Seafood In the Buff

So I’m not happy with the food at all. The food was way over priced and they gave me very small pieces of fish (not much Taste). The shrimp was the only thing that was okay but none of my food was hot. The Mac & cheese was very nasty it was just cheese and noodles no seasoning nothing. I will never go back here again. If you’re looking for good seafood I don’t think this is the right place.

Try the grill rockfish and seafood soup. The coleslaw was fresh and lovely. The staff was very pleasant without being intrusive.

Another place was recommended but it was closed on Mondays, found Seafood in the Buff on Unilocal.We almost drove by it for two reasons, first its off the main road and difficult to spot while driving and two it looked a bit seedy at first glance and had us hesitating as we thought about it. Looking in though we noticed the place was packed and decided to give it a try. That was the right decision, we frequent Johnny’s Reef on City Island in the BX so we know that good seafood isn’t always served in fancy restaurants. I got the combo, whiting, scallops and shrimp with two sides mac & cheese and collard greens. The wife got fried oysters with their seasoned fries we both were glad we took a chance. Good food along with friendly service and old school charm made for a satisfying meal and we would eat there again.

I came in to get crabs, there was hardly anybody there but I waited at the counter for minutes until someone finished their conversation and came to talk to me. Once I placed the order the man went in the back. I assumed he was was preparing the order but I saw him cleaning something up. He hadn’t even begun the order. Another woman at the counter did nothing to help either.
After 10 minutes of getting absolutely no help, I turned around and left. I will never go back to this place again. Please learn how to treat customers!

Convenient place for crabs. A dive with some tables. Depending on time of season, have good crabs. Friendly guys. Good beer. Parking is good.

We’ve been getting our crabs here for a little over 3 years now, and they have always been great. But today we got 2 dozen and every single one of them were mushy. Knowing that even the best places mess up from time to time, we chalked it up to a bad day. We have always been happy with their service in the past, so my wife decided to call to inform them of our experience so that they would be aware of a possible issue. However, instead of saying «thank you for letting us know», the lady on the other end of the phone yelled at my wife, blamed her, then hung up on her. When I tried calling back, the phone was either off the hook or answered and then immediately hung up. Needless to say, we will never get crabs from this place again.

First let me start off by saying… I have worked in crab houses and grew up in baltimore. I know the difference between good and bad crabs. After opening a few of the 2 ½ dozen we purchased for $ 139 we realized not only were the crabs paper thin (which I can deal with if they taste good) the smelled like ammonia. I called to ONLY let them know they were bad and people could potentially get sick, never once asked for a refund, I was asked to call owner. When she picked up the phone she was anything but pleasant. Rude and extremely poor customer service. The first thing out of her mouth was that she was NOT giving anyone a refund. I tried to let her know I was calling to make them aware that the crabs were bad and she started yelling that they weren’t bad, they were not light and she wasn’t listening to me anymore and then hung up on me.
1. If they are light that’s fine let people know when they call.
2. If someone is calling to tell you crabs are bad, apologize and ask what you can do to make it better.
3 never hang on up a customer who just spent $ 139 on your shitty crabs!

Do not go here if you are expecting a fancy establishment. Whether you choose to dine in or carry out, the food is amazing and you won’t be disappointed! Carry out is usually quick. You can even have a beer while you’re waiting When I don’t feel like driving to the wharf in DC, this is the only place I will go to for good seafood.

Great crab legs, but the service was lacking! The woman that took my order was very rude and gave me the wrong order. She refused to correct it so I had to order what I initially asked for again and pay for both dishes. Luckily, there was a nice worker who apologized for her rudeness. He is the sole reason why I would consider going back in the future.

Omg ! Everything is good, oysters. .snapper, and macaroni and greens as your side, who can go wrong… the do soup rocks, and if you want get beer or wine. THIS PLACE IS A GEM IN OUR COMMUNITY, REALLY LOVE IT, AND PRICES ARE GOOD, DINE IN OR TAKEOUT, OR ORDER FRESH TO PREPARE FOR YOUR FAMILY-​Seafood for thanksgiving makes a great addition!! Owners are wonderful, and please tip their employees.
…great place to take friends for maryland crab and oysters. .lots of parking… can never get enough of this place and the fresh seafood. They just had a renovation, go check it out !!!

Their Germantown location was shut down for opening NFL weekend. I spoke to the owner who said she would comp me an order of calamari if I went to the Silver Spring location. I advised her that I was looking for XL live crabs and she said they have all sizes. The reason this isn’t 5 stars is because I arrived at the Silver Spring location and they didn’t have ANY live crabs yet and the shipment wouldn’t arrive until around 2:30 PM and it was 11:30 AM. They said they had some large cooked males and females. Not wanting to drive to the Warf in DC I decided to give it a try so I ordered 1 Doz Male and 1 Doz Female for $ 45/​Doz each and was also given the Calamari as well. The service was gracious and speedy. The crabs actually turned out AWESOME! Not a single bad crab in the bunch. No mushy meat or rotting smells. I was very impressed. Also, a large majority of the crabs were VERY large and on a normal day would probably go into their XL category. Well Done!

Considering that there are only a handful of places in silver spring where you can get crabs on the fly and takeout seafood. This is usually my go to spot. Crabs are usually good, have had a few bad batches but I eat crabs every month through the year so they get a pass. Catfish is really good, just not a fan of the side orders. If you want quick decent seafood this is the place for you.

My husband and I are from out of town and were looking for somewhere to stop for dinner. We stopped at the first place we saw, which happened to be here. I am very surprised by the negative reviews because we both thought we hit a gem! First thing I did was use the bathroom (I am 9 mos. pregnant!) It the THE CLEANEST bathroom I have EVER seen in a sub shop/​fast food type place such as this one. Not only the bathrooms, but the entire place (kitchen and dining area, floor, etc.) was immaculate. And I am picky about cleanliness!
Obviously family owned and operated, every single person working there that we encountered was extremely courteous, accommodating and full of smiles. I ordered the jumbo steamed shrimp with hush puppies and potato salad, my husband ordered the fried catfish with collard greens and mac n cheese. So the shrimp were not what I would consider jumbo but I didn’t even mind. They tasted so good and the cocktail sauce, which I normally don’t like, was delicious! The hush puppies were the best I’ve ever had and dipped in the homemade tartar sauce it was heaven in my mouth. The potato salad was a bit spicy, as was the tartar sauce and collard greens, but I like spice so this wasn’t a deterrent at all. I appreciated the unique-​ness the spice added to the food. My husband LOVES fried catfish and he was not disappointed. I have never had catfish I like but when I took a bite of his, I could’ve eaten the entire piece! It was so fresh tasting, just unbelievable!
I swear to you I don’t know the owners personally and have no reason to write this review other than to share my FANTASTIC experience. I am quite a picky eater so the fact that I loved absolutely everything I tried speaks volumes for this place. Even though we live 45 minutes away, we WILL be back!

I forgot to mention that as I entered the place there was a lady who had a couple beers w/​her dinner but was completely coherent. She had paid w/​a $ 100.00 bill and the wild loud woman at the register tried to short change her. Register lady kept saying she paid w/​a $ 50 and customer who was getting very upset started yelling back that she paid w/​a $ 100 and demanded her proper change. Finally another customer in line told the register lady that she knew the customer had given her a $ 100 and what she was doing wasn’t very nice. Register lady finally gave the proper change to the lady. Register lady mistakenly thought that since the customer had a few beers she could pull a fast one on her.
Another observation that I didn’t care for, After biting into the jalapeño cake ooops, I mean crab cake sandwich I desperately needed a drink of water. I asked the guy behind the counter for a glass of water. He told me they dont do that and pointed to the bottled water that was for sale. I said you have got to be kidding, I cant get a glass of water? He said no, they only have water for sale. I was desperate and my throat was burning from the jalapeño so I had to do it. In hindsight, I should have simply walked out at that point.

The place was so dirty I almost walked out — but it’s a crab joint so I I decided to stay. We’ve ordered bushels of crabs, for our fire department functions, to go and they were good, well spiced and decent sizes (they lost my business last night so that will NEVER happen again — hope it was worth it lady!). We ordered 3 crab cakes and a few sides. The crab cakes were strangely fried so there was a thin hard crust, there was no discernible crab and they were jalapeño spicy. Since there was no description of ingredients, spicy was something we hadn’t anticipated. My 7 year old daughter and my husband were unhappy about the heat. The one thing that we were excited about was the seafood soup. It was complimentary the last time we came in… seems that many folks providing reviews noted that the soup was good — and free with your order. Since it’s a bit of seafood and a lot of broth and rice, it seems appropriate that it would be free or available at a small charge. This visit, for some reason, they charged us. No one mentioned that we’d be charged. Not only did we get charged, but since we got a few refills (a total of 4) they charged us each time. They actually charged us for 6 cups of soup! Twice we went to the soup station to get refills and left waiting for the soup to be refreshed — the seafood was gone. They charged us for these trips to the soup bowl anyway. The two women at the cash register were nasty insisting that it was seafood soup and that we had to pay.
I hope it was worth the extra $ 20+ dollars they charged us because we will be getting our several hundred dollars worth of steamed spiced crabs elsewhere in the future.

This place is a rip-​off. Advertising medium size shimp and scallops as Jumbo size. A video of my plate would qualify for worlds funniest videos. Incredulous. Not just deceptive marketing on quantity, the food quality was equivalent to Long John Silver seafood at double the price. You have been warned.

11/​22/​2013
Westley E.
Avoid this DUMP at all costs! Keep your money in your pocket and get your seafood fix elsewhere, as anywhere will beat this pig sty. First of all the place is filthy, the bathroom was ghastly with a malodorous stench coming from it! The owner has a nasty attitude, they do not appreciate customers, and nobody there speaks fluid English, so if you go, you best bring a translator. The seafood is the worst I’ve had in my life and I’ve had it all over! They cook everything in the same oil so your order will have that «everything in the sea» taste to it. If you think you can get even a passable crab cake at this Dive… FORGET ABOUT IT! Unless you like your crab cakes with turkey stuffing, Jalapeños, and onions in them… KID YOU NOT… then stay away! This place makes me wonder what the hell health inspectors are good for. GO AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Save your time. And your money.
I went here based on the recommendation of a friend and the food was so bad I’m pretty much never listening to a suggestion this friend makes again. Maybe the people eating here that rate this place higher than 3 stars havent eaten seafood anywhere else, but the entire experience is simply not worth spending money on.
I’ll start with the food. Nothing looks fresh. A quick glance at the items behind the counter, on the counter and under the glass shows a bunch either okay looking seafood or frozen food thats thawing. For the menu prices it should be much better. The blue crabs here were some of the smallest I’ve seen. And I ordered a «big crab cake» & «jumbo shrimp» platter. I promise you the crab cake is atleast 90% filler. maybe more. In fact I cannot locate any actual crab meat in this «big bread patty», because it damn sure isnt a crab cake. The jumbo shrimp, were more like medium size. Seriously. one bite and its gone. You would expect atleast large size if you ordered something described as jumbo.
Add to that the long line, okay customer service and cramped space. Yesterday’s visit was my first and my last. There are sooooooooooo many other trust worthy places to eat fresher, cheaper, seafood from in the DC area.

The customer service is my biggest issue with this «Seafood in the Buff» as burnt food CAN happen. After being told that there was ONLY fried seafood available, we learned it was a lie when we went to pickup our order and saw broiled food was indeed being served and available. Aside from burnt scallops & burnt crab cakes the rest of the food was tolerable at best. I was argued with when I called & explained I was extremely shorted on snow crab legs & did my best to convey about our burnt food. He told me I was wrong & mistaken at least three times being exceptionally rude. My friends were stunned as to how rude the guy on the phone really was to me, as I had it on speaker phone. I grew up in the restaurant business, my granddad would have fired this guy on the spot for how he talked to a customer. (shrug) BAD juju!
It was a TOTAL waste of time & effort to order, pay, & pickup. The crab cakes were mostly filler & ours were completely burnt! I did upload a pic of it! Boo-​Hiss!
P. S. My roommate’s cat wouldn’t touch the crabcake! My German shepherd and choc lab had no issues with it however.
P. P. S. I have had stomach issues most of today, the next day after I ate their food. :(Now my roomie is also having the SAME issues I am. This isn’t a fluke and I am Not a happy lady.
Boo Hiss X 2 !

This place definitely looks a little seedy from the street. In fact, deep down that is probably why I’ve never stopped. Not because I was scurred or anything, but more an indifference with the the seediness unconsciously swaying me away.
The small, casual restaurant is more of a market. Actually, I would call it a market that you can eat in.
When I entered, I was greeted warmly but the young man at the register. He was so nice and helpful making suggestions, asking what I liked, providing me a menu and even offered me a cup of complimentary seafood soup while I waited to keep me warm. It was a little salty for my taste, infused with an Old Bay flavor and loaded with rice, shrimp, crab legs, corn and rice. I took a bowl of it just to give it a go, but man the woman that came in after me went to town. I mean, this woman went fishing in that soup for an entire platter.
Say word, big bird.
I decided on a seafood platter with scallops, whiting and shrimp with a choice of two sides; hush puppies and coleslaw for me.
The platter ($ 12.95) was way too much fried food for me. I forgot to ask from the scallops and shrimp broiled, so I just took a little taste of everything, filled up and it still looked like I barely made a dent.
I actually liked the taste of the batter and the hush puppies were delicious. The coleslaw… eh. Nothing to write Unilocal about.
I’m also a fan that their menu says:
Seafood in the Buff
Big, Fat & Ugly
Not at all like your mom.