Crab Alley

Seafood was delicious! They have 5 ‘all you can eat’ options. The main ‘all you can eat’ feast includes blue crab, Alaskan crab legs, steamed shrimp, fries chicken, corn on the cob, and hush puppies. The cost was $ 50 for this option, but it had such a variety it was worth the price. The food was cooked/​steamed perfectly. Shrimp we’re easy to peel, crab legs weren’t dry, and blue crab were covered in seasoning. They cook it when you’re ready to eat it, not buffet style, so it’s always hot. My husband and father were very pleased with this option. I went with the lesser ‘all you can eat’ option that includes Alaskan crab legs, steamed shrimp, corn and hush puppies and it was about $ 40. Yum. The shrimp were amazing. My kids ordered burgers, which were less adventuress but still a good option for them. They had a nice kids menu that included crab legs or blue crab and it was around $ 10. I highly recommend Crab Alley over Phillips. Not a buffet. A ton of food with a variety, and nice atmosphere.

True, we had a large group, but for 21 people, we had a single waitress — and she was also responsible for other tables! She was being run ragged. We had a pitcher of beer on our table — with no glasses — for 15 minutes before I finally went upstairs to the bar to get glasses. The food is fairly decent — the cream of crab soup is awesome — but the service leaves a lot to be desired. Other places will assign at least 2 wait staff for a large party. Crab Alley needs to start doing the same.

Ordered the snow crab feast for two. Comes with 3 lbs of snow crab clusters, ½ lb of steamed old bay shrimp, 2 soups, 2 corn on the cobs, and hush puppies.
The soups were good! I had the Maryland crab, it was spicy and flavorful! With big chunks of crab meat. My fiancé had the cream of crab, he loved it. Said it was «rich, delicious, with chunks of crab meat»!
The hush puppies were fried perfectly, one of the best ones I’ve had.
The snow crabs and shrimp were great! Big, juicy, and meaty!
We went in the beginning of June and the MP was $ 65. Not a bad deal for all the food it came with!

AYCE crabs for our crab lovers was perfect! Medium, meaty crabs to feast. We loved Crab Alley. We’ll be back.

We had the seafood meal for two. The crab soup was hearty and full of crab meat. It was satisfying. I thought the blue crab was not sweet. The meal came with 12 crabs and we only ate 6. It was not as good as I expected. The service was good. We also ordered the crab dip which was very cheesy. I didn’t enjoy it very much. I would come back here to try other things on the menu.

We went there because the other close by restaurants were packed and reviews were okay. The place was dirty and smelled fishy. The prices were high and staff not attentive. The best deal is the steamer pots. What me and and my husband got was just okay and food was not hot and had to be sent back. My daughters got the steamer pot and we’re happy, for $ 60 they should be. The total bill is what we spend on groceries a week. We would not go back or recommend.

Went here in mid May– we had the crab leg feast for 2. Fair price, generous amount of food– delicious! Clean place, nice staff– would definitely go back in the future!

Service was S L O W. We came in and there was no one downstairs, we almost left. The person came just in time and seated us. The time we waited between the appetizer and the main meal made us think they forgot about us. The bay crab cakes are very good, but the potato salad was not. In all fairness the food was overall good. Just took a while between the times we saw our waitress, making me think if we had been upstairs it might have been quicker.

We visited on a very busy summer evening. We were seated on the outside deck with no wait & staff was very friendly. Seafood is very fresh & deck has beautiful views. Crab legs were filled with meat & very tasty, also the steak was very good for the non seafood lovers.

This is a really nice family oriented place. The staff is great me and my wife came here for dinners last night. I have never had the blue crab before and thought it would be fun to try it out. We had the snow crab feast for two and a 6 piece order of the large blue crab. The amount of food they gave us was more than enough for us both. The seasoning of old bay on the crabs was so great I loved it. The shrimp was huge and the corn was very sweet I didn’t even put butter on it. We had the Parmesan mussels as appetizer and I must say wow they were the best mussels I have ever had in my life. Overall this is a great place to take your family especially if you have young kids 10 to 15 year old it’s something interesting for them to try and experience.

Awesome food and impeccable service. We had steamer bucket that was overflowing with delicious crab, huge shrimp, mussels, oysters, and clams! The hush puppies are a must.

Nothing is really opened around Ocean City at this time (since the weather hasn’t really warmed up yet), but luckily my friends were able to find this seafood restaurant open during our trip!
I ordered the steamer pot for 2 to share with a friend and boy, were we overwhelmed as soon as the food was brought out! For ~$ 35, the steamer pot consists of lobster tail, snow crab legs, mussels, oysters, shrimp and 2 sides! The seafood was superb; I enjoyed the freshness of everything despite how it’s not really in season at the moment. The mussels were my favorite, but that’s probably cause they were the most convenient to eat. Seafood was steamed perfectly, because the meat in the lobster tail and snow crab legs slipped out effortlessly!
My table also ordered a dozen oysters to share. I’ve never seen such meaty oysters in my life! The oysters were a little briny. We actually found a worm in one of the oysters, which has never really happened to me (or I may have never noticed in the past). But oysters are filter feeders, so it’s not much of a surprise if they filter miniscule worms. Seeing that and actually confronting it kinda made me lose my appetite a little bit though :(
The beer on tap seems a little watered down. I ordered Samuel Adam’s Cold Snap and although it was refreshing, I could definitely tell it was diluted.
Overall, this experience was enjoyable. Their portions were ginormous and the prices are definitely reasonable.

Happy hour menu review– the tacos were so fresh. The fish was surely beer battered, shrimps tender but well cooked. The spice levels were below our need but worked out okay. The boiled shrimp were devilish good with good dash off spicy seasoning. The hush puppies were not oily, crunchy but soft and not fully southern like still had oomph. The Orange crush was nice as well. Overall a great taco place we find better than Mothers Cantina.

For the price of the underlying seafood, I still expect some service. We were seated downstairs in the «basement» area another review describes. Our table was located directly in front of the door, basically, and as people entered and exited on the chilly winter evening, they repeatedly left the door open, stuck on the rubber door mat in between the two outer doors. So, there was that. We kept getting up to close it ourselves. Annoying. Once in a while out of shame, the hostess or another waitress would come close it. So they clearly knew it was a problem. But then when our water was empty or we were waiting for our meal, no attention was paid whatsoever. It’s not like they didn’t have staff — there were at least three bus boys downstairs, a hostess, and three waitresses we saw during the course of the night. Our primary server seemed flustered and explained that the backup in the kitchen meant they didn’t have a baked potato yet (we didn’t order baked potato). If that was the reason we waited 30 minutes between salad and entrée, it’s even weirder.
As for food, our ahi tuna starter was decent but clearly came right out of the fridge on the plate as/​is. We also shared a caesar salad which was good. The mains took forever to come out. My soft-​shell crab was good, as was the coleslaw. The hush puppies were OK, but not everything they seem cracked up to be by Unilocalers. He got crab imperial, which was disgusting. In my opinion. I don’t love crab (I know, I know, why am I at Crab Alley??? you might ask). That aside, my main issue with this place was not the crab. It was the service that made me crabby.

The wait for food took longer then expected, but the food (minus the flavorless shrimp) was fantastic. The portion size was generous and prices were fair compared to the rest of Maryland. The atmosphere is kind of dark but roomy. I would come here again.
I rated 4 stars because the waitress lied about our food, she stated it was put in after a large party arrived but 3 tables around us were sat anywhere to 10 – 15 minutes after is and provided their meals before us 10 – 15 minutes before us.

My parents and I ate here on a Monday afternoon, a little after 4pm. We initially wanted to dine at another restaurant in the area, but they were closed. This restaurant was the only place in the immediate area that was open. We were starving and didn’t feel like driving around to search for a restaurant, so we decided to stop in and give them a try. There was no one in the restaurant downstairs. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot and we heard noise above us, so everyone must have been in the bar upstairs.
We were seated immediately by our server. He took our drink order. We ordered a basket of hushpuppies and my mom ordered the Maryland crab soup. Our drinks came to the table promptly, and the soup and a basket of crackers followed soon after. The soup was a decent size. My mom thought the soup was good but it had a lot of Old Bay. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it could be overwhelming for someone who isn’t fond of a lot of it. The hushpuppies took a little while to come out, but they came to the table hot, so that’s all that mattered. The hushpuppies were huge and tasted great. It was served with cocktail sauce instead of butter, which I thought was a little strange. It was time order our entrees. My dad ordered the Create Your Own Combo with scallops and a crab cake. The meal comes with two sides. He wanted a baked potato (they were out) so he settled for the coleslaw and hushpuppies. The crab cake was a bit small. He said there was a lot of lump crab but the crab cake got colder instead as he ate. It was bland and he just wasn’t a fan of the taste. Perhaps they were made ahead of time and weren’t reheated properly? He agrees with the others reviews that state the scallops barely had any color. They were 90% snow white with the tiniest amount of sear on them. When I got a glimpse of them I said out loud «Are those even cooked?» They looked raw. I told him to send them back. We were all tired after a very long day of cleaning and condo maintenance and had a two hour drive ahead of us, so he didn’t want to make a fuss. He left half of them on his plate. My mom ordered the Crab Cake sandwich with lettuce, tomato and onion. It came with a small bag of Herr’s Old Bay potato chips. She took a couple of bites and stopped eating. She wasn’t fond of the taste either. I ordered the Chicken Breasts, which were two boneless chicken breasts with Italian seasoning. It came with fries and I ordered a Caesar salad. The salad came out immediately. It was pre-​plated and stored cold. The dressing came in a small plastic cup. The salad lettuce was fresh, as were the cheese and croutons. My chicken was cooked perfectly and it was a big portion of food. There was a lot of Italian seasoning on the chicken, which was fine by me, but the pepper or whatever spice it was in the seasoning was very strong and it could be overwhelming for some. The fries were okay. Not the best I’ve had, but certainly not the worst.
Our server came to our table throughout our meal to check on us. He was very attentive and our drinks were always filled. No one else came into dine while we were in the restaurant. The country music was a little loud in the restaurant. One song must have been loved by everyone at the bar upstairs because all we heard was stomping above us during it. I enjoyed my meal. My parents did not. The entrees were a bit on the expensive side. I don’t see us coming back to this restaurant.

Old time seafaring rustic atmosphere. The place is called crab alley it’s what you expect. Seafood choices and assortment of all you can eat crab dinners, pots, and even dinner choices. Being the fresh seafood person I had a stuffed founder. Perfectly cooked and stuffed with creamy crap imperial. The wife had broiled shrimp also stuffed with crap imperial! This was something a little different. Don’t expect elegance here but the food and service were excellent! Next time we may have to try a steam pot!

The snow crab legs, crabcake and shrimp were delicious. The hostess was very welcoming and the view is nice. The pros end there.
We requested a seat upstairs, after reading reviews of a «basement-​like» first floor. We were promised a table, but when we were escorted upstairs, some jerk with a laptop had moved from his barseat (so we were told) and was sprawled out at the last 4-​person hightop. So we sat outside on the upstairs deck. Our server stopped by very quickly and I asked about happy hour drink specials. We had specifically waited to dine during happy hours. We were nonchalantly informed that happy hour was only for the bar. Of course. I fail to see how a restaurant can serve me $ 30 entrees and not honor the happy hour specials in the whole restaurant.
Fail, Crab Alley. I would happily have a beer or two and provide your waitstaff with better tips, but… your choice!
We ordered our entrees. I had crab legs with baked potato and salad (all tasty, though I requested no butter or sour cream and it came with both) and my handsome man had a combo with fried shrimp and a crabcake. He asked out about the daily veggie and we were told it was green beans, so he ordered that. When entrees arrived, the green beans looked suspiciously like broccoli. I mentioned it and our server just said «oh yeah, they changed it.» It might have been nice for them to ask their guests if this was fine in the event that there was an allergy or distaste. They quickly rectified by bringing another side, but I had already reached my annoyance breaking point.
For the prices charged, I would expect better service and consideration for guests. I was very much looking forward to my one night of seafood in Maryland and Crab Alley definitely let me down.

This place never disappoints. Always on spot with the crabs and they just keep them coming. Service is great and the you can’t beat the all u can eat, crabs, fried chicken, shrimp. Yummy

Excellent excellent crabs! I would recommend getting there by 6:30pm on a weekend (at the Latest!) if you want a chance at XL crabs! Otherwise you’ll be stuck with medium which no person in their right mind eats!
Others: Hush puppies were a bit dry but decent. The potato salad is a star. The fish tacos weren’t bad either but clearly the crabs shine here!
Will continue to return for crabs and friendly service!
Tips:
–u can call to make rez before 6pm on weekends
–there are multiple floors as well as indoor and outdoor seating so the wait can go quickly :)