S & J Crab Ranch

This rating is for poor service. I walked in during happy hour and this place was empty. I was the ONLY customer. I sat at the bar and tried to ordered my favorite wine or at least something close to it, but they did not have it. So, I asked for water. Then, I tried to place a food order. The bartender put in my order, but some lady (not sure if it is the owner or not) came over to me and stated I can only get the happy hour price if I buy a drink. There was no sign stating this… The bartendar replied stating well we don’t have what she wants. The lady then stated okay well only two appetizers can be ordered at a time. There also was not a sign stating this… I then decided to pick up my purse and leave. Maybe the owner or crazy lady is racist or maybe she thought I had stupid stamped on my forehead. I see why the place was empty during happy hour.
NOT RECOMMENDED

I am her right now and I must say I have eaten here at least 5 times I. The last five months! I come to Towson to do massage. This is probably the 1^st time I felt really uncomfortable and guess what I think it was the owner he was the issue! There was a woman there with a dog and when I came in she ask me could she seat me at a table and I said can I sit over here at the bar and she with hesitation said sure and I said can I have a happy hour menu and she said its over its 7 and I said no it’s 6:37! She’s like ooh she goes and sits down and finishes eating her food I sit for another 10 minutes and I said is someone going to help me and the guy behind the bar who knows me and waited on me the first time I can and said yes you usually sit and someone will come over! I should have just walked out but I was waiting for traffic to die down and the waiter who helped me was a really nice young man! As I’m sitting there there are only 4 other patrons in the bar and she proceeds to continually ask them how is everything she never once asked me anything!!! Guess what the service there sucks and I hate to say this but I gave them really good reviews to the business I normally go up there to see and they all told me several times before! You like that place really! They don’t have good service! Now I understand!!! NEVER AGAIN WILL I PATRONIZE THEM!

I only stopped in here to pass some time waiting for another event I was due to be at 7pm. I came in right around 6pm. It was happy hour. I felt welcomed soon as I walked in the door. I sat at the bar. I had an apple martini that was delicious and I decided to order some crab macaroni and cheese. That too was delicious. I really had a nice time. I just wish I had more time that day. I can’t wait to return. I need to check out the crabs.

The crabs were delicious, but man, they’ve become expensive. I know there’s a shortage now, but wow.
One small critique. Luckily, they weren’t busy, but I made reservations a week in advance through Unilocal and got a e-​mail confirmation. I called today to make sure they had crabs available. I mentioned that I had a reservation and they asked for my name to confirm. I got there on time, only to be welcomed by confused staff who couldn’t find my reservation. I’m looking into a nearly empty restaurant as they do this. If it had been busy and I didn’t get a table, I’d be furious. Just didn’t make sense.

Really loved the steamed crabs. Great prices n great service. Best place to sit in n eat crabs

I came here on a whim with my boyfriend on a Saturday night (around 9 PM). Our bartender Brooks was really cool and made the experience enjoyable from the start. He was very personable and took the time to talk to us a little bit, which is always nice.
Just an observation: it was strange to us how dead the place was. I’m not sure if it’s just a weird location or what, but we were of 4 parties in the restaurant (including patrons at the bar), and it was Saturday night! It was just a little unexpected. Another quick mention: there were really nice tvs above the bar, so I think this might be a good place to come and watch sports on a weeknight.
The food was okay – my boyfriend had Maryland Crab Soup – not much crab. We split Pulled Pork Nachos which were pretty standard bar food. Not spectacular, but I would probably eat them again. We split a slice of apple pie for dessert, which was also pretty average. We are definitely foodies and none of the things we ordered wowed us; however, the service was excellent and might encourage us to come back again for a beer and maybe a snack.

Great music-​alternative & soft rock.
Our server, Khalil, was wonderful
They are very attentive & friendly. I will definitely come back when on that side of town.
The food was good. Not a big fan of the onion rings, no real flavor on them.
I would definitely recommend this place.

This was my 3^rd visit and I feel comfortable commenting on all aspects of their food.
Crabs: 4 star-​Good size. Really good seasoning… classic spice with a little extra course salt. We ordered a dozen and some were slightly overcooked… but just slightly.
Appetizers: pulled pork nachos… yum! So yummy and a good size for sharing. Cream of Crab soup also very good. Good seasoning without too much salt from old bay and NOT shelly at all. Onion rings were also great. Only complaint here was the crab dip. Both times I got this is was cold and not mixed well. The seasoning was great. Plenty of crab. But they need to serve this in a better dish to heat through better and allow some of the cream cheese to melt. Would NOT recommend it… pic shows the globs of straight up cream cheese.
Southern food: Eh… solid 3… some 4. brisket is salty and portion size was small. Pulled pork was pretty good. burger was decent and cooked correctly.
Crab cakes and kids meals were solid as well. While crab cakes were not jumbo lump they were a good size, not a ton of filler, not shelly, and good seasoning. My daughter said the Mac and cheese was great… which is truly high praise from my picky eater.
Service — OK. Friendly but not terribly attentive. Couldn’t tell if that’s because she was busy or bad.
All in all decent and I would come back.

Good start for my first visit.
The service is friendly. Staff is concern about out enjoyment and our comfort. We ordered a «Lunchbox,» which they aren’t familiar with it; however, they made it after they asked about it – it was perfect. The nacho appetizer is ginormous — a meal in itself. The Maryland crab soup was very tasty. A friend ordered a ½ lb of shrimp, which was done well. I had the herb encrusted salmon with sweet potato fries, which was very good.
Be sure to bring friends, family and the dog here. When leaving, the dog had its own pitcher… well, a pale of water, really.

Wow was this bad! I’m not one to give negative review lightly but steamed crabs are expensive and when they are bad, damn, they’re bad.
We stopped here today after the towsontowne festival. I ordered 3 crabs, my husband got the brisket cheesesteak and our 7 yr old got the kids pizza. Their meals came out in about 20 minutes. Kinda ridiculous for what they got but we figured the crabs were holding it up. Nope, crabs came 10 mins LATER. This was not a busy time mind you! The brisket was fatty which my hubby hates but he said the flavor was good. My daughter couldn’t even eat a bite of the $ 7 microwave kids pizza. It was not visually appealing or edible in any way.
Now for the crabs. I ordered 3 of the xl crabs (which the server did not know the price of but we later found out we’re $ 9.25 per crab). They were missing claws, not heavy and were the size of your average sm/​med crab. Not being one to complain, I dug-​in trying to make the best of it when an overwhelming smell of something burning came over me. It was the crabs! I have no idea how you burn a steamed crab but they did it. The meat had a disgusting burnt taste not to mention they did not season the crabs AT ALL. I asked for real butter melted to dip them in and of course got the standard yellow liquid shortening crap.
Overpriced food that wasn’t even mediocre… What a waste of a nice night out.