Joe’s Crab Shack

We knew there was a problem when there were very few cars in the parking lot at 7:00 p.m. even if it was a Thursday. We had not been in awhile. We loved the entire page of fried platters they had last time we were there. Not a single fried item remained on the menu. The menu was very limited and small. We were disappointed. My second choice was the steam pots. They no longer had the one I wanted. My husband ordered a pasta dish with lots of pasta and very little seafood for a very big price. We left very disappointed and will not be back. Ever. There were very few people inside eating, some were ordering drinks and appetizers. Dismal experience. What happened to your menu, Joes?

Going downhill like an Alpine skier. Many months ago they dropped tipping and increased the prices by about 20%. It worked out OK and the staff seemed pretty happy. Then, they dropped the no tipping policy and lowered the prices by only about 10%. Not only that, but they also cut a lot of the good things off of the menu to simplify things. My wife used to like this place and constantly pushed me to go here because she really liked it. I hated to drop $ 80 on two adults and a kid for lunch, but I liked many aspects to make up for it, including keeping her happy. Plus my kid loves the «Paint a Crab» dessert option.
In the last month or so, we stopped in to find the no tipping verbiage removed from the front door. Then we saw the new limited menu.
She always loved the KJ steampot. Then a while back they simplified it and removed some sauce she loved in order to simplify the process. I heard the complaints back then but she still ordered it anyway. Now they removed the pot altogether. It was the one thing she truly liked. She ordered a bucket of Dungeness this time and hated it because what ever flavor she chose had a lack of flavor. She even offered me the half she didn’t eat and I stopped because it was really pretty flavorless.
My favorite spicy boil is gone off the menu. The hush puppies are also no longer listed (though they still made them for us). I went with my spicy backup and ordered the Cajun Steampot. In it, the Dungeness had no cluster, but instead a few stray legs to go along with the queen crab cluster. The sausage was now full of chewy fat which I had never experienced there before, and the potatoes were now larger and really just not as good.
She told me that she will no longer request going there. I agreed and I guess our relationship with Joe’s is done. What a damn shame.

Wow how bad can it get. Poorly made food and dinner plate looks like a catchers mitt. Food just dropped onto it. That’s after I returned my first plate soy to under cooking the bacon wrapped shrimp. It’s Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday and no one is here. I guess I know why. How can a bar not offer one local beer. Amazing and sad.

The appetizer sampler was gross. Artichoke dip was glutinous cold pile. Fire balls had weird flavor and slimy insides. The calimari was chewy as HELL. People I was with were complaining about the all you can eat crab legs being cold and kept sending them back. The best thing I consumed here was the Oberon on tap. My shrimp platter sucked. No real flavor here. Flash frozen and fried. Tiny shrimp encased in flavorless batter. Next time… if there is a next time… I’ll try one of the steam pots for $ 30 – 40 a pop. Seems to be a hit among other Unilocalees

My husband and I went to what I think was their first Christmas Day meal — not opening until 3 PM. They had decorated the place for Christmas, including a lighted garland hanging out of the mouth of the big (fake) shark suspended from the ceiling. :) The greeters and servers were wearing Christmas sweaters, clothing, or jewelry and were friendly and polite. Our food arrived quickly and was hot and tasty. Our server could have been more attentive, but we have certainly had worse. We appreciated the extra effort and hope that they do this again.

Addicted to Cajun steam pot and spicy boiled source in addition to eat and peel barbecue shrimps
i go there once a week or two weeks
The best place in ann arbor to get cracking.

So tonight was date night for my husband and I. It just happens to be the first real snow storm on the season. Crap. We didn’t let that stop us and headed out to JCS. What is usually 2o min drive took and hour, but we love Joes so we didn’t mind. It’s a Saturday evening but because of the snow storm it was not busy at all. Maybe 20 people total. Most staff were standing watching the football game. We ordered an appetizer while we decided what to eat. We got the sampler. We’ve gotten it before, so knew what to expect… well. tonight it was just gross. The calamari was so rubbery. I couldn’t even cut it with a butter knife. Next the crab dip was over cooked. It had a burnt taste. The balls of fire were good. Onto our meals. I got a shrimp platter and the hubby got a platter that had fish, shrimp, crab cakes. Mine was good except the hush puppies. again way over cooked. Like baseballs! My husband said his was good except the crab cake. It could of been used as a hockey puck! I was so disappointed in this trip. They weren’t busy, so there should be no reason for crappy food except cook staff that doesn’t care. It will be awhile before they get $ 75 more of my money.

Today I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I’ve never had crab or lobster and thought hey, what the heck! It wasn’t very busy so we were able to get seated fairly quick. Our waitress was really friendly and quickly earned her tip after telling us about $ 2.00 Tuesday’s! By it being my first time eating seafood so I can’t really say if the prices were reasonable compared to somewhere else. What I do know is that I can’t believe that I’ve went this long without ever trying lobster and or crab. The steampots were filled to the top, and I definitely feel as though I got my money’s worth, the outside seating was cool and it was spacious. All in all for a chain restaurant, the portions are moderate, the prices are kind of high, but I’d eat here again for sure despite the opinion of others!

— Over-​priced in my opinion, but it is what it is. Service was great, outdoor seating was awesome, I just feel the food costs too much for what it is. I had the 33 shrimp platter for I forget how much. The crab fritters were absolutely a waste of time. It’s like a crab salad sprinkled on French fries. Waste.

Was good food for a chain Resturant. Service was the same, what you would expect. Was in and out fairly fast and the food although good, reflected that.

For some reason every time I come to this location for lunch we ha e to wait over 45 minutes for our food to come out. We advised the waiter that we are at lunch and we ordered immediately. After sitting for 40 minutes we still haven’t received out food. We only saw our server again because we asked for him from another server. The restaurant was not full. At all. We ordered salad and fish and chips. Even if I make this at home it doesn’t take 40+ minutes. We had no time to eat and had to rush back to work. Completely unacceptable. I won’t be back here. One star is given because you have to give something

Everything was delicious from the sampler platter, to the steam pot, and let’s not forget the Bahama mama!

Where to begin…, do I start with the hour plus wait for our food? Or the fact that it was cold when it arrived? Perhaps the excuses that the manager wanted to give as to why it took over an hour? She said it was due to the large groups that they had, but as I looked around I really didn’t see that many people at all other than us. There was the big gesture of how they had taken a whopping $ 12 off of our bill. So now I only owe $ 90 for cold fried seafood? Oh boy! Where do I sign up for more of that??? And finally the last insult was the $ 10 coupons so that we’ll come back and try them again, and give you more of my hard earned money! Never again Joe’s Crab Shack, I hadn’t been in your establishment in about 3years, and after tonight I’ll never go back again, and in all honesty I’ll be telling anyone I know about this whole experience as well. Shameful, just plain shameful.

The food at this restaurant was a big disappointment. Went here for my birthday. The food is overpriced for the quality and quantity of food received. My husband and I ordered the bucket of shrimp appetizer to start. We got a few puny shrimp on a bed of ice. The shrimp still had the vein in them. It was a good 15-​minutes before we spotted our waitress to flag her down and complain. She said «they don’t clean any of their shrimp». Not acceptable. For dinner, I ordered the bucket of crab which has 3-​types of crap in it. The crab legs were too salty and had a tough texture. Other than the salty taste, they had no flavor and were clearly overcooked. I also felt there should have been more for the price. For a few bucks more, I could have went someplace else and had «all you can eat» crab legs. All in all, not a good experience. Will never return again.

First and last time I’ll ever eat here! Decided to eat here as a last minute choice on a Tuesday night we were seated and our waiter took our drink our drink order right away. After looking at the menu we decided on the Cesar salad with grilled chicken with a side of grilled shrimp and my mom got the fish & shrimp. It took awhile for our food to come out and when it did the fries with my mothers food were cold and the batter on her fish was falling off. My salad was ok but the side of shrimp was awful! The shrimp was cold and the rice it was served with as extremely underdone. We didn’t get one drink refill and sat for about 20 minutes before our waiter came back and we were able to ask for the check. Needless to say we are not fans and will not be returning to Joe’s Crab Shack!

Its been a few years since our last visit because the location in toledo closed down. All the food & appetizers are pretty tasty. Although the prices are kind of high, the portion sizes are decent. Compared to the other seafood places that are most popular in toledo like red lobster & the real seafood company do not compare. If there was one in the city, we would Definitely be coming here over the rest.

The food was excellent, staff was great. Got the Joe’s steam pot, at least that’s what I think it’s called, Made Lynns drink with orange juice instead of pineapple because she has a reaction to pineapples, they didn’t even bat an eyelash when she requested that just said no problem, will go there again very soon

I was in the area and decided to check out the spot today. I have seen this spot many times and have never eaten here. I was with my friend and they do not have a love for seafood but they enticed me to go anyway. There was a 35 – 40 minute wait so we decided to sit at the bar. I got the Spiked Sweet tea. Pretty good. Very slow service here. We ordered a couple of drinks and were going to eat but the bar staff guy was pretty slow. We decided to take our table instead. The waiter was nice. We even had the manager ask was everything going well. He joked with my friend as she got a chicken salad and no seafood. The team dance to the Hustle was cool. Also seeing the birthday girl at the next table run around the restaurant was also fun.
We got the spinach dip duel. The spinach dip was good. The cheesy dip not so good. I got the Seafood combo for the main course. It had scallops, fish and shrimp. It was ok. I have had better. Not very well seasoned. The scallops were spongy but they were fried. Overall, I have certainly had better seafood, even at Red Lobster. I would go back but I will try something different next time. Seems that the Dungeness crab is the thing to get. I will try that next time.

If you want great seafood go to the coast.
For a fun, energetic time with your loud family, go to Joe’s Crab Shack. It is loud, colorful, fast-​paced, busy. That is the atmosphere, which was quite enjoyable for me and my super loud sisters!
I had a fun time dining there.
The food quality gets two stars. The lobster was stale or not fresh in taste. The crab was juicy and tasty though. I ordered one of the $ 30.00 pots. I have a big appetite and that was the right amount for me. others at the table shared their pot.
The sampler appetizer was good. I like the crab, cream cheese, and Parmesan dip the best.
Ok food and fun atmosphere.

Oh Jared (our server) I am so sorry and thank you for being such a great server.
Food was great, hot and quick. Pretty dead for lunch hour, but snowmaggedon was looming to strike at any time.
We ordered soup, Classic Appetizer Combo and my father had fried fish and chips lunch special. Very hot, fresh and no up charge to switch out the sides.
The friecracker balls were spicy and tasty. If you have no experience with heat, you won’t like them. The clam chowder was perfect. Lots of tender chucks of clam, and perfect blend of seasoning.
It was a lot of food and couldn’t finish it all. Total was $ 30, which is what I expected. This was probably my best visit to JCS.