The Crab Shack

We were unable to try their food on a recent visit to the Crab Shack on a recent vacation to Wilmington, NC. We called ahead for information on their hours of operation and pricing, and confirmed that they did takeout orders. The girl on the phone wasn’t particularly pleasant, and sounded irritated to have to answer our questions. They were open till 9pm that evening, and it was 8:25 pm when we arrived at their location. There were cars out front, and patrons seated in the restaurant eating dinner when we arrived. My husband walked into the restaurant and encountered a man sitting at the bar playing games on his phone. When he reluctantly came over to greet my husband, he told the man he’d like to place an order to-​go, for a single seafood steamer pot. My husband was told «because the food won’t be done cooking by closing time, we aren’t going to cook it.» My husband was wearing a Baltimore Orioles Shirt, and a Baltimore Orioles hat when he went in the restaurant, and the gentleman was telling him it would be 35 minutes to steam 9 blue crabs & some shrimp. (Um, No.) We experienced rudeness twice while trying to patronize this location, and with so many other places for local seafood and friendly service, we will likely not return.

This is a great little place. Tried for 4 days to get blue crab (we were serious about it), calling every day! Finally! The crabs were ok. Light weight, but still ok. The nachos we had were great. Service was good. I’ll be back again next year.

Lived in the area for over a year and always wanted to check this place out. As we walk in we were never greeted and assumed we need to seat ourselves. After 5 minutes we were acknowledged and brought menus. Overall very very slow service and even contemplated getting up and leaving due to the lack of service/​attention. Food was decent, but didn’t make up for the lack of friendliness/​attention to their customers.

Food was good however the atmosphere is extremely lacking. A great ambiance can go a long way. You have such a great location I guess I just expected more.

Finally had lunch here with my wife. The food was good and the service was great. We thought the portions were a little on the small side for the price. Overall a pretty good place.

The Crab Shack is definitely a great Southern dive, as one other reviewer put it. Funny thing is I think it doesn’t have to be a dive, but the owner has clearly chosen to go that route. The layout of the interior could use a lot of work and thought… the bar totally dominates the restaurant and the dining is totally de-​emphasized. The entrance is grim, the parking lot is sparse and the should have the sense to clean the windows and pick up the tissues and trash in the entrance. Plus no hostess, and the hardworking waitresses just wave you to a table.
HAVING SAID ALL THAT, it’s a great little restaurant from fresh Blue Crabs. Perfectly cooked, excellently seasoned with Old Bay, with all the great fixin’s…including the local newspapers, crab crackers and bucket for shells. I mean, what’s more fun that that? the crabs are delicious and the dive bar atmosphere did not deter my family of six from having a great time. We had a great waitress who was very patient with the kids and made it a super experience.
We called back the next day to get take out (we were vacationing in the area) and they were sold out of crabs by 6pm. No surprise! They have a nice little business going here. There are a couple of really easy fixes to the restaurant but maybe it’s just fine the way it is…“If it a’int broke don’t fix it”…kudos to a great little spot… highly recommend for locals, foodies, out of towers, vacationers and it’s especially good for families. quick, cheap, excellent and delicious meal… desserts were fine and nice selection of IPAs and they had La Crema chardonnay, my wife’s favorite, which is actually a pretty darn good bottle of wine.
We’ll be back for sure, for both service and takeout… highly recommend to all…

Every time I’ve dined at The Crab Shack has not been a disappointment for me or whoever is with me. I told my companion how good it was to find it’s as good this time as it was the first and ensuing. Food and service was commendable.

Hard shell large crabs were sold for $ 34.95 /​dozen: 4 crabs were pulled out of two dozen crabs that measured from point to point to be less than ⁴¹⁄₂ inches. The legal minimum for male crabs is 5 inches from point to point. The owner when questioned was RUDE and did not even try to replace the crabs and argued that those crabs were LARGE CRABS. The next day I reported to the N.C.DIVISION OF MARINE FISHERIES the size of the alleged large crabs (⁴¹⁄₂ inch crabs that were served), the Marine enforcement division is going to investigate the craber who sold the crabs to the merchant and they advised the merchant that crabs are measured from point to point and not from backfin to backfin and he should NOT sell or advertised those crabs as LARGE CRABS. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE TO PURCHASE THESE CRABS.

We ordered 18 crabs to take home 2 hours away!!! They were so good. We were eating legs driving down the road.

Great seafood in a hole in the wall type establishment. Ordered the crab legs and shrimp. Both were good. Daughter ordered the cheeseburger kid’s meal, and it was huge! Service was good, but when we went to pay we gave the waitress a coupon for $ 10 off dinner, she took off $ 5. When I questioned it she said «that’s just how it does it, and there’s no manager here to get it to take the full amount off». Not sure what «it» is, but I was not very happy with her flippant attitude. The only reason we drove here was because of the coupon. Oh well, live an learn I suppose.

Nice, little place tucked out of the way. Had the house salad with roasted red pepper vinaigrette at the waitress’s suggestion. She said they made it fresh right there and I don’t know if that’s true but it was very good. Had the grilled scallop entrée and the scallops were large and plentiful but that’s because they weren’t real scallops. They were tasty, though even with a lack of seasoning. Also had the coleslaw which was a little sweet and a little peppery. Very enjoyable. Hubby ordered the Seafood Norfolk which came beautifully presented. The shrimp were steamed perfectly, the crabmeat free of cartilage and scallops/​skate surrounded the small mound of crabmeat. It was all surrounded with a delicious garlic butter sauce. The fries with his meal were fresh, hot and well seasoned. All in all it was a nice meal, quiet place, the waitress was very attentive and the prices were reasonable. Windows could stand a washing.

Small casual place just outside of town. Feels family owned and the service was very personal. Apparently EVERYTHING seafood related is fresh and not frozen. They had a fair selection seafood and something for everyone.
We had the crab legs, peel and eat shrimp and fried soft shell crab. Everything was amazing and even the sides of onion rings, chips and she crab soup were perfect.
GREAT VALUE, GREAT FOOD AND GREAT SERVICE. This one earned 5 stars for being true southern seafood dive.

Have passed by this place several times and decided to give it a try, very glad we did! Had a light lunch and the food and service were awesome! Will be going back for dinner to try a much more in depth seafood experience

Presentation was awful, crab cake was disappointing and the red potatoes looked like someone popped them in the microwave. The waitress was nice though.
More on the crab cakes: they were the fried option and were too hard. Never thought that was possible of crab cakes. I’d have been better off at the grocery store seafood section.

Excellent! A new favorite.

This review is more about management then food. We have eaten at Crab Shack several times in the past and found the food and service ok nothing special, we were in the area so decided to try again since we had a coupon. We used a five dollar off coupon from the attractions coupon book, followed all coupon instructions but when presented to server were told the computer would not accept the coupon. Finally insisted that the coupon be used and to seek advice from management on how to redeem the coupon when we got our bill. On the bill was the five dollar discount but the beer special was taken off. Management said the computer did that and there was nothing that could be done. Still not happy with this (take away beer special when you use a food coupon?) We had the owner come over and he says it’s the computer, he takes out two dollars from his pocket and throws it on table at us and says here is the beer discount, Well that says it all, past customer stops in with $ 5 coupon from a book that Crab Shack advertises in and follows all the rules on coupon is embarrassed by the owner, who throws 2 bucks at us and it is our problem as the customer. We will not return. We will eat one of the other many fine restaurants in the area that advertise with coupons in the attractions coupon book who do not insult you. We will tell this story to many people (friends and strangers).
So to the Owner of The Crab Shack good luck you will need it!!!

We like this spot. Good draft beer. Good shellfish, fish sandwiches, and sides. Very pleasant service.

Awesome!!! 9 of us got 3 big daddy steamers… 28 blue crabs (fat, #1jimmies) 1 ½ # shrimp and 1 ½# of crab legs!!! Recommend to everyone! Great seafood!!!

You could drive by this restaurant and not know the delicious food you’re missing! We stopped in for a late lunch and so glad we did. The building is nothing to look at and you could even say it was a dive bar but the food was excellent. Started with crab dip and pita chips which was outstanding. Lunch itself was She Crab soup and the French Dip sandwich. The soup was creamy, slightly cheesy with chunks of crab seasoned with Old Bay. Scrumptious! The sandwich was tender, flavor filled and very appetizing. Don’t judge this restaurant by its exterior. Inside is delicious food waiting for your pallette!

I was in Wilmington and wanted steamed crabs, happened to drive by this place so looked up number. Not only did they have them but like me the owner is from Maryland and knows how to cook them, plus they were much less expensive here than in MD. Will definitely be back.