Joe’s Crab Shack

Restaurant was dirty and service was slow. I visited when it wasn’t busy, yet there were multiple tables that were dirty and trash kept flying around. One table nearby had food still left on the table and the ground during the hour I was there. The steam pot boil came out cold. There was no steam when the lid was opened. Very expensive and not worth it. Will not be visiting again.

Visiting from Virginia, used to come often with children and grad child when we lived here 10 years ago. Tonight was intended to be a chance to reminisce at old stomping ground with even more family. Poor service, food took almost one hour to arrive, and was incorrect when it did arrive, leading to some eating while others had to wait. The queen crab was poorly steamed as well. Had to return a bottle of root beer that the waitress delivered to my grandson… the entire top was broken off and jagged.
Bad service, delayed and poor food, and the broken beverage bottle speak to a clear decline of quality at this location.

We came here for all you can eat crabs Wednesday night for $ 29.99 each. It was awesome, you can change flavors the crab legs are cooked in every round, so we tried them all. I didnt know it was even possible to get full on crab legs til this night. We had a very nice server, Dominique unfortunately, he is moving away.
The bad– the table wasnt set, we weren’t given bibs til we asked for it, we didnt have paper towels or a bucket to throw our shells into until our second round. And last… but certainly not least… we sat outside because this places smells awful!!! It smells like a wet rag, old bar, and dirty floors. I would not return to this location unless they renovated because I think that would be the only thing to help with the smell.

Definitely will not be back. Our meals were very very slow in coming. After an hour of waiting our server came out and said we were getting free soups and salads due to the wait. Also, 2 in our party were told they could not get the potatoes in their Steamers and then were offered replacement items. My wife was told her steak would take longer because it was frozen.
Our meals finally came, after another 45 minutes and no free soups or salads, and the potatoes were now with the steamers and my wife’s frozen steak was more like jerky. No extras that were supposed to come with the entrees came and our checks were totally messed up. It was bad enough that the manager comped our meals, but that’s not enough to get us back.
This Joe’s has really gotten bad and we just see no need to dine there again.

Food was great and the service was excellent… must get the fish and Chips or the bbq burger with fries. The fry shrimp is delicious.

1815We will start with one and see how it goes it’s empty in here reference picture and they haven’t seated us. It’s been 10 minutes the excuse is that the kitchen is slammed because of AYCE snow crab. Apparently you can’t sit down when this happens.
1830 seated.
1835 water comes out taste like detergent.
1840 want to leave.
1840 waiter up.
1841 order out
1847 2 beers and mixed drink out initially ordered at 1830 ordered again at 1840.
Things can only get better from here!!! or I just get real drunk.
1915 the wait is long for food probably because the AYCE still no food.
1928 food arrives.
1939 first AYCE bucket runs out the next two were ordered at the same time the 1^st was.
2000 2^nd buckets out.
Bathrooms are pretty gross but at this point I’m just being a dick.
The plus side is our waiter Dom. This guy rocks obviously getting beat up because of the kitchen. This guy made things happen for us. I can tell he is getting a little beat down as a look at 3 other unhappy tables but he is still courteous and making things happen.
Ok my food– had the sam Adams bucket pretty good and the potatoes a little under cooked but hell I liked em. The corn was really sweet and juicy. Clams were little, lobster was good not the best but good worth the money.
My ladies chipotle burger was not good the potato cakes though she loved. The waiter though was awesome and brought out some more potato cakes and corn.
Don’t think I’ll be back since we’ve been here for 2 hours. Dom was the bomb though for sure. Thank you Dom! Two stars only because Dom busted his ass if you go ask for him he is the best.

I am not a sea food lover, but this was where my grand-​daughter wanted to go for her birthday.
we were sat quickly, the place was empty. waited a long time for Sal are waiter to take our drink order. When he served our drinks he did not ask if we were ready to order. When he did come bake we ask for a kids menu, my 1 year old twin grand-​sons were with us. He said they were out of them… the boys were getting a bit crabby wait so long with no food, we ask Sal if he could get them some bread or some thing, he said he would order us so garlic bread, we never got it, I new there would not be much I could eat on the menu, but is were my grand-​daughter wanted to go. And you know us grand-​dads will give the kids any thing they want.
I ordered the Stake Frites, medium. we wait quite long for a food to come, mine must of bend done first, it sat under the heat lamps so long that the fries were stuck to the plate, the stake was the BEST peace of shoe leather I have ever eaten, there is no way any self respecting cook would serve it. Sal was no were to be seen. they also ran out of hush puppies. never did any thing for my grand-​daughters birthday. they new it was her birthday because the carded her when she ordered a drink. I have been to many other Joe’s & was always pleased, but I will never go bake to this location.

We decided to have lunch at this location on a Sunday afternoon despite the negative reviews on Unilocal.By now, I should know to trust Unilocal because the reviews were spot on. In all honesty, I am a fan of Joe’s Crab Shack but I usually visit the one on Semoran Blvd in Orlando. When we arrived, it was relatively empty for a Sunday but the main reason we chose it was due to the large sign in front advertising Free Kids Meals with purchase of Adult Entrees.
We reviewed the menu and my wife chose to go with the Crab Daddy Feast which included Snow, Queen & King Crab Legs. I chose the Lobster Daddy Feast which included a whole Maine lobster and Snow Crab. Our biggest complaints were that the crabs were overcooked. The way to tell is, when the meat sticks to the shell when you crack them open, it’s a sign that they are overcooked. My lobster was also a bit rubbery which also points to over cooking. Despite getting the Garlic seasoning boil option, the meat had almost no flavor and in the end we were both disappointed in our decision to dine at Joe’s.
Service was super slow despite the restaurant being empty which seems to be a common complaint at this location. Our server did not come back after delivering our food and our drinks were never refilled. In terms of price, Joe’s is a bit on the expensive side for what you get. In the future, I’m just going to buy the crab legs from Publix or my local seafood market and steam them at home!

No wonder the parking lot was so empty. The service was good but the food was bland and not hot. We won’t stop here again unless Alzheimers has kicked in.

We had the redfish. It was good the sauce was good but the lobster in the sauce was like rubber. The service was very poor. Waited atleast 15 mins plus to get the check. No one is working together to take care of the customers. The door greeter needs to learn how to welcome people to the restaurant and be alittle more pleasant. We not go back.

Not impressed with the staff at all! The manager really need to pull the staff together. Not greeted when we came in. Our waitress was pleasant enough she just needs to learn to multi task. After finishing our meal which I have to admit was pretty good (red fish) we sat and waited and waited for a bill. Even after advising our waitress we were ready to pay the bill and leave we were still kept waiting.
I restaurant looked dingy and dirty. I would not recommend this restaurant unless they improve tremendously!

I haven’t been in this place in over 10 years… Unfortunately, this place is going down the hill. The food is salty and the service is terrible.
No, no, no, just NO to this place.

Keep your kids away from the playground! There’s a big jagged hole on one of the platforms. If someone steps in that, they’ll end up in the emergency room! The manager was notified when a coworkers daughter cut her foot on it. She comped our dinners, but didn’t stop other children from playing on UNSAFE playground equipment. I guess they want to be sued and I’m sure it will happen if they don’t make some repairs very soon.
The food and the service are hit and miss depending on who’s working that day. We’ve had so-​so service and terrible service. Same with the food. Last night the shrimp was like rubber. Pretty much inedible. And if you get the wrong waitress, good luck getting any service at all.

It was close to the hotel, the lights were on and I really didn’t feel like driving another hundred yards. So I popped into this very chain restaurant for dinner. I don’t know why I did it — I don’t really care for crabs or lobster or any other kind of shellfish. But you can’t go to a seafood place and have a steak, can you?
My waitress eventually came around to my table and took my drink order (no mid-​week beer specials) and by the time she arrived with my Red Stripe, I had settled (really, I settled) on the grilled shore platter, which is a mahi mahi filet, some bacon-​wrapped shrimp, a pot of mashed potatoes with cheese on top and an ear of grilled corn. The fish was decent, the shrimp were bacony, the potatoes were volcanic hot and the corn was excellent.
Service was kind of meh, as she seemed to be busy taking care of some friends at a table on the patio. She seemed disappointed that I didn’t want to drink more beers.
It was a chain. It was okay. I’ve had better.

This new location has some new dishes on the menu. Even grandma ate everything on her little plate and others at my table were dancing and eating: A symptom that Joe’s Crab produce to eaters!
I’m thinking on going back tomorrow as I am writing this review… yum, yum, yum :-)
Update: I went back and waitress hardly stopped at the table. I got the bill and left 20%tip at the credit card voucher at the table and left after 10 minutes. I was parked infront of the restaurant with 2 guest and as I was walking on the sidewalk, our server «Sylvia» yelled at me from the outdoor area full of patrons: «Wait!!! Did you sign the receipt???»
What an idiot! She did not even check first her table but she yelled at me like a fat cow!
I dropped from 5 to 2 stars until they hire some educated waitress, but I will never find out: This location is out of my list, I have 3,000 more restaurants in Orlando Metro Area to choose from!

It was good. I especially like the dancing. :)

Alright I’ve been here for over an hour and ordered boiled shrimp and still not received anything. This isn’t a busy place right now. Oh well. I left with nothing in my belly. I was served small shrimp after another half an hour.

No, no, no, just NO to this place.
A friend and I had been here a year ago for lunch and it was just terrible. We figured we had just ordered the wrong thing (the crab bisque tasted like the cheap cheese you find in those vending machine cheese crackers.) This past July on a Sunday we were craving crab so we decided to give it another shot.
First of all, they put this big metal bucket in front of you. It was quite annoying so we moved it so we could see each other to talk. The server kept moving it back to the middle of the table blocking our view of each other. Didn’t care for that.
We both ordered the Bucket of Snow Crab. Comes with potatoes and corn on the cob. It was SO SALTY. If you could die from an overdose of salt this would do it for sure. The amount of salt was so unbelievable we couldn’t even finish half of it. That’s a shame, those crab buckets aren’t cheap.
We made sure to put the crab cracker and the other silverware on the outside of the bucket so they wouldn’t accidentally throw it out but we got yelled at for putting it in the bucket. Uh, huh? Then the server proceeded to talk way too long about how people always put the crackers in the bucket and they get thrown out and as a result they are short on crackers and silverware. OK– We thought of that beforehand, that’s why we made sure to put them where they could be easily seen. She also told us that the «Secret Shoppers» were coming soon and they didn’t have enough silverware.
We ordered two drinks, the Rum Barrel LIT and the Red Raspberry Palmer. Both come in glasses that you can keep. The Rum Barrel in the Tiki glass was good, the Palmer was meh. My friend didn’t like that one at all. The strength of the drinks was ok, not too strong, not too weak.
The place could also have been a bit cleaner. The service was quite slow even though there were not many customers. One customer was dining without a shirt on, which surprised us. Little too casual if you ask me. Very expensive for such disappointing food and service.
This place, the food and the service deserve NO stars.

Great place. Good atmosphere. Even has a playground for the kids! The food was awesome however our waitress was terrible. It took 15 minutes for her to notice us after we were sat down and another 15 for her to take a drink order. Even after we asked her questions about items on the menu the most she could tell us was that she was new and she didn’t know. I got my lobster broil pot which was great. I asked twice for a side of butter. Never got it. While I might come
Back I will be sure to be vocal about the crappy service.

I’m not even going to preface this review by giving the usual warnings about chain restaurants. Been there, done that. We stopped in on a Saturday night and there was no wait. Our waitress, Lexi, was polite and attentive. I ordered one of the new spring cocktails which is served in a take-​home mason jar. It was southern and refreshing and peaches and Jack Daniels honey. Delicious! Not to mention only $ 8. The big shrimp platter was, well, big! Crab stuffed shrimp, coconut shrimp and fried shrimp with crispy fries and coleslaw. I was impressed with how large the shrimp were! For under $ 16, it was well worth it. We were too full for dessert. Overall, they offer a creative cocktail menu and happy hour pricing on weekdays. Everything came out hot and fresh, and condiments were plentiful. We’ll be back when craving some reasonably priced seafood.