Crabshack

Went tonight for a club meeting. The service was good for our large group. I ordered the she crab soup and could not eat it. There are other places in the area that offer this and this was the worst. Our server took it off the bill which was cool but not expected. Won’t be back.

My husband and I are vacationing in the Williamsburg VA area and were looking for a seafood restaurant on the water. We found the Crab Shack and we’re so happy we did. We sat on the patio overlooking the James river. He had the steamed blue crabs and I had the steamed snow crabs. We enjoyed the sunset, a few drinks (they have a full bar), the crabs and each other’s company. A great end to the day. Our server, Nicole, was very attentive, the food was good, drinks were cold. A very nice dining experience.

I really love this place. It’s perfect. They have the best calamari I’ve ever had and I get the crab cakes.

The great view of the James River sets this seafood restaurant apart. The food was just ok, but the service was friendly and quick. The crab shack burger was the tastiest item we tried.

Unilocal really needs HALF stars. I would have given 3.5 Stars, to be precise.
I had fried oysters, and they were quite good. Served with some very decent fries and fairly well done oysters rockefeller. The setting is quite gorgeous, with the beautiful James River view. Most of our large party was happy with their food. Flounder stuffed with crab even a decent hamburger.
Why not more stars? The service was pretty slow. We were there with lunch, a very BIG party, but they could barely get glasses to us for water. They picked up steam as the service went on, but getting water to a group should NEVER take THAT long. We had to get up and ask for a glass even, as we got jugs of water BEFORE we got glasses.
Otherwise, decent to great food. Just need to streamline the service.

Don’t order the steamed shrimp unless you like picking out poop!!! Food was not good. Service was average. But when a seafood restaurant right on the water is dead on a Saturday night… suspicious.

I don’t understand the negative reviews for this restaurant. We’ve been eating here for years and we’ve never had anything other than great food and good service. We relocated to Richmond 15 years ago and we always visit the Crab Shack whenever we are in town. In fact, we drove down last Thursday just to have dinner there and enjoy some blue crabs. They were excellent… As were the raw James River oysters. Some of the best I’ve had in a very long time. Our server was very polite and attentive. I can’t imagine what else anyone could want from a riverfront seafood restaurant. We can’t wait to go back again, hopefully soon!

This place never fails to disappoint ! There is always a wait even with plenty of empty tables and the service is always slow and rude. It’s a shame that this is Newport News’ only River view restaurant.
Cold food, warm wine and poor service! Hire a hostess, a food runner and a drink server. Seat people in sections so your wait staff is not running all over the restaurant. Put bread on the table to give people something to eat while they wait ½ hour for the waitress to show up.
This place is not worth the effort. If you want fried food with a view, go to Chick-​fil-​a and look at a post card!

For the price, go to Red Lobster. The food’s not that good, it’s loud, and quite frankly most other restaurants have far better food.

We sat at our table for 15 minutes and didn’t get a server, even after asking for one. Left without eating.

Rather disappointed. For a seafood restaurant on the river the food was, well, forgettable. The clam chowder tasted exactly like Campbell’s, and I mean EXACTLY. My shrimp and oyster platter was straight out of a box delivered frozen to the restaurant. My fiancé got crab stuffed salmon and the «crab» was awful. When we questioned the waitress about it she admitted the crab was mixed with faux crab. It was mushy and tasteless. The waitress did take $ 5 off our bill and offered a free dessert, but considering the pre-​packaged main courses we had I really didn’t want to even try their desserts. Don’t think we’ll be returning.

Poor service. We waited for 15 minutes for our waitress to acknowledge our presence. When she waited on another couple who were seated after us, we left.
Not likely to go back.

This place is great. The crab dip is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.seriously. I would order it in bulk if I could. Draft beer is mostly local. Ordered crab legs, clams, oysters Rockefeller, and fries and everything was perfect. As for the «bad service» comments, our server was amazing. Plus, having a slow server isn’t a reason to give a restaurant a crappy review. If your food take a while to come out its because the kitchen is behind or they’re actually COOKING your food rather than zapping it in a microwave. I can’t wait to eat here again.

I do like this place, the fish dishes are fresh and nummy.
This place is not crazy fancy and when we were there recently the fishing dock was under construction.

The James River Bridge crab shack, Folks, If you like seafood and love the idea of watching the sun set over an enjoyable meal then keep going!!! The only nice thing about our evening was leaving this establishment. Over priced, bland meal selections as well as the unsatisfactory service.
I took my girlfriend here expecting a nice evening and what we got in return was disappointing to say the least. If it was up to me I wouldn’t have even given them a one star but Unilocal requires at least one star, so there you have it.

Okay let’s just start off by saying when you go to a place to eat, you want to leave feeling satisfied, not gross and lethargic.
I have very few good things to say about this place other than the view was lovely and the fries were decent.
The service, while friendly was very slow. We had to eat our salad with our fingers because we had no silver ware and couldn’t find our waitress. Our water was only refilled once and that was as we were getting our checks.
The food was blah. The crab cakes were not worth trying or finishing. And seriously not worth $ 22! They were not lump crab either. Just tiny shreds of crab with zero flavor.
We will not be back. It’s just not worth the money or the awful feeling after. I’m also going to assume that their seasoning consist of large amounts of msg, which causes me to immediately get a migraine.
So far my seafood search in Virginia is 0 for 2. The search continues.

After hanging out at the beach in Huntington Park, hubby wanted seafood and since this place is practically part of the park, we arrived around 5−6ish to Crab Shack hot, tired and a little bit salty and sandy.
Ordered soft shelled crab sandwich, seafood platter sampler, ½ dozen oysters and ½ dozen clams. This was suppose to be a before dinner snack. Hah!
The crab sandwich was delicious! The sampler plate should have been bigger but it came with salad and fries. The clams were okay. The oysters were not. I found a partially digested hermit crab in my oyster *EWWW”. Lesson learned. Never order oysters in Virginia. No one here knows how to shuck them properly. If a seafood place can’t do it… then where can you go?
The view is killer here though and it get shot as the sun starts setting.
I’m not sure I’d return here, maybe just for the soft shell crab sandwich.

Not what we remembered.
While in Hampton for the Jazz Festival, we visited this restaurant. This was my sisters go to spot when she worked at the Daily Press many years ago and she would bring me here when I visited her.
The crab cakes were very big and meaty. The spices in the crab cake were spicy. I had mine fried, she had broiled.
Who ever heard of a restaurant NOT having blue cheese salad dressing?!
I haven’t!
We left with full belly’s just not a good memory.

I give this 3 stars for food and 1 more for location.
The Good — love the casual on the waterfront setting.
The crab cakes are excellent.
The Fair– french fries, coleslaw, margarita and baked potato are fine, average.
The bad-​anything scallops, House salad and oysters.
Service ok. Scallops were tasteless and under cooked. Oysters were over fried.
I’ll go back for the view.

I was not happy with this place. They have a patio, and I had read somewhere that they were dog friendly. Well, they are not. We actually called ahead to ask if we could bring our dog from our hotel while visiting the area. They said we could so we drove a little bit of a distance to get there so we could bring him. When we got there, they told us sweet little Baxter (an 8 lb Coton de Tulear) was not allowed in.
We were starving and the weather was pretty perfect so we just parked the car as close to the patio as possible and put the windows down so we could watch him while we ate. It was not a pleasant experience though because we had to rush.
My crab cake was so so. My husband really enjoyed the crab legs though. I just wish they would not have told us one thing and done another. The manager was unapologetic for their screw up too. That’s the worst! She said the person on the phone was confused because sometimes they let dogs in but that it’s a health code issue so they wouldn’t let him in. It made no sense. Either you do or don’t!