Joe’s Crab Shack

Omg what happened to the menu. Let me say this my waiter Jay is awesome. I was shocked for a minute! I saw that they took a lot of different items off the menu. They were my favorites example KJ crab pot stuffed mushrooms with crab meat, and then Bean pot. Wth! It’s like the menu has lost a lot of good items.

Save your money. Seriously. The crawfish and shrimp (live) sucked. It may have been the way they were cooked, but I have never had an issue peeling shellfish. Most of the meat would crumble. The manager came over, and I explained my disappointment. He did not seem to care. SAVE YOUR MONEY and go somewhere else for seafood. Houston has a much better selection than Joe’s Crab Shack. I will NOT be returning.

Brought my wife to Joes and we had a great time and the food was awesome. Want to tell everyone that this is one of the best places for shrimp and there fireballs. Thanks Joes for helping me have a wonderful Valentines with my wife.

Just walked out! My wife and I finally got a sitter for a date night and my wife wanted Joes Crab Shack. I’ve never been but said sure. There were only about 5 other tales of people and tons of workers all around. After almost 10 minutes we left because not a single worker/​server talked to us or took a drink order. The woman we thought would’ve been our waitress looked at us as she served the booth next to us and walked away. Terrible business etiquette. 0 Stars!!!

I have no idea what happened to this place… The place was dirty, short on staff and wow the shortest menu ever. The food was okay. The waiter was okay. The hostess was pretty bad though… she looked about 16 and acted like it too. Don’t recommend it’s probably the worst chain in that area.

Been coming to this location for years. The service is always great and the food on point. I love seafood and would recommend this location to anyone.
It’s great to go with the family as they also have a kid’s menu, in case the little ones find the seafood unappealing.
I’d the recommend the «reel big catch». I love their fried shrimp with crab, cream cheese, and jalapeños.

Food wasn’t satisfying. Lack luster. Building appeared to be old. Service was decent. Got 33 shrimp for 11.99 deal. Shrimp were pretty small and not as good as we thought it would be.

I had a horrible experience at Joe’s Crab Shack restaurant located at 12 400 Gulf Fwy, Houston, TX.
1^st) The waiter by the name of ‘Steven’ made a very derogatory comment about my wife being too pretty for me, which I found to be overly disrespectful, rude and out of place.
2^nd) He also kept on calling me brother, which I also found to be very offensive and discriminatory, since it is totally unacceptable for a Caucasian person to call a black guy brother, especially here in America. He might as well have called me a Nigga.
3) He also made a silly comment to my wife, while helping her with the menu that I did not find to be amusing, however, I brushed it off until he made the main primary comment by telling me that «my wife is too pretty for me» which vexed me a great deal.
I informed his shift manager ‘Jimmy’ about the issue, but he didn’t seem to be genuinely interested in my complaints or even give me the intention that he was going to have a serious talk with his rude and untrained waiter. The comments bothered me until the next day, since I don’t tolerate being disrespected, worst being discriminated against. That’s where I decided to file a complaint on their website requesting some form of disciplinary action to be taking against their uncivilized waiter. I was contacted by their corporate director of operations by the name of ‘Guy Carney’. He told me that he had called me numerous times which was a lie. I only noticed only 1 missed phone call from him when I returned his phone call. He went on by telling me a bunch of nonsense stating that he could not tell me what he was going to do about the situation. He offered no affirmative actions to resolve the issue nor take any disciplinary actions against the waiter which is not what I wanted to hear. Because of his lies and unprofessional methods of resolving the issue, I felt that he was not going to do anything about the issue, but simply brush me off, which I found to be very rude and unprofessional. That’s when I decided to post this note, just to inform others of what’s going on at Joe’s crab shack and it’s best to spend your money at a more respectful restaurant, should you decide to eat some sea food. By the way, the meal cost me $ 109.98 for my wife and I that we could have spent elsewhere. STAY AWAY!!!

I’m surprised at the number of poor reviews for this location — my husband and I visited this Joe’s last weekend and had a great experience.
It wasn’t very busy when we went, and we were seated promptly by a friendly waiter, who got us our drinks quickly. They aren’t kidding about the stout drinks either — probably a good thing that they have a 2-​drink max on the stronger beverages.
We ordered the classic steampot for two and it was delicious. The crab was perfectly cooked, the shrimp was tender, and the extras (potatoes, sausage, corn) were flavorful. The crab was definitely the star of the show — worth every bit of messiness that it took to eat. The portions are good sized.
For really good crab, you can’t beat Joe’s! As a side note, other reviewers here have mentioned that this location doesn’t have the loud music, dancing waiters, etc., and that wasn’t present when we visited either. Which is totally fine with me.

The crab queso was gross the lobster alwas gross they literally gave us one piece of queen crab that supposedly came out all in one piece but didn’t. Left very pissed I wanted to tell everyone who was about to eat there to leave while they could

I used to frequent this Joe’s location about 7 years ago until it went down hill. Gave it a try four days ago because my son was craving some shrimp. Stopped in and ordered the Captains Catch, Go Shrimping and the Shrimp and Fish and let me say it was down right spectacular. So good in fact we have went five days straight. The shrimp and fish in every dish was cooked perfectly every time. The go shrimping platter has a stuffed shrimp that is just to die for. The service was impeccable. Everyone from the hostess to the cooks are super friendly. Our waiter Eric is beyond awesome. If you go, ask for Eric’s section and you will not be disappointed. He works Wednesday thru Sunday. The Bloody Mary was great as was the Mudslide and Patio Punch.
So far everything we have eaten has been spectacular. The steam pots are just as good as before. Don’t forget to ask what crab is in season. It makes a huge difference some times of the year.

Loud, crowded, but the steam pots are yummy. Nice playground for kids and deck over artificial pond. I try to go on off hours or play. To wait 10 to 15 minutes. Yes those of us outside the loop are spoiled.

Our trip to joe’s crab shack was pretty fun. We started off by ordering a couple of drinks. The Mardi Gras punch was pretty good and it was pretty strong. The waiter told me there’s a limit of 2 and by the second one I was already feeling pretty good.
When our food came out it looked just like the picture on the menu. Everything tasted pretty good and the service was awesome. I would totally come back just for the drinks alone because they really are as strong as they say.

Do not, do not go to this place it was horrible. It started off bad, we asked for a booth by the bar and the hostess told us it would be 10 minutes for it (there were less than 9 tables occupied and 8 servers with a couple of bus boys on hand so we just looked at her and said really just give us the first one available. We sat down and the hostess went to the back and I noticed her and raynell our server arguing over why did you sit them in my section. Me and my wife usually get that treatment when we go out (interracial couple). The stereotype is that they don’t tip which is inaccurate by the way normally we tip 25 percent maybe more if we see that the service was good or the waitress got stiffed by someone.
So we order our app and as soon as she puts it in she runs back within the minute to take our entrée order and I told her not until we get the app. Five minutes go by and no app but another can I take your order with our drinks. My wife asked for water and she brought iced tea, honest mistake.
The entrée arrived she gets the crab daddy pot with hush puppies and I get the crabcake salad. My order was complete but not hers. The hush puppies didn’t come until 15 minutes later and we had to ask the manager for them after asking raynell for them 3 times with no results. My wife was disappointed and so was I we should of taken our business somewhere else. We will never go back there again. PS she still tried to charge us for the iced tea. No way.

Worst Service ever!!! My sister and I went to the Joe’s by the other Astro-​world on the gulf freeway. This use to be a great place when the old managers had it. but NOW its awlful. Took 20 mins to get our order placed. Then the Mojito we had. was awful NO booze in it at all! Took forever to get our food. The waitress Ashely was sweet. but they really need a new crew and manager to get this place back to the way it was. the food was good. however the service was awful!

wife and I were craving lobster and crab legs. we decided to come here. I had not been to a joe’s crab shack in 15 years then I remembered why. place is overpriced for the amount of food. I ordered bacon wrapped shrimp and it was disgusting. the shrimp were so small. as for the lobster it was ok and crab legs were ok also. this place is over rated. the wait staff is really great. restrooms very dirty

I don’t know why I insist on liking this place, but I do. I ordered the whole lobster with snow crab in the garlic seasoning. I made the biggest mess and I loved it. I also had a drink called porch punch and really enjoyed it. I know it is not fresh seafood, but I think it tastes so good. Our waiter was also pretty awesome. I need to start remembering names so folks can get their props.

Went into the Joe’s on Fuqua at 7pm on a Wednesday evening. The place had 14 tables seated, the entire overflow dining room closed down, and over 25 tables empty and available for customers to sit at. We have gone to this Joe’s in the past, because it’s easily accessible with my wheelchair and of all the Joe’s Crab Shack locations, it’s the most laid back when you’re wanting a more quiet dining experience. Good or bad, this Joe’s doesn’t play loud music and the wait staff don’t ever dance. Sad, really, since that’s sort of a Joe’s brand thing. The place in Galveston on the weekends is a lot of fun!
But for a weeknight bucket of crab, Joe’s isn’t a bad place to go on short notice – or so I thought. Until we are greeted, finally, by our hostess, who tells us, even though there are more empty tables than full ones, that there will be at least a 15-​minute wait to seat us.
We are left to stand at the top of the ramp and peer down into the near-​empty dining room, wondering why we can’t be seated yet, at least, to sit and sip drinks or something. But no, we have to stand and wait, and wait, and wait… and after 30 minutes of waiting, we finally ask to see a manager. It took nearly five full counted minutes before the manager came out to greet us.
He apologized, but it was in that, «I’m really not sorry, but I have to tell you I’m sorry because it’s my job» sort of way. We asked why we couldn’t be seated. He said they were backed up and short staffed. We counted – and the next morning the General Manager confirmed, there were five wait staff and two food runners for 14 tables. So again, we asked if we could be seated and could sit and have drinks while we waited instead of standing in the foyer.
He said we couldn’t be seated, because he wouldn’t be able to give us the ‘experience we deserved’. I asked, «As opposed to the lovely experience we’ve had thus far?»
He then – ready for this? He offered to bring us chairs so we could sit in the foyer and wait, AND he’d bring us drink to the foyer!
So he can bring chairs to us, he can bring drinks to us, but he can’t let us sit at one of the empty tables and bring drinks to us there? Seriously?
So we left… and we told him it was unlikely we would be back. While we waited, another family who had come in right after us also walked out – they walked out without saying anything at all to the manager, and I doubt he even would have known they were there if I hadn’t pointed out to him that he had lost TWO tables that night. I wonder how many more before we got there or on another nights that he doesn’t even know about.
When we got home, I wrote a letter on their website about what had happened and sent it. That prompted a general manager from the restaurant we were at last night to call. He proceeded, instead of really apologizing, to tell us all the reasons why we were wrong about our assumptions about being seated, why he was right in doing what the restaurant did, and he did absolutely nothing to try to mitigate the damage done to their reputation. We were kind, professional, and not angry or rude or yelling – but he simply wasn’t apologetic or seemingly concerned about the image of his restaurant at all.
He did offer to send us something to make up for our trouble, which he said we could use at ANY Joe’s Crab Shack, not just his… but it’s been two days now, and we haven’t seen anything (he said via email), so I seriously doubt he even cares enough to remember he said he’d send something.
At this point, I’m seriously considering sending a letter to their corporate owners… I am a good customer. I tip really, really well when service is good. I leave glowing reviews when I’m treated well and provided good service. I have a right to complain as strongly when things go wrong.
There was nothing really redeeming about the service from this Joe’s on that night. In a city like Houston, so close to the gulf, you can find seafood of much better quality and at much cheaper prices. I went for one reason (buckets of crab!) and next time, I won’t bother.
If you REALLY feel you MUST try Joe’s Crab Shack, and you’re in the Houston/​Galveston area, make the effort to make the drive to the one on the seawall. Not only are they more what you would expect from the Joe’s brand, they’ll actually seat you so you can eat, and you can see the ocean too!

My waitress was friendly from the moment we sat down. Her name is Elizabeth. If you’re ever here I highly recommend her. My order was kind of salty and I didn’t want to be one of those rude people who complain about everything, so I asked her politely if I could order something else and without hesitation she promptly switched my order! Not only was she polite and courteous she kept checking on our table to make sure we had everything we needed. The staff were a team! I feel so lucky to have great service and good food bc that’s very hard to find! The night manager was very accommodating as well! He personally brought my food out for me! I felt like a
Queen!

It was a Tuesday at approximately 5:30 & I was expecting a bit of a HH crowd. However, there were more inattentive employees there then customers. Maybe that’s the reason for the disparity in customers to employees.
I’ve been wanting to try one of their «pots» for a while now. I shared the citrus Corona & I loved the Corona butter, while my companion wasn’t pleased with a unseasoned boil that was obviously used to prepare the pot.
I thought that I recalled these places as fun eating establishments – that needs to be brought back.