Joe’s Crab Shack

The food is what you expect and steam pots are actually pretty good. The problem is the absolutely terrible service. I’ve been here several times due to staying at a near by hotel and every time it seems the service has gotten worse.
This last time it took 23 minutes to get a beer and 48 minutes to get my food. That’s pretty pathetic for a chain place.

I had the opportunity to visit this place for a second time. I would not advise to go here for lunch. I would suggest that you stay far away. This was my second visit to this place for lunch a friend wanted to go which I should have followed my first mind. We order our food. I order the steak and shrimp. The steak very clearly order medium cook. I got the steak NO PINK cooked well done. I now see why it took over 30 minutes to get our food. I could not understand due to the fact they were not busy. The fried shrimp had been refried to make hot. I am from the Gulf Coast. I know what fresh fried shrimp suppose to look like and this was not it. I forgot about the reheated twice bake potatoe that had been warm up in the microwave so the outside edges were stuck to the plate. Now, I will say the one thing they did not mess up on was the hush puppies.
I advised my waiter of the situation which he was like «yes that does not look to good». I wanted to ask if you know it did not look good. Should’t you brought this to a manager attention before bring it to me. I was advised it would be taken off my bill and that a manager would be by my table to speak with. NEITHER HAPPENED. He brought me the bill with the food still on the ticket until I had to remind my waiter that I DID NOT EAT ON MY LUNCH BREAK. And yes, I am still waiting on the manager to come to the table because for all the problems a simple we apologize would have been nice. I would suggest that you stay FAR AWAY. This was not the best experience and I would not want you to experience what I felt.

Found myself hear at 10PM on a Tuesday night after a Devils Game at the Prudential Center. There’s nothing … I mean NOTHING… in this area that still has a kitchen open except for Joe’s Crab Shack. The place was absolutely packed with people (Tuesday at 10:30? Really?) and there were security guards everywhere. I’m not a usual Newark restaurant goer so I wasn’t too sure if the Security guards were a normal thing or something that should cause a little concern.
The food was decent. Not that different from the other Joe’s I’ve been to but it did seem that some of the food sat out for a bit while waiting for the rest. It’s pricey for the quality like all these basic American chain restaurants, oh well. The service was super slow, I understand it was crowded but we waited for a check after the meal for a long time before having to ask the waitress to bring it.

Although the place looks nice the food quality is very poor. Service is ok and it’s open till midnight (unlike most restaurant ms around that close by 21:00

Terrible service, drinks took forever, food was way over condimented… Will travel another 30 minutes and endure a wait for a table at Joes in Clifton than come back to Newark — difference is night and day…

The server we had a young lady called Morgan who said she just started working there was great! The reason I could not give it 5 stars is the food was delicious but way too little for the money $ 16+ for just the meal and it was so little rice it was really small. The waitress even apologized. However other than that’s it’s clean and we had a good server.

I would give Zero star if I could. This was one of the worst meals I have ever had. The waitress Ashley was horrendous. She took our order and basically never came back. We ask for waters for the table and she brought 1. She never came and ask us how our meal was until we were done. We had to go to the waitress station to ask another Waitess for fork and utensils to eat the our crabs, which never came to the table. She finally brought 1 more water with our kids desserts, which took aver 20 minutes to arrive. While we were painfully waiting for our meal we could see the staff dancing together near the bar area. The food was unfortunately not so good either. The crab legs were soft and mushy. My crab cake was inedible. The kids pizza was stacked on top of each other, which made the cheese stick to the bottom of the other slicers. Just all around bad time.

Too bad there’s not an option for ZERO stars. Service was horrible and my meal was a complete joke. Don’t ever waste your time or money here. My mahi fish tacos had a mini piece of hard fish. 2 of the 3 tacos didn’t have all the toppings. Ordered a piña colada and waited for it for an hour. Even something so simple as water refills never came.

An embodiment of the changing Newark. Trying hard but not there yet. Came here before a concert at the nearby Prudential Center. I was expecting more of a pre-​show crowd but it seemed liked Edison Ale House and Dinosaur BBQ were bearing the brunt. It was busy but not slammed and I got a seat at the bar with no problem. Drinks are reasonably priced, especially if you come during happy hour or avoid the frozen-and-umbrella’d sugar bombs. I got the crab dip nachos — big portion of standard chain restaurant food.
Service was… not great. Two bartenders at a fairly small bar. Female bartender was slinging drinks fast for the table service orders and mostly kept her head down. Male bartender spent a lot of time chatting up regulars and other servers. Had to flag someone for a menu, had to flag someone to order, had to ask for check twice, then credit card languished on the bartop for what felt like forever.
Crowd was odd mix of people who think Joe’s is special occasion outing, hotel guests (it’s under a Courtyard Marriott), and office workers from nearby businesses. Adequate if you’re in the area but I wouldn’t seek it out.

Went here for my birthday! What a great time I had and the food was delicious!!! Food is fresh and not a long wait.

Staying in Newark for work for several weeks… Couldn’t resist writing about the bright spot to our day– Roger at Joe’s. Such a positive, kind attitude, with excellent service to boot. Roger really knows how to make his customers feel loved, which is something I honestly have not seen in Newark at all. My team and I will definitely visit Roger again soon — for he makes the end of a really long day oh-​so-​much easier. We truly appreciate the genuine warmth. Believe me — it goes a long way. Thanks, Roger! You’re the best!

Great place! Roger is the best! We love him,
Very attentive and can make a mean drink!!!

Where do I begin? It’s happy hour tuesday, July 28^th at 9:39pm and we are coming from a music festival celebration. and we are excited to partake in the in-​famous happy hour but let me tell this is far away from happy. The manager is lost in the crowd socializing with friends, the bartender Roger was the worst ever. From visibly intoxicated/​inebriated and snapping from customer to customer this has to be the worst happy hour story ever. Security stamps a huge crab on your hand for you to stand in a packed corner to order. You wait 20 Minutes to place your order then you wait another 15 to get it… this is unacceptable for a franchise. Yes, I am in Newark, NJ, but I will be dammed if a place that I support nationally will be a dissapointment and me not say a word about this. Utterly unsatisfied and I expect someone to take this review and I am sure many others into consideration…
Not good business and Joe’s Crab Shack. PULL IT TOGETHER!!!

We dined here before a show and got there very early — that is the key — get there BEFORE 5:30 if you can or else the place will be packed and you’ll most likely wait a while for your food. Even though the reviews were mixed, it was raining very hard so we dined here. I was pleasantly surprised by the courteous and efficient service we received. We got one of the large mixed seafood entrees that you share and added crab to it. Was enjoyable and not chewy at all. I wish bread or more potatoes were served. When we left at 5:35, the place was rocking! Enjoy!

I really enjoy the appetizers shrimp plate, there were various type of shrimps… I really loved the shrimp that had the jalapeño/​cream cheese mixed in and the traditional fried shrimp… my boyfriend loves the coconut shrimp, I’m not a fan…
Growing up with my grandmother being from Louisiana she would always make me eat hush puppies and I hated them but just ate them because I didn’t have choice. When I saw the hush puppies added to the appetizers I was skeptical but when I tried it I was in love wondering where have they been my whole life, there was a cheese, corn mix to them and I loved it.
There happy house deal was legit but their drinks were just sweet to me, Taste like there was no alcohol. I will just stick to their delicious food.

I ordered Joes classic steampot and I left with my mouth on fire. I’m not a fan of spices but it gave the snow crab & shrimp an extra kick. I guess the spices were very strong because my lips started to heat it and it didn’t go away for a while even after drinking lots of water and washing my lips.
My boyfriend loves spicy food so he enjoyed it very much.
I like our server Ray, he checked on us to make sure everything was good.

This was my first time ever at one of these and needless to say, I left crabby.
My crab cake was burned on one side and unseared on the other. The bun was too hard, almost stale. Thankfully the sauce was good because the crab cake needed it. The onion strings weren’t bad either but these were the kind of onion strings that should go on a burger as a topping, not as a side.
My coworker said his clam chowder was just okay, but my other coworker hated his salmon. The cedar plank must have done this poor salmon no justice whatsoever because he said it was flavorless. If true, the plank is just for show.
At least the service was good. We even got a little dance out of our waiter to «C’mon ‘N Ride It.»

The food is joes but the service is CRAP. I’ve been here 3 times and 2 times the service was horrible what makes it worse is that I was ordering to go. The first time I asked for sausages in my bucket of crab which I did not get. I called the manager said she would refund my card. Never happened. This time I go in to pick up my order I ask if I’d be able use both of my coupons she has me waiting so long while she is trying to ask her manager that I just said forget it and to just use my 1 coupon. Then she’s taking forever still because she still needs the manager to do that. Then when everything is done I’m waiting for at least another 5mins just for 2.69 which I would have just left if the service hadnt been so bad. I really need a new crab spot in Newark or Elizabeth

Restaurant propre, gens sympathiques mais service très lent et repas pas convainquant.

The food is good as always, as expected of any Joe’s Crab Shack, but the fun, upbeat ambiance of other Joe’s I’d been to just wasn’t there. The wait staff were friendly but weren’t as responsive and available. We asked for a fork and knife a few times and the first waiter totally forgot we had asked and didn’t bring it and then we asked a different waiter and he also forgot and we had to remind him again.
Fire crackling steampot we ordered was also really salty! Overall a good experience though and the food was enjoyable.

Unilocal Sins
Everything Wrong With…
Joe’s Crab Shack
Host talking to a 17 year old about the Happy Hour
Seeing my waitress only twice
Waiting 30 minutes for a sandwich and mozzarella sticks
Waiting 10 minutes for the check
Forcing the employees to do a degrading little song and dance
No utensils
Never asking if I want a refill on the water I finished in 3 minutes
$ 10 for a sandwich and fries I could have swallowed whole
Asking me to take a survey after all of this
Unilocal Sin Tally: 9
Sentence: Crabs