We went here on Sunday night and I was surprised at how busy it was. I ordered the Southern Shrimp and my boyfriend ordered the paella. Mine was delicious, if a little too spicy for my taste. Unfortunately his barely had any seafood in it. I think the high point of his meal was the drink he ordered called a Shark Bite. We were a little surprised when a disco ball came on and some of the staff had to come out and dance (some of them did not look happy, and it really didn't seem to fit the theme). Our server was great, she seemed a little nervous but she kept up ok. I'm not sure if we will go back or not.
(2)
Tami C.
SAVE YOUR MONEY let alone your time and patience. We were seated promptly and met a bubbly waitress who took our orders only to leave us hanging. Our first appetizers arrived "steamed shrimp" obviously frozen, mushy and flat flavor. Our second app didn't come at all, when our server finally did return & we inquired her answer was "yeah, it's coming, it takes a while". Hmmm. So we wait...and wait. Asking another server to find our missing waitress & app, at this point we had ordered it 40 minutes prior. The General Manager came out apologized, took the second app off the bill and said the ticket got lost. We decided to accept the appetizer, which he said would take about 8 minutes. Again we wait, no waitress, no service, no appetizer..... TWENTY Minutes later the server arrives, carrying dirty dishes that she lays down on our table and says "Still waiting?" .... Honestly I don't know know what either of us said because I was so blown away and irritated. We asked for our bill, that she promptly returned! She closed out the bill and as we got up to leave the appetizer arrives. NO THANKS!!! P.S. the General Manager never returned to follow up ~~~. For the record we Love to share Great Reviews too but this was just so globally poor I felt I needed to Warn others.
(1)
Nikia S.
Ending up at Joe's was not our original destination. The restaurant we wanted was closed for the night and since we were hungry for seafood Joe's won over Iron Hill Brewery. Although we were a group of 9 the place wasn't that busy so I'm not sure why we were there for 3 hours. I think they only put that much crap on the ceiling and walls to keep you entertained while waiting for your food. The waitress, Christian I believe, was very nice and attentive despite the wait. The food was okay, nothing over the top to write home to mom about. The dancing by the staff could be more enthusiastic or don't even bother. And finally, it's September...turn down the A/C!!! We were frozen by the time we left. Some of my family actually went outside to warm up while waiting for our food. Overall I was not impressed. I highly doubt I'd suggest driving to DE just to eat here (only a 30 min drive).
(3)
Miss B.
Its a chain so its pretty basic across the board. The host(ess) grouping is usually a little brash but I think thats because there are usually 30+ people standing in their area with their screaming children running around getting on everyone's damn nerves! The servers are super polite and helpful. They are knowledgeable and offer suggestions for drinks and/or specials. The crab pots are always my go to. They have $2 Tuesdays which makes my friends and I very happy as well. Beware of the Hurricanes. I had a mishap once when a manager wanted to tell me that the piece of black hair in my steampot was cornsilk. After laying it on a piece of white paper and explaining how many ears of corn I have shucked in my days (I spent my childhood in Virginia), he agreed with me and I was given a new pot which I ate ALL of. Yea, I can eat. Its not super fancy but its a good place to have good seafood especially if you have a family
(4)
Missy M.
I used to have a lot of fun here in my teens. As I grew up, I grew out of it. I used to think all the gigantic crap hanging from the ceiling was neat. Now I'm paranoid a dirt bike will fall on my head as I eat my coconut shrimp. I used to enjoy laughing at the wait staff as they performed their obligatory dance through the restaurant. Now I just feel embarrassed for them....especially when there are only 3 of them out there. I used to feel I was getting good food for the money. Now I know the value of quality over quantity. I'll give you this much Joe's, you seem to try your best. The wait staff is still friendly, the lame crab jokes still make me crack a smile, and the food is still edible.
(3)
Jean R.
OK Food nothing to write home about. WHen we frist sat down we didnt see a waiter or watress for 15 minutes they totally forgot about us and it was dead ... it was a monday night.. We got the "crab pot" included 2 lobsters, mussels, sausage, corn and potatoes. The joke was the mussels they were the size of peas quite pathetic... the lobsters were small. It was $46.00 not worth it. We also got the appetizer platter although the portion was decent the calamari was to chewy. The kicker was my mixed drink it was so sweet I could not drink it and sent it back. With tip we paid $87.00 didnt even leave full and went for an ice cream afterwards...Not a place id run back to.
(2)
Tim P.
How could I forget about this place. I ate at the one in Myrtle Beach before and it wasn't a good meal at all... So I decided to try the one in Wilmington, figuring that maybe cooking seafood wasn't one of the best things that they do down South..... Well, they might not cook seafood well in Myrtle Beach... but they don't do it any better in Wilmington either.... And to make matters even worse, the customer service sucks also.... I don't think that I've ever seen a staff treat work as if they were at home like these people did... Not accomodating, slow service, openly bitching about customer requests..... I'm not a hard person to please, and this place even made it hard for me to justify uttering a nice word about it....
(1)
Christina W.
My only regret from my trip to Joe's Crab Shack, is ordering the Seafood Enchiladas. Who goes to a seafood restaurant and orders the only Mexican dish on the menu? Me. Big mistake. It wasn't awful, but why didn't I just pick one of the steam pots? To start we ordered the 'Create your own appetizer' that comes with crab dip which was yummy and then we chose popcorn shrimp and great balls of fire. The great balls of fire are pretty spicy and come with ranch to dip. For dinner I ordered the Seafood Enchiladas which come on a bed of rice and black beans. The enchiladas are loaded with jalapenos, which were a little much for me. The dish was also had too much flour. As a dessert, we couldn't decide between the Sea Turtle Sundae and the Crabby Apple Crumble, so be ordered both! The Sundae was a little too rich for my taste, but the Apple Crumble was delicious! The wait staff was super nice and the line dancing every half hour or so was very entertaining! After appetizers, dinner and dessert, my cousins and I took full advantage of the jungle gym outside and then took a stroll to see what else was around. I'm hoping to talk my family into going back for Mother's Day; I want to take my top off. ** They do take reservations, but only for parties of 8 or more.
(4)
Jay N.
Hankering for lobster in Wilmington? Joe's shouldn't be your first (or even second) choice but it's still not a bad visit for general seafood fare. Incredibly busy on warm weekend evenings, Joe's offers a pleasant view of the river with patio seating, as well as a it's own playground for the kids (if you're one of THOSE, who must bring the kids to public places to let them go wilding. Please, don't do that..) The lobster was disappointing, but Joe's offers a seafood bucket at a great price which includes lobster, boiled shrimp, clams and steamers and sausage. Not bad and very reasonably priced. The meat was a bit tough, lobster definitely not fresh but it wasn't the worse experience. Seating was somewhat quick even on a busy afternoon. A MUCH better choice than the place next door.
(2)
Amber S.
Went to this establishment for my friends 26th birthday. It was a slow day with only maybe 7 tables in the restaurant at any given time. The service was pretty awful. We had to wait 20 mins for drink refills and constantly remind her we needed things. The food was pretty good for the most part but someone in our party did not care for their food. It took the manager an hour to visit the table and we were on desert when he finally came over and asked if we wanted the food remade. The server kept complaining about the manager and making excuses as to why things were how they were. I'm willing to try them again but not this location.
(1)
Tara C.
The crab dip here is creamy but meaty, so if you're used to traditional Irish crab dip, expect something different. I've never had better avocado/spinach dip before. They think of everything here. They even have implements to help you with your claw-cracking. Friendly service, very different atmosphere. I drank the kool aid and purchased a "talk nautical to me" shirt. I'm a fan, but I wasn't willing to wear one of the shirts suggesting I got crabs from my waitress (ew). Friendly staff. We had a server named Jimmy who answered all of our questions. He refilled drinks without us having to ask but he wasn't around so often that it was disruptive. Great service at the register also. There were some smokers sitting outdoors. I could smell the cigarettes since I was sitting near the door. That was kind of horrific. Worse, the trashy lady tossed her cig right into the river. Way to be classy and kill the environment and atmosphere at once...but that's what happens at establishments allowing smoking.
(4)
M B.
Loved the food, loved the company I was with, loved the drinks, loved the staff. I had never heard of JCS before and COULD NOT BELIEVE it was a chain! The hot, spicy and plentiful Steampots are to die for. to. DIE. for. Twice. These are some crabs you don't ever want to get rid of... (ummm..not that I know from experience... I'm just saying...") The restaurant decor is cute, super kitschy & fun. Great for families, laid back/down-to-earth dates, and groups. I highly recommend getting crabs from Joe. He's a good guy. Don't judge.
(4)
Will D.
Joe's Crab Shack is one link in a seafood chain. Food and service at Joe's Crab Shack are both spotty (both here and at their other locations). I have been visiting for lunch on and off since this location opened, several years ago. Some dishes are pretty good, and some are below par. Also, I have found preparation to be inconsistent. This is not a fancy place (keep in mind the name), so fried dishes and the like are the standard. Service issues begin with problems seating would-be customers. Many times I have eaten at the bar, and watch customers walk in, only to be ignored for a shocking length of time. Minor requests (salad dressing on the side) are frequently not filled. Some servers are friendly (rarely enthusiastic), while others are... not so much. I have watched this place over the years, and now generally avoid it, though I still go back once in a while, just to see if it's still a train wreck in slow motion (it always has been).
(2)
Kevin J.
I have had a great dining experience at Joe's at would recommend it to anyone visiting the Wilmington waterfront. There is a great value in their seafood offerings. It is a fun place to go with friends before a Wilmington Bluerocks game. Having been to Wilmington several times, Joe's appears to be the best recommendation around the waterfront area, as the other places down by the riverfront appeared to be too expensive for my liking.
(4)
Jesse A.
Kind of pricey here but the food is good. I bought my parents a gift certificate to the place so it must be nice! Other than the prices being a tad high no complaints.
(4)
T K.
We stopped here for lunch. There is not much of a lunch menu. Service was friendly and attentive. The fish and chips was disappointing. There was too much breading on the fish, so the taste did not come through. The fries were ok. Crabcake sandwich was good, but small. Fried onions were thin strips of breading. Fast food would have been quicker and less expensive with about the same taste.
(3)
Robyn H.
Decided to give Joe's another shot. Last time I ate at one in NJ, I had a Crabcake sandwich which was HORRIBLE! This time I went with the Broiled Seafood combo which was tasty, but a little too over-spiced with Old Bay. I guess when I read BROILED on the menu, I was thinking something kind of clean and bland, not greasy and salty. Even my broccoli and dirty rice had Old Bay on it. Would have liked to go with one of their steampots, but the prices were a little steep, and we were too hungry to bother with cracking crab shells. We like this location right on the Riverfront.... makes for a nice atmosphere.
(4)
Robert K.
I was kind of surprised, no wait on Friday before Mother's Day at 7pm! I had the Crab Caesar salad and it was good, fresh and i asked for dressing on the side and the waiter remembered! Service was average and the ambience is a fun / loud place. The servers get up and dance every 30 minutes or so some sort of dysfunctional line dance but it's funny to watch. My buddy got a burger and he liked it. For dessert I had the apple pie a la mode and it was awesome!
(3)
Yoon C.
As chains go, definitely a step up from Red Lobster (although there just isn't anything better than their garlic butter biscuits). The price is very reasonable for what you get, and the casual indoor/outdoor seating/dining experience is good. Good portions with their "steampots" and "crab buckets". Don't bother with their other dishes, which are all pretty miserable. This is an unpretentious place for your shellfish fix, and that's what Joe's is aiming for and is right on target.
(3)
Ronald W.
Great staff and awesome atmosphere. Affordable, too. Sure, it can be crowded at times, as the other reviewer pointed out, but it is well worth the wait. Would you rather be in a deserted restaurant, or a good quality place, with awesome wait staff?
(4)
Kate P.
After reading the reviews, I had my expectations at pretty much "nothing special." And honestly? It's not really anything special. But you know what? Joe's Crab Shack knows what it is, and it does it damn well. You can't ask for more in a restaurant, especially a chain. I ordered the margarita in the mason jar for my drink(I'm pretty sure it's a scientific fact that booze is better in a jar), and I was quite pleased, as it was neither too sweet nor too bitter, with just enough salt. Salt is important on a margarita. The last place I went to that forgot it also screwed up a number of other very easy things, so there's that as well. My mom had a great cherry-limeade drink, also in a jar. It was a bit sweet for me but the flavor was definitely perfect for anyone in the mood for sweet. Also, again, it came in a jar. Sold. My memory is a bit hazy on what everyone ordered specifically (I might want to add that I had two of the mason jar margaritas. The danger of tasty beverages; it's not until you're about halfway through the second one...), but three of us ordered the steamer pots, including a KJ wine sauce one (mine), and a Sam Adam's one with lobster (my husband's). My brother ordered a burger and a bucket of shrimp, so he was all over the place. He said the burger was "like a BK stacker, but actually delicious." I was in heaven with mine: the wine sauce had a bit of a spicy kick to it, along with some garlic. The crabs and the mussels absorbed it perfectly; the scallops seemed to be kind of bland, but very spicy otherwise. I personally don't like stand-alone heat unless it comes with flavor; others may disagree. Shame for me, since the scallops were actually cooked very nicely and not at all rubbery. I am normally a fan of drenching my crabmeat/picked seafood in butter, for the record: but the mussels were so flavorful that I didn't bother, and the crabmeat I mostly did out of habit, as it was also pretty tasty on its own. It's cheesy. There is a lot of crap all over the walls. And it's certainly not perfect. But I'd definitely give it a shot again. Even if next time is only so-so. It's such a fun environment, with friendly service, and tasty seafood. Plus, the portions are definitely a good bang for your buck. Not bad.
(4)
John S.
We went to Joe's twice. Both times the service was BAD! We were seated and waited for ever for the server to come to our table .The place was empty to boot. I think they must have flown to Alaska to catch our fish. We will not recommend this place ever! If you go, plan on a long night and eat before you get there.
(1)
Myra C.
I must admit I walked in there having high expectations because so many people was bragging about this place. First of all, when we went there was no air condition (but they did tell us at the door). We decided to stay anyway because we drove a little ways and wanted to experience JCS. The food was ok..... Drinks were good and the staff was just ok. Nothing really to brag about. We had a nice time but nothing really draws me back.
(2)
Jordan F.
I had such hope for this place. But sadly I was disappointed. I called before I arrived to make sure I avoided a huge crowd and when arrived there was a 15 to 30 minute wait which I expected. Once seated in the aloud establishment I ordered the orelans steam pot which one would expect to have crawfish I thought it could of been better prepared I had pieces of crawfish everywhere it was a mess to say the least. But a least the beer was good. I probably won't come back.
(2)
Craig W.
Baby and I were planning to go to Iron Hill but it was a 45 minute to an hour wait (it was a Saturday night after all) so we checked next door with Joe's and they only had a 20 minute wait. It would take us 20 minutes to go somewhere else so we figured we'd give it a shot. When we were seated after about 20 minutes, we were, to say the least, a little puzzled that we had to wait when over 1/3 of the dining room tables were empty. And it wasn't as if there had been some mass exodus of diners right before we ate. Granted the outdoor deck was open but it was still more than a little weird. Having looked forward to Iron Hill, I was so bummed out by Joe's strictly corporate beer selection that I skipped the alcohol entirely. They had a $5 special on all appetizers (one upside of the financial meltdown) and we tried the Crab Nachos. They came out quickly and were OK but nothing special and we had to stick close to the platter since the only serving plates we had were the roll of paper towels on the table (and they were stuck in the same pail that the hostess just dumped the dirty towel she wiped down the table with - yeccch). I ordered the Crawfish Half & Half which was crawfish etouffe and fried crawfish. Baby got a shrimp sampler of which included stuffed shrimp and cocount shrimp. Our meal came out very quickly so I don't think it was cooked to order. My etouffe was OK but it could have used a bit more flavor. The fried crawfish was small lumps that I couldn't readily distinguish from popcorn shrimp. The crab stuffing in Baby's shrimp was too bready and the shrimp a bit too small and overcooked but the coconut shrimp weren't half bad. Nothing was awful or inedible just the typical appeal to the lowest common denominator cuisine that is the specialty of the apostrophe chain restaurants. Oh, and at a couple points in our brief visit, the staff went into forced entertainment mode - putting on an extended but thoroughly unenthusiastic line-dance and then doing a desultory Happy Birthday sing-a-long. If we hadn't realized it already, we knew then and there that this was not our kind of place.
(2)
Vanaro C.
Omg awesome food and beer! Love it!
(4)
David R.
We made reservations for 10 people and arrived half an hour early and still had to wait 40 minutes (10 minutes past our reserved time). Also, our bill was inaccurate. I was a little disappointed that they didn't serve Md blue crabs, but overall, I was happy with the food quality. We went on a Saturday evening and it was crowded. I would recommend JCS but be prepared to wait awhile if you come @ dinner time on Saturday.
(3)
Nicole S.
I went on a Saturday afternoon, the food seemed fresh and the staff was great. I've been in the past and this was an improvement. Need more parking.
(3)
Hideki K.
Sure, Joe's Crab Shack is commercialized, but the portions are enormous and the crab cakes are decent.
(3)
Giggling T.
So yummy and WHAT A BLAST! I went to dinner with a group of fellow educators (from a conference) and we spent the evening laughing and eating! Our waiter was adorable and the atmosphere is just fun, fun, fun! The food was good, but really this place has 100% atmosphere on their side. For a good time, go to Joe's!
(5)
Huong L.
The restaurant is big , never boardwalk and riverfront . The view is very nice They have parking lot frond of the restaurant . Workers in here not really nice We went here on Wednesday, they have happy hours but when we order for drink ...guess what they told us ? They said they out of drink today ...what the heck ...they said they are so busy today but restaurant was not that busy ... Foods is ok , not real good . Kinda expensive....services was rude Well I gave them 3 stars for the good view .i don't think I will come back here
(3)
Paul H.
Love lust or run. RUN FOOD was horrible. Service was poor. I ordered the seafood sampler as a appetizer. The crab dip was good. The chips were soggy, the clarmari was like rubber. We ordered the eastern seafood dinner. Crab came 80 bread filler. Shrimps tough French fies and onion rings dripping in grease. This is the second Joe's Crab shack we have tried and now I know you need to RUN away from them. $60 FOR A CRAPPY LUNCH
(1)
Roy K.
Decor. It is what you would expect for a mediocre crab chain. Food. Steamed shrimp as part of appetizer was tiny for the price. I would not recommend. Other food in my opinion is expensive for what you get. We were staying nearby and it was raining so we came here out of convenience. Otherwise, we would not have come. Service. This is where the place really hurts. Took a while before a server ever came for our drink order. Server forgot to bring drinks before meals came out. Server was nice, but he definitely needed another 2 weeks of solid training. It was like watching a kid walk for the first time. Overall. I will not come back.
(2)
Rachel W.
We went to celebrate a birthday. Waiter was nice. Friendly. Service was ok. We had to ask 3 times for sweetener for iced tea. 2x for ketchup for the fries. One of the dishes at the table was WAY over cooked. The food was ok. I think it was over priced for what they deliver. Not in a hurry to go back. But we had a great time celebrating regardless. On the plus side the signature Bloody Mary was amazing! And they sang and made a fuss for the birthday boy.
(3)
Kevin C.
The ambiance outside by the river is calming. The staff is fast and courteous and all the food comes from a scratch kitchen. Joe's is definitely my choice if you gotta go corporate. Every thursday is half off every cocktail and they all are amazing.
(5)
John H.
Food and beverages are really overpriced and food was not very good overall. We ordered house wine and a beer and a seafood platter to share. The platter had scallops, shrimp, and a piece of fish on a bed of cold French fries. The seafood was pretty good but there were way too many fries and they were cold and there was not much seafood for $17.95. We also ordered hush puppies and they were also cold and the second order brought were not much better. The house wine we ordered was $8, which they were going to charge $11 until brought to the server's attention. Better choice would be the two restaurants next door.
(2)
Rob M.
They sat us down and no one ever showed up to even take a drink order. This was a Sunday afternoon with the place about 3/4 full, with no wait for seating.
(1)
Cherie D.
My family and I love this place. They have very reasonable prices, pleasantpleasantand great food. We have never had any problems here. The only thing I don't recommend is eating on the deck-there are too many flys, which isn't Joes Crab shacks fault. However, it makes your meal very frustrating when you have to swat away flys the whole time.
(5)
Danielle B.
Came here with friend, we were the only people at happy hour and the service at the bar was incredibly slow. . We headed to the table for dinner, and got a few steam pots. My crabs were over cooked and were hard to get out of the shell . The king crabs that my friend had looked better cooked. The dessert apple crumble was way too sweet with the caramel drizzle on top. It was nice to sit outside, however next time id try a different place.
(3)
Stephanie E.
My husband really enjoyed the food. He had a steam pot. I had a sampler. It was ok. The issue was my sampler was cold. Mistakes will happen. I alerted the waitress. She was very apologetic and put in an order for a replacement. The issue was 20 minutes later, I still didn't have a replacement. Again the waitress was apologetic. I decided to cancel the replacement. After my husband completed his meal, the check came. We were charged for the sampler. When asked to remove it, I was told that she had to ask her manager. I would have thought she would have done that before presenting the check. I requested to talk to the manager too. He never came but he did remove the charge. Again, my husband enjoyed. I left feeling the effects of bad service.
(3)
Rita R.
excellent casual dining experience. great spot for some serious shark bites. you can only order two :( drink responsibly! :) we've been here twice already, and i can't wait for our next jcs visit. the boatdwalk, mini-golf and the imax theater, you can do a little of everything and not have to move your car lol. great spot, friendly service and the drinks oh, did i mention drinks? :)
(5)
Reade S.
Awful service People were loud and screaming inside Food was a little overrated although the prices were fair.
(3)
Mojdeh S.
How I heard of this place: Driving back after our day trip to West Chester, Pennsylvania, we planned to meet up with a friend who suggested stopping off in Wilmington. We first found the Iron Hill Brewery and intended to meet up there, but the 35-minute wait led us to the establishment next door, Joe's Crab Shack. Type of cuisine: "Joe's is the kind of place that welcomes you in warmly and feeds you delicious seafood...It's here that good food, good times and good memories are created every day...So strap on a bib, order your favorite bucket of crab and don't be afraid to dance." A place where buckets of crab meet fried shrimp, where steamed muscles meet cheesey new potatoes, and stuffed snapper meets blackened salmon. All things seafood, with a ribeye, a burger and chicken tenders for those averse to eating things that come from out of the ocean. Ambiance: "We stand for kicking back. Having a sense of humor. Getting your hands dirty. Good food and good friends. For being real and a little weird. That's what we call service." A wooden, white shack, with red trim, Christmas lights and a beach-font sign in yellow and blue: Welcome to Joe's Crab Shack. Climbing stairs onto the white, picketed wooden porch, empty benches seated atop the wooden floorboards greet us, as does the bright red door with metallic pipe handles. Red and white beach awnings keep the weather off of the red-framed windows and tree trunks help to hold up the porch roof. Indoors, horizontally placed wooden planks make up the walls, where ecclectic trinkets are hung on display. Everything from waterskis to a flipper, plastic crabs, lobster and a seahorse, rowing oars and framed postcards keep eyes darting from one vibrant objet d'artes to another. Old, red theater seats, set in a pair offer seating for those busy days where the foyer is full of hungry patrons awaiting their bucket o' crab legs. Overhead, the ceiling light is decorated with a circle of plastic lobster over green ferns, resembling a bed of lettuce atop which can be found your dinner aplenty. Inside, the souvenir shop to our left attracts our attention, firstly, through the puffer-fish toys keps overhead in a cargo net, and next through the bold coloring of t-shirts available for purchase. Inside the huge room, the concrete floors give the impression that the establishment gets hosed down after each night's dinner rush. The tall ceiling of the house/shack has an abundance of decor: oversized flip-flops, plastic seagulls, a child's ridable plastic car, a huge shark, a life-sized walrus, a dirt bike, sea creatures (tortoise, schools of crab, and then some), not to mention a wooden boat seating two skeleton. Framed photographs hang askew on the walls, where almost no room remains for more. Large-tile tables in seafoam green remind my husband of the ship floors from his time in the U.S. Navy (giving the sense that he's "eating off the floor"). Thick four-by-fours make up the table legs, surrounded by retro orange and red faux-leather chairs with mirrored-legs. Picnic tables with attached benches making up the seating for larger parties; these can also found through the bright blue doors leading out onto "Joe's Big (heated) Deck". Floor to ceiling windows lead the way out onto the deck, giving all patrons a view of the outdoors. In the middle of each table can be found a hole, filled by an aluminum bucket of paper towels and two bottles (one filled with salt and the other with pepper), doubling up as a garbage can for crab leg waste. Just when we thought the evening could not get any more cluttered, the waitstaff, joined by the children patrons in the restaurant, walked out into the middle of the floor and danced the electric slide. What I ordered: Chipotle Bacon Cheeseburger ($9.99), Chipotle BBQ sauce, mixed cheese and crispy applewood smoked bacon with fries and a side of Cheesy New Potatoes ($2.89); a Bowl of Clam Chowder ($5.59), a bottle of IBC Root Beer ($2.59) and the 12-ounce USDA juicy Ribeye ($19.99) with a side of cheesy new potatoes and seaseasonal vegetables (broccoli); Classic Cobb ($10.39), mixed greens topped with crisp applewood smoked bacon, avocado, diced eggs, crispy onion strings and bleu cheese crumbles with chicken; Salmon Orleans ($16.29), a moist filet topped with a creamy Cajun sauce loaded with crawfish, shrimp and andouille sausage, served with a generous helping of dirty rice. For dessert, Sea Turtle Sundae ($7.59), a huge helping of gooey chocolate cake a la mode (Dreyer's vanilla bean ice cream) topped with caramel and candied walnuts. What I loved: Dessert. The appetizers: salad and clam chowder were the best savory part of the meal. The salmon tender and moist, ribeye fatty and juicy, new potatoes creamy and tasty. Why I loved it: Relatively inexpensive food, large portions and casual environment make for an easy, last minute meet-up meal with friends. Cost: Average ($10-$20 per dinner entree)
(3)
JR R.
$2 Tuesday is more like... Let the customer order everything they think is $2 then hit them with a bill for twice as much. Bar service was horrendous! The bar tender was quick to take my order but lacked the skills to educate me on the happy hour and daily special. I came for the $2 Tuesday deal but walked away with the... $3-$5 Tuesday sucker special! After finally getting One of the 2x5 cards with the specials it read "$2 Tuesday - $2 Drafts, $2 hurricanes and $2 select apps" the reality is, it was select drafts too. As I was reading the card a different bartender came up and swiped it from directly in front of me to give to a different patron. After requesting the card back I was directed to the picture book with hope that I could identify what each picture represented and order that way. This service although fast was useless and unkind. I guarantee this is the last time I will be here for anything regardless of the food!
Horrible quality. The "seafood" was frozen at one point and for what they charge for their steam pots, that is not acceptable. The crabs were over cooked. We left hungry. Over priced menu items and tacky decor. There are too many other quality seafood places in town that are more worthy of $100. Don't waste your time on this chain.
(1)
Jon Z.
Used to come here for often but the recipe and food has really gone downhill. The service is always friendly and I commend the servers for working so hard and keeping a smile on their faces despite how busy and hectic things are. The food however is way too salty and covered in oil. The steamer pots are like drinking a bucket of butter and salt combined together with a hint of seafood. The shrimp are tiny, with the skin glued to the meat (a sign of how unfresh and frozen they are). This is a typical chain/tourist restaurant that despite being "on the water" has no fresh seafood.
(2)
Jason W.
I have been to a couple locations, this one has a great atmosphere with very good service. The food was fresh and prepared as ordered. Pricing is fair for the quality, I look forward to go back soon.
(4)
Samantha S.
Greats crabs for good prices. Also, all alcoholic drinks in mason jars you get to keep the jars! Great atmosphere, fast and friendly service. Good date night or for a night out with friends. Consider making reservations so you don't have to wait on weekend nights.
(5)
M S.
I avoid reviewing chain restaurants since the entire purpose of a chain restaurant is that they are moderately competent and consistent. But since I haven't seen many of these restaurants previously I'll forgo my usual rule. The food here blows. Everything pretty much tastes and smells the same due to that salty brine that they seem to drown everything with. It's served in this lukewarm bath of brine but alas they find serving food in a tin bucket charming. Sure...I suppose if your name is Cleetus and your girlfriend Mary Lynn are looking for a night of fine dining... This might be your spot.
(1)
Dave E.
Went there last night for a friends birthday. Service was extremely slow. The server was friendly but did a very poor job. The food was not very good and overpriced as well. My friend got the sam adams pot, As others have said the lobster and crab from the pot was wayyy over cooked and had apparently been sitting in water too long. For those who never had seafood like this it is not good! She also asked if she could have the sausage replaced by potatoes. The server said yes and when she got her pot there was one little red potato about the size of a half dollar, one. The server said he would bring out more, they never showed up to our table. He brought the waters out and we asked for straws. He forgot to bring them out until we reminded him twice. I ordered the Redfish Orleans. It came out with cream sauce over fish next to a pile of "dirty" rice. There was supposed to be crawfish, shrimp and andouille sausage on top... None of that was present! I asked the waiter about it and he said yeah it's supposed to be on there but you got the end of the sauce. I just looked at him and he didn't think anything was wrong... I said I was unhappy with that and he said yeah your right let me take it back and get the right sauce. It came back out 5 min later and all they did was dump some of the cream sauce off of my plate and put about three slices of andouille on it that were about the size of a quarter cut in half and 2 mini shrimp. At that point I just accepted the plate so I could just be done and get out of there. The fish and rice where no longer hot at that point. I ended up mixing everything into the rice to eat it. I have no plans of ever going to a Joes Ever again. There are many places out there with real good food at a better price. I do not recommend this place!
(2)
Maybe L.
We took the little one and her best friend to Joe's because the girls saw the playground and it was all but set in stone. We were seated outside by the playground so the girls could play while we did the lunch thing. My lady ordered the crab cake salad which looked pretty good and she appeared to enjoy. I ordered the southern stuffed shrimp that was served with rice, broccoli, and hush puppies. The meal was pretty good for what it was and the hush puppies were on point. The girls bit had the kids Mac and cheese which was just some Kraft from the box crap typical of these types of chain joints. The playground is set and surrounded by a sea of small rocks that ended up being thrown by the boys on the playground and being thrown down the slides and stuff. This behavior is obviously not a reflection of the restaurant just poor parenting, but I think rocks were a bad choice. The real problem here was the service. Everything took a really long time. The girls ordered the rice crispy treat thing that comes with a paint brush and sauces to paint with and that took forever. So if you go to joe's make sure you have a lot of time to get decent chain food. Albeit the hush puppies are pretty good! And watch out for unruly boys to be out of control on a rock covered playground!
(3)
Charles C.
I wanted to review someplace special for my 200th, but alas, life had other plans as my friends and I ended up here after one of our ajusshi adventures. So we went for dinner after spending some time at the track (delaware park). Occasionally, the ponies can be fun. But check yourself from going to harness and/or greyhound racing because only undesirables/degenerates enjoy those two forms of racing. lol Anyhow, I was worried that this seafood chain would simply be a glamorized Red Lobster. Much better than I expected, however. I was pleasantly surprised with the spicy taste of my sunset grill (old bays seasoning) seafood steampot. It was just the right amount of crab legs, andouille sausage, shrimp, potatoes, and corn on cob. Service was good and prices were fair. Rhetorically speaking, is there anything better in life than when you crack open a dungeness/snow crab leg in the middle, dip that chunky crab meat in butter, pop it in your mouth, and then chew?
(4)
Lawrence D.
This place ROCKED! The steampots were ALL Goooood! The drinks were quite a bit under par.... they held waaaay back on the alcohol, but the Steampots were awesome despite my dates order missing one of the listed items. The waiters and waitresses also did some sort of line dance thing while we were eating. Pretty funny, especially when a few patrons jumped in. The places decor, mainly limited to the ceilings kept me looking up! I'd go back!
(4)
Laurie A.
Our friend's daughter graduated high school and we wanted to take them to dinner to celebrate. She originally picked Firestone Pizza. After not being seated at Firestone Pizza, we came here. So glad we did! We got seated right away, the staff were so accommodating. Service was great and so was the food. Everyone had something different and enjoyed their food. She was completely satisfied with her meal which made us happy. Thank you for a wonderful evening.
(5)
Victor R.
I came to this location at about 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon and my wife and I were met by a hostess in a rather haphazard fashion. As she was just arriving after walking around the location. I requested a booth indoors, to which the server looked at her serving map and then walked away. We followed and then she abruptly told us to go ahead and wait a few moments while she cleaned a table that appeared not to have been bussed in about 30-45 minutes (I could tell based on the butter on the plates having congealed into a disgusting mass). To expand on the subject. The waitress provided no direction as to what she wanted us to do, and then very rudely told us to wait while she cleaned the table. We promptly left, and went to another restaurant nearby to eat. This is by far the worst customer service I have ever received in a Joe's Crab Shack, and pretty low on the list of customer service received at any restaurant location. Which is a sad statement considering we didn't even get the chance to be seated.
(1)
Stacey C.
I took my husband here for his birthday on 7/11/14. It took a while for some one to come and take our order. We ordered the bucket of shrimp I believe 12 or 18 count. The presentation was terrible. On top of that the shrimp were not clean at all. The back was not deveined as it should be and that's just dirty. It looked like they just took it out of the bag and threw some seasoning on it and that's it. You have to peel the shrimp yourself. It was gross so I sent it back and replaced it with mozzarella sticks instead. We had appetizer, 2 drinks and 2 desserts and I felt what we paid was very over priced and that quality was not even that great. I will never eat at Joe's Crab Shack again. For a place that has seafood as their main item, they do not take pride in what they serve. SMH
(1)
Sherry J.
Ate here twice with the same friend and it was mediocre each time. Slow service, and the food isn't great, tastes like it was frozen. The drinks are actually really good though. I would probably come back for a happy hour and some appetizers but not for a meal. Big Fish next door has much better food.
(2)
Kevin M.
We love this place. It is kid friendly and they have a great selection of Crab Legs. Make sure to get a table outside if it is a nice day.
(3)
Amazing B.
Absolutely amazing. Waitress was awesome. Food and drinks were delicious. We love it there def are going back. Always a good time and a great place to be. Very family oriented and kid friendly.
(5)
Yongdong W.
Worst seafood I ever had, waited 20 minutes to get me water, 10 minutes to order, and then wait really long to get my food, and they make mistake on my order, waited not too long to replace it, but crabs were really really salty, can't find the waitress to get waitress to refill me water, then we just wanna leave, can't find her to get me check. I would not ever got back there!
(1)
Brian L.
This place is like a backyard barbeque. It's very relaxed and to check out all the unusual items hanging its really cool too. You may get bumped a few times by the wait staff. There is not much room for them to maneuver. That got irritating. Be sure to check out their drunk specials... get a glass to take home with you.
(3)
Mattie J.
We visit here once a month. We always request to sit in Erica's section, as she is the best when it comes to customer service! The food is always good, the service fast and the piña cola do in the frozen pineapple? Delish!
(5)
Catherine H.
I have been here before and it was fine but the service I got the last time was horrible. We were seated in the corner next to a table full of screaming children. I couldn't even get to my chair because they were taking up too much room. This place is loud enough. The waitress comes back with my drink and my husband is walking towards the table. I say he is right there if you want to take his order. She laughs and walks away and is gone for 10 minutes before she comes back to take his drink order and our food. She doesn't refill drinks. It takes her 15 minutes to get me a box and bring me a bill. She then takes the $50 bill for our 49 and some odd change ticket and never comes back. Congratulations your incompetence earned you a 47 cent tip.
(1)
Danielle A.
It was just fine. yes it is a chain. yes it is next door to a place that offers a better menu, and yes they are cheaper than that place. considering it works for nice crowds, large parties, and people with children....and the food isn't half bad!! and the bartenders are nice.
(4)
Pri P.
We shared the KJ Steampot and the Ragin' Cajun Steampot. Both were good. The KJ had mild seasoning and large juicy scallops. The Cajun steampot was nice and spicy and the crab legs were huge. JCS is pretty pricey considering we bought dungeoness crabs the night before for $8.99/lb (2 clusters in a lb) and the steampot was $25 but I guess u pay for the ambiance and the ear of corn and 2-3 potatoes. Overall it was good and I would return. Oh yeah! The staff was very entertaining! They were doing the Cupid Shuffle and ChaCha all night.
(3)
Shauen P.
I wish the food was as good as the commercials. There was a terrible odor that did not seem to stem from seafood. The table were wet and dirty, the place was fairly crowded and the food was terrible. Thank the food goddess for decent service. I never plan to return to a Joe's crab shack -ever.
(1)
Tamara K.
It's a place where you can bring the kids! There is a clown guy that blows up balloons and makes animals out of them for the kids...very cute. It's nice that its on the water. The food is pretty good. I would go back just for the southern spiked tea that comes in a mason jar....sooooo good. I look forward to coming back for buck a shuck...
(4)
Kimberly C.
We go for the queen crab. I don't care too much for the fried foods though.
(3)
Joshuah M.
It was an ok place. The crabs were cooked too much to point where the crab stuck to the shell so it was too hard to extract from the the crab leg. The restaurant had a busy enviroment. This is one of those restaurants where they make the wait staff do stupid dance rituals every so often to a stupid song. Very demeaning for the staff. The mens bathroom was barely hanging together. This place could be so much better with a little care. Don't waste your time.
(2)
Mikell R.
Great steamer pots and atmosphere. Even have a playground on site for the little kids in the family. Walking distance from Kids museum and movie theater.
(5)
Matthew S.
Great food, I like their outside dining! Fun atmosphere: every so often the music goes up, party lights come on and the workers start dancing! It's a colorful fun environment, great for a family or a fun night out. They have a few good choices for the ones that don't like fish - I had a burger, *thumbs up*
(3)
Eric N.
Had fish and chips, popcorn shrimp. Food was a bit greasy, and not very tasty. It seems to be a chain/tourist trap.
(3)
Brianne S.
Expected more, meh...
(2)
Neal C.
ive eaten at this particular restaurant about 4 times. my family and i have visited 3 different joe's crab shacks, and this one is the best. my family loves the seafood, and believe it or not, the best steak i ever had is at joe's the waiters are very courteous and fast, the food is very hot(heat) oh and the foo tastes GREAT
(5)
Donna C.
What more could you ask for? Crabs! Today was our first visit to try Joe's, so over the bridge we went (from Jersey) to check out what these yummy looking commercials were all about. I have to be honest. I just wasn't all that impressed. We got in right away even on a Saturday night at 5:30 PM. Our waiter waited on us almost immediately once we sat down and kept up with us even though it seemed he had at least 10 other tables besides us. I didn't catch his name, but he was a young Asian guy with knew how to move his tables. My friend and I both had the "King and Queen Crab Legs" platter, his son had the Caribbean seafood platter. Our appetizer of steamed old bay shrimp came out within 5 minutes of ordering. We were quite impressed. After about 15 minutes our crab buckets and meal came out. The crabs were delish BUT in both buckets there was at least on WHOLE crab leg that had no meat in it. Spending $29.99 for a meal, we expected crab not air. The corn on the cob was HORRIBLE!!!! While it was a nice size ear of corn, there is no way it was human consumption corn. This was horse corn....hard, difficult to get off the cob and just plain disgusting. The Caribbean seafood platter was devoured by my friend's 17 year old son who seemed pleased with his food. Then again, this was a teenage boy with a non stop appetite for anything that's food! LOL So in one word, would we go back to visit Joe's again? NO
(2)
JR R.
$2 Tuesday is more like... Let the customer order everything they think is $2 then hit them with a bill for twice as much. Bar service was horrendous! The bar tender was quick to take my order but lacked the skills to educate me on the happy hour and daily special. I came for the $2 Tuesday deal but walked away with the... $3-$5 Tuesday sucker special! After finally getting One of the 2x5 cards with the specials it read "$2 Tuesday - $2 Drafts, $2 hurricanes and $2 select apps" the reality is, it was select drafts too. As I was reading the card a different bartender came up and swiped it from directly in front of me to give to a different patron. After requesting the card back I was directed to the picture book with hope that I could identify what each picture represented and order that way. This service although fast was useless and unkind. I guarantee this is the last time I will be here for anything regardless of the food!
This was our first time to to a joes crab shack. The decorations are fun. The setting is casual. The food is great. Save room for the smores
(4)
Victor R.
I came to this location at about 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon and my wife and I were met by a hostess in a rather haphazard fashion. As she was just arriving after walking around the location. I requested a booth indoors, to which the server looked at her serving map and then walked away. We followed and then she abruptly told us to go ahead and wait a few moments while she cleaned a table that appeared not to have been bussed in about 30-45 minutes (I could tell based on the butter on the plates having congealed into a disgusting mass). To expand on the subject. The waitress provided no direction as to what she wanted us to do, and then very rudely told us to wait while she cleaned the table. We promptly left, and went to another restaurant nearby to eat. This is by far the worst customer service I have ever received in a Joe's Crab Shack, and pretty low on the list of customer service received at any restaurant location. Which is a sad statement considering we didn't even get the chance to be seated.
(1)
Stacey C.
I took my husband here for his birthday on 7/11/14. It took a while for some one to come and take our order. We ordered the bucket of shrimp I believe 12 or 18 count. The presentation was terrible. On top of that the shrimp were not clean at all. The back was not deveined as it should be and that's just dirty. It looked like they just took it out of the bag and threw some seasoning on it and that's it. You have to peel the shrimp yourself. It was gross so I sent it back and replaced it with mozzarella sticks instead. We had appetizer, 2 drinks and 2 desserts and I felt what we paid was very over priced and that quality was not even that great. I will never eat at Joe's Crab Shack again. For a place that has seafood as their main item, they do not take pride in what they serve. SMH
(1)
Sherry J.
Ate here twice with the same friend and it was mediocre each time. Slow service, and the food isn't great, tastes like it was frozen. The drinks are actually really good though. I would probably come back for a happy hour and some appetizers but not for a meal. Big Fish next door has much better food.
(2)
Kevin M.
We love this place. It is kid friendly and they have a great selection of Crab Legs. Make sure to get a table outside if it is a nice day.
(3)
Huong L.
The restaurant is big , never boardwalk and riverfront . The view is very nice They have parking lot frond of the restaurant . Workers in here not really nice We went here on Wednesday, they have happy hours but when we order for drink ...guess what they told us ? They said they out of drink today ...what the heck ...they said they are so busy today but restaurant was not that busy ... Foods is ok , not real good . Kinda expensive....services was rude Well I gave them 3 stars for the good view .i don't think I will come back here
(3)
Paul H.
Love lust or run. RUN FOOD was horrible. Service was poor. I ordered the seafood sampler as a appetizer. The crab dip was good. The chips were soggy, the clarmari was like rubber. We ordered the eastern seafood dinner. Crab came 80 bread filler. Shrimps tough French fies and onion rings dripping in grease. This is the second Joe's Crab shack we have tried and now I know you need to RUN away from them. $60 FOR A CRAPPY LUNCH
(1)
Roy K.
Decor. It is what you would expect for a mediocre crab chain. Food. Steamed shrimp as part of appetizer was tiny for the price. I would not recommend. Other food in my opinion is expensive for what you get. We were staying nearby and it was raining so we came here out of convenience. Otherwise, we would not have come. Service. This is where the place really hurts. Took a while before a server ever came for our drink order. Server forgot to bring drinks before meals came out. Server was nice, but he definitely needed another 2 weeks of solid training. It was like watching a kid walk for the first time. Overall. I will not come back.
(2)
Rachel W.
We went to celebrate a birthday. Waiter was nice. Friendly. Service was ok. We had to ask 3 times for sweetener for iced tea. 2x for ketchup for the fries. One of the dishes at the table was WAY over cooked. The food was ok. I think it was over priced for what they deliver. Not in a hurry to go back. But we had a great time celebrating regardless. On the plus side the signature Bloody Mary was amazing! And they sang and made a fuss for the birthday boy.
(3)
Kevin C.
The ambiance outside by the river is calming. The staff is fast and courteous and all the food comes from a scratch kitchen. Joe's is definitely my choice if you gotta go corporate. Every thursday is half off every cocktail and they all are amazing.
(5)
John H.
Food and beverages are really overpriced and food was not very good overall. We ordered house wine and a beer and a seafood platter to share. The platter had scallops, shrimp, and a piece of fish on a bed of cold French fries. The seafood was pretty good but there were way too many fries and they were cold and there was not much seafood for $17.95. We also ordered hush puppies and they were also cold and the second order brought were not much better. The house wine we ordered was $8, which they were going to charge $11 until brought to the server's attention. Better choice would be the two restaurants next door.
(2)
Rob M.
They sat us down and no one ever showed up to even take a drink order. This was a Sunday afternoon with the place about 3/4 full, with no wait for seating.
(1)
Cherie D.
My family and I love this place. They have very reasonable prices, pleasantpleasantand great food. We have never had any problems here. The only thing I don't recommend is eating on the deck-there are too many flys, which isn't Joes Crab shacks fault. However, it makes your meal very frustrating when you have to swat away flys the whole time.
(5)
Danielle B.
Came here with friend, we were the only people at happy hour and the service at the bar was incredibly slow. . We headed to the table for dinner, and got a few steam pots. My crabs were over cooked and were hard to get out of the shell . The king crabs that my friend had looked better cooked. The dessert apple crumble was way too sweet with the caramel drizzle on top. It was nice to sit outside, however next time id try a different place.
(3)
Stephanie E.
My husband really enjoyed the food. He had a steam pot. I had a sampler. It was ok. The issue was my sampler was cold. Mistakes will happen. I alerted the waitress. She was very apologetic and put in an order for a replacement. The issue was 20 minutes later, I still didn't have a replacement. Again the waitress was apologetic. I decided to cancel the replacement. After my husband completed his meal, the check came. We were charged for the sampler. When asked to remove it, I was told that she had to ask her manager. I would have thought she would have done that before presenting the check. I requested to talk to the manager too. He never came but he did remove the charge. Again, my husband enjoyed. I left feeling the effects of bad service.
(3)
Rita R.
excellent casual dining experience. great spot for some serious shark bites. you can only order two :( drink responsibly! :) we've been here twice already, and i can't wait for our next jcs visit. the boatdwalk, mini-golf and the imax theater, you can do a little of everything and not have to move your car lol. great spot, friendly service and the drinks oh, did i mention drinks? :)
(5)
Reade S.
Awful service People were loud and screaming inside Food was a little overrated although the prices were fair.
(3)
Mojdeh S.
How I heard of this place: Driving back after our day trip to West Chester, Pennsylvania, we planned to meet up with a friend who suggested stopping off in Wilmington. We first found the Iron Hill Brewery and intended to meet up there, but the 35-minute wait led us to the establishment next door, Joe's Crab Shack. Type of cuisine: "Joe's is the kind of place that welcomes you in warmly and feeds you delicious seafood...It's here that good food, good times and good memories are created every day...So strap on a bib, order your favorite bucket of crab and don't be afraid to dance." A place where buckets of crab meet fried shrimp, where steamed muscles meet cheesey new potatoes, and stuffed snapper meets blackened salmon. All things seafood, with a ribeye, a burger and chicken tenders for those averse to eating things that come from out of the ocean. Ambiance: "We stand for kicking back. Having a sense of humor. Getting your hands dirty. Good food and good friends. For being real and a little weird. That's what we call service." A wooden, white shack, with red trim, Christmas lights and a beach-font sign in yellow and blue: Welcome to Joe's Crab Shack. Climbing stairs onto the white, picketed wooden porch, empty benches seated atop the wooden floorboards greet us, as does the bright red door with metallic pipe handles. Red and white beach awnings keep the weather off of the red-framed windows and tree trunks help to hold up the porch roof. Indoors, horizontally placed wooden planks make up the walls, where ecclectic trinkets are hung on display. Everything from waterskis to a flipper, plastic crabs, lobster and a seahorse, rowing oars and framed postcards keep eyes darting from one vibrant objet d'artes to another. Old, red theater seats, set in a pair offer seating for those busy days where the foyer is full of hungry patrons awaiting their bucket o' crab legs. Overhead, the ceiling light is decorated with a circle of plastic lobster over green ferns, resembling a bed of lettuce atop which can be found your dinner aplenty. Inside, the souvenir shop to our left attracts our attention, firstly, through the puffer-fish toys keps overhead in a cargo net, and next through the bold coloring of t-shirts available for purchase. Inside the huge room, the concrete floors give the impression that the establishment gets hosed down after each night's dinner rush. The tall ceiling of the house/shack has an abundance of decor: oversized flip-flops, plastic seagulls, a child's ridable plastic car, a huge shark, a life-sized walrus, a dirt bike, sea creatures (tortoise, schools of crab, and then some), not to mention a wooden boat seating two skeleton. Framed photographs hang askew on the walls, where almost no room remains for more. Large-tile tables in seafoam green remind my husband of the ship floors from his time in the U.S. Navy (giving the sense that he's "eating off the floor"). Thick four-by-fours make up the table legs, surrounded by retro orange and red faux-leather chairs with mirrored-legs. Picnic tables with attached benches making up the seating for larger parties; these can also found through the bright blue doors leading out onto "Joe's Big (heated) Deck". Floor to ceiling windows lead the way out onto the deck, giving all patrons a view of the outdoors. In the middle of each table can be found a hole, filled by an aluminum bucket of paper towels and two bottles (one filled with salt and the other with pepper), doubling up as a garbage can for crab leg waste. Just when we thought the evening could not get any more cluttered, the waitstaff, joined by the children patrons in the restaurant, walked out into the middle of the floor and danced the electric slide. What I ordered: Chipotle Bacon Cheeseburger ($9.99), Chipotle BBQ sauce, mixed cheese and crispy applewood smoked bacon with fries and a side of Cheesy New Potatoes ($2.89); a Bowl of Clam Chowder ($5.59), a bottle of IBC Root Beer ($2.59) and the 12-ounce USDA juicy Ribeye ($19.99) with a side of cheesy new potatoes and seaseasonal vegetables (broccoli); Classic Cobb ($10.39), mixed greens topped with crisp applewood smoked bacon, avocado, diced eggs, crispy onion strings and bleu cheese crumbles with chicken; Salmon Orleans ($16.29), a moist filet topped with a creamy Cajun sauce loaded with crawfish, shrimp and andouille sausage, served with a generous helping of dirty rice. For dessert, Sea Turtle Sundae ($7.59), a huge helping of gooey chocolate cake a la mode (Dreyer's vanilla bean ice cream) topped with caramel and candied walnuts. What I loved: Dessert. The appetizers: salad and clam chowder were the best savory part of the meal. The salmon tender and moist, ribeye fatty and juicy, new potatoes creamy and tasty. Why I loved it: Relatively inexpensive food, large portions and casual environment make for an easy, last minute meet-up meal with friends. Cost: Average ($10-$20 per dinner entree)
Horrible quality. The "seafood" was frozen at one point and for what they charge for their steam pots, that is not acceptable. The crabs were over cooked. We left hungry. Over priced menu items and tacky decor. There are too many other quality seafood places in town that are more worthy of $100. Don't waste your time on this chain.
(1)
Jon Z.
Used to come here for often but the recipe and food has really gone downhill. The service is always friendly and I commend the servers for working so hard and keeping a smile on their faces despite how busy and hectic things are. The food however is way too salty and covered in oil. The steamer pots are like drinking a bucket of butter and salt combined together with a hint of seafood. The shrimp are tiny, with the skin glued to the meat (a sign of how unfresh and frozen they are). This is a typical chain/tourist restaurant that despite being "on the water" has no fresh seafood.
(2)
Jason W.
I have been to a couple locations, this one has a great atmosphere with very good service. The food was fresh and prepared as ordered. Pricing is fair for the quality, I look forward to go back soon.
(4)
Samantha S.
Greats crabs for good prices. Also, all alcoholic drinks in mason jars you get to keep the jars! Great atmosphere, fast and friendly service. Good date night or for a night out with friends. Consider making reservations so you don't have to wait on weekend nights.
(5)
Dave E.
Went there last night for a friends birthday. Service was extremely slow. The server was friendly but did a very poor job. The food was not very good and overpriced as well. My friend got the sam adams pot, As others have said the lobster and crab from the pot was wayyy over cooked and had apparently been sitting in water too long. For those who never had seafood like this it is not good! She also asked if she could have the sausage replaced by potatoes. The server said yes and when she got her pot there was one little red potato about the size of a half dollar, one. The server said he would bring out more, they never showed up to our table. He brought the waters out and we asked for straws. He forgot to bring them out until we reminded him twice. I ordered the Redfish Orleans. It came out with cream sauce over fish next to a pile of "dirty" rice. There was supposed to be crawfish, shrimp and andouille sausage on top... None of that was present! I asked the waiter about it and he said yeah it's supposed to be on there but you got the end of the sauce. I just looked at him and he didn't think anything was wrong... I said I was unhappy with that and he said yeah your right let me take it back and get the right sauce. It came back out 5 min later and all they did was dump some of the cream sauce off of my plate and put about three slices of andouille on it that were about the size of a quarter cut in half and 2 mini shrimp. At that point I just accepted the plate so I could just be done and get out of there. The fish and rice where no longer hot at that point. I ended up mixing everything into the rice to eat it. I have no plans of ever going to a Joes Ever again. There are many places out there with real good food at a better price. I do not recommend this place!
(2)
Maybe L.
We took the little one and her best friend to Joe's because the girls saw the playground and it was all but set in stone. We were seated outside by the playground so the girls could play while we did the lunch thing. My lady ordered the crab cake salad which looked pretty good and she appeared to enjoy. I ordered the southern stuffed shrimp that was served with rice, broccoli, and hush puppies. The meal was pretty good for what it was and the hush puppies were on point. The girls bit had the kids Mac and cheese which was just some Kraft from the box crap typical of these types of chain joints. The playground is set and surrounded by a sea of small rocks that ended up being thrown by the boys on the playground and being thrown down the slides and stuff. This behavior is obviously not a reflection of the restaurant just poor parenting, but I think rocks were a bad choice. The real problem here was the service. Everything took a really long time. The girls ordered the rice crispy treat thing that comes with a paint brush and sauces to paint with and that took forever. So if you go to joe's make sure you have a lot of time to get decent chain food. Albeit the hush puppies are pretty good! And watch out for unruly boys to be out of control on a rock covered playground!
(3)
M S.
I avoid reviewing chain restaurants since the entire purpose of a chain restaurant is that they are moderately competent and consistent. But since I haven't seen many of these restaurants previously I'll forgo my usual rule. The food here blows. Everything pretty much tastes and smells the same due to that salty brine that they seem to drown everything with. It's served in this lukewarm bath of brine but alas they find serving food in a tin bucket charming. Sure...I suppose if your name is Cleetus and your girlfriend Mary Lynn are looking for a night of fine dining... This might be your spot.
(1)
Charles C.
I wanted to review someplace special for my 200th, but alas, life had other plans as my friends and I ended up here after one of our ajusshi adventures. So we went for dinner after spending some time at the track (delaware park). Occasionally, the ponies can be fun. But check yourself from going to harness and/or greyhound racing because only undesirables/degenerates enjoy those two forms of racing. lol Anyhow, I was worried that this seafood chain would simply be a glamorized Red Lobster. Much better than I expected, however. I was pleasantly surprised with the spicy taste of my sunset grill (old bays seasoning) seafood steampot. It was just the right amount of crab legs, andouille sausage, shrimp, potatoes, and corn on cob. Service was good and prices were fair. Rhetorically speaking, is there anything better in life than when you crack open a dungeness/snow crab leg in the middle, dip that chunky crab meat in butter, pop it in your mouth, and then chew?
(4)
Amazing B.
Absolutely amazing. Waitress was awesome. Food and drinks were delicious. We love it there def are going back. Always a good time and a great place to be. Very family oriented and kid friendly.
(5)
Yongdong W.
Worst seafood I ever had, waited 20 minutes to get me water, 10 minutes to order, and then wait really long to get my food, and they make mistake on my order, waited not too long to replace it, but crabs were really really salty, can't find the waitress to get waitress to refill me water, then we just wanna leave, can't find her to get me check. I would not ever got back there!
(1)
Lawrence D.
This place ROCKED! The steampots were ALL Goooood! The drinks were quite a bit under par.... they held waaaay back on the alcohol, but the Steampots were awesome despite my dates order missing one of the listed items. The waiters and waitresses also did some sort of line dance thing while we were eating. Pretty funny, especially when a few patrons jumped in. The places decor, mainly limited to the ceilings kept me looking up! I'd go back!
(4)
Laurie A.
Our friend's daughter graduated high school and we wanted to take them to dinner to celebrate. She originally picked Firestone Pizza. After not being seated at Firestone Pizza, we came here. So glad we did! We got seated right away, the staff were so accommodating. Service was great and so was the food. Everyone had something different and enjoyed their food. She was completely satisfied with her meal which made us happy. Thank you for a wonderful evening.
(5)
Brian L.
This place is like a backyard barbeque. It's very relaxed and to check out all the unusual items hanging its really cool too. You may get bumped a few times by the wait staff. There is not much room for them to maneuver. That got irritating. Be sure to check out their drunk specials... get a glass to take home with you.
(3)
Mattie J.
We visit here once a month. We always request to sit in Erica's section, as she is the best when it comes to customer service! The food is always good, the service fast and the piña cola do in the frozen pineapple? Delish!
(5)
Catherine H.
I have been here before and it was fine but the service I got the last time was horrible. We were seated in the corner next to a table full of screaming children. I couldn't even get to my chair because they were taking up too much room. This place is loud enough. The waitress comes back with my drink and my husband is walking towards the table. I say he is right there if you want to take his order. She laughs and walks away and is gone for 10 minutes before she comes back to take his drink order and our food. She doesn't refill drinks. It takes her 15 minutes to get me a box and bring me a bill. She then takes the $50 bill for our 49 and some odd change ticket and never comes back. Congratulations your incompetence earned you a 47 cent tip.
(1)
Danielle A.
It was just fine. yes it is a chain. yes it is next door to a place that offers a better menu, and yes they are cheaper than that place. considering it works for nice crowds, large parties, and people with children....and the food isn't half bad!! and the bartenders are nice.
(4)
Pri P.
We shared the KJ Steampot and the Ragin' Cajun Steampot. Both were good. The KJ had mild seasoning and large juicy scallops. The Cajun steampot was nice and spicy and the crab legs were huge. JCS is pretty pricey considering we bought dungeoness crabs the night before for $8.99/lb (2 clusters in a lb) and the steampot was $25 but I guess u pay for the ambiance and the ear of corn and 2-3 potatoes. Overall it was good and I would return. Oh yeah! The staff was very entertaining! They were doing the Cupid Shuffle and ChaCha all night.
(3)
Shauen P.
I wish the food was as good as the commercials. There was a terrible odor that did not seem to stem from seafood. The table were wet and dirty, the place was fairly crowded and the food was terrible. Thank the food goddess for decent service. I never plan to return to a Joe's crab shack -ever.
(1)
Tamara K.
It's a place where you can bring the kids! There is a clown guy that blows up balloons and makes animals out of them for the kids...very cute. It's nice that its on the water. The food is pretty good. I would go back just for the southern spiked tea that comes in a mason jar....sooooo good. I look forward to coming back for buck a shuck...
(4)
Kimberly C.
We go for the queen crab. I don't care too much for the fried foods though.
(3)
Joshuah M.
It was an ok place. The crabs were cooked too much to point where the crab stuck to the shell so it was too hard to extract from the the crab leg. The restaurant had a busy enviroment. This is one of those restaurants where they make the wait staff do stupid dance rituals every so often to a stupid song. Very demeaning for the staff. The mens bathroom was barely hanging together. This place could be so much better with a little care. Don't waste your time.
(2)
Mikell R.
Great steamer pots and atmosphere. Even have a playground on site for the little kids in the family. Walking distance from Kids museum and movie theater.
(5)
Matthew S.
Great food, I like their outside dining! Fun atmosphere: every so often the music goes up, party lights come on and the workers start dancing! It's a colorful fun environment, great for a family or a fun night out. They have a few good choices for the ones that don't like fish - I had a burger, *thumbs up*
(3)
Eric N.
Had fish and chips, popcorn shrimp. Food was a bit greasy, and not very tasty. It seems to be a chain/tourist trap.
(3)
Brianne S.
Expected more, meh...
(2)
Jean R.
OK Food nothing to write home about. WHen we frist sat down we didnt see a waiter or watress for 15 minutes they totally forgot about us and it was dead ... it was a monday night.. We got the "crab pot" included 2 lobsters, mussels, sausage, corn and potatoes. The joke was the mussels they were the size of peas quite pathetic... the lobsters were small. It was $46.00 not worth it. We also got the appetizer platter although the portion was decent the calamari was to chewy. The kicker was my mixed drink it was so sweet I could not drink it and sent it back. With tip we paid $87.00 didnt even leave full and went for an ice cream afterwards...Not a place id run back to.
(2)
Tim P.
How could I forget about this place. I ate at the one in Myrtle Beach before and it wasn't a good meal at all... So I decided to try the one in Wilmington, figuring that maybe cooking seafood wasn't one of the best things that they do down South..... Well, they might not cook seafood well in Myrtle Beach... but they don't do it any better in Wilmington either.... And to make matters even worse, the customer service sucks also.... I don't think that I've ever seen a staff treat work as if they were at home like these people did... Not accomodating, slow service, openly bitching about customer requests..... I'm not a hard person to please, and this place even made it hard for me to justify uttering a nice word about it....
(1)
Christina W.
My only regret from my trip to Joe's Crab Shack, is ordering the Seafood Enchiladas. Who goes to a seafood restaurant and orders the only Mexican dish on the menu? Me. Big mistake. It wasn't awful, but why didn't I just pick one of the steam pots? To start we ordered the 'Create your own appetizer' that comes with crab dip which was yummy and then we chose popcorn shrimp and great balls of fire. The great balls of fire are pretty spicy and come with ranch to dip. For dinner I ordered the Seafood Enchiladas which come on a bed of rice and black beans. The enchiladas are loaded with jalapenos, which were a little much for me. The dish was also had too much flour. As a dessert, we couldn't decide between the Sea Turtle Sundae and the Crabby Apple Crumble, so be ordered both! The Sundae was a little too rich for my taste, but the Apple Crumble was delicious! The wait staff was super nice and the line dancing every half hour or so was very entertaining! After appetizers, dinner and dessert, my cousins and I took full advantage of the jungle gym outside and then took a stroll to see what else was around. I'm hoping to talk my family into going back for Mother's Day; I want to take my top off. ** They do take reservations, but only for parties of 8 or more.
(4)
Jay N.
Hankering for lobster in Wilmington? Joe's shouldn't be your first (or even second) choice but it's still not a bad visit for general seafood fare. Incredibly busy on warm weekend evenings, Joe's offers a pleasant view of the river with patio seating, as well as a it's own playground for the kids (if you're one of THOSE, who must bring the kids to public places to let them go wilding. Please, don't do that..) The lobster was disappointing, but Joe's offers a seafood bucket at a great price which includes lobster, boiled shrimp, clams and steamers and sausage. Not bad and very reasonably priced. The meat was a bit tough, lobster definitely not fresh but it wasn't the worse experience. Seating was somewhat quick even on a busy afternoon. A MUCH better choice than the place next door.
(2)
Ronald W.
Great staff and awesome atmosphere. Affordable, too. Sure, it can be crowded at times, as the other reviewer pointed out, but it is well worth the wait. Would you rather be in a deserted restaurant, or a good quality place, with awesome wait staff?
(4)
Donna C.
What more could you ask for? Crabs! Today was our first visit to try Joe's, so over the bridge we went (from Jersey) to check out what these yummy looking commercials were all about. I have to be honest. I just wasn't all that impressed. We got in right away even on a Saturday night at 5:30 PM. Our waiter waited on us almost immediately once we sat down and kept up with us even though it seemed he had at least 10 other tables besides us. I didn't catch his name, but he was a young Asian guy with knew how to move his tables. My friend and I both had the "King and Queen Crab Legs" platter, his son had the Caribbean seafood platter. Our appetizer of steamed old bay shrimp came out within 5 minutes of ordering. We were quite impressed. After about 15 minutes our crab buckets and meal came out. The crabs were delish BUT in both buckets there was at least on WHOLE crab leg that had no meat in it. Spending $29.99 for a meal, we expected crab not air. The corn on the cob was HORRIBLE!!!! While it was a nice size ear of corn, there is no way it was human consumption corn. This was horse corn....hard, difficult to get off the cob and just plain disgusting. The Caribbean seafood platter was devoured by my friend's 17 year old son who seemed pleased with his food. Then again, this was a teenage boy with a non stop appetite for anything that's food! LOL So in one word, would we go back to visit Joe's again? NO
(2)
Neal C.
ive eaten at this particular restaurant about 4 times. my family and i have visited 3 different joe's crab shacks, and this one is the best. my family loves the seafood, and believe it or not, the best steak i ever had is at joe's the waiters are very courteous and fast, the food is very hot(heat) oh and the foo tastes GREAT
(5)
Sherry L.
We went here on Sunday night and I was surprised at how busy it was. I ordered the Southern Shrimp and my boyfriend ordered the paella. Mine was delicious, if a little too spicy for my taste. Unfortunately his barely had any seafood in it. I think the high point of his meal was the drink he ordered called a Shark Bite. We were a little surprised when a disco ball came on and some of the staff had to come out and dance (some of them did not look happy, and it really didn't seem to fit the theme). Our server was great, she seemed a little nervous but she kept up ok. I'm not sure if we will go back or not.
(2)
Yoon C.
As chains go, definitely a step up from Red Lobster (although there just isn't anything better than their garlic butter biscuits). The price is very reasonable for what you get, and the casual indoor/outdoor seating/dining experience is good. Good portions with their "steampots" and "crab buckets". Don't bother with their other dishes, which are all pretty miserable. This is an unpretentious place for your shellfish fix, and that's what Joe's is aiming for and is right on target.
(3)
Tami C.
SAVE YOUR MONEY let alone your time and patience. We were seated promptly and met a bubbly waitress who took our orders only to leave us hanging. Our first appetizers arrived "steamed shrimp" obviously frozen, mushy and flat flavor. Our second app didn't come at all, when our server finally did return & we inquired her answer was "yeah, it's coming, it takes a while". Hmmm. So we wait...and wait. Asking another server to find our missing waitress & app, at this point we had ordered it 40 minutes prior. The General Manager came out apologized, took the second app off the bill and said the ticket got lost. We decided to accept the appetizer, which he said would take about 8 minutes. Again we wait, no waitress, no service, no appetizer..... TWENTY Minutes later the server arrives, carrying dirty dishes that she lays down on our table and says "Still waiting?" .... Honestly I don't know know what either of us said because I was so blown away and irritated. We asked for our bill, that she promptly returned! She closed out the bill and as we got up to leave the appetizer arrives. NO THANKS!!! P.S. the General Manager never returned to follow up ~~~. For the record we Love to share Great Reviews too but this was just so globally poor I felt I needed to Warn others.
(1)
Nikia S.
Ending up at Joe's was not our original destination. The restaurant we wanted was closed for the night and since we were hungry for seafood Joe's won over Iron Hill Brewery. Although we were a group of 9 the place wasn't that busy so I'm not sure why we were there for 3 hours. I think they only put that much crap on the ceiling and walls to keep you entertained while waiting for your food. The waitress, Christian I believe, was very nice and attentive despite the wait. The food was okay, nothing over the top to write home to mom about. The dancing by the staff could be more enthusiastic or don't even bother. And finally, it's September...turn down the A/C!!! We were frozen by the time we left. Some of my family actually went outside to warm up while waiting for our food. Overall I was not impressed. I highly doubt I'd suggest driving to DE just to eat here (only a 30 min drive).
(3)
Miss B.
Its a chain so its pretty basic across the board. The host(ess) grouping is usually a little brash but I think thats because there are usually 30+ people standing in their area with their screaming children running around getting on everyone's damn nerves! The servers are super polite and helpful. They are knowledgeable and offer suggestions for drinks and/or specials. The crab pots are always my go to. They have $2 Tuesdays which makes my friends and I very happy as well. Beware of the Hurricanes. I had a mishap once when a manager wanted to tell me that the piece of black hair in my steampot was cornsilk. After laying it on a piece of white paper and explaining how many ears of corn I have shucked in my days (I spent my childhood in Virginia), he agreed with me and I was given a new pot which I ate ALL of. Yea, I can eat. Its not super fancy but its a good place to have good seafood especially if you have a family
(4)
Missy M.
I used to have a lot of fun here in my teens. As I grew up, I grew out of it. I used to think all the gigantic crap hanging from the ceiling was neat. Now I'm paranoid a dirt bike will fall on my head as I eat my coconut shrimp. I used to enjoy laughing at the wait staff as they performed their obligatory dance through the restaurant. Now I just feel embarrassed for them....especially when there are only 3 of them out there. I used to feel I was getting good food for the money. Now I know the value of quality over quantity. I'll give you this much Joe's, you seem to try your best. The wait staff is still friendly, the lame crab jokes still make me crack a smile, and the food is still edible.
(3)
Amber S.
Went to this establishment for my friends 26th birthday. It was a slow day with only maybe 7 tables in the restaurant at any given time. The service was pretty awful. We had to wait 20 mins for drink refills and constantly remind her we needed things. The food was pretty good for the most part but someone in our party did not care for their food. It took the manager an hour to visit the table and we were on desert when he finally came over and asked if we wanted the food remade. The server kept complaining about the manager and making excuses as to why things were how they were. I'm willing to try them again but not this location.
(1)
Tara C.
The crab dip here is creamy but meaty, so if you're used to traditional Irish crab dip, expect something different. I've never had better avocado/spinach dip before. They think of everything here. They even have implements to help you with your claw-cracking. Friendly service, very different atmosphere. I drank the kool aid and purchased a "talk nautical to me" shirt. I'm a fan, but I wasn't willing to wear one of the shirts suggesting I got crabs from my waitress (ew). Friendly staff. We had a server named Jimmy who answered all of our questions. He refilled drinks without us having to ask but he wasn't around so often that it was disruptive. Great service at the register also. There were some smokers sitting outdoors. I could smell the cigarettes since I was sitting near the door. That was kind of horrific. Worse, the trashy lady tossed her cig right into the river. Way to be classy and kill the environment and atmosphere at once...but that's what happens at establishments allowing smoking.
(4)
M B.
Loved the food, loved the company I was with, loved the drinks, loved the staff. I had never heard of JCS before and COULD NOT BELIEVE it was a chain! The hot, spicy and plentiful Steampots are to die for. to. DIE. for. Twice. These are some crabs you don't ever want to get rid of... (ummm..not that I know from experience... I'm just saying...") The restaurant decor is cute, super kitschy & fun. Great for families, laid back/down-to-earth dates, and groups. I highly recommend getting crabs from Joe. He's a good guy. Don't judge.
(4)
Will D.
Joe's Crab Shack is one link in a seafood chain. Food and service at Joe's Crab Shack are both spotty (both here and at their other locations). I have been visiting for lunch on and off since this location opened, several years ago. Some dishes are pretty good, and some are below par. Also, I have found preparation to be inconsistent. This is not a fancy place (keep in mind the name), so fried dishes and the like are the standard. Service issues begin with problems seating would-be customers. Many times I have eaten at the bar, and watch customers walk in, only to be ignored for a shocking length of time. Minor requests (salad dressing on the side) are frequently not filled. Some servers are friendly (rarely enthusiastic), while others are... not so much. I have watched this place over the years, and now generally avoid it, though I still go back once in a while, just to see if it's still a train wreck in slow motion (it always has been).
(2)
Kevin J.
I have had a great dining experience at Joe's at would recommend it to anyone visiting the Wilmington waterfront. There is a great value in their seafood offerings. It is a fun place to go with friends before a Wilmington Bluerocks game. Having been to Wilmington several times, Joe's appears to be the best recommendation around the waterfront area, as the other places down by the riverfront appeared to be too expensive for my liking.
(4)
Jesse A.
Kind of pricey here but the food is good. I bought my parents a gift certificate to the place so it must be nice! Other than the prices being a tad high no complaints.
(4)
T K.
We stopped here for lunch. There is not much of a lunch menu. Service was friendly and attentive. The fish and chips was disappointing. There was too much breading on the fish, so the taste did not come through. The fries were ok. Crabcake sandwich was good, but small. Fried onions were thin strips of breading. Fast food would have been quicker and less expensive with about the same taste.
(3)
Robyn H.
Decided to give Joe's another shot. Last time I ate at one in NJ, I had a Crabcake sandwich which was HORRIBLE! This time I went with the Broiled Seafood combo which was tasty, but a little too over-spiced with Old Bay. I guess when I read BROILED on the menu, I was thinking something kind of clean and bland, not greasy and salty. Even my broccoli and dirty rice had Old Bay on it. Would have liked to go with one of their steampots, but the prices were a little steep, and we were too hungry to bother with cracking crab shells. We like this location right on the Riverfront.... makes for a nice atmosphere.
(4)
Robert K.
I was kind of surprised, no wait on Friday before Mother's Day at 7pm! I had the Crab Caesar salad and it was good, fresh and i asked for dressing on the side and the waiter remembered! Service was average and the ambience is a fun / loud place. The servers get up and dance every 30 minutes or so some sort of dysfunctional line dance but it's funny to watch. My buddy got a burger and he liked it. For dessert I had the apple pie a la mode and it was awesome!
(3)
Kate P.
After reading the reviews, I had my expectations at pretty much "nothing special." And honestly? It's not really anything special. But you know what? Joe's Crab Shack knows what it is, and it does it damn well. You can't ask for more in a restaurant, especially a chain. I ordered the margarita in the mason jar for my drink(I'm pretty sure it's a scientific fact that booze is better in a jar), and I was quite pleased, as it was neither too sweet nor too bitter, with just enough salt. Salt is important on a margarita. The last place I went to that forgot it also screwed up a number of other very easy things, so there's that as well. My mom had a great cherry-limeade drink, also in a jar. It was a bit sweet for me but the flavor was definitely perfect for anyone in the mood for sweet. Also, again, it came in a jar. Sold. My memory is a bit hazy on what everyone ordered specifically (I might want to add that I had two of the mason jar margaritas. The danger of tasty beverages; it's not until you're about halfway through the second one...), but three of us ordered the steamer pots, including a KJ wine sauce one (mine), and a Sam Adam's one with lobster (my husband's). My brother ordered a burger and a bucket of shrimp, so he was all over the place. He said the burger was "like a BK stacker, but actually delicious." I was in heaven with mine: the wine sauce had a bit of a spicy kick to it, along with some garlic. The crabs and the mussels absorbed it perfectly; the scallops seemed to be kind of bland, but very spicy otherwise. I personally don't like stand-alone heat unless it comes with flavor; others may disagree. Shame for me, since the scallops were actually cooked very nicely and not at all rubbery. I am normally a fan of drenching my crabmeat/picked seafood in butter, for the record: but the mussels were so flavorful that I didn't bother, and the crabmeat I mostly did out of habit, as it was also pretty tasty on its own. It's cheesy. There is a lot of crap all over the walls. And it's certainly not perfect. But I'd definitely give it a shot again. Even if next time is only so-so. It's such a fun environment, with friendly service, and tasty seafood. Plus, the portions are definitely a good bang for your buck. Not bad.
(4)
John S.
We went to Joe's twice. Both times the service was BAD! We were seated and waited for ever for the server to come to our table .The place was empty to boot. I think they must have flown to Alaska to catch our fish. We will not recommend this place ever! If you go, plan on a long night and eat before you get there.
(1)
Myra C.
I must admit I walked in there having high expectations because so many people was bragging about this place. First of all, when we went there was no air condition (but they did tell us at the door). We decided to stay anyway because we drove a little ways and wanted to experience JCS. The food was ok..... Drinks were good and the staff was just ok. Nothing really to brag about. We had a nice time but nothing really draws me back.
(2)
Jordan F.
I had such hope for this place. But sadly I was disappointed. I called before I arrived to make sure I avoided a huge crowd and when arrived there was a 15 to 30 minute wait which I expected. Once seated in the aloud establishment I ordered the orelans steam pot which one would expect to have crawfish I thought it could of been better prepared I had pieces of crawfish everywhere it was a mess to say the least. But a least the beer was good. I probably won't come back.
(2)
Craig W.
Baby and I were planning to go to Iron Hill but it was a 45 minute to an hour wait (it was a Saturday night after all) so we checked next door with Joe's and they only had a 20 minute wait. It would take us 20 minutes to go somewhere else so we figured we'd give it a shot. When we were seated after about 20 minutes, we were, to say the least, a little puzzled that we had to wait when over 1/3 of the dining room tables were empty. And it wasn't as if there had been some mass exodus of diners right before we ate. Granted the outdoor deck was open but it was still more than a little weird. Having looked forward to Iron Hill, I was so bummed out by Joe's strictly corporate beer selection that I skipped the alcohol entirely. They had a $5 special on all appetizers (one upside of the financial meltdown) and we tried the Crab Nachos. They came out quickly and were OK but nothing special and we had to stick close to the platter since the only serving plates we had were the roll of paper towels on the table (and they were stuck in the same pail that the hostess just dumped the dirty towel she wiped down the table with - yeccch). I ordered the Crawfish Half & Half which was crawfish etouffe and fried crawfish. Baby got a shrimp sampler of which included stuffed shrimp and cocount shrimp. Our meal came out very quickly so I don't think it was cooked to order. My etouffe was OK but it could have used a bit more flavor. The fried crawfish was small lumps that I couldn't readily distinguish from popcorn shrimp. The crab stuffing in Baby's shrimp was too bready and the shrimp a bit too small and overcooked but the coconut shrimp weren't half bad. Nothing was awful or inedible just the typical appeal to the lowest common denominator cuisine that is the specialty of the apostrophe chain restaurants. Oh, and at a couple points in our brief visit, the staff went into forced entertainment mode - putting on an extended but thoroughly unenthusiastic line-dance and then doing a desultory Happy Birthday sing-a-long. If we hadn't realized it already, we knew then and there that this was not our kind of place.
(2)
Vanaro C.
Omg awesome food and beer! Love it!
(4)
David R.
We made reservations for 10 people and arrived half an hour early and still had to wait 40 minutes (10 minutes past our reserved time). Also, our bill was inaccurate. I was a little disappointed that they didn't serve Md blue crabs, but overall, I was happy with the food quality. We went on a Saturday evening and it was crowded. I would recommend JCS but be prepared to wait awhile if you come @ dinner time on Saturday.
(3)
Nicole S.
I went on a Saturday afternoon, the food seemed fresh and the staff was great. I've been in the past and this was an improvement. Need more parking.
(3)
Hideki K.
Sure, Joe's Crab Shack is commercialized, but the portions are enormous and the crab cakes are decent.
(3)
Giggling T.
So yummy and WHAT A BLAST! I went to dinner with a group of fellow educators (from a conference) and we spent the evening laughing and eating! Our waiter was adorable and the atmosphere is just fun, fun, fun! The food was good, but really this place has 100% atmosphere on their side. For a good time, go to Joe's!
Takes Reservations : Yes Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Lunch Parking : Private Lot Bike Parking : Yes Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Ambience : Casual Noise Level : Very Loud Alcohol : Full Bar Outdoor Seating : Yes Has TV : Yes Waiter Service : Yes Caters : No
Sherry L.
We went here on Sunday night and I was surprised at how busy it was. I ordered the Southern Shrimp and my boyfriend ordered the paella. Mine was delicious, if a little too spicy for my taste. Unfortunately his barely had any seafood in it. I think the high point of his meal was the drink he ordered called a Shark Bite. We were a little surprised when a disco ball came on and some of the staff had to come out and dance (some of them did not look happy, and it really didn't seem to fit the theme). Our server was great, she seemed a little nervous but she kept up ok. I'm not sure if we will go back or not.
(2)Tami C.
SAVE YOUR MONEY let alone your time and patience. We were seated promptly and met a bubbly waitress who took our orders only to leave us hanging. Our first appetizers arrived "steamed shrimp" obviously frozen, mushy and flat flavor. Our second app didn't come at all, when our server finally did return & we inquired her answer was "yeah, it's coming, it takes a while". Hmmm. So we wait...and wait. Asking another server to find our missing waitress & app, at this point we had ordered it 40 minutes prior. The General Manager came out apologized, took the second app off the bill and said the ticket got lost. We decided to accept the appetizer, which he said would take about 8 minutes. Again we wait, no waitress, no service, no appetizer..... TWENTY Minutes later the server arrives, carrying dirty dishes that she lays down on our table and says "Still waiting?" .... Honestly I don't know know what either of us said because I was so blown away and irritated. We asked for our bill, that she promptly returned! She closed out the bill and as we got up to leave the appetizer arrives. NO THANKS!!! P.S. the General Manager never returned to follow up ~~~. For the record we Love to share Great Reviews too but this was just so globally poor I felt I needed to Warn others.
(1)Nikia S.
Ending up at Joe's was not our original destination. The restaurant we wanted was closed for the night and since we were hungry for seafood Joe's won over Iron Hill Brewery. Although we were a group of 9 the place wasn't that busy so I'm not sure why we were there for 3 hours. I think they only put that much crap on the ceiling and walls to keep you entertained while waiting for your food. The waitress, Christian I believe, was very nice and attentive despite the wait. The food was okay, nothing over the top to write home to mom about. The dancing by the staff could be more enthusiastic or don't even bother. And finally, it's September...turn down the A/C!!! We were frozen by the time we left. Some of my family actually went outside to warm up while waiting for our food. Overall I was not impressed. I highly doubt I'd suggest driving to DE just to eat here (only a 30 min drive).
(3)Miss B.
Its a chain so its pretty basic across the board. The host(ess) grouping is usually a little brash but I think thats because there are usually 30+ people standing in their area with their screaming children running around getting on everyone's damn nerves! The servers are super polite and helpful. They are knowledgeable and offer suggestions for drinks and/or specials. The crab pots are always my go to. They have $2 Tuesdays which makes my friends and I very happy as well. Beware of the Hurricanes. I had a mishap once when a manager wanted to tell me that the piece of black hair in my steampot was cornsilk. After laying it on a piece of white paper and explaining how many ears of corn I have shucked in my days (I spent my childhood in Virginia), he agreed with me and I was given a new pot which I ate ALL of. Yea, I can eat. Its not super fancy but its a good place to have good seafood especially if you have a family
(4)Missy M.
I used to have a lot of fun here in my teens. As I grew up, I grew out of it. I used to think all the gigantic crap hanging from the ceiling was neat. Now I'm paranoid a dirt bike will fall on my head as I eat my coconut shrimp. I used to enjoy laughing at the wait staff as they performed their obligatory dance through the restaurant. Now I just feel embarrassed for them....especially when there are only 3 of them out there. I used to feel I was getting good food for the money. Now I know the value of quality over quantity. I'll give you this much Joe's, you seem to try your best. The wait staff is still friendly, the lame crab jokes still make me crack a smile, and the food is still edible.
(3)Jean R.
OK Food nothing to write home about. WHen we frist sat down we didnt see a waiter or watress for 15 minutes they totally forgot about us and it was dead ... it was a monday night.. We got the "crab pot" included 2 lobsters, mussels, sausage, corn and potatoes. The joke was the mussels they were the size of peas quite pathetic... the lobsters were small. It was $46.00 not worth it. We also got the appetizer platter although the portion was decent the calamari was to chewy. The kicker was my mixed drink it was so sweet I could not drink it and sent it back. With tip we paid $87.00 didnt even leave full and went for an ice cream afterwards...Not a place id run back to.
(2)Tim P.
How could I forget about this place. I ate at the one in Myrtle Beach before and it wasn't a good meal at all... So I decided to try the one in Wilmington, figuring that maybe cooking seafood wasn't one of the best things that they do down South..... Well, they might not cook seafood well in Myrtle Beach... but they don't do it any better in Wilmington either.... And to make matters even worse, the customer service sucks also.... I don't think that I've ever seen a staff treat work as if they were at home like these people did... Not accomodating, slow service, openly bitching about customer requests..... I'm not a hard person to please, and this place even made it hard for me to justify uttering a nice word about it....
(1)Christina W.
My only regret from my trip to Joe's Crab Shack, is ordering the Seafood Enchiladas. Who goes to a seafood restaurant and orders the only Mexican dish on the menu? Me. Big mistake. It wasn't awful, but why didn't I just pick one of the steam pots? To start we ordered the 'Create your own appetizer' that comes with crab dip which was yummy and then we chose popcorn shrimp and great balls of fire. The great balls of fire are pretty spicy and come with ranch to dip. For dinner I ordered the Seafood Enchiladas which come on a bed of rice and black beans. The enchiladas are loaded with jalapenos, which were a little much for me. The dish was also had too much flour. As a dessert, we couldn't decide between the Sea Turtle Sundae and the Crabby Apple Crumble, so be ordered both! The Sundae was a little too rich for my taste, but the Apple Crumble was delicious! The wait staff was super nice and the line dancing every half hour or so was very entertaining! After appetizers, dinner and dessert, my cousins and I took full advantage of the jungle gym outside and then took a stroll to see what else was around. I'm hoping to talk my family into going back for Mother's Day; I want to take my top off. ** They do take reservations, but only for parties of 8 or more.
(4)Jay N.
Hankering for lobster in Wilmington? Joe's shouldn't be your first (or even second) choice but it's still not a bad visit for general seafood fare. Incredibly busy on warm weekend evenings, Joe's offers a pleasant view of the river with patio seating, as well as a it's own playground for the kids (if you're one of THOSE, who must bring the kids to public places to let them go wilding. Please, don't do that..) The lobster was disappointing, but Joe's offers a seafood bucket at a great price which includes lobster, boiled shrimp, clams and steamers and sausage. Not bad and very reasonably priced. The meat was a bit tough, lobster definitely not fresh but it wasn't the worse experience. Seating was somewhat quick even on a busy afternoon. A MUCH better choice than the place next door.
(2)Amber S.
Went to this establishment for my friends 26th birthday. It was a slow day with only maybe 7 tables in the restaurant at any given time. The service was pretty awful. We had to wait 20 mins for drink refills and constantly remind her we needed things. The food was pretty good for the most part but someone in our party did not care for their food. It took the manager an hour to visit the table and we were on desert when he finally came over and asked if we wanted the food remade. The server kept complaining about the manager and making excuses as to why things were how they were. I'm willing to try them again but not this location.
(1)Tara C.
The crab dip here is creamy but meaty, so if you're used to traditional Irish crab dip, expect something different. I've never had better avocado/spinach dip before. They think of everything here. They even have implements to help you with your claw-cracking. Friendly service, very different atmosphere. I drank the kool aid and purchased a "talk nautical to me" shirt. I'm a fan, but I wasn't willing to wear one of the shirts suggesting I got crabs from my waitress (ew). Friendly staff. We had a server named Jimmy who answered all of our questions. He refilled drinks without us having to ask but he wasn't around so often that it was disruptive. Great service at the register also. There were some smokers sitting outdoors. I could smell the cigarettes since I was sitting near the door. That was kind of horrific. Worse, the trashy lady tossed her cig right into the river. Way to be classy and kill the environment and atmosphere at once...but that's what happens at establishments allowing smoking.
(4)M B.
Loved the food, loved the company I was with, loved the drinks, loved the staff. I had never heard of JCS before and COULD NOT BELIEVE it was a chain! The hot, spicy and plentiful Steampots are to die for. to. DIE. for. Twice. These are some crabs you don't ever want to get rid of... (ummm..not that I know from experience... I'm just saying...") The restaurant decor is cute, super kitschy & fun. Great for families, laid back/down-to-earth dates, and groups. I highly recommend getting crabs from Joe. He's a good guy. Don't judge.
(4)Will D.
Joe's Crab Shack is one link in a seafood chain. Food and service at Joe's Crab Shack are both spotty (both here and at their other locations). I have been visiting for lunch on and off since this location opened, several years ago. Some dishes are pretty good, and some are below par. Also, I have found preparation to be inconsistent. This is not a fancy place (keep in mind the name), so fried dishes and the like are the standard. Service issues begin with problems seating would-be customers. Many times I have eaten at the bar, and watch customers walk in, only to be ignored for a shocking length of time. Minor requests (salad dressing on the side) are frequently not filled. Some servers are friendly (rarely enthusiastic), while others are... not so much. I have watched this place over the years, and now generally avoid it, though I still go back once in a while, just to see if it's still a train wreck in slow motion (it always has been).
(2)Kevin J.
I have had a great dining experience at Joe's at would recommend it to anyone visiting the Wilmington waterfront. There is a great value in their seafood offerings. It is a fun place to go with friends before a Wilmington Bluerocks game. Having been to Wilmington several times, Joe's appears to be the best recommendation around the waterfront area, as the other places down by the riverfront appeared to be too expensive for my liking.
(4)Jesse A.
Kind of pricey here but the food is good. I bought my parents a gift certificate to the place so it must be nice! Other than the prices being a tad high no complaints.
(4)T K.
We stopped here for lunch. There is not much of a lunch menu. Service was friendly and attentive. The fish and chips was disappointing. There was too much breading on the fish, so the taste did not come through. The fries were ok. Crabcake sandwich was good, but small. Fried onions were thin strips of breading. Fast food would have been quicker and less expensive with about the same taste.
(3)Robyn H.
Decided to give Joe's another shot. Last time I ate at one in NJ, I had a Crabcake sandwich which was HORRIBLE! This time I went with the Broiled Seafood combo which was tasty, but a little too over-spiced with Old Bay. I guess when I read BROILED on the menu, I was thinking something kind of clean and bland, not greasy and salty. Even my broccoli and dirty rice had Old Bay on it. Would have liked to go with one of their steampots, but the prices were a little steep, and we were too hungry to bother with cracking crab shells. We like this location right on the Riverfront.... makes for a nice atmosphere.
(4)Robert K.
I was kind of surprised, no wait on Friday before Mother's Day at 7pm! I had the Crab Caesar salad and it was good, fresh and i asked for dressing on the side and the waiter remembered! Service was average and the ambience is a fun / loud place. The servers get up and dance every 30 minutes or so some sort of dysfunctional line dance but it's funny to watch. My buddy got a burger and he liked it. For dessert I had the apple pie a la mode and it was awesome!
(3)Yoon C.
As chains go, definitely a step up from Red Lobster (although there just isn't anything better than their garlic butter biscuits). The price is very reasonable for what you get, and the casual indoor/outdoor seating/dining experience is good. Good portions with their "steampots" and "crab buckets". Don't bother with their other dishes, which are all pretty miserable. This is an unpretentious place for your shellfish fix, and that's what Joe's is aiming for and is right on target.
(3)Ronald W.
Great staff and awesome atmosphere. Affordable, too. Sure, it can be crowded at times, as the other reviewer pointed out, but it is well worth the wait. Would you rather be in a deserted restaurant, or a good quality place, with awesome wait staff?
(4)Kate P.
After reading the reviews, I had my expectations at pretty much "nothing special." And honestly? It's not really anything special. But you know what? Joe's Crab Shack knows what it is, and it does it damn well. You can't ask for more in a restaurant, especially a chain. I ordered the margarita in the mason jar for my drink(I'm pretty sure it's a scientific fact that booze is better in a jar), and I was quite pleased, as it was neither too sweet nor too bitter, with just enough salt. Salt is important on a margarita. The last place I went to that forgot it also screwed up a number of other very easy things, so there's that as well. My mom had a great cherry-limeade drink, also in a jar. It was a bit sweet for me but the flavor was definitely perfect for anyone in the mood for sweet. Also, again, it came in a jar. Sold. My memory is a bit hazy on what everyone ordered specifically (I might want to add that I had two of the mason jar margaritas. The danger of tasty beverages; it's not until you're about halfway through the second one...), but three of us ordered the steamer pots, including a KJ wine sauce one (mine), and a Sam Adam's one with lobster (my husband's). My brother ordered a burger and a bucket of shrimp, so he was all over the place. He said the burger was "like a BK stacker, but actually delicious." I was in heaven with mine: the wine sauce had a bit of a spicy kick to it, along with some garlic. The crabs and the mussels absorbed it perfectly; the scallops seemed to be kind of bland, but very spicy otherwise. I personally don't like stand-alone heat unless it comes with flavor; others may disagree. Shame for me, since the scallops were actually cooked very nicely and not at all rubbery. I am normally a fan of drenching my crabmeat/picked seafood in butter, for the record: but the mussels were so flavorful that I didn't bother, and the crabmeat I mostly did out of habit, as it was also pretty tasty on its own. It's cheesy. There is a lot of crap all over the walls. And it's certainly not perfect. But I'd definitely give it a shot again. Even if next time is only so-so. It's such a fun environment, with friendly service, and tasty seafood. Plus, the portions are definitely a good bang for your buck. Not bad.
(4)John S.
We went to Joe's twice. Both times the service was BAD! We were seated and waited for ever for the server to come to our table .The place was empty to boot. I think they must have flown to Alaska to catch our fish. We will not recommend this place ever! If you go, plan on a long night and eat before you get there.
(1)Myra C.
I must admit I walked in there having high expectations because so many people was bragging about this place. First of all, when we went there was no air condition (but they did tell us at the door). We decided to stay anyway because we drove a little ways and wanted to experience JCS. The food was ok..... Drinks were good and the staff was just ok. Nothing really to brag about. We had a nice time but nothing really draws me back.
(2)Jordan F.
I had such hope for this place. But sadly I was disappointed. I called before I arrived to make sure I avoided a huge crowd and when arrived there was a 15 to 30 minute wait which I expected. Once seated in the aloud establishment I ordered the orelans steam pot which one would expect to have crawfish I thought it could of been better prepared I had pieces of crawfish everywhere it was a mess to say the least. But a least the beer was good. I probably won't come back.
(2)Craig W.
Baby and I were planning to go to Iron Hill but it was a 45 minute to an hour wait (it was a Saturday night after all) so we checked next door with Joe's and they only had a 20 minute wait. It would take us 20 minutes to go somewhere else so we figured we'd give it a shot. When we were seated after about 20 minutes, we were, to say the least, a little puzzled that we had to wait when over 1/3 of the dining room tables were empty. And it wasn't as if there had been some mass exodus of diners right before we ate. Granted the outdoor deck was open but it was still more than a little weird. Having looked forward to Iron Hill, I was so bummed out by Joe's strictly corporate beer selection that I skipped the alcohol entirely. They had a $5 special on all appetizers (one upside of the financial meltdown) and we tried the Crab Nachos. They came out quickly and were OK but nothing special and we had to stick close to the platter since the only serving plates we had were the roll of paper towels on the table (and they were stuck in the same pail that the hostess just dumped the dirty towel she wiped down the table with - yeccch). I ordered the Crawfish Half & Half which was crawfish etouffe and fried crawfish. Baby got a shrimp sampler of which included stuffed shrimp and cocount shrimp. Our meal came out very quickly so I don't think it was cooked to order. My etouffe was OK but it could have used a bit more flavor. The fried crawfish was small lumps that I couldn't readily distinguish from popcorn shrimp. The crab stuffing in Baby's shrimp was too bready and the shrimp a bit too small and overcooked but the coconut shrimp weren't half bad. Nothing was awful or inedible just the typical appeal to the lowest common denominator cuisine that is the specialty of the apostrophe chain restaurants. Oh, and at a couple points in our brief visit, the staff went into forced entertainment mode - putting on an extended but thoroughly unenthusiastic line-dance and then doing a desultory Happy Birthday sing-a-long. If we hadn't realized it already, we knew then and there that this was not our kind of place.
(2)Vanaro C.
Omg awesome food and beer! Love it!
(4)David R.
We made reservations for 10 people and arrived half an hour early and still had to wait 40 minutes (10 minutes past our reserved time). Also, our bill was inaccurate. I was a little disappointed that they didn't serve Md blue crabs, but overall, I was happy with the food quality. We went on a Saturday evening and it was crowded. I would recommend JCS but be prepared to wait awhile if you come @ dinner time on Saturday.
(3)Nicole S.
I went on a Saturday afternoon, the food seemed fresh and the staff was great. I've been in the past and this was an improvement. Need more parking.
(3)Hideki K.
Sure, Joe's Crab Shack is commercialized, but the portions are enormous and the crab cakes are decent.
(3)Giggling T.
So yummy and WHAT A BLAST! I went to dinner with a group of fellow educators (from a conference) and we spent the evening laughing and eating! Our waiter was adorable and the atmosphere is just fun, fun, fun! The food was good, but really this place has 100% atmosphere on their side. For a good time, go to Joe's!
(5)Huong L.
The restaurant is big , never boardwalk and riverfront . The view is very nice They have parking lot frond of the restaurant . Workers in here not really nice We went here on Wednesday, they have happy hours but when we order for drink ...guess what they told us ? They said they out of drink today ...what the heck ...they said they are so busy today but restaurant was not that busy ... Foods is ok , not real good . Kinda expensive....services was rude Well I gave them 3 stars for the good view .i don't think I will come back here
(3)Paul H.
Love lust or run. RUN FOOD was horrible. Service was poor. I ordered the seafood sampler as a appetizer. The crab dip was good. The chips were soggy, the clarmari was like rubber. We ordered the eastern seafood dinner. Crab came 80 bread filler. Shrimps tough French fies and onion rings dripping in grease. This is the second Joe's Crab shack we have tried and now I know you need to RUN away from them. $60 FOR A CRAPPY LUNCH
(1)Roy K.
Decor. It is what you would expect for a mediocre crab chain. Food. Steamed shrimp as part of appetizer was tiny for the price. I would not recommend. Other food in my opinion is expensive for what you get. We were staying nearby and it was raining so we came here out of convenience. Otherwise, we would not have come. Service. This is where the place really hurts. Took a while before a server ever came for our drink order. Server forgot to bring drinks before meals came out. Server was nice, but he definitely needed another 2 weeks of solid training. It was like watching a kid walk for the first time. Overall. I will not come back.
(2)Rachel W.
We went to celebrate a birthday. Waiter was nice. Friendly. Service was ok. We had to ask 3 times for sweetener for iced tea. 2x for ketchup for the fries. One of the dishes at the table was WAY over cooked. The food was ok. I think it was over priced for what they deliver. Not in a hurry to go back. But we had a great time celebrating regardless. On the plus side the signature Bloody Mary was amazing! And they sang and made a fuss for the birthday boy.
(3)Kevin C.
The ambiance outside by the river is calming. The staff is fast and courteous and all the food comes from a scratch kitchen. Joe's is definitely my choice if you gotta go corporate. Every thursday is half off every cocktail and they all are amazing.
(5)John H.
Food and beverages are really overpriced and food was not very good overall. We ordered house wine and a beer and a seafood platter to share. The platter had scallops, shrimp, and a piece of fish on a bed of cold French fries. The seafood was pretty good but there were way too many fries and they were cold and there was not much seafood for $17.95. We also ordered hush puppies and they were also cold and the second order brought were not much better. The house wine we ordered was $8, which they were going to charge $11 until brought to the server's attention. Better choice would be the two restaurants next door.
(2)Rob M.
They sat us down and no one ever showed up to even take a drink order. This was a Sunday afternoon with the place about 3/4 full, with no wait for seating.
(1)Cherie D.
My family and I love this place. They have very reasonable prices, pleasantpleasantand great food. We have never had any problems here. The only thing I don't recommend is eating on the deck-there are too many flys, which isn't Joes Crab shacks fault. However, it makes your meal very frustrating when you have to swat away flys the whole time.
(5)Danielle B.
Came here with friend, we were the only people at happy hour and the service at the bar was incredibly slow. . We headed to the table for dinner, and got a few steam pots. My crabs were over cooked and were hard to get out of the shell . The king crabs that my friend had looked better cooked. The dessert apple crumble was way too sweet with the caramel drizzle on top. It was nice to sit outside, however next time id try a different place.
(3)Stephanie E.
My husband really enjoyed the food. He had a steam pot. I had a sampler. It was ok. The issue was my sampler was cold. Mistakes will happen. I alerted the waitress. She was very apologetic and put in an order for a replacement. The issue was 20 minutes later, I still didn't have a replacement. Again the waitress was apologetic. I decided to cancel the replacement. After my husband completed his meal, the check came. We were charged for the sampler. When asked to remove it, I was told that she had to ask her manager. I would have thought she would have done that before presenting the check. I requested to talk to the manager too. He never came but he did remove the charge. Again, my husband enjoyed. I left feeling the effects of bad service.
(3)Rita R.
excellent casual dining experience. great spot for some serious shark bites. you can only order two :( drink responsibly! :) we've been here twice already, and i can't wait for our next jcs visit. the boatdwalk, mini-golf and the imax theater, you can do a little of everything and not have to move your car lol. great spot, friendly service and the drinks oh, did i mention drinks? :)
(5)Reade S.
Awful service People were loud and screaming inside Food was a little overrated although the prices were fair.
(3)Mojdeh S.
How I heard of this place: Driving back after our day trip to West Chester, Pennsylvania, we planned to meet up with a friend who suggested stopping off in Wilmington. We first found the Iron Hill Brewery and intended to meet up there, but the 35-minute wait led us to the establishment next door, Joe's Crab Shack. Type of cuisine: "Joe's is the kind of place that welcomes you in warmly and feeds you delicious seafood...It's here that good food, good times and good memories are created every day...So strap on a bib, order your favorite bucket of crab and don't be afraid to dance." A place where buckets of crab meet fried shrimp, where steamed muscles meet cheesey new potatoes, and stuffed snapper meets blackened salmon. All things seafood, with a ribeye, a burger and chicken tenders for those averse to eating things that come from out of the ocean. Ambiance: "We stand for kicking back. Having a sense of humor. Getting your hands dirty. Good food and good friends. For being real and a little weird. That's what we call service." A wooden, white shack, with red trim, Christmas lights and a beach-font sign in yellow and blue: Welcome to Joe's Crab Shack. Climbing stairs onto the white, picketed wooden porch, empty benches seated atop the wooden floorboards greet us, as does the bright red door with metallic pipe handles. Red and white beach awnings keep the weather off of the red-framed windows and tree trunks help to hold up the porch roof. Indoors, horizontally placed wooden planks make up the walls, where ecclectic trinkets are hung on display. Everything from waterskis to a flipper, plastic crabs, lobster and a seahorse, rowing oars and framed postcards keep eyes darting from one vibrant objet d'artes to another. Old, red theater seats, set in a pair offer seating for those busy days where the foyer is full of hungry patrons awaiting their bucket o' crab legs. Overhead, the ceiling light is decorated with a circle of plastic lobster over green ferns, resembling a bed of lettuce atop which can be found your dinner aplenty. Inside, the souvenir shop to our left attracts our attention, firstly, through the puffer-fish toys keps overhead in a cargo net, and next through the bold coloring of t-shirts available for purchase. Inside the huge room, the concrete floors give the impression that the establishment gets hosed down after each night's dinner rush. The tall ceiling of the house/shack has an abundance of decor: oversized flip-flops, plastic seagulls, a child's ridable plastic car, a huge shark, a life-sized walrus, a dirt bike, sea creatures (tortoise, schools of crab, and then some), not to mention a wooden boat seating two skeleton. Framed photographs hang askew on the walls, where almost no room remains for more. Large-tile tables in seafoam green remind my husband of the ship floors from his time in the U.S. Navy (giving the sense that he's "eating off the floor"). Thick four-by-fours make up the table legs, surrounded by retro orange and red faux-leather chairs with mirrored-legs. Picnic tables with attached benches making up the seating for larger parties; these can also found through the bright blue doors leading out onto "Joe's Big (heated) Deck". Floor to ceiling windows lead the way out onto the deck, giving all patrons a view of the outdoors. In the middle of each table can be found a hole, filled by an aluminum bucket of paper towels and two bottles (one filled with salt and the other with pepper), doubling up as a garbage can for crab leg waste. Just when we thought the evening could not get any more cluttered, the waitstaff, joined by the children patrons in the restaurant, walked out into the middle of the floor and danced the electric slide. What I ordered: Chipotle Bacon Cheeseburger ($9.99), Chipotle BBQ sauce, mixed cheese and crispy applewood smoked bacon with fries and a side of Cheesy New Potatoes ($2.89); a Bowl of Clam Chowder ($5.59), a bottle of IBC Root Beer ($2.59) and the 12-ounce USDA juicy Ribeye ($19.99) with a side of cheesy new potatoes and seaseasonal vegetables (broccoli); Classic Cobb ($10.39), mixed greens topped with crisp applewood smoked bacon, avocado, diced eggs, crispy onion strings and bleu cheese crumbles with chicken; Salmon Orleans ($16.29), a moist filet topped with a creamy Cajun sauce loaded with crawfish, shrimp and andouille sausage, served with a generous helping of dirty rice. For dessert, Sea Turtle Sundae ($7.59), a huge helping of gooey chocolate cake a la mode (Dreyer's vanilla bean ice cream) topped with caramel and candied walnuts. What I loved: Dessert. The appetizers: salad and clam chowder were the best savory part of the meal. The salmon tender and moist, ribeye fatty and juicy, new potatoes creamy and tasty. Why I loved it: Relatively inexpensive food, large portions and casual environment make for an easy, last minute meet-up meal with friends. Cost: Average ($10-$20 per dinner entree)
(3)JR R.
$2 Tuesday is more like... Let the customer order everything they think is $2 then hit them with a bill for twice as much. Bar service was horrendous! The bar tender was quick to take my order but lacked the skills to educate me on the happy hour and daily special. I came for the $2 Tuesday deal but walked away with the... $3-$5 Tuesday sucker special! After finally getting One of the 2x5 cards with the specials it read "$2 Tuesday - $2 Drafts, $2 hurricanes and $2 select apps" the reality is, it was select drafts too. As I was reading the card a different bartender came up and swiped it from directly in front of me to give to a different patron. After requesting the card back I was directed to the picture book with hope that I could identify what each picture represented and order that way. This service although fast was useless and unkind. I guarantee this is the last time I will be here for anything regardless of the food!
(1)Nick J.
My wife and I had dinner there recently. The whimsical nautical décor is very "busy" - it will appeal to some people more than others. Background music was fine, including some classic rock. Waitstaff was friendly enough, though our main server's eyebrow piercing made me lose a little of my appetite. We shared an appetizer of mozzarella sticks. They were pretty good, as was the dipping sauce, I had a house salad, which was really mediocre: tired, past-its-prime iceberg lettuce with some cherry tomatoes, boring croutons, and bits of shredded cheese. It felt like a stale leftover from a '50s diner. I ordered roasted salmon and requested fries instead of the standard "smashed potatoes" on the side. But when my meal came, it had the potatoes, so I had to ask for fries again. It didn't take them long to arrive. The salmon was competently cooked but not very flavorful. The fries were small and average; I got a pretty large portion, but I don't know if that's because they were making up for forgetting them. The grilled ear of corn that also accompanies the salmon was at room temperature when it arrived, and it was bland and mushy - I got no pleasure at all from eating it. My wife had a salad with crab. She didn't finish it; she wished it had included more crab, and she was surprised (not pleasantly) at what a spicy "bite" the sauce had. Which reminds me: I'd eaten here years ago and had enjoyed the "hush puppies" side dish, but the only hush puppies available there now contain jalapeno, which I dislike. Incidentally, the restroom facilities were adequate, though an entirely different type of music was heard in there - bad top-40 songs, which really didn't match the restaurant's atmosphere. Not the worst dining experience I've had, but certainly blah. I can't think of a reason to return and spend more money there.
(2)Geoff R.
This was our first time to to a joes crab shack. The decorations are fun. The setting is casual. The food is great. Save room for the smores
(4)Laron S.
My fiancé and I went there to this wilmington joes crab shack, her crabs were all dried out with no flavor and I got the lobster fry which tasted bad. I told the server that the lobster tasted bad so he deducted it off the bill and offered us free desert. We left and the minute we got home, I was throwing my guts up! That lasted over an hour! I have been to plenty other joes crab shacks and this never happened! If you know what's good for you, stick to any other joes! Personally, none of them will ever get our buisness again! Plus I am writing corporate, there is no way that seafood was fresh, it was frozen! This place need to be closed down.
(1)Ethan J.
Horrible quality. The "seafood" was frozen at one point and for what they charge for their steam pots, that is not acceptable. The crabs were over cooked. We left hungry. Over priced menu items and tacky decor. There are too many other quality seafood places in town that are more worthy of $100. Don't waste your time on this chain.
(1)Jon Z.
Used to come here for often but the recipe and food has really gone downhill. The service is always friendly and I commend the servers for working so hard and keeping a smile on their faces despite how busy and hectic things are. The food however is way too salty and covered in oil. The steamer pots are like drinking a bucket of butter and salt combined together with a hint of seafood. The shrimp are tiny, with the skin glued to the meat (a sign of how unfresh and frozen they are). This is a typical chain/tourist restaurant that despite being "on the water" has no fresh seafood.
(2)Jason W.
I have been to a couple locations, this one has a great atmosphere with very good service. The food was fresh and prepared as ordered. Pricing is fair for the quality, I look forward to go back soon.
(4)Samantha S.
Greats crabs for good prices. Also, all alcoholic drinks in mason jars you get to keep the jars! Great atmosphere, fast and friendly service. Good date night or for a night out with friends. Consider making reservations so you don't have to wait on weekend nights.
(5)M S.
I avoid reviewing chain restaurants since the entire purpose of a chain restaurant is that they are moderately competent and consistent. But since I haven't seen many of these restaurants previously I'll forgo my usual rule. The food here blows. Everything pretty much tastes and smells the same due to that salty brine that they seem to drown everything with. It's served in this lukewarm bath of brine but alas they find serving food in a tin bucket charming. Sure...I suppose if your name is Cleetus and your girlfriend Mary Lynn are looking for a night of fine dining... This might be your spot.
(1)Dave E.
Went there last night for a friends birthday. Service was extremely slow. The server was friendly but did a very poor job. The food was not very good and overpriced as well. My friend got the sam adams pot, As others have said the lobster and crab from the pot was wayyy over cooked and had apparently been sitting in water too long. For those who never had seafood like this it is not good! She also asked if she could have the sausage replaced by potatoes. The server said yes and when she got her pot there was one little red potato about the size of a half dollar, one. The server said he would bring out more, they never showed up to our table. He brought the waters out and we asked for straws. He forgot to bring them out until we reminded him twice. I ordered the Redfish Orleans. It came out with cream sauce over fish next to a pile of "dirty" rice. There was supposed to be crawfish, shrimp and andouille sausage on top... None of that was present! I asked the waiter about it and he said yeah it's supposed to be on there but you got the end of the sauce. I just looked at him and he didn't think anything was wrong... I said I was unhappy with that and he said yeah your right let me take it back and get the right sauce. It came back out 5 min later and all they did was dump some of the cream sauce off of my plate and put about three slices of andouille on it that were about the size of a quarter cut in half and 2 mini shrimp. At that point I just accepted the plate so I could just be done and get out of there. The fish and rice where no longer hot at that point. I ended up mixing everything into the rice to eat it. I have no plans of ever going to a Joes Ever again. There are many places out there with real good food at a better price. I do not recommend this place!
(2)Maybe L.
We took the little one and her best friend to Joe's because the girls saw the playground and it was all but set in stone. We were seated outside by the playground so the girls could play while we did the lunch thing. My lady ordered the crab cake salad which looked pretty good and she appeared to enjoy. I ordered the southern stuffed shrimp that was served with rice, broccoli, and hush puppies. The meal was pretty good for what it was and the hush puppies were on point. The girls bit had the kids Mac and cheese which was just some Kraft from the box crap typical of these types of chain joints. The playground is set and surrounded by a sea of small rocks that ended up being thrown by the boys on the playground and being thrown down the slides and stuff. This behavior is obviously not a reflection of the restaurant just poor parenting, but I think rocks were a bad choice. The real problem here was the service. Everything took a really long time. The girls ordered the rice crispy treat thing that comes with a paint brush and sauces to paint with and that took forever. So if you go to joe's make sure you have a lot of time to get decent chain food. Albeit the hush puppies are pretty good! And watch out for unruly boys to be out of control on a rock covered playground!
(3)Charles C.
I wanted to review someplace special for my 200th, but alas, life had other plans as my friends and I ended up here after one of our ajusshi adventures. So we went for dinner after spending some time at the track (delaware park). Occasionally, the ponies can be fun. But check yourself from going to harness and/or greyhound racing because only undesirables/degenerates enjoy those two forms of racing. lol Anyhow, I was worried that this seafood chain would simply be a glamorized Red Lobster. Much better than I expected, however. I was pleasantly surprised with the spicy taste of my sunset grill (old bays seasoning) seafood steampot. It was just the right amount of crab legs, andouille sausage, shrimp, potatoes, and corn on cob. Service was good and prices were fair. Rhetorically speaking, is there anything better in life than when you crack open a dungeness/snow crab leg in the middle, dip that chunky crab meat in butter, pop it in your mouth, and then chew?
(4)Lawrence D.
This place ROCKED! The steampots were ALL Goooood! The drinks were quite a bit under par.... they held waaaay back on the alcohol, but the Steampots were awesome despite my dates order missing one of the listed items. The waiters and waitresses also did some sort of line dance thing while we were eating. Pretty funny, especially when a few patrons jumped in. The places decor, mainly limited to the ceilings kept me looking up! I'd go back!
(4)Laurie A.
Our friend's daughter graduated high school and we wanted to take them to dinner to celebrate. She originally picked Firestone Pizza. After not being seated at Firestone Pizza, we came here. So glad we did! We got seated right away, the staff were so accommodating. Service was great and so was the food. Everyone had something different and enjoyed their food. She was completely satisfied with her meal which made us happy. Thank you for a wonderful evening.
(5)Victor R.
I came to this location at about 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon and my wife and I were met by a hostess in a rather haphazard fashion. As she was just arriving after walking around the location. I requested a booth indoors, to which the server looked at her serving map and then walked away. We followed and then she abruptly told us to go ahead and wait a few moments while she cleaned a table that appeared not to have been bussed in about 30-45 minutes (I could tell based on the butter on the plates having congealed into a disgusting mass). To expand on the subject. The waitress provided no direction as to what she wanted us to do, and then very rudely told us to wait while she cleaned the table. We promptly left, and went to another restaurant nearby to eat. This is by far the worst customer service I have ever received in a Joe's Crab Shack, and pretty low on the list of customer service received at any restaurant location. Which is a sad statement considering we didn't even get the chance to be seated.
(1)Stacey C.
I took my husband here for his birthday on 7/11/14. It took a while for some one to come and take our order. We ordered the bucket of shrimp I believe 12 or 18 count. The presentation was terrible. On top of that the shrimp were not clean at all. The back was not deveined as it should be and that's just dirty. It looked like they just took it out of the bag and threw some seasoning on it and that's it. You have to peel the shrimp yourself. It was gross so I sent it back and replaced it with mozzarella sticks instead. We had appetizer, 2 drinks and 2 desserts and I felt what we paid was very over priced and that quality was not even that great. I will never eat at Joe's Crab Shack again. For a place that has seafood as their main item, they do not take pride in what they serve. SMH
(1)Sherry J.
Ate here twice with the same friend and it was mediocre each time. Slow service, and the food isn't great, tastes like it was frozen. The drinks are actually really good though. I would probably come back for a happy hour and some appetizers but not for a meal. Big Fish next door has much better food.
(2)Kevin M.
We love this place. It is kid friendly and they have a great selection of Crab Legs. Make sure to get a table outside if it is a nice day.
(3)Amazing B.
Absolutely amazing. Waitress was awesome. Food and drinks were delicious. We love it there def are going back. Always a good time and a great place to be. Very family oriented and kid friendly.
(5)Yongdong W.
Worst seafood I ever had, waited 20 minutes to get me water, 10 minutes to order, and then wait really long to get my food, and they make mistake on my order, waited not too long to replace it, but crabs were really really salty, can't find the waitress to get waitress to refill me water, then we just wanna leave, can't find her to get me check. I would not ever got back there!
(1)Brian L.
This place is like a backyard barbeque. It's very relaxed and to check out all the unusual items hanging its really cool too. You may get bumped a few times by the wait staff. There is not much room for them to maneuver. That got irritating. Be sure to check out their drunk specials... get a glass to take home with you.
(3)Mattie J.
We visit here once a month. We always request to sit in Erica's section, as she is the best when it comes to customer service! The food is always good, the service fast and the piña cola do in the frozen pineapple? Delish!
(5)Catherine H.
I have been here before and it was fine but the service I got the last time was horrible. We were seated in the corner next to a table full of screaming children. I couldn't even get to my chair because they were taking up too much room. This place is loud enough. The waitress comes back with my drink and my husband is walking towards the table. I say he is right there if you want to take his order. She laughs and walks away and is gone for 10 minutes before she comes back to take his drink order and our food. She doesn't refill drinks. It takes her 15 minutes to get me a box and bring me a bill. She then takes the $50 bill for our 49 and some odd change ticket and never comes back. Congratulations your incompetence earned you a 47 cent tip.
(1)Danielle A.
It was just fine. yes it is a chain. yes it is next door to a place that offers a better menu, and yes they are cheaper than that place. considering it works for nice crowds, large parties, and people with children....and the food isn't half bad!! and the bartenders are nice.
(4)Pri P.
We shared the KJ Steampot and the Ragin' Cajun Steampot. Both were good. The KJ had mild seasoning and large juicy scallops. The Cajun steampot was nice and spicy and the crab legs were huge. JCS is pretty pricey considering we bought dungeoness crabs the night before for $8.99/lb (2 clusters in a lb) and the steampot was $25 but I guess u pay for the ambiance and the ear of corn and 2-3 potatoes. Overall it was good and I would return. Oh yeah! The staff was very entertaining! They were doing the Cupid Shuffle and ChaCha all night.
(3)Shauen P.
I wish the food was as good as the commercials. There was a terrible odor that did not seem to stem from seafood. The table were wet and dirty, the place was fairly crowded and the food was terrible. Thank the food goddess for decent service. I never plan to return to a Joe's crab shack -ever.
(1)Tamara K.
It's a place where you can bring the kids! There is a clown guy that blows up balloons and makes animals out of them for the kids...very cute. It's nice that its on the water. The food is pretty good. I would go back just for the southern spiked tea that comes in a mason jar....sooooo good. I look forward to coming back for buck a shuck...
(4)Kimberly C.
We go for the queen crab. I don't care too much for the fried foods though.
(3)Joshuah M.
It was an ok place. The crabs were cooked too much to point where the crab stuck to the shell so it was too hard to extract from the the crab leg. The restaurant had a busy enviroment. This is one of those restaurants where they make the wait staff do stupid dance rituals every so often to a stupid song. Very demeaning for the staff. The mens bathroom was barely hanging together. This place could be so much better with a little care. Don't waste your time.
(2)Mikell R.
Great steamer pots and atmosphere. Even have a playground on site for the little kids in the family. Walking distance from Kids museum and movie theater.
(5)Matthew S.
Great food, I like their outside dining! Fun atmosphere: every so often the music goes up, party lights come on and the workers start dancing! It's a colorful fun environment, great for a family or a fun night out. They have a few good choices for the ones that don't like fish - I had a burger, *thumbs up*
(3)Eric N.
Had fish and chips, popcorn shrimp. Food was a bit greasy, and not very tasty. It seems to be a chain/tourist trap.
(3)Brianne S.
Expected more, meh...
(2)Neal C.
ive eaten at this particular restaurant about 4 times. my family and i have visited 3 different joe's crab shacks, and this one is the best. my family loves the seafood, and believe it or not, the best steak i ever had is at joe's the waiters are very courteous and fast, the food is very hot(heat) oh and the foo tastes GREAT
(5)Donna C.
What more could you ask for? Crabs! Today was our first visit to try Joe's, so over the bridge we went (from Jersey) to check out what these yummy looking commercials were all about. I have to be honest. I just wasn't all that impressed. We got in right away even on a Saturday night at 5:30 PM. Our waiter waited on us almost immediately once we sat down and kept up with us even though it seemed he had at least 10 other tables besides us. I didn't catch his name, but he was a young Asian guy with knew how to move his tables. My friend and I both had the "King and Queen Crab Legs" platter, his son had the Caribbean seafood platter. Our appetizer of steamed old bay shrimp came out within 5 minutes of ordering. We were quite impressed. After about 15 minutes our crab buckets and meal came out. The crabs were delish BUT in both buckets there was at least on WHOLE crab leg that had no meat in it. Spending $29.99 for a meal, we expected crab not air. The corn on the cob was HORRIBLE!!!! While it was a nice size ear of corn, there is no way it was human consumption corn. This was horse corn....hard, difficult to get off the cob and just plain disgusting. The Caribbean seafood platter was devoured by my friend's 17 year old son who seemed pleased with his food. Then again, this was a teenage boy with a non stop appetite for anything that's food! LOL So in one word, would we go back to visit Joe's again? NO
(2)JR R.
$2 Tuesday is more like... Let the customer order everything they think is $2 then hit them with a bill for twice as much. Bar service was horrendous! The bar tender was quick to take my order but lacked the skills to educate me on the happy hour and daily special. I came for the $2 Tuesday deal but walked away with the... $3-$5 Tuesday sucker special! After finally getting One of the 2x5 cards with the specials it read "$2 Tuesday - $2 Drafts, $2 hurricanes and $2 select apps" the reality is, it was select drafts too. As I was reading the card a different bartender came up and swiped it from directly in front of me to give to a different patron. After requesting the card back I was directed to the picture book with hope that I could identify what each picture represented and order that way. This service although fast was useless and unkind. I guarantee this is the last time I will be here for anything regardless of the food!
(1)Nick J.
My wife and I had dinner there recently. The whimsical nautical décor is very "busy" - it will appeal to some people more than others. Background music was fine, including some classic rock. Waitstaff was friendly enough, though our main server's eyebrow piercing made me lose a little of my appetite. We shared an appetizer of mozzarella sticks. They were pretty good, as was the dipping sauce, I had a house salad, which was really mediocre: tired, past-its-prime iceberg lettuce with some cherry tomatoes, boring croutons, and bits of shredded cheese. It felt like a stale leftover from a '50s diner. I ordered roasted salmon and requested fries instead of the standard "smashed potatoes" on the side. But when my meal came, it had the potatoes, so I had to ask for fries again. It didn't take them long to arrive. The salmon was competently cooked but not very flavorful. The fries were small and average; I got a pretty large portion, but I don't know if that's because they were making up for forgetting them. The grilled ear of corn that also accompanies the salmon was at room temperature when it arrived, and it was bland and mushy - I got no pleasure at all from eating it. My wife had a salad with crab. She didn't finish it; she wished it had included more crab, and she was surprised (not pleasantly) at what a spicy "bite" the sauce had. Which reminds me: I'd eaten here years ago and had enjoyed the "hush puppies" side dish, but the only hush puppies available there now contain jalapeno, which I dislike. Incidentally, the restroom facilities were adequate, though an entirely different type of music was heard in there - bad top-40 songs, which really didn't match the restaurant's atmosphere. Not the worst dining experience I've had, but certainly blah. I can't think of a reason to return and spend more money there.
(2)Geoff R.
This was our first time to to a joes crab shack. The decorations are fun. The setting is casual. The food is great. Save room for the smores
(4)Victor R.
I came to this location at about 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon and my wife and I were met by a hostess in a rather haphazard fashion. As she was just arriving after walking around the location. I requested a booth indoors, to which the server looked at her serving map and then walked away. We followed and then she abruptly told us to go ahead and wait a few moments while she cleaned a table that appeared not to have been bussed in about 30-45 minutes (I could tell based on the butter on the plates having congealed into a disgusting mass). To expand on the subject. The waitress provided no direction as to what she wanted us to do, and then very rudely told us to wait while she cleaned the table. We promptly left, and went to another restaurant nearby to eat. This is by far the worst customer service I have ever received in a Joe's Crab Shack, and pretty low on the list of customer service received at any restaurant location. Which is a sad statement considering we didn't even get the chance to be seated.
(1)Stacey C.
I took my husband here for his birthday on 7/11/14. It took a while for some one to come and take our order. We ordered the bucket of shrimp I believe 12 or 18 count. The presentation was terrible. On top of that the shrimp were not clean at all. The back was not deveined as it should be and that's just dirty. It looked like they just took it out of the bag and threw some seasoning on it and that's it. You have to peel the shrimp yourself. It was gross so I sent it back and replaced it with mozzarella sticks instead. We had appetizer, 2 drinks and 2 desserts and I felt what we paid was very over priced and that quality was not even that great. I will never eat at Joe's Crab Shack again. For a place that has seafood as their main item, they do not take pride in what they serve. SMH
(1)Sherry J.
Ate here twice with the same friend and it was mediocre each time. Slow service, and the food isn't great, tastes like it was frozen. The drinks are actually really good though. I would probably come back for a happy hour and some appetizers but not for a meal. Big Fish next door has much better food.
(2)Kevin M.
We love this place. It is kid friendly and they have a great selection of Crab Legs. Make sure to get a table outside if it is a nice day.
(3)Huong L.
The restaurant is big , never boardwalk and riverfront . The view is very nice They have parking lot frond of the restaurant . Workers in here not really nice We went here on Wednesday, they have happy hours but when we order for drink ...guess what they told us ? They said they out of drink today ...what the heck ...they said they are so busy today but restaurant was not that busy ... Foods is ok , not real good . Kinda expensive....services was rude Well I gave them 3 stars for the good view .i don't think I will come back here
(3)Paul H.
Love lust or run. RUN FOOD was horrible. Service was poor. I ordered the seafood sampler as a appetizer. The crab dip was good. The chips were soggy, the clarmari was like rubber. We ordered the eastern seafood dinner. Crab came 80 bread filler. Shrimps tough French fies and onion rings dripping in grease. This is the second Joe's Crab shack we have tried and now I know you need to RUN away from them. $60 FOR A CRAPPY LUNCH
(1)Roy K.
Decor. It is what you would expect for a mediocre crab chain. Food. Steamed shrimp as part of appetizer was tiny for the price. I would not recommend. Other food in my opinion is expensive for what you get. We were staying nearby and it was raining so we came here out of convenience. Otherwise, we would not have come. Service. This is where the place really hurts. Took a while before a server ever came for our drink order. Server forgot to bring drinks before meals came out. Server was nice, but he definitely needed another 2 weeks of solid training. It was like watching a kid walk for the first time. Overall. I will not come back.
(2)Rachel W.
We went to celebrate a birthday. Waiter was nice. Friendly. Service was ok. We had to ask 3 times for sweetener for iced tea. 2x for ketchup for the fries. One of the dishes at the table was WAY over cooked. The food was ok. I think it was over priced for what they deliver. Not in a hurry to go back. But we had a great time celebrating regardless. On the plus side the signature Bloody Mary was amazing! And they sang and made a fuss for the birthday boy.
(3)Kevin C.
The ambiance outside by the river is calming. The staff is fast and courteous and all the food comes from a scratch kitchen. Joe's is definitely my choice if you gotta go corporate. Every thursday is half off every cocktail and they all are amazing.
(5)John H.
Food and beverages are really overpriced and food was not very good overall. We ordered house wine and a beer and a seafood platter to share. The platter had scallops, shrimp, and a piece of fish on a bed of cold French fries. The seafood was pretty good but there were way too many fries and they were cold and there was not much seafood for $17.95. We also ordered hush puppies and they were also cold and the second order brought were not much better. The house wine we ordered was $8, which they were going to charge $11 until brought to the server's attention. Better choice would be the two restaurants next door.
(2)Rob M.
They sat us down and no one ever showed up to even take a drink order. This was a Sunday afternoon with the place about 3/4 full, with no wait for seating.
(1)Cherie D.
My family and I love this place. They have very reasonable prices, pleasantpleasantand great food. We have never had any problems here. The only thing I don't recommend is eating on the deck-there are too many flys, which isn't Joes Crab shacks fault. However, it makes your meal very frustrating when you have to swat away flys the whole time.
(5)Danielle B.
Came here with friend, we were the only people at happy hour and the service at the bar was incredibly slow. . We headed to the table for dinner, and got a few steam pots. My crabs were over cooked and were hard to get out of the shell . The king crabs that my friend had looked better cooked. The dessert apple crumble was way too sweet with the caramel drizzle on top. It was nice to sit outside, however next time id try a different place.
(3)Stephanie E.
My husband really enjoyed the food. He had a steam pot. I had a sampler. It was ok. The issue was my sampler was cold. Mistakes will happen. I alerted the waitress. She was very apologetic and put in an order for a replacement. The issue was 20 minutes later, I still didn't have a replacement. Again the waitress was apologetic. I decided to cancel the replacement. After my husband completed his meal, the check came. We were charged for the sampler. When asked to remove it, I was told that she had to ask her manager. I would have thought she would have done that before presenting the check. I requested to talk to the manager too. He never came but he did remove the charge. Again, my husband enjoyed. I left feeling the effects of bad service.
(3)Rita R.
excellent casual dining experience. great spot for some serious shark bites. you can only order two :( drink responsibly! :) we've been here twice already, and i can't wait for our next jcs visit. the boatdwalk, mini-golf and the imax theater, you can do a little of everything and not have to move your car lol. great spot, friendly service and the drinks oh, did i mention drinks? :)
(5)Reade S.
Awful service People were loud and screaming inside Food was a little overrated although the prices were fair.
(3)Mojdeh S.
How I heard of this place: Driving back after our day trip to West Chester, Pennsylvania, we planned to meet up with a friend who suggested stopping off in Wilmington. We first found the Iron Hill Brewery and intended to meet up there, but the 35-minute wait led us to the establishment next door, Joe's Crab Shack. Type of cuisine: "Joe's is the kind of place that welcomes you in warmly and feeds you delicious seafood...It's here that good food, good times and good memories are created every day...So strap on a bib, order your favorite bucket of crab and don't be afraid to dance." A place where buckets of crab meet fried shrimp, where steamed muscles meet cheesey new potatoes, and stuffed snapper meets blackened salmon. All things seafood, with a ribeye, a burger and chicken tenders for those averse to eating things that come from out of the ocean. Ambiance: "We stand for kicking back. Having a sense of humor. Getting your hands dirty. Good food and good friends. For being real and a little weird. That's what we call service." A wooden, white shack, with red trim, Christmas lights and a beach-font sign in yellow and blue: Welcome to Joe's Crab Shack. Climbing stairs onto the white, picketed wooden porch, empty benches seated atop the wooden floorboards greet us, as does the bright red door with metallic pipe handles. Red and white beach awnings keep the weather off of the red-framed windows and tree trunks help to hold up the porch roof. Indoors, horizontally placed wooden planks make up the walls, where ecclectic trinkets are hung on display. Everything from waterskis to a flipper, plastic crabs, lobster and a seahorse, rowing oars and framed postcards keep eyes darting from one vibrant objet d'artes to another. Old, red theater seats, set in a pair offer seating for those busy days where the foyer is full of hungry patrons awaiting their bucket o' crab legs. Overhead, the ceiling light is decorated with a circle of plastic lobster over green ferns, resembling a bed of lettuce atop which can be found your dinner aplenty. Inside, the souvenir shop to our left attracts our attention, firstly, through the puffer-fish toys keps overhead in a cargo net, and next through the bold coloring of t-shirts available for purchase. Inside the huge room, the concrete floors give the impression that the establishment gets hosed down after each night's dinner rush. The tall ceiling of the house/shack has an abundance of decor: oversized flip-flops, plastic seagulls, a child's ridable plastic car, a huge shark, a life-sized walrus, a dirt bike, sea creatures (tortoise, schools of crab, and then some), not to mention a wooden boat seating two skeleton. Framed photographs hang askew on the walls, where almost no room remains for more. Large-tile tables in seafoam green remind my husband of the ship floors from his time in the U.S. Navy (giving the sense that he's "eating off the floor"). Thick four-by-fours make up the table legs, surrounded by retro orange and red faux-leather chairs with mirrored-legs. Picnic tables with attached benches making up the seating for larger parties; these can also found through the bright blue doors leading out onto "Joe's Big (heated) Deck". Floor to ceiling windows lead the way out onto the deck, giving all patrons a view of the outdoors. In the middle of each table can be found a hole, filled by an aluminum bucket of paper towels and two bottles (one filled with salt and the other with pepper), doubling up as a garbage can for crab leg waste. Just when we thought the evening could not get any more cluttered, the waitstaff, joined by the children patrons in the restaurant, walked out into the middle of the floor and danced the electric slide. What I ordered: Chipotle Bacon Cheeseburger ($9.99), Chipotle BBQ sauce, mixed cheese and crispy applewood smoked bacon with fries and a side of Cheesy New Potatoes ($2.89); a Bowl of Clam Chowder ($5.59), a bottle of IBC Root Beer ($2.59) and the 12-ounce USDA juicy Ribeye ($19.99) with a side of cheesy new potatoes and seaseasonal vegetables (broccoli); Classic Cobb ($10.39), mixed greens topped with crisp applewood smoked bacon, avocado, diced eggs, crispy onion strings and bleu cheese crumbles with chicken; Salmon Orleans ($16.29), a moist filet topped with a creamy Cajun sauce loaded with crawfish, shrimp and andouille sausage, served with a generous helping of dirty rice. For dessert, Sea Turtle Sundae ($7.59), a huge helping of gooey chocolate cake a la mode (Dreyer's vanilla bean ice cream) topped with caramel and candied walnuts. What I loved: Dessert. The appetizers: salad and clam chowder were the best savory part of the meal. The salmon tender and moist, ribeye fatty and juicy, new potatoes creamy and tasty. Why I loved it: Relatively inexpensive food, large portions and casual environment make for an easy, last minute meet-up meal with friends. Cost: Average ($10-$20 per dinner entree)
(3)Laron S.
My fiancé and I went there to this wilmington joes crab shack, her crabs were all dried out with no flavor and I got the lobster fry which tasted bad. I told the server that the lobster tasted bad so he deducted it off the bill and offered us free desert. We left and the minute we got home, I was throwing my guts up! That lasted over an hour! I have been to plenty other joes crab shacks and this never happened! If you know what's good for you, stick to any other joes! Personally, none of them will ever get our buisness again! Plus I am writing corporate, there is no way that seafood was fresh, it was frozen! This place need to be closed down.
(1)Ethan J.
Horrible quality. The "seafood" was frozen at one point and for what they charge for their steam pots, that is not acceptable. The crabs were over cooked. We left hungry. Over priced menu items and tacky decor. There are too many other quality seafood places in town that are more worthy of $100. Don't waste your time on this chain.
(1)Jon Z.
Used to come here for often but the recipe and food has really gone downhill. The service is always friendly and I commend the servers for working so hard and keeping a smile on their faces despite how busy and hectic things are. The food however is way too salty and covered in oil. The steamer pots are like drinking a bucket of butter and salt combined together with a hint of seafood. The shrimp are tiny, with the skin glued to the meat (a sign of how unfresh and frozen they are). This is a typical chain/tourist restaurant that despite being "on the water" has no fresh seafood.
(2)Jason W.
I have been to a couple locations, this one has a great atmosphere with very good service. The food was fresh and prepared as ordered. Pricing is fair for the quality, I look forward to go back soon.
(4)Samantha S.
Greats crabs for good prices. Also, all alcoholic drinks in mason jars you get to keep the jars! Great atmosphere, fast and friendly service. Good date night or for a night out with friends. Consider making reservations so you don't have to wait on weekend nights.
(5)Dave E.
Went there last night for a friends birthday. Service was extremely slow. The server was friendly but did a very poor job. The food was not very good and overpriced as well. My friend got the sam adams pot, As others have said the lobster and crab from the pot was wayyy over cooked and had apparently been sitting in water too long. For those who never had seafood like this it is not good! She also asked if she could have the sausage replaced by potatoes. The server said yes and when she got her pot there was one little red potato about the size of a half dollar, one. The server said he would bring out more, they never showed up to our table. He brought the waters out and we asked for straws. He forgot to bring them out until we reminded him twice. I ordered the Redfish Orleans. It came out with cream sauce over fish next to a pile of "dirty" rice. There was supposed to be crawfish, shrimp and andouille sausage on top... None of that was present! I asked the waiter about it and he said yeah it's supposed to be on there but you got the end of the sauce. I just looked at him and he didn't think anything was wrong... I said I was unhappy with that and he said yeah your right let me take it back and get the right sauce. It came back out 5 min later and all they did was dump some of the cream sauce off of my plate and put about three slices of andouille on it that were about the size of a quarter cut in half and 2 mini shrimp. At that point I just accepted the plate so I could just be done and get out of there. The fish and rice where no longer hot at that point. I ended up mixing everything into the rice to eat it. I have no plans of ever going to a Joes Ever again. There are many places out there with real good food at a better price. I do not recommend this place!
(2)Maybe L.
We took the little one and her best friend to Joe's because the girls saw the playground and it was all but set in stone. We were seated outside by the playground so the girls could play while we did the lunch thing. My lady ordered the crab cake salad which looked pretty good and she appeared to enjoy. I ordered the southern stuffed shrimp that was served with rice, broccoli, and hush puppies. The meal was pretty good for what it was and the hush puppies were on point. The girls bit had the kids Mac and cheese which was just some Kraft from the box crap typical of these types of chain joints. The playground is set and surrounded by a sea of small rocks that ended up being thrown by the boys on the playground and being thrown down the slides and stuff. This behavior is obviously not a reflection of the restaurant just poor parenting, but I think rocks were a bad choice. The real problem here was the service. Everything took a really long time. The girls ordered the rice crispy treat thing that comes with a paint brush and sauces to paint with and that took forever. So if you go to joe's make sure you have a lot of time to get decent chain food. Albeit the hush puppies are pretty good! And watch out for unruly boys to be out of control on a rock covered playground!
(3)M S.
I avoid reviewing chain restaurants since the entire purpose of a chain restaurant is that they are moderately competent and consistent. But since I haven't seen many of these restaurants previously I'll forgo my usual rule. The food here blows. Everything pretty much tastes and smells the same due to that salty brine that they seem to drown everything with. It's served in this lukewarm bath of brine but alas they find serving food in a tin bucket charming. Sure...I suppose if your name is Cleetus and your girlfriend Mary Lynn are looking for a night of fine dining... This might be your spot.
(1)Charles C.
I wanted to review someplace special for my 200th, but alas, life had other plans as my friends and I ended up here after one of our ajusshi adventures. So we went for dinner after spending some time at the track (delaware park). Occasionally, the ponies can be fun. But check yourself from going to harness and/or greyhound racing because only undesirables/degenerates enjoy those two forms of racing. lol Anyhow, I was worried that this seafood chain would simply be a glamorized Red Lobster. Much better than I expected, however. I was pleasantly surprised with the spicy taste of my sunset grill (old bays seasoning) seafood steampot. It was just the right amount of crab legs, andouille sausage, shrimp, potatoes, and corn on cob. Service was good and prices were fair. Rhetorically speaking, is there anything better in life than when you crack open a dungeness/snow crab leg in the middle, dip that chunky crab meat in butter, pop it in your mouth, and then chew?
(4)Amazing B.
Absolutely amazing. Waitress was awesome. Food and drinks were delicious. We love it there def are going back. Always a good time and a great place to be. Very family oriented and kid friendly.
(5)Yongdong W.
Worst seafood I ever had, waited 20 minutes to get me water, 10 minutes to order, and then wait really long to get my food, and they make mistake on my order, waited not too long to replace it, but crabs were really really salty, can't find the waitress to get waitress to refill me water, then we just wanna leave, can't find her to get me check. I would not ever got back there!
(1)Lawrence D.
This place ROCKED! The steampots were ALL Goooood! The drinks were quite a bit under par.... they held waaaay back on the alcohol, but the Steampots were awesome despite my dates order missing one of the listed items. The waiters and waitresses also did some sort of line dance thing while we were eating. Pretty funny, especially when a few patrons jumped in. The places decor, mainly limited to the ceilings kept me looking up! I'd go back!
(4)Laurie A.
Our friend's daughter graduated high school and we wanted to take them to dinner to celebrate. She originally picked Firestone Pizza. After not being seated at Firestone Pizza, we came here. So glad we did! We got seated right away, the staff were so accommodating. Service was great and so was the food. Everyone had something different and enjoyed their food. She was completely satisfied with her meal which made us happy. Thank you for a wonderful evening.
(5)Brian L.
This place is like a backyard barbeque. It's very relaxed and to check out all the unusual items hanging its really cool too. You may get bumped a few times by the wait staff. There is not much room for them to maneuver. That got irritating. Be sure to check out their drunk specials... get a glass to take home with you.
(3)Mattie J.
We visit here once a month. We always request to sit in Erica's section, as she is the best when it comes to customer service! The food is always good, the service fast and the piña cola do in the frozen pineapple? Delish!
(5)Catherine H.
I have been here before and it was fine but the service I got the last time was horrible. We were seated in the corner next to a table full of screaming children. I couldn't even get to my chair because they were taking up too much room. This place is loud enough. The waitress comes back with my drink and my husband is walking towards the table. I say he is right there if you want to take his order. She laughs and walks away and is gone for 10 minutes before she comes back to take his drink order and our food. She doesn't refill drinks. It takes her 15 minutes to get me a box and bring me a bill. She then takes the $50 bill for our 49 and some odd change ticket and never comes back. Congratulations your incompetence earned you a 47 cent tip.
(1)Danielle A.
It was just fine. yes it is a chain. yes it is next door to a place that offers a better menu, and yes they are cheaper than that place. considering it works for nice crowds, large parties, and people with children....and the food isn't half bad!! and the bartenders are nice.
(4)Pri P.
We shared the KJ Steampot and the Ragin' Cajun Steampot. Both were good. The KJ had mild seasoning and large juicy scallops. The Cajun steampot was nice and spicy and the crab legs were huge. JCS is pretty pricey considering we bought dungeoness crabs the night before for $8.99/lb (2 clusters in a lb) and the steampot was $25 but I guess u pay for the ambiance and the ear of corn and 2-3 potatoes. Overall it was good and I would return. Oh yeah! The staff was very entertaining! They were doing the Cupid Shuffle and ChaCha all night.
(3)Shauen P.
I wish the food was as good as the commercials. There was a terrible odor that did not seem to stem from seafood. The table were wet and dirty, the place was fairly crowded and the food was terrible. Thank the food goddess for decent service. I never plan to return to a Joe's crab shack -ever.
(1)Tamara K.
It's a place where you can bring the kids! There is a clown guy that blows up balloons and makes animals out of them for the kids...very cute. It's nice that its on the water. The food is pretty good. I would go back just for the southern spiked tea that comes in a mason jar....sooooo good. I look forward to coming back for buck a shuck...
(4)Kimberly C.
We go for the queen crab. I don't care too much for the fried foods though.
(3)Joshuah M.
It was an ok place. The crabs were cooked too much to point where the crab stuck to the shell so it was too hard to extract from the the crab leg. The restaurant had a busy enviroment. This is one of those restaurants where they make the wait staff do stupid dance rituals every so often to a stupid song. Very demeaning for the staff. The mens bathroom was barely hanging together. This place could be so much better with a little care. Don't waste your time.
(2)Mikell R.
Great steamer pots and atmosphere. Even have a playground on site for the little kids in the family. Walking distance from Kids museum and movie theater.
(5)Matthew S.
Great food, I like their outside dining! Fun atmosphere: every so often the music goes up, party lights come on and the workers start dancing! It's a colorful fun environment, great for a family or a fun night out. They have a few good choices for the ones that don't like fish - I had a burger, *thumbs up*
(3)Eric N.
Had fish and chips, popcorn shrimp. Food was a bit greasy, and not very tasty. It seems to be a chain/tourist trap.
(3)Brianne S.
Expected more, meh...
(2)Jean R.
OK Food nothing to write home about. WHen we frist sat down we didnt see a waiter or watress for 15 minutes they totally forgot about us and it was dead ... it was a monday night.. We got the "crab pot" included 2 lobsters, mussels, sausage, corn and potatoes. The joke was the mussels they were the size of peas quite pathetic... the lobsters were small. It was $46.00 not worth it. We also got the appetizer platter although the portion was decent the calamari was to chewy. The kicker was my mixed drink it was so sweet I could not drink it and sent it back. With tip we paid $87.00 didnt even leave full and went for an ice cream afterwards...Not a place id run back to.
(2)Tim P.
How could I forget about this place. I ate at the one in Myrtle Beach before and it wasn't a good meal at all... So I decided to try the one in Wilmington, figuring that maybe cooking seafood wasn't one of the best things that they do down South..... Well, they might not cook seafood well in Myrtle Beach... but they don't do it any better in Wilmington either.... And to make matters even worse, the customer service sucks also.... I don't think that I've ever seen a staff treat work as if they were at home like these people did... Not accomodating, slow service, openly bitching about customer requests..... I'm not a hard person to please, and this place even made it hard for me to justify uttering a nice word about it....
(1)Christina W.
My only regret from my trip to Joe's Crab Shack, is ordering the Seafood Enchiladas. Who goes to a seafood restaurant and orders the only Mexican dish on the menu? Me. Big mistake. It wasn't awful, but why didn't I just pick one of the steam pots? To start we ordered the 'Create your own appetizer' that comes with crab dip which was yummy and then we chose popcorn shrimp and great balls of fire. The great balls of fire are pretty spicy and come with ranch to dip. For dinner I ordered the Seafood Enchiladas which come on a bed of rice and black beans. The enchiladas are loaded with jalapenos, which were a little much for me. The dish was also had too much flour. As a dessert, we couldn't decide between the Sea Turtle Sundae and the Crabby Apple Crumble, so be ordered both! The Sundae was a little too rich for my taste, but the Apple Crumble was delicious! The wait staff was super nice and the line dancing every half hour or so was very entertaining! After appetizers, dinner and dessert, my cousins and I took full advantage of the jungle gym outside and then took a stroll to see what else was around. I'm hoping to talk my family into going back for Mother's Day; I want to take my top off. ** They do take reservations, but only for parties of 8 or more.
(4)Jay N.
Hankering for lobster in Wilmington? Joe's shouldn't be your first (or even second) choice but it's still not a bad visit for general seafood fare. Incredibly busy on warm weekend evenings, Joe's offers a pleasant view of the river with patio seating, as well as a it's own playground for the kids (if you're one of THOSE, who must bring the kids to public places to let them go wilding. Please, don't do that..) The lobster was disappointing, but Joe's offers a seafood bucket at a great price which includes lobster, boiled shrimp, clams and steamers and sausage. Not bad and very reasonably priced. The meat was a bit tough, lobster definitely not fresh but it wasn't the worse experience. Seating was somewhat quick even on a busy afternoon. A MUCH better choice than the place next door.
(2)Ronald W.
Great staff and awesome atmosphere. Affordable, too. Sure, it can be crowded at times, as the other reviewer pointed out, but it is well worth the wait. Would you rather be in a deserted restaurant, or a good quality place, with awesome wait staff?
(4)Donna C.
What more could you ask for? Crabs! Today was our first visit to try Joe's, so over the bridge we went (from Jersey) to check out what these yummy looking commercials were all about. I have to be honest. I just wasn't all that impressed. We got in right away even on a Saturday night at 5:30 PM. Our waiter waited on us almost immediately once we sat down and kept up with us even though it seemed he had at least 10 other tables besides us. I didn't catch his name, but he was a young Asian guy with knew how to move his tables. My friend and I both had the "King and Queen Crab Legs" platter, his son had the Caribbean seafood platter. Our appetizer of steamed old bay shrimp came out within 5 minutes of ordering. We were quite impressed. After about 15 minutes our crab buckets and meal came out. The crabs were delish BUT in both buckets there was at least on WHOLE crab leg that had no meat in it. Spending $29.99 for a meal, we expected crab not air. The corn on the cob was HORRIBLE!!!! While it was a nice size ear of corn, there is no way it was human consumption corn. This was horse corn....hard, difficult to get off the cob and just plain disgusting. The Caribbean seafood platter was devoured by my friend's 17 year old son who seemed pleased with his food. Then again, this was a teenage boy with a non stop appetite for anything that's food! LOL So in one word, would we go back to visit Joe's again? NO
(2)Neal C.
ive eaten at this particular restaurant about 4 times. my family and i have visited 3 different joe's crab shacks, and this one is the best. my family loves the seafood, and believe it or not, the best steak i ever had is at joe's the waiters are very courteous and fast, the food is very hot(heat) oh and the foo tastes GREAT
(5)Sherry L.
We went here on Sunday night and I was surprised at how busy it was. I ordered the Southern Shrimp and my boyfriend ordered the paella. Mine was delicious, if a little too spicy for my taste. Unfortunately his barely had any seafood in it. I think the high point of his meal was the drink he ordered called a Shark Bite. We were a little surprised when a disco ball came on and some of the staff had to come out and dance (some of them did not look happy, and it really didn't seem to fit the theme). Our server was great, she seemed a little nervous but she kept up ok. I'm not sure if we will go back or not.
(2)Yoon C.
As chains go, definitely a step up from Red Lobster (although there just isn't anything better than their garlic butter biscuits). The price is very reasonable for what you get, and the casual indoor/outdoor seating/dining experience is good. Good portions with their "steampots" and "crab buckets". Don't bother with their other dishes, which are all pretty miserable. This is an unpretentious place for your shellfish fix, and that's what Joe's is aiming for and is right on target.
(3)Tami C.
SAVE YOUR MONEY let alone your time and patience. We were seated promptly and met a bubbly waitress who took our orders only to leave us hanging. Our first appetizers arrived "steamed shrimp" obviously frozen, mushy and flat flavor. Our second app didn't come at all, when our server finally did return & we inquired her answer was "yeah, it's coming, it takes a while". Hmmm. So we wait...and wait. Asking another server to find our missing waitress & app, at this point we had ordered it 40 minutes prior. The General Manager came out apologized, took the second app off the bill and said the ticket got lost. We decided to accept the appetizer, which he said would take about 8 minutes. Again we wait, no waitress, no service, no appetizer..... TWENTY Minutes later the server arrives, carrying dirty dishes that she lays down on our table and says "Still waiting?" .... Honestly I don't know know what either of us said because I was so blown away and irritated. We asked for our bill, that she promptly returned! She closed out the bill and as we got up to leave the appetizer arrives. NO THANKS!!! P.S. the General Manager never returned to follow up ~~~. For the record we Love to share Great Reviews too but this was just so globally poor I felt I needed to Warn others.
(1)Nikia S.
Ending up at Joe's was not our original destination. The restaurant we wanted was closed for the night and since we were hungry for seafood Joe's won over Iron Hill Brewery. Although we were a group of 9 the place wasn't that busy so I'm not sure why we were there for 3 hours. I think they only put that much crap on the ceiling and walls to keep you entertained while waiting for your food. The waitress, Christian I believe, was very nice and attentive despite the wait. The food was okay, nothing over the top to write home to mom about. The dancing by the staff could be more enthusiastic or don't even bother. And finally, it's September...turn down the A/C!!! We were frozen by the time we left. Some of my family actually went outside to warm up while waiting for our food. Overall I was not impressed. I highly doubt I'd suggest driving to DE just to eat here (only a 30 min drive).
(3)Miss B.
Its a chain so its pretty basic across the board. The host(ess) grouping is usually a little brash but I think thats because there are usually 30+ people standing in their area with their screaming children running around getting on everyone's damn nerves! The servers are super polite and helpful. They are knowledgeable and offer suggestions for drinks and/or specials. The crab pots are always my go to. They have $2 Tuesdays which makes my friends and I very happy as well. Beware of the Hurricanes. I had a mishap once when a manager wanted to tell me that the piece of black hair in my steampot was cornsilk. After laying it on a piece of white paper and explaining how many ears of corn I have shucked in my days (I spent my childhood in Virginia), he agreed with me and I was given a new pot which I ate ALL of. Yea, I can eat. Its not super fancy but its a good place to have good seafood especially if you have a family
(4)Missy M.
I used to have a lot of fun here in my teens. As I grew up, I grew out of it. I used to think all the gigantic crap hanging from the ceiling was neat. Now I'm paranoid a dirt bike will fall on my head as I eat my coconut shrimp. I used to enjoy laughing at the wait staff as they performed their obligatory dance through the restaurant. Now I just feel embarrassed for them....especially when there are only 3 of them out there. I used to feel I was getting good food for the money. Now I know the value of quality over quantity. I'll give you this much Joe's, you seem to try your best. The wait staff is still friendly, the lame crab jokes still make me crack a smile, and the food is still edible.
(3)Amber S.
Went to this establishment for my friends 26th birthday. It was a slow day with only maybe 7 tables in the restaurant at any given time. The service was pretty awful. We had to wait 20 mins for drink refills and constantly remind her we needed things. The food was pretty good for the most part but someone in our party did not care for their food. It took the manager an hour to visit the table and we were on desert when he finally came over and asked if we wanted the food remade. The server kept complaining about the manager and making excuses as to why things were how they were. I'm willing to try them again but not this location.
(1)Tara C.
The crab dip here is creamy but meaty, so if you're used to traditional Irish crab dip, expect something different. I've never had better avocado/spinach dip before. They think of everything here. They even have implements to help you with your claw-cracking. Friendly service, very different atmosphere. I drank the kool aid and purchased a "talk nautical to me" shirt. I'm a fan, but I wasn't willing to wear one of the shirts suggesting I got crabs from my waitress (ew). Friendly staff. We had a server named Jimmy who answered all of our questions. He refilled drinks without us having to ask but he wasn't around so often that it was disruptive. Great service at the register also. There were some smokers sitting outdoors. I could smell the cigarettes since I was sitting near the door. That was kind of horrific. Worse, the trashy lady tossed her cig right into the river. Way to be classy and kill the environment and atmosphere at once...but that's what happens at establishments allowing smoking.
(4)M B.
Loved the food, loved the company I was with, loved the drinks, loved the staff. I had never heard of JCS before and COULD NOT BELIEVE it was a chain! The hot, spicy and plentiful Steampots are to die for. to. DIE. for. Twice. These are some crabs you don't ever want to get rid of... (ummm..not that I know from experience... I'm just saying...") The restaurant decor is cute, super kitschy & fun. Great for families, laid back/down-to-earth dates, and groups. I highly recommend getting crabs from Joe. He's a good guy. Don't judge.
(4)Will D.
Joe's Crab Shack is one link in a seafood chain. Food and service at Joe's Crab Shack are both spotty (both here and at their other locations). I have been visiting for lunch on and off since this location opened, several years ago. Some dishes are pretty good, and some are below par. Also, I have found preparation to be inconsistent. This is not a fancy place (keep in mind the name), so fried dishes and the like are the standard. Service issues begin with problems seating would-be customers. Many times I have eaten at the bar, and watch customers walk in, only to be ignored for a shocking length of time. Minor requests (salad dressing on the side) are frequently not filled. Some servers are friendly (rarely enthusiastic), while others are... not so much. I have watched this place over the years, and now generally avoid it, though I still go back once in a while, just to see if it's still a train wreck in slow motion (it always has been).
(2)Kevin J.
I have had a great dining experience at Joe's at would recommend it to anyone visiting the Wilmington waterfront. There is a great value in their seafood offerings. It is a fun place to go with friends before a Wilmington Bluerocks game. Having been to Wilmington several times, Joe's appears to be the best recommendation around the waterfront area, as the other places down by the riverfront appeared to be too expensive for my liking.
(4)Jesse A.
Kind of pricey here but the food is good. I bought my parents a gift certificate to the place so it must be nice! Other than the prices being a tad high no complaints.
(4)T K.
We stopped here for lunch. There is not much of a lunch menu. Service was friendly and attentive. The fish and chips was disappointing. There was too much breading on the fish, so the taste did not come through. The fries were ok. Crabcake sandwich was good, but small. Fried onions were thin strips of breading. Fast food would have been quicker and less expensive with about the same taste.
(3)Robyn H.
Decided to give Joe's another shot. Last time I ate at one in NJ, I had a Crabcake sandwich which was HORRIBLE! This time I went with the Broiled Seafood combo which was tasty, but a little too over-spiced with Old Bay. I guess when I read BROILED on the menu, I was thinking something kind of clean and bland, not greasy and salty. Even my broccoli and dirty rice had Old Bay on it. Would have liked to go with one of their steampots, but the prices were a little steep, and we were too hungry to bother with cracking crab shells. We like this location right on the Riverfront.... makes for a nice atmosphere.
(4)Robert K.
I was kind of surprised, no wait on Friday before Mother's Day at 7pm! I had the Crab Caesar salad and it was good, fresh and i asked for dressing on the side and the waiter remembered! Service was average and the ambience is a fun / loud place. The servers get up and dance every 30 minutes or so some sort of dysfunctional line dance but it's funny to watch. My buddy got a burger and he liked it. For dessert I had the apple pie a la mode and it was awesome!
(3)Kate P.
After reading the reviews, I had my expectations at pretty much "nothing special." And honestly? It's not really anything special. But you know what? Joe's Crab Shack knows what it is, and it does it damn well. You can't ask for more in a restaurant, especially a chain. I ordered the margarita in the mason jar for my drink(I'm pretty sure it's a scientific fact that booze is better in a jar), and I was quite pleased, as it was neither too sweet nor too bitter, with just enough salt. Salt is important on a margarita. The last place I went to that forgot it also screwed up a number of other very easy things, so there's that as well. My mom had a great cherry-limeade drink, also in a jar. It was a bit sweet for me but the flavor was definitely perfect for anyone in the mood for sweet. Also, again, it came in a jar. Sold. My memory is a bit hazy on what everyone ordered specifically (I might want to add that I had two of the mason jar margaritas. The danger of tasty beverages; it's not until you're about halfway through the second one...), but three of us ordered the steamer pots, including a KJ wine sauce one (mine), and a Sam Adam's one with lobster (my husband's). My brother ordered a burger and a bucket of shrimp, so he was all over the place. He said the burger was "like a BK stacker, but actually delicious." I was in heaven with mine: the wine sauce had a bit of a spicy kick to it, along with some garlic. The crabs and the mussels absorbed it perfectly; the scallops seemed to be kind of bland, but very spicy otherwise. I personally don't like stand-alone heat unless it comes with flavor; others may disagree. Shame for me, since the scallops were actually cooked very nicely and not at all rubbery. I am normally a fan of drenching my crabmeat/picked seafood in butter, for the record: but the mussels were so flavorful that I didn't bother, and the crabmeat I mostly did out of habit, as it was also pretty tasty on its own. It's cheesy. There is a lot of crap all over the walls. And it's certainly not perfect. But I'd definitely give it a shot again. Even if next time is only so-so. It's such a fun environment, with friendly service, and tasty seafood. Plus, the portions are definitely a good bang for your buck. Not bad.
(4)John S.
We went to Joe's twice. Both times the service was BAD! We were seated and waited for ever for the server to come to our table .The place was empty to boot. I think they must have flown to Alaska to catch our fish. We will not recommend this place ever! If you go, plan on a long night and eat before you get there.
(1)Myra C.
I must admit I walked in there having high expectations because so many people was bragging about this place. First of all, when we went there was no air condition (but they did tell us at the door). We decided to stay anyway because we drove a little ways and wanted to experience JCS. The food was ok..... Drinks were good and the staff was just ok. Nothing really to brag about. We had a nice time but nothing really draws me back.
(2)Jordan F.
I had such hope for this place. But sadly I was disappointed. I called before I arrived to make sure I avoided a huge crowd and when arrived there was a 15 to 30 minute wait which I expected. Once seated in the aloud establishment I ordered the orelans steam pot which one would expect to have crawfish I thought it could of been better prepared I had pieces of crawfish everywhere it was a mess to say the least. But a least the beer was good. I probably won't come back.
(2)Craig W.
Baby and I were planning to go to Iron Hill but it was a 45 minute to an hour wait (it was a Saturday night after all) so we checked next door with Joe's and they only had a 20 minute wait. It would take us 20 minutes to go somewhere else so we figured we'd give it a shot. When we were seated after about 20 minutes, we were, to say the least, a little puzzled that we had to wait when over 1/3 of the dining room tables were empty. And it wasn't as if there had been some mass exodus of diners right before we ate. Granted the outdoor deck was open but it was still more than a little weird. Having looked forward to Iron Hill, I was so bummed out by Joe's strictly corporate beer selection that I skipped the alcohol entirely. They had a $5 special on all appetizers (one upside of the financial meltdown) and we tried the Crab Nachos. They came out quickly and were OK but nothing special and we had to stick close to the platter since the only serving plates we had were the roll of paper towels on the table (and they were stuck in the same pail that the hostess just dumped the dirty towel she wiped down the table with - yeccch). I ordered the Crawfish Half & Half which was crawfish etouffe and fried crawfish. Baby got a shrimp sampler of which included stuffed shrimp and cocount shrimp. Our meal came out very quickly so I don't think it was cooked to order. My etouffe was OK but it could have used a bit more flavor. The fried crawfish was small lumps that I couldn't readily distinguish from popcorn shrimp. The crab stuffing in Baby's shrimp was too bready and the shrimp a bit too small and overcooked but the coconut shrimp weren't half bad. Nothing was awful or inedible just the typical appeal to the lowest common denominator cuisine that is the specialty of the apostrophe chain restaurants. Oh, and at a couple points in our brief visit, the staff went into forced entertainment mode - putting on an extended but thoroughly unenthusiastic line-dance and then doing a desultory Happy Birthday sing-a-long. If we hadn't realized it already, we knew then and there that this was not our kind of place.
(2)Vanaro C.
Omg awesome food and beer! Love it!
(4)David R.
We made reservations for 10 people and arrived half an hour early and still had to wait 40 minutes (10 minutes past our reserved time). Also, our bill was inaccurate. I was a little disappointed that they didn't serve Md blue crabs, but overall, I was happy with the food quality. We went on a Saturday evening and it was crowded. I would recommend JCS but be prepared to wait awhile if you come @ dinner time on Saturday.
(3)Nicole S.
I went on a Saturday afternoon, the food seemed fresh and the staff was great. I've been in the past and this was an improvement. Need more parking.
(3)Hideki K.
Sure, Joe's Crab Shack is commercialized, but the portions are enormous and the crab cakes are decent.
(3)Giggling T.
So yummy and WHAT A BLAST! I went to dinner with a group of fellow educators (from a conference) and we spent the evening laughing and eating! Our waiter was adorable and the atmosphere is just fun, fun, fun! The food was good, but really this place has 100% atmosphere on their side. For a good time, go to Joe's!
(5)