Joe’s Crab Shack

So it’s date night. I want to spoil my current fling. What does he want? a «Crab pot.» Initiate frantic Unilocal search for «crab pot, crab legs, unlimited crab,» and other such variations. He really wants to go to Joe’s Crab Shack because nostalgia. Fair enough.
Now I’ve been to other locations and I’ve always been a fan of the food, and this particular location is the coolest I’ve been to in the way of atmosphere. If there’s shrimp involved I will go, and to be fair the crab really is delicious. Now this is where this memorable experience quickly began to go to the crapper.
The wait wasn’t bad for 8:00pm on a Saturday-​maybe about 15 minutes.
I’ve always found it a bit odd when one has to ask for water. Shouldn’t that just be a thing? So I order a water and this double dip situation for an appetizer, he orders a Corona. The Corona and water come probably ten minutes later-​maybe longer. I decide to order a Shark Bite because given the demeanor of my waiter I felt intoxication was going to be a sufficient way to get through this. (Now what I should have done is ordered a SECOND shark bite when I ordered the first because it took a good twenty minutes to get my second after I ordered it.)
The dip thing never came out so when he came to take our meal order I decided to order oysters ALSO (I hadn’t eaten all day and given that it was looking like my booze was going to be my meal I panicked-don’t judge me). Now before he took our order for the oysters he crawled into out booth and leaned over my date to assist the lady behind him in tying her bib. This was not the restaurant decorum I’m used to. It was… odd.
When he came to take our meal order he sat down next to me to take it because he said he fell at work and injured his knees, then said to my date «don’t worry I’m not trying to steal your lady.» Again, strange behavior for a restaurant such as this. He seemed a bit… under the influence of something.
When the oysters finally came out I asked them to cancel that dip thing because, well, clearly I was over it at this point. A couple of minutes later the manager did come out to apologize for that and assured me it would not be on my receipt. I did very much appreciate this.
Finally got our meals, they were good. I got the stuffed shrimp thing (it had «bacon-​wrapped» in the description so naturally I was sold), and the eye candy sitting across from me got a pot of cajun crab or something which also was yummy.
Anyway, he never came to check on us to see how the food was, and when the check came he was quick to let us know that they recently switched to an hourly no-​tipping system but if we had extra cash that we wanted to leave on the table for him that would be awesome. He also handed me his card for his side business of hair styling and said he would love to do my hair because he’s an «artist.» Two hours and $ 105 later I walked out of there feeling sick to my stomach for spending so much money on such a disappointing experience-​or maybe the stomach ache was from the Shark Bites… either way. That’s money that I’ll never see again that I truly wish I would have spent somewhere else.
(I suggest you go a teensy bit later if you don’t want to deal with gaggles of small spawn running rampant. Because, they do. DISCLAIMER: I did not allow the poor parenting of the people who chose to have the litters affect the ‘STAR-​ness’ of my decision.)

Great family place to get sea food! I love that the kids can go play and we still get good food. The ragin Cajun steam pot is always a tasty dish.

Great food and service. They have a huge indoor playground for the kids. All kinds of great seafood options and of course crab. Its delicious try it if you haven’t!

The food was good, probably some of the best crab I have ever had in Utah. But I was not treated like i was a respected customer.
The restaurant was doing a promotion where you could donate 30 or so dollars to a charity and they would give you a free basket of crab. I was like, sure id love to help, and free crab yay! But after I bought it and got home, I noticed that the voucher I was given was actually a buy one get one free. I called the manager to get clarification because I was told something different than what I actually got. The only thing the manager did was patronize me, and questioned my character concerning charity donations. I will probably come back, eventually.

For a seafood place in Utah, it wasn’t bad — good selection of crab, and the mussels were amazing. They have quite a few interesting cocktails as well, so the menu was one of the highlights. It’s tough to find half decent seafood anywhere more than 100 miles from an ocean, but Joe’s does a good job.
The ambience was pretty noisy and busy, and because of that, I feel like my table was mostly overlooked. Our server walked past us several times without checking in when it would have been beneficial. And she seemed confused on multiple occasions.
Overall, I’d recommend it for the food, but it is definitely overpriced considering the freshness. If they dropped the prices by maybe 15−20%, I’d go more often. I’d rate it 3.5÷5 if I could.

Meh. Been here several times and always ended up asking myself why. Everything that’s fried is greasy and tasteless. Maybe their steamed stuff is better, not sure, never tried. Drinks are ok. The interior is kitschy and not in a good way. I’d avoid overall. Not worth the $$.

The food was sub par to put it lightly. The hush puppies were so dry I almost choked on them. My coconut shrimp were over cooked as well. My fish and stuffed shrimp were excellent. My wife got the mahi tacos and they were some of the best I’ve had. Dang I should have ordered those. The service is always fantastic. I will come come back again for the sevice alone.

I have been here multiple times and my experience have always been pleasant. I guess I don’t have high expectation for fresh seafood being hundreds of miles away from the beach. I mean, if they served brine shrimp and they tasted stale, then by all means, grab the pitchfork, wield the torch and march to this place and it would be totally understandable.
The food here in general, for me, is acceptable. The Orleans Steam Pot crawfish and shrimps are tasteless, I have to dip them into melted butter, or the steam juice at the bottom of the pot, which is salty and surprisingly spicy. It is fun dish to eat though, cracking the crawfish open with bare hands, especially when you have a good company to gossip with. The Blackened Mahi Tacos is just ok. The salsa is tasty but the tacos in overall feel a bit dry. They do have food that is fantastic though, like the Fried Calamari which I like a lot. Very thickly breaded. And the drinks are marvelous! Like, seriously. Especially Hurricane No 5. Very strongly concocted by Utah’s standard and on Tuesday, you can get one for 2 dollars. Very good deal and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up going to the movie feeling all tipsy.
I gave this place 4 stars because even though their food is hit or miss, the overall environment of this place is full of energy. It gets you pumped up for the movie afterwards. The servers always smile and I never had anything to complain other than the food, which is again, not horrible.

I’m honestly surprised that this place has gotten so many bad reviews. My boyfriend and I come here every couple of months or so for date nights, and we love it!
In my experience, the best part about Joe’s is the service. We’ve always had the most energetic and attentive waiters and waitresses. On our last visit, our waiter’s name was Cinch, and he was great! We’ve never waited too long for anything, and everyone always seems to have a smile on their face. The atmosphere is vibrant, fun and casual.
For everyone complaining about the food, I do hope you realize we live in a landlocked state. If you want fresh-​out-​of-​the-​water seafood, you’re going to have to wait until you vacation on the coast. I’m actually a big fan of Joe’s food. I’ve tried most of their fish dishes, platters of assorted seafood, and the boyfriend usually gets something with crab. We have genuinely liked everything that we have tried.
This place is in the perfect location for a dinner and movie date night. I would recommend it to friends, and I’m sure the boyfriend and I will be back again soon.

Nothing special, it feels like the food aren’t prepared right. They don’t taste good and too pricey in my opinion. When you think of seafoods you want it to look fresh and more like a dive style so seeing them in bulk served in a bucket is enticing but the taste was disappointing. Not worth it for me!

I was super hesitant to go here considering the horrible reviews, but we really wanted sea food before a movie and it seemed to be the only choice so we risked it … I’m glad we did!
We had a solid meal at Joe’s!
I ordered their Mahi entrée and asked it be blackened — it was great! It wasn’t very spicy but it was full of flavor and the fish was fresh and well cooked! The cheesey potatoes were good as was their corn (which was so good we jokingly called it crack corn all night). My boyfriend ordered the plank salmon which he also loved!
The service was pleasant. Our waiter Jamie was very energetic and nice. The atmosphere is obviously loud but it wasn’t disruptive to our date at all, and I think it would be great for a family!
We will likely return next time we are down at that theatre.

Took my wife there for the first time after an RSL game… We had a good time. She had the lobster stuffed shrimp (ok), and I had the red fish & lobster (delicious!). Our server, Misty, was great. Very friendly, attentive, and always on point. Will definitely go again.
OH! Order a Tiki drink, and you get to keep the cool glass! My wife loved it!

Don’t. Just don’t.
I realize it convenient for a date/​dinner & movie. But it’s not worth it.
This place is obnoxious and gross.
I’ve literally only one time in my life complained about the food and didn’t want to pay for my meal and it was here. They offered me another meal, but I didn’t want it. *fool me once… Not again.

1) Grab boxed, bagged, and pre-​breaded seafood out of freezer-​check
2)Open sealed bag and drop seafood in deep fryer-​check
3)Cook until seafood floats-​check
4)Douse the seafood in cocktail sauce and melted butter to mask the freezer burn-​check
5)Walk out never to return-​check

Slow sterile service, love the F bombs being dropped and complaining of everyone how the place sucks to work at. The chowder was horrible too

Before I stopped coming to this place, I wondered repeatedly why I was coming there at all. I suppose it was the best alternative in the area, but it definitely wasn’t for the food or the dubious thrill of hearing «Cotton Eyed Joe“blasting on the overhead PAs a couple thousand times and watching the restaurant staff cavort around like idiots, almost like clockwork and without regard to any of those loathsome public sing-​a-​long birthday celebrations. This, as you may have guessed, this place can get exceedingly and quite annoyingly loud.
They do quasi-​dance and stumble around like fools amazingly well, but the food is always suspect. Vida summed it up best with the crappy food for a premium dollar, but I’d opt more for substandard rather than crappy. The shrimp was not especially worth eating and the crab was well-​pulverized, the envy of any canning company you’d care to name. It almost, but not quite, feels like I’ve been robbed when I left, vowing never to return, but fortunately, the last time stuck.
It can be an interesting experience here, depending on how socially lubed with chemical refreshments you may be, but it certainly is not a necessary one and even though Red Lobster has fallen lower on the radar with their latest round of slippage, quality is better there and so, generally, is the price.

I really haven’t found a seafood joint in Utah that satisfies me. But Joe’s is okay. I just feel I shouldn’t expect fresh seafood from Utah, and what they have to offer, I should just stop complaining and accept it! Sad but true… They really had a lot of choices on the menu, but most was really expensive. We got Clam chowder, fried Calamari and the Bean Town steam pot. It costed is $ 61 before tips for 2 people and we were still hungry at the end of the day. I would suggest getting individual entrees. They looked more filling and are more reasonably priced than the steam pots.

this place is honestly, just average. every time i come here (past 10 years or so) i always wonder how it stays in business, but it seems to have lasted quite awhile. i use to live in taylorsville and the jordan landing location was closer, but i always found that the food is better at the sandy location.
the service is usually great from all staff. service is excellent and the staff is a lively group. their cocktails always disappoint me — i doubt there is much alcohol in them. for the appetizers i love their garlic mussels or their double dip (spinach artichoke and crab dips). everyone loves their steam buckets, but i can’t eat it cause i’m a clean freak and hate it when my hands feel dirty. so i usually get a fish or shrimp dish. something that i can eat with my fork and knife lol! i pass on their dessert as i’ve never had anything good.

I have been coming to this location since it opened and I have never left disappointed. It’s your average chain restaurant but the service is what has kept me coming back. They are always attentive, quick to respond to your needs and make sure they keep my lemonade full.
One of the better spots in Utah for crab I just wish they’d bring back the ½ priced happy hour appetizers. That made for a great late night snack. Its also nice to find a restaurant in Utah that is open until Midnight.