Joe’s Crab Shack

Guys, the place is closed. Another restaurant is coming but do not come here expecting Joes — RIP

I was the biggest fan of a Joe’s Crab Shack in Maryland. Unfortunately, this one isn’t that great. First it was very empty on Wednesday night. Secondly, the BBQed Dungeness Crab (usually my all time favorite) wasn’t the freshest. Furthermore it was very lightly spiced. I didn’t taste much BBQ flavor.
The saving grace was Ryan. He was a phenomenal, friendly, helpful and efficient waiter. Moving this place closer to the city (I mean close to high-​frequency public transportation) and I’ll go … the the crab turnover will increase … high turnover is still the method to ensure freshness.

I went in on impulse, having never seen a Joe’s before. I usually don’t like shellfish so ordering the Crazy Good Crab Dip was definitely going out on a limb. It was great!
Highlight: the bartender Vanessa. She was super helpful and patient with me, made great conversation when she had time, and accommodated my after-​the-​fact request for celery instead of chips. She also talked with me about the menu and gave me some great recommendations for next time I go.
Management, be good to Vanessa! She’s a keeper!

Went here for my birthday and this place was very good. I got soooo much crab and lobster that I didn’t know what to do. Ppl told me that this place is not what I would expect and u don’t get as much as u think. They were right. It was more than I expected and higher then I expected it to be. They sang happy birthday to me and the waitress was very good. The atmosphere was very inviting and just overall a great time. Will for sure go back and if you love crabs this is a lovers dream place

Love the deck area, fun for family dinners. There’s a great playground that the kids can access and still stay within eyesight. The food is good but I wish the menu was a little more diversified. My step daughter is a vegetarian and it didn’t have many options to chose from unless she went off the kids menu (she’s 17). I recommend getting the ads-​on crab legs. They are delicious!!!

Food is good — it is a bit pricey but hey — seafood typically is pricey.
The thing I did like about Joe’s Crab Shack is that it’s not just fried seafood, they also have the steam items.
Love the steampots and the options. Also — love how you could pick any steampot (based on what seafood combination you like) and choose any flavour to go with it.
We ordered the Raging Cajun but went with the garlic and herb flavouring. Couldn’t really tell that it was garlic and herb except for the fact that there were chunks of garlic in it.
The portion is really only for 1 person but as we weren’t hungry, 1 steampot to share was good for us.
If you do know which type of crab you like, the bucket of crab is a better deal.

I absolutely love this place. I’ve driven here twice from Boston since there isn’t any Joe’s in Boston. I always get one of the steam pots. For $ 25 to $ 30, you get crab legs, potatoes, shrimp, sausage and corn on the cob. It’s well worth it. The food is well seasoned and is super yummy. If you have a high tolerance, try the category 5 hurricane. There is a limit of 2 per person and you will see why after having the first one. They definitely live up to the name.
I’ve also had the marshmallow desert which is pretty huge and tasty. The one drawback is that it’s super sweet and you might not be able to finish it.

Me and my sister decided to give this place a try a week ago, and the food was good, the drinks were awesome, and our server Ryan was excellent… very friendly and down to earth… The only thing i can say about this place is IT IS FREEZING INSIDE. LIKE THE ARCTIC… make sure you bring a jacket and sweater… I would say give this place a try

Ambiente muy cálido, el personal muy Cortez y agradable.
Me reuní con mis amigas. Fue espectacular. Las bebidas fueron exquisitas aunque a mi amiga lo le gusto la piña colada, parecía algo desagradable y sobrepasada de alcohol.
La comida fue deliciosa. Realmente creo que apestar de algunos malos reviews es un excelente lugar

My boyfriend and I come here all the time, literally. The staff knows us, that’s how often. We absolutely love it. Not just for the food, but for the amazing staff they have there. Good waiters and waitresses are sometimes hard to come by, especially with a sense of humor because my boyfriend is a complete goofball. They’re attentive, funny, and always so friendly. These are people who’d I would hang out outside of the restaurant. They make us feel so welcomed. By far the best staff at any restaurant I’ve been too.

My first time. Cracked the new cocktail menu to find great glassware for a chain restaurant. Recipes where a little silly. Out of a 10, cocktail menu was 6 for a chain restaurant.
Service was so/​so. I have an allergy to shrimp and after a request to keep it out of my entrée. My meal still showed up with shrimp in it. I don’t blame my waitress, but it could have made for a bad night. Management was no place to be seen, and our server did a great job cleaning up the issue. Just would have been nice to have a manager touch our table after an issue like this.
The venue was clean.
Food was good.

Are you absolutely kidding me? How the hell does this awful place have a 3 and a half star rating? We’d never been before and hit it on a weeknight, we were the only people in the place. You’d think the waitress would have been ecstatic to get a few customers, but she seemed more intent on drinking with the cook and then disappearing for 15 minutes into the kitchen while we waited for the check. We were literally about to walk out and not pay.
The food itself was laughable, both in quality and price. Frozen seafood was poorly reheated. I’ve paid less money for a seafood meal while sitting dockside on the ocean in Newport and Gloucester. How this place charges tourist season prices with a view of a spray painted Burger King is beyond me. How any true New Englander, with all the quality choices around here for fresh seafood, could find this place acceptable is even more beyond me. I’ll never come back and you should avoid it like the plague.

I think there may be two Unilocal pages for this page. I just posted a review on a page that only had one other review. This must be the main one, so I’ll re-​review it here.
I ordered king crab and received 5 crab legs. This came with 3 hush puppies and a bucket of cold fries. All of this was delicious, even the fries, but for $ 30, I expected quite a bit more crab.
The vibe in the place is bad — every other customer seemed to be friends with an employee. I worked in restaurants for years and this one gives the distinct feeling of a sinking ship in which friends of employees get perks and everyone else gets smaller and smaller portions to help the manager balance the books. Just an impression, but I know i left feeling ripped off.

Second Time here and no disappointments ! The service was good, food, and drinks were good ! The lobster and shrimp hush puppy pie was soooooooo yummy. The crawfish seemed a little too dry though, only complaint

This place is awesome! If you like crab then you will need to try this place. Come hungry and ready to get dirty.

Overpriced, overcooked, oversalty crap and I looooove shellfish. Born and raised here, so grew up on it.
Awesome burgers though! Joe’s Burger Shack!

My first time here was a year ago with my husband and the in-​laws, the first thing that I had noticed was the fishy smell when I entered at the host station, it was too strong that I thought I was at the fish market which I still remembered until today, what a first impression. We had different steampots and fried dishes, food was great, service was outstanding. Everyone seemed happy with their meals.
This past weekend my husband and I went there as I wanted some really fresh tasty seafood. No more strong smell, yay.
We started with steamed garlic mussels with bread, mussels and the sauce for the bread to dip in was way too salty that had no sweetness to it. I think I’d probably have high blood pressure if I choose to chow down that dish all alone.
For the steampots, we had an Artic bay and Samuel Adam pots, the portions weren’t large as it used to be, lobster was small, with a few crab legs, corn on the cobs, some pieces of potatoes, and sausages that I didn’t care for. Really, they seemed to be downsize on portions. If you decide to try it out, don’t expect to have a full load and beautiful pots like you see online or on the menu.
Seafood was fresh and sweet with a nice butter dip and they would provide lemon to mix with salt & pepper if you ask.
We had seasonal cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert, the filling with mix berries was sour, the crust was buttery good.
Our waitress was Rachel, she’s pretty attentive and friendly.
We did enjoyed our time here and would probably come back once in a while.

If you’re look for crabs this place will do (pun intended!).
Not really a «shack» the place is clean, modern & set up with picnic tables, booths and bar seating. Service was decent, although we sat next to a friend of the bartender that showed her social standing by using the «F» word in her conversations. People need to learn some tact in public. The bar has big screen TV’s and a large selection of draft and bottled beers. The menu also has picks for the land lovers (salads, steaks, chicken).
Prices for the fish platters are decent (approx. $ 18), one in our party said his platter was «good». Another in our party had the Dixie Chicken Salad & said it sucked. $ 12.00 gets you a plate of romaine lettuce and almost none of the advertised accouterments. The buckets are deceiving; it makes you think you’re getting a lot of food. The place overall gets 3.5 stars, I think 3 stars is appropriate. Would I go back? yes, but it’s not at the top of the list.
This place is like the Texas Road House but for seafood. To the owners of Joes: The dancing gimmick is kind of played out don’t you think? It’s not entertaining, it’s annoying.
FYI.This location is right next to the highway on ramp where you can travel 30 minutes and l be at the beach. You can get the same food for less coin.

We drove 45mins to try it out. Its okay for boil crab legs and a small lobster. Spicy boil was not spicy but the service was great. If we had to come back because of crab cravings, we can probably find it in Boston.

I went to the one in San Diego a couple of years ago. It was awesome. It was right on the water, the food was good, and the vibe was great. I was excited when this one popped up while I was searching for good eats in Haverhill. It was at most a 5 minute wait to get a table at 6:30p on a Saturday and service was fast and courteous.
We had some drinks. Those were fine. Strong and sweet… just like us ladies like ‘em. We had the bucket of shrimp. It was fine. For our main, it took us FOREVER to order. So many options that were all really all the same. Should I get the crab legs that come with clams and shrimp? Or the crab legs that come with clams, and shrimp, and lobster claw? Maybe I want a whole lobster… Or maybe the snapper… But wait, It’s Joe’s Crab Shack, so I have to get something in that family, right? Right.
Well I ended up with the Samuel Adams Steam pot, and everyone else had something similar. There was nothing to complain about. It was good and fresh.
This place is really like 3.5 but the dance they force the waiters to do every 25 minutes is lame… Like, really, really, super lame. Please stop. I’m sure they hate it and we (meaning me) hate it more.
I would of course return.

After seeing a commercial, my son and I both said «we have to go there».
Glad we did! We had a pleasant experience.
First of all, I want to thank our waitress, Jozilin. She was great and thoroughly explained everything to us. We now know how to eat crab legs thanks to her.
My son ordered the Artic Bay Steampot which included queen crab, shrimp, a whole split lobster and sausage steamed in a garlic bath and topped with Old Bay seasoning. Enough for 2 people. I ordered the shrimp coconut, it was ok, but I liked what he had better. It’s cool they bring the food to you right in the steampot. you get a roll of paper towels and a tin container to throw the shells in.
The one downside, the fruit in the strawberry peach sangria was frozen. It would have been so much better if the fruit wasn’t frozen. You get the drink in a cute mason jar. You get to take home a mason jar with Joe’s Crab Shack written on it with each drink you buy.
There’s a huge seating area. Service was quick. We definitely will be going back soon. I have to get my take home steampot for making a donation for autism.