was still moving when she asked how everything was. Luckily she came by with the check and got us out relatively fast.
Lastly, a wait person dropped an empty glass on the these people’s table walking past and it literally shattered in these peoples faces into a million pieces. It was so surreal that I will have that image with me for the rest of my life. If the young child had not been in the mothers lap, it would’ve injured her for sure. Manager did come by asking if they were alright and they seemed to be. Joes is So lucky they were not the type to sue but it had law suit written all over it. I understand accidents happen but this was preventable as the person was moving too fast in a crowded environment and the glass slid off the edge of the tray. I hope they were compensated for this awful thing but I can bet they were not.
Usually the crab pot satisfys me, but this underwhelmed me. I was still hungry afterwards since I couldn’t eat the potatoes or corn. I forgot how unbelievably loud it was too. They played the cotton eye joe song that they usually dance to but there was no dancing and they turned it up super loud. If I am going to suffer through that, then do it for a reason. I couldn’t have a conversation with my husband so it was a meal suffered in silence. Oh and I forgot to add that the bathrooms were filthy. Trash cans were overflowing at 3 in the afternoon.
A $ 75 lunch for two should be somewhat good but it was so awful that I dont think I will return anytime soon. Thunder Valley crab buffet … Here I come!

A fun place for celebrating! Always a bustling place and lots of high energy. Waiters and waitresses become dancers in a flash mob. I came on a Saturday night with no reservation and the wait is an hour long. We joked around with the hostess if she can pull some strings and she let us in on a tip that if we find a seat in the bar area, they can also take food orders. We found a seat just behind the host podium (still part of the bar) and a waiter came and took our drink and food orders. We didn’t have to wait for a table and we finished our meal within the hour!
Food tip: I love King crabs but its not as meaty and has a harder shell to crack. Order the Queen crab and its just as good, lots of meat and slightly sweet!