I'm starting this review while I wait on my food. They assigned one waiter to a group of about fifty. He took everyone's drink order, then everyone's food order. So nothing got put in until we had been here for probably 45 minutes. Not only was it inefficient taking orders, he didn't even get everyone's order. When the food and drinks came out, the staff had no clue who got what. They just held it up an yelled the item for someone to claim. They didn't even know what table it went to. The good has been coming out for 45 minutes now. People still don't have their food. We now have people from our group taking their drink cups to the bar to get a refill. And to top it all off, the food is about two star quality. Steer clear! A little more insult to injury. He has no clue who ordered what, so now he is going through asking people what they ordered so he could bill us properly.
(1)
Manda J.
My husband and I just ate here today.. It was on my bucket list to eat at one so I was initially excited. so we got seated pretty fast, which was nice. Waited a while for our waiter.... And he was just an overall bad server. Waited a long time between refills, hardly ever came to ask if we needed anything, and after we did get our food(60 mins later) I had to keep reminding him that we were waiting for our hush puppies and French fries. I got mine but didn't bring my husband's until near the end. The food was good.. That is the only thing that kept me seated. Oh my gosh.. The freaking bathroom! Eww!!! Just hold it if you can!! There were 4 stalls(3 super tiny and the handicap one) the 3 small ones all hadn't been flushed and NONE of them had toliet paper! I finally just used the larger one and even that one was disgusting! The service was terrible and the overall place was gross. Even if the food was good, if the place was so unsanitary I wonder how clean the kitchen was... Will never go here again!
(1)
Jill M.
King crab was pretty good, but service was pathetic or rather non-existent. Additionally, this place did not seem very clean. While my expectations at chain restaurants are never very high, I have been to other Joe's locations that were much better than this one. Will not be going back to the Destin location.
(1)
Jason R.
waitress a little pushy....food seemed to be sitting when the place was slow....pot was not steaming hot...overall o.k. experience had a better experience at the crab shack in orlando fl......near disney world!
(2)
Chris N.
If you go to a chain seafood restaurant in Florida, you should be shot! Why would you go to Joe's,Landry's, Red Lobster when you have the biggest fishing fleet in the country in Destin?
(1)
Jeremy R.
This is an unfortunate place. We just go into town and it was lunch time and everything was slammed, except Joes Crab Shack. We've been to other Joe's Crab Shack and this is a chain on the beach strip and we know that's a bad idea, so our expectations were not unreasonably high. We just wanted to sit down after a long drive and have a beer and a bite and there was a playground outside and it was empty so...I guess. The smell hits you first when you walk in. Its a bad smell. The waitress may have been a zombie, she could not use her facial muscles for emotions and was generally lost. The bathrooms... no. Don't go in there. Again, the place was empty during a lunch rush but the bathrooms has more of a 3rd day of an outdoor concert port-o-pottie feel. The beer was cold but it took 2 hours for the food to come so the beer was less appealing while starving. The waitress avoided us when the check came. The manager came out and creeped everyone out. I don't want to come here again. This place in interesting because you are going to have some weird stories but don't eat food or be in a hurry. I won't ruin all the surprises.
(1)
Kevin N.
Excitement, happiness, and satisfaction... sadly these are not the emotions I had when ate at Joe's crab shack.
(1)
Arnold L.
Pros: 1) Outdoor seating is nice. People had pets there, which is pretty cool to allow, I think. Cons: 1) I got there around 2 in the afternoon on a Sunday. After getting seated promptly, we waited about 15 minutes before we saw any servers for an order, and at least another 20-30 minutes before we received any food. 2) Ordered the mussels and a standard steam pot. The mussels were rubbery (overcooked), and 2 were unopened (out of about 20...so 10% of the order was inedible). The steam pot was ok, but the crab leg shells were rubbery (didn't break cleanly) and the shrimp was not de-veined. For one person, the steam pot should be more than enough, but for two people, this pot was a bit light on food. The clam chowder was pretty good though. Don't bother adding the crackers into it, the chowder by itself is tasty. 3) I got one refill on my drink in the hour I spent at the table. 4) if you sit outdoors, occasionally you get a whiff of what I assume is garbage. I rarely score a place poorly, but my wife put it plainly - she not interested in trying a JCS again. I suppose the time might have been bad or the particular dishes we chose might not have been their best, but I'll try a couple other local places before I go with a big chain again.
(2)
Cliff C.
I had the Maui Maui meal. It was just OK at around 4:45 on a Sunday evening. The fish was hot, broccoli cold and the potatoes were also cThe Crabby apple Grumble was awesome! Service was fast and met all my needs, but felt uncaring. Total cost $29.00
(3)
Basha T.
I wanted to warn those going in as I was coming out. Just awful. I ordered the Surf & Turf burger and it wasn't big and juicy nor did it have the sauce on it. The onions weren't crispy, they were mushy. I ordered it medium rare and it came out well done. The waitress said the cook doesn't know how to cook burgers and she was serious. My son ordered the Mahi Blackened tacos. It came with three, two of which were partially blackened and one wasn't at all. They too were just terrible. I paid $11 for this $4 burger and $13 for the tacos that weren't worth it. I told the waitress, she didn't take it to management. Nothing was comped at all. You would think there would be a glass of wine written off or an appetizer but nope! Got the bill for $40. What a waste of money. Staff was new and inexperienced. The atmosphere was terrible. I told the waitress that the last Joe's Crab Shack I went to was in Newport Beach and it was nothing like this. She said that Newport was a bigger city and would, of course, be much better. Huh? Stay away from this place and go to Bubba Gumps right next door like I had planned to. I don't intend to ever go back to this Joe's. Just awful. My wine? A glass of Rex Goliath garbage for $7. You can get an entire bottle for that next door at the liquor store. I could tell the bottle had been open for some time. Once opened, this stuff is good for 3 days, tops. It was such a terrible experience. I doubt as a result I'll go out to eat at any establishment for some time. I could have gone to the grocery store with my $40 and made a better meal. Shame on you Joes in Destin!
(1)
Carl M.
We had to wait 2 hours for our meal. There were customers that came in after us that got their meals. The server came out once to bring the appetizer and he came a second time to tell us our food will be out. 30 minutes went by, I requested a manager to find out what was taking so long. The server had put the wrong order in twice. The manager gave us another server. The manager said the GM was going to come out to speak with us. The manager did his best to resolve the mishap pen. Food was good, service sucked!!! Will not be coming back to this location.
(2)
Kelly S.
More than disgusting. We ate there about an hour ago, and I just got finished throwing it all up. Not to mention that the service was mediocre at best. The kitchen also screwed up my husbands order, not once, but twice. Never, ever again.
(1)
Christiaan N.
Me and my family have been to only two Joe's Crab Shack and thats in NW Indiana and here in Destin, FL. We've really haven't encountered any issues with food which has so far been pretty much consistent. We always have the crab daddyfeast in special bbq spices and our son has the popcorn shrimp. Staff has been friendly and attentive.
(4)
Jason M.
not impressed. super loud. server could have been better equipped to handle the tables in their section. the burger was just ok. waited over 45 minutes for said burger. the crab bucket is super over priced. the children's burgers and fish was very sub-par. our first time here, likely will be the last.
(2)
Boo L.
The service, quality and portions of food seem to be going down at this location. My last couple of visits have not been great. I used to really look forward to coming here, but not so much anymore.
(2)
Tiffanie B.
Uh ok I read all the reviews and still decided to go... Guess they are right you can't just go by what others say! It was GREAT! The food was well cooked, tasted wonderful and the server we had was awesome!! We have three kids and he went out of his way to make them feel special and to interact with them! Ok so first, we got sat quickly. Then our server Sean came over within a mintie or so and got our drink orders. He recommended a dish for my husband that he loves and I had asked for the shrimp Alfredo with scallops (don't do that!!) and before putting in my order he came and told me it was going to be like an 8 dollar up charge for the scallops!! Only 3 scallops for 8$!! No way! But I was glad he gave me a chance to change my order which most waiters won't cause they think you know already it will be a lot to add to :(. But since he gave me that chance I asked what he would recommend and he told me of one of their specials and I went for it, fish with shrimp and stuffing with crab in it oh yeah! I asked to replace the sides it came with with potatoes he recommend too (YUM) and some onion strings. That's the ordering part. He had to go dance when the music started which was cool cause he played with our kids while he did too! When he was done he brought our food, husbands was perfect but mine had the original sides. He smiled as he came back with the other two sides I had ordered and when I asked him why they were extra sides he said the chef felt bad because he forgot to substitute and just have me the sides I wanted for free. That was a great thing for them to do even when I offered to pay even when it was just a mistake. But Sean wouldn't let us and as we ate the kids played with these little seahorses that came in their apple juices (little stirers) and my daughter wanted two. Sean checked on us regularly and as my daughter blurted out she wanted another seahorse he smiled and told her to hang on. He brought us the other two colors left (giving her now five stirers) and gave our oldest son the shark thing that comes with the "Bite" drink (no alcohol of course lol) but it made our son smile to have a shark and sissy to have seahorses. All in all it was an awesome place and I will defiantly go there from now on when I want to visit Destin. Don't forget if you go in to ask for Sean!! He was the coolest waiter I have seen in a long time :)
(5)
Viet N.
It was good, a bit pricey. But it's good I guess. Watch the dishes, some are really high in calories :X
(3)
Dianne H.
I love Joe's Crab Shack, but I think this location was just missing the exciting atmosphere. The food was still great. I feel like it's a little pricey for the amount of food you get.
(3)
Ann G.
They had a seriously bad night when we were there. The bartender didn't put the rum in our hurricanes and later sent the booze out as shots. (Really??) and they ran out of some food, burned all the crab cakes and had to make new ones and it just went on and on. The reason they are getting a second star is that their managers were AWESOME. They were the ones who told us they burned the crab cakes and accepted full responsibility for what happened. They were funny and kind and that made all the difference.
(2)
Melvin P.
So, for whatever reason, my mother got it into her head that Joe's Crab Shack is a nice establishment. Since we don't have a Joe's where we live, we couldn't disabuse her of this notion until we came to Destin for a conference. We walk through the door for lunch and immediately encounter the most odd hostest in history. Think "extra in the Adams Family" weird. She takes us to table one and, even tho the spot was empty, it was the smallest table in the place and jammed next to the only three families in the place. So, we ask to move to a booth. Table 2 is covered in flies, dead and alive, huge flies, like the kind that eat dead bodies flies. We move to table 3, same story. We move back to the first table and a cloud of flies move off. Look, flies happen, but if there are a bunch of dead flies, the place has a fundamental problem with cleaning. We bounce before eating in disgust.
(1)
Anthony D.
This place is like all the other Joe Crab Shacks i've been to, except for the fact that in a Seafood driven town, a chain restaurant is so popular. Its hard to get seating, the food is overpriced, and every tourist from out of town, us included, want to go here. If you've been to one Joes Crab Shack, you've been to them all. Good wait staff, but again, I've seen better at other Joe's. My recommendation is go visit some of the local places in Destin for your seafood fix, you'll be much happier and heavier in the wallet.
(3)
TC J.
The worst service I've encountered in my entire life. We arrived at 8:15 on a Monday night; was told the wait would be 30-35 min. I look around & there are empty tables. We go outside to wait. Then at the 45 min mark I go in and ask, still 5 more parties a head. While I waited the couple in front me asked how long & when told 30 min i wanted to let them know not true. We start looking around outside & there's an entire patio completely empty along with the front room of the place. Several tables remained uncleared. We should have left but at this point it was 9 pm. We were finally summoned to a table by text message at the 1 hr mark. 30-35 min wait was actually an hour. From there it really didn't get any better. A table of 8 next to us got up & left in the middle of their meal it was so bad. The tortilla chips were nasty, so greasy. They appeared to have been dumped from the fryer onto the plate without draining. Had to chance getting sick at my stomach cause I was so hungry. They were out of many things. Didn't have any utensils at first!!! The place is way overpriced. Our meal should have cost half for how badly this place sucked. Do Not Eat Here! Save yourself the time & hassle. There are plenty of other places to eat & I suggest you take your business anywhere else. We wish we'd have stayed in our condo & heated a frozen pizza.
(1)
Chris And Christina S.
This place has really good food. The only factor that prevented me from giving 5 Stars is the singing and dancing. Instead of refilling my wife's drink our waiter was forced to dance and sing in the middle of the restaurant. It wasn't his fault and we understood that. Singing and dancing has no place around food at a family restaurant.
(4)
Brannon B.
First off, the service was terrible. I went on a Monday night during the off season. The crab cakes were burned. Crab legs were pretty good. However, I will not return
(1)
Jackie T.
Watied about 45 min. They text you when your table is ready, however if you have Verizon, your texts are delayed and then they wait staff has to come and look for you. Not really the best set up for table notifications. Food was great, and we did get great service by "Deb". Thanks Deb. My only complaint is that once we got our buckets of seafood, she got busy, which was not her fault, and we all ran out of butter. So as we waited for someone to come back to our table to ask for more butter, our lobster and crab got cold. Other than that, nice size snow crab legs and decent whole lobster served with the buckets. Just have to ask for all your needs before your waitress takes off and gets to busy to return. Will definitely will go back.
(4)
Greg Z.
This restaurant attempts to attract the dinig family in a cheesy way. The server did a great job with service until he was called to sing YMCA with the rest of the staff. I honestly think that unless your going in there to eat a bucket of crabs your pretty much wasting your time. When I say crabs I mean non local type like Dungeness, Snow or King crab. If your In Destin and you want to eat local seafood I'd recommend Dewey Destin. I had a bucket of Dungeness Crab with old bay spice. The meal was memorable.
(4)
Brian P.
Very family friendly. Good Southern fried seafood. Good beach drinks. The dancing waitstaff is great!
(3)
Tina L.
Went to Joe's when we got into town about 2:00pm. The hostess were very nice and we got seated immediately because they were not busy. Our waitress, Erin a cute redhead, was very nice and friendly. She made up for the slow kitchen and our delayed food!! I also got some kind of basil special drink. The basil was VERY VERY old and brown and they put it in the drink as well as used it as a garnish. It looked horrible. Overall experience was good because of the wait staff!
(3)
Lo S.
2 stars....kinda harsh I know! However, Joe's has NEVER EVER DISAPPOINTED IN THE PAST! There is a Joe's in Orlando that is off the damn chain! This place was not busy and I see why. I ordered a house salad with strawberry basalmic and Shrimp alfredo. THE SALAD WAS HORRIBLE AND the waitress didn't even bring me a fork to eat the nasty thing with. My alfredo was so bland...My 5 year old niece can make it better with an easy bake oven. I guess I will just have to wait until I'm back in central Florida to "eat at Joe's"
(2)
Michelle M.
I definitely love the Crab Daddy Feast!! By far the best crab legs ever...very meaty and I'm a HUGE fan of crab legs...awesome :)
(4)
Clint W.
Because we've eaten at 2 other Joe's, we decided to eat here on evening of Wed, Sept. 26. Let's just say we felt cheated on the pot for 2. It's really not a serving for two but apparently for 1 1/4. Each half contained 2 snow crab legs, one of which had no meat, 4 shrimp, ear of corn, 2 small potatoes, dungeness crab cluster and a small sausage. They cut the portions by 1/3 when you order this way so they're lying when they say it's for 2. We left hungry and went somewhere else to get a snack after dropping $62.00 in this joint. STAY AWAY!!! NOT WORTH IT!
(1)
Kevin D.
Good food and good price. Service was good and fun atmosphere, would have been 5 stars but I agree with other reviews....need to crank up the A/C!
(4)
Alex F.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. WORST DINING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. Incompetent staff... "Fryer" got backed up so diners (including myself) waited over an hour for simple dishes like SHRIMP! Awful customer service, manager would not leave the kitchen to talk to upset customers, disgustingly dirty floors and counters - the kitchen was in worse condition. Resorted to going directly to the kitchen in order to get food after waiting 75 minutes. . This would be a negative star if possible.
(1)
Nikki D.
I love Joe's but this was the worst I have ever experienced, my husband, our 3 kids and I went here on our last night in Destin and the waiter was horrible. The service was slow and very unorganized. Then 1/2 of our children's food came out first while my husband and I continued to wait another 30 mins for our food to finally arrive they still forgot the other 1/2 of our kids meals. Our waiter never tended our table during our meal to refill our drinks but as soon as we were finished he showed up with a check. We had to ask for desserts and refills and he then acted like we bothered him by asking him to do something. We will not ever be back to this Joe's nor will we be tipping or recommending this restaurant to anyone in the future! Sincerely, Pissed off customer!
(1)
Brian S.
We've eaten at Joe's on previous trips to Destin and it was pretty good. Today's experience was awful. It is Memorial Day. The waitresses were complaining about being under staffed. They all look exhausted. It took half an hour to get a table despite the restaurant being half full. A third of the tables had dirty dishes on them, as the empty tables were not being cleaned. The bathroom had standing water on the floor. My 5 year old son commented on how dirty the bathroom was. It took over an hour to get our food from the kitchen. We had to go to the bar to get refills on our tea as the waitresses were no where in site. My wife's order was wrong and it had to be sent back. We finally asked to have her order to go, as we had been there for over 2 hours. Overall, an awful experience. I really hope they get things together. We use to really like Joe's.
(1)
Randi Anita T.
This is the worse Joes we have ever eaten at. The garlic bread was half the portion but twice the price ask for there garlic butter, they gave me melted butter with sliced garlic. .yuk. I asked for lemons 3 times and got them when my food got cold. Our balls of fire never arrived. Never saw a manager, sure he or she was hiding. Never will be back!
(1)
Mike T.
Eat here every time when visiting from tn. Usually good but this time terrible. Order ragin Cajun and forgot to include potatoes and another plate was missing sausage. Corn was the size of something on a salad. They did bring potato corn and sausage later but completely no seasoning. Manager came but she seemed annoyed and unapologetic. Never offered to take the pot back and bring another even though crab was cold brown and undercooked. Spent 100 bucks for two people. Bar area smelled so bad we couldn't order drinks there. We will never return and suggest the health dept look into that place. It is disgustingly dirty with employees who don't care. Btw. Beware trying to hold a salt and pepper shaker. So greezed down from the last patrons they couldn't be handled. Tried to give negative starts but won't let me.
(1)
Darick J.
Good food with great prices. The waitress was always there to help out. Wife did crab and I did shrimp. The atmosphere was good and we bought tee shirts!
(4)
Robin S.
Horrible, we were at the table for an hour before we received our food. And the place was only 1/4 full. Food had wrong seasoning. Had to ask 3 times for butter, lemon, refills, etc. I started having to go to the drink station myself. Joe's in Birmingham is so good, but Destin is bad.
(1)
Shannon M.
We had a very large party that these folks treated like royalty! I had the chipotle cheeseburger Hot but very delicious!
(5)
Travis H.
Well I read the reviews and was like no way Joe's crab shack can't be bad...... well this one is crap.... me and my wife got the steamer pots cause there usually awesome... well not here one they didn't have sausage but they failed to tell us.... but the waitress didn't know and when we asked her she brought out some shrimp I'm place of it since they was out.... it was nice of her and it wasn't her fault.... but the food was off... it just didn't taste like the other Joe's we've ate at before... there was less food than normal but they charge you the same price... it took along time for seating too.... tables was just sitting there with food all over them and no one cleaned them off... they was a big line of people waiting and they had room but no one cleaned off the dang tables...... I'll never come back to this place again.... the crab trap was way better and service was awesome there
(1)
Rachel A.
Food was so good. Shared a couple steam pots. The bloody Mary's are the best. It's hard to find a good bar that can get a bloody Mary right. The kids menu is awesome.
(5)
Cathy D.
Very disappointed with this Joe's Crab Shack- it was about 95 degrees today and just as hot inside the restaurant, there were a lot of flies and a foul fish odor inside. The table didn't look clean and we left without ordering. No excuse for not alerting customers to the malfunctioning air conditioning before being seated!
(1)
Jessica L.
Worst experience! Looked forward to going all weekend for our friends bachlorette party, finally made it today at 11 for lunch. , Appetizers took forever to get to the table. Drinks stayed empty. When it got time to leave they had no to go boxes and basically told us we were up the creek with taking our leftovers from a $30 meal. Finally, after we went and got sandwich bags out of our car did they bring us tinfoil. Wait staff looked like bumps on a log offering no kind of resolution. Really disappointed.
(1)
Samantha Ann W.
I grew up in Florida and with seafood. I know and love seafood. Yesterday was the first time I went to Joe's and I had no idea it would almost turn me off of seafood all together. For starters we waited an hour to sit down.. They looked empty inside so this was confusing, I assumed they were understaffed for a saturday. We patiently waited and finally sat down. Even though our waitress was a sweet heart.. Our drinks were always empty. They only had one frier running so they could only fry select items. Another hour passes by before we finally get our food and one of the orders was wrong. ALL of the seafood was over steamed, dry and flovourless. Also the whole place is sticky and dirty... Not to mention while my daughter and I were washing our hands in the bathroom, one of the employees used the restroom and walked out without washing. No way in HELL I will EVER go back to that place especially with how much it costs.
(1)
Terri W.
We waited about an hour and a half to receive our food and the place wasn't full at all. We also had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table, and at that point the restaurant was nearly empty. The prices were high, food portions on the small side, and generally just didn't taste that good. My chicken sandwich was tiny! The chicken was half the size I normally receive. And the bottom bun was soggy. My table mates pot thing had hardly any crab in it. I will not return.
Takes Reservations : No Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Dinner Parking : Private Lot Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Ambience : Casual Noise Level : Average Alcohol : Full Bar Outdoor Seating : Yes Wi-Fi : No Has TV : Yes Waiter Service : Yes Caters : No
Mark H.
I'm starting this review while I wait on my food. They assigned one waiter to a group of about fifty. He took everyone's drink order, then everyone's food order. So nothing got put in until we had been here for probably 45 minutes. Not only was it inefficient taking orders, he didn't even get everyone's order. When the food and drinks came out, the staff had no clue who got what. They just held it up an yelled the item for someone to claim. They didn't even know what table it went to. The good has been coming out for 45 minutes now. People still don't have their food. We now have people from our group taking their drink cups to the bar to get a refill. And to top it all off, the food is about two star quality. Steer clear! A little more insult to injury. He has no clue who ordered what, so now he is going through asking people what they ordered so he could bill us properly.
(1)Manda J.
My husband and I just ate here today.. It was on my bucket list to eat at one so I was initially excited. so we got seated pretty fast, which was nice. Waited a while for our waiter.... And he was just an overall bad server. Waited a long time between refills, hardly ever came to ask if we needed anything, and after we did get our food(60 mins later) I had to keep reminding him that we were waiting for our hush puppies and French fries. I got mine but didn't bring my husband's until near the end. The food was good.. That is the only thing that kept me seated. Oh my gosh.. The freaking bathroom! Eww!!! Just hold it if you can!! There were 4 stalls(3 super tiny and the handicap one) the 3 small ones all hadn't been flushed and NONE of them had toliet paper! I finally just used the larger one and even that one was disgusting! The service was terrible and the overall place was gross. Even if the food was good, if the place was so unsanitary I wonder how clean the kitchen was... Will never go here again!
(1)Jill M.
King crab was pretty good, but service was pathetic or rather non-existent. Additionally, this place did not seem very clean. While my expectations at chain restaurants are never very high, I have been to other Joe's locations that were much better than this one. Will not be going back to the Destin location.
(1)Jason R.
waitress a little pushy....food seemed to be sitting when the place was slow....pot was not steaming hot...overall o.k. experience had a better experience at the crab shack in orlando fl......near disney world!
(2)Chris N.
If you go to a chain seafood restaurant in Florida, you should be shot! Why would you go to Joe's,Landry's, Red Lobster when you have the biggest fishing fleet in the country in Destin?
(1)Jeremy R.
This is an unfortunate place. We just go into town and it was lunch time and everything was slammed, except Joes Crab Shack. We've been to other Joe's Crab Shack and this is a chain on the beach strip and we know that's a bad idea, so our expectations were not unreasonably high. We just wanted to sit down after a long drive and have a beer and a bite and there was a playground outside and it was empty so...I guess. The smell hits you first when you walk in. Its a bad smell. The waitress may have been a zombie, she could not use her facial muscles for emotions and was generally lost. The bathrooms... no. Don't go in there. Again, the place was empty during a lunch rush but the bathrooms has more of a 3rd day of an outdoor concert port-o-pottie feel. The beer was cold but it took 2 hours for the food to come so the beer was less appealing while starving. The waitress avoided us when the check came. The manager came out and creeped everyone out. I don't want to come here again. This place in interesting because you are going to have some weird stories but don't eat food or be in a hurry. I won't ruin all the surprises.
(1)Kevin N.
Excitement, happiness, and satisfaction... sadly these are not the emotions I had when ate at Joe's crab shack.
(1)Arnold L.
Pros: 1) Outdoor seating is nice. People had pets there, which is pretty cool to allow, I think. Cons: 1) I got there around 2 in the afternoon on a Sunday. After getting seated promptly, we waited about 15 minutes before we saw any servers for an order, and at least another 20-30 minutes before we received any food. 2) Ordered the mussels and a standard steam pot. The mussels were rubbery (overcooked), and 2 were unopened (out of about 20...so 10% of the order was inedible). The steam pot was ok, but the crab leg shells were rubbery (didn't break cleanly) and the shrimp was not de-veined. For one person, the steam pot should be more than enough, but for two people, this pot was a bit light on food. The clam chowder was pretty good though. Don't bother adding the crackers into it, the chowder by itself is tasty. 3) I got one refill on my drink in the hour I spent at the table. 4) if you sit outdoors, occasionally you get a whiff of what I assume is garbage. I rarely score a place poorly, but my wife put it plainly - she not interested in trying a JCS again. I suppose the time might have been bad or the particular dishes we chose might not have been their best, but I'll try a couple other local places before I go with a big chain again.
(2)Cliff C.
I had the Maui Maui meal. It was just OK at around 4:45 on a Sunday evening. The fish was hot, broccoli cold and the potatoes were also cThe Crabby apple Grumble was awesome! Service was fast and met all my needs, but felt uncaring. Total cost $29.00
(3)Basha T.
I wanted to warn those going in as I was coming out. Just awful. I ordered the Surf & Turf burger and it wasn't big and juicy nor did it have the sauce on it. The onions weren't crispy, they were mushy. I ordered it medium rare and it came out well done. The waitress said the cook doesn't know how to cook burgers and she was serious. My son ordered the Mahi Blackened tacos. It came with three, two of which were partially blackened and one wasn't at all. They too were just terrible. I paid $11 for this $4 burger and $13 for the tacos that weren't worth it. I told the waitress, she didn't take it to management. Nothing was comped at all. You would think there would be a glass of wine written off or an appetizer but nope! Got the bill for $40. What a waste of money. Staff was new and inexperienced. The atmosphere was terrible. I told the waitress that the last Joe's Crab Shack I went to was in Newport Beach and it was nothing like this. She said that Newport was a bigger city and would, of course, be much better. Huh? Stay away from this place and go to Bubba Gumps right next door like I had planned to. I don't intend to ever go back to this Joe's. Just awful. My wine? A glass of Rex Goliath garbage for $7. You can get an entire bottle for that next door at the liquor store. I could tell the bottle had been open for some time. Once opened, this stuff is good for 3 days, tops. It was such a terrible experience. I doubt as a result I'll go out to eat at any establishment for some time. I could have gone to the grocery store with my $40 and made a better meal. Shame on you Joes in Destin!
(1)Carl M.
We had to wait 2 hours for our meal. There were customers that came in after us that got their meals. The server came out once to bring the appetizer and he came a second time to tell us our food will be out. 30 minutes went by, I requested a manager to find out what was taking so long. The server had put the wrong order in twice. The manager gave us another server. The manager said the GM was going to come out to speak with us. The manager did his best to resolve the mishap pen. Food was good, service sucked!!! Will not be coming back to this location.
(2)Kelly S.
More than disgusting. We ate there about an hour ago, and I just got finished throwing it all up. Not to mention that the service was mediocre at best. The kitchen also screwed up my husbands order, not once, but twice. Never, ever again.
(1)Christiaan N.
Me and my family have been to only two Joe's Crab Shack and thats in NW Indiana and here in Destin, FL. We've really haven't encountered any issues with food which has so far been pretty much consistent. We always have the crab daddyfeast in special bbq spices and our son has the popcorn shrimp. Staff has been friendly and attentive.
(4)Jason M.
not impressed. super loud. server could have been better equipped to handle the tables in their section. the burger was just ok. waited over 45 minutes for said burger. the crab bucket is super over priced. the children's burgers and fish was very sub-par. our first time here, likely will be the last.
(2)Boo L.
The service, quality and portions of food seem to be going down at this location. My last couple of visits have not been great. I used to really look forward to coming here, but not so much anymore.
(2)Tiffanie B.
Uh ok I read all the reviews and still decided to go... Guess they are right you can't just go by what others say! It was GREAT! The food was well cooked, tasted wonderful and the server we had was awesome!! We have three kids and he went out of his way to make them feel special and to interact with them! Ok so first, we got sat quickly. Then our server Sean came over within a mintie or so and got our drink orders. He recommended a dish for my husband that he loves and I had asked for the shrimp Alfredo with scallops (don't do that!!) and before putting in my order he came and told me it was going to be like an 8 dollar up charge for the scallops!! Only 3 scallops for 8$!! No way! But I was glad he gave me a chance to change my order which most waiters won't cause they think you know already it will be a lot to add to :(. But since he gave me that chance I asked what he would recommend and he told me of one of their specials and I went for it, fish with shrimp and stuffing with crab in it oh yeah! I asked to replace the sides it came with with potatoes he recommend too (YUM) and some onion strings. That's the ordering part. He had to go dance when the music started which was cool cause he played with our kids while he did too! When he was done he brought our food, husbands was perfect but mine had the original sides. He smiled as he came back with the other two sides I had ordered and when I asked him why they were extra sides he said the chef felt bad because he forgot to substitute and just have me the sides I wanted for free. That was a great thing for them to do even when I offered to pay even when it was just a mistake. But Sean wouldn't let us and as we ate the kids played with these little seahorses that came in their apple juices (little stirers) and my daughter wanted two. Sean checked on us regularly and as my daughter blurted out she wanted another seahorse he smiled and told her to hang on. He brought us the other two colors left (giving her now five stirers) and gave our oldest son the shark thing that comes with the "Bite" drink (no alcohol of course lol) but it made our son smile to have a shark and sissy to have seahorses. All in all it was an awesome place and I will defiantly go there from now on when I want to visit Destin. Don't forget if you go in to ask for Sean!! He was the coolest waiter I have seen in a long time :)
(5)Viet N.
It was good, a bit pricey. But it's good I guess. Watch the dishes, some are really high in calories :X
(3)Dianne H.
I love Joe's Crab Shack, but I think this location was just missing the exciting atmosphere. The food was still great. I feel like it's a little pricey for the amount of food you get.
(3)Ann G.
They had a seriously bad night when we were there. The bartender didn't put the rum in our hurricanes and later sent the booze out as shots. (Really??) and they ran out of some food, burned all the crab cakes and had to make new ones and it just went on and on. The reason they are getting a second star is that their managers were AWESOME. They were the ones who told us they burned the crab cakes and accepted full responsibility for what happened. They were funny and kind and that made all the difference.
(2)Melvin P.
So, for whatever reason, my mother got it into her head that Joe's Crab Shack is a nice establishment. Since we don't have a Joe's where we live, we couldn't disabuse her of this notion until we came to Destin for a conference. We walk through the door for lunch and immediately encounter the most odd hostest in history. Think "extra in the Adams Family" weird. She takes us to table one and, even tho the spot was empty, it was the smallest table in the place and jammed next to the only three families in the place. So, we ask to move to a booth. Table 2 is covered in flies, dead and alive, huge flies, like the kind that eat dead bodies flies. We move to table 3, same story. We move back to the first table and a cloud of flies move off. Look, flies happen, but if there are a bunch of dead flies, the place has a fundamental problem with cleaning. We bounce before eating in disgust.
(1)Anthony D.
This place is like all the other Joe Crab Shacks i've been to, except for the fact that in a Seafood driven town, a chain restaurant is so popular. Its hard to get seating, the food is overpriced, and every tourist from out of town, us included, want to go here. If you've been to one Joes Crab Shack, you've been to them all. Good wait staff, but again, I've seen better at other Joe's. My recommendation is go visit some of the local places in Destin for your seafood fix, you'll be much happier and heavier in the wallet.
(3)TC J.
The worst service I've encountered in my entire life. We arrived at 8:15 on a Monday night; was told the wait would be 30-35 min. I look around & there are empty tables. We go outside to wait. Then at the 45 min mark I go in and ask, still 5 more parties a head. While I waited the couple in front me asked how long & when told 30 min i wanted to let them know not true. We start looking around outside & there's an entire patio completely empty along with the front room of the place. Several tables remained uncleared. We should have left but at this point it was 9 pm. We were finally summoned to a table by text message at the 1 hr mark. 30-35 min wait was actually an hour. From there it really didn't get any better. A table of 8 next to us got up & left in the middle of their meal it was so bad. The tortilla chips were nasty, so greasy. They appeared to have been dumped from the fryer onto the plate without draining. Had to chance getting sick at my stomach cause I was so hungry. They were out of many things. Didn't have any utensils at first!!! The place is way overpriced. Our meal should have cost half for how badly this place sucked. Do Not Eat Here! Save yourself the time & hassle. There are plenty of other places to eat & I suggest you take your business anywhere else. We wish we'd have stayed in our condo & heated a frozen pizza.
(1)Chris And Christina S.
This place has really good food. The only factor that prevented me from giving 5 Stars is the singing and dancing. Instead of refilling my wife's drink our waiter was forced to dance and sing in the middle of the restaurant. It wasn't his fault and we understood that. Singing and dancing has no place around food at a family restaurant.
(4)Brannon B.
First off, the service was terrible. I went on a Monday night during the off season. The crab cakes were burned. Crab legs were pretty good. However, I will not return
(1)Jackie T.
Watied about 45 min. They text you when your table is ready, however if you have Verizon, your texts are delayed and then they wait staff has to come and look for you. Not really the best set up for table notifications. Food was great, and we did get great service by "Deb". Thanks Deb. My only complaint is that once we got our buckets of seafood, she got busy, which was not her fault, and we all ran out of butter. So as we waited for someone to come back to our table to ask for more butter, our lobster and crab got cold. Other than that, nice size snow crab legs and decent whole lobster served with the buckets. Just have to ask for all your needs before your waitress takes off and gets to busy to return. Will definitely will go back.
(4)Greg Z.
This restaurant attempts to attract the dinig family in a cheesy way. The server did a great job with service until he was called to sing YMCA with the rest of the staff. I honestly think that unless your going in there to eat a bucket of crabs your pretty much wasting your time. When I say crabs I mean non local type like Dungeness, Snow or King crab. If your In Destin and you want to eat local seafood I'd recommend Dewey Destin. I had a bucket of Dungeness Crab with old bay spice. The meal was memorable.
(4)Brian P.
Very family friendly. Good Southern fried seafood. Good beach drinks. The dancing waitstaff is great!
(3)Tina L.
Went to Joe's when we got into town about 2:00pm. The hostess were very nice and we got seated immediately because they were not busy. Our waitress, Erin a cute redhead, was very nice and friendly. She made up for the slow kitchen and our delayed food!! I also got some kind of basil special drink. The basil was VERY VERY old and brown and they put it in the drink as well as used it as a garnish. It looked horrible. Overall experience was good because of the wait staff!
(3)Lo S.
2 stars....kinda harsh I know! However, Joe's has NEVER EVER DISAPPOINTED IN THE PAST! There is a Joe's in Orlando that is off the damn chain! This place was not busy and I see why. I ordered a house salad with strawberry basalmic and Shrimp alfredo. THE SALAD WAS HORRIBLE AND the waitress didn't even bring me a fork to eat the nasty thing with. My alfredo was so bland...My 5 year old niece can make it better with an easy bake oven. I guess I will just have to wait until I'm back in central Florida to "eat at Joe's"
(2)Michelle M.
I definitely love the Crab Daddy Feast!! By far the best crab legs ever...very meaty and I'm a HUGE fan of crab legs...awesome :)
(4)Clint W.
Because we've eaten at 2 other Joe's, we decided to eat here on evening of Wed, Sept. 26. Let's just say we felt cheated on the pot for 2. It's really not a serving for two but apparently for 1 1/4. Each half contained 2 snow crab legs, one of which had no meat, 4 shrimp, ear of corn, 2 small potatoes, dungeness crab cluster and a small sausage. They cut the portions by 1/3 when you order this way so they're lying when they say it's for 2. We left hungry and went somewhere else to get a snack after dropping $62.00 in this joint. STAY AWAY!!! NOT WORTH IT!
(1)Kevin D.
Good food and good price. Service was good and fun atmosphere, would have been 5 stars but I agree with other reviews....need to crank up the A/C!
(4)Alex F.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. WORST DINING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. Incompetent staff... "Fryer" got backed up so diners (including myself) waited over an hour for simple dishes like SHRIMP! Awful customer service, manager would not leave the kitchen to talk to upset customers, disgustingly dirty floors and counters - the kitchen was in worse condition. Resorted to going directly to the kitchen in order to get food after waiting 75 minutes. . This would be a negative star if possible.
(1)Nikki D.
I love Joe's but this was the worst I have ever experienced, my husband, our 3 kids and I went here on our last night in Destin and the waiter was horrible. The service was slow and very unorganized. Then 1/2 of our children's food came out first while my husband and I continued to wait another 30 mins for our food to finally arrive they still forgot the other 1/2 of our kids meals. Our waiter never tended our table during our meal to refill our drinks but as soon as we were finished he showed up with a check. We had to ask for desserts and refills and he then acted like we bothered him by asking him to do something. We will not ever be back to this Joe's nor will we be tipping or recommending this restaurant to anyone in the future! Sincerely, Pissed off customer!
(1)Brian S.
We've eaten at Joe's on previous trips to Destin and it was pretty good. Today's experience was awful. It is Memorial Day. The waitresses were complaining about being under staffed. They all look exhausted. It took half an hour to get a table despite the restaurant being half full. A third of the tables had dirty dishes on them, as the empty tables were not being cleaned. The bathroom had standing water on the floor. My 5 year old son commented on how dirty the bathroom was. It took over an hour to get our food from the kitchen. We had to go to the bar to get refills on our tea as the waitresses were no where in site. My wife's order was wrong and it had to be sent back. We finally asked to have her order to go, as we had been there for over 2 hours. Overall, an awful experience. I really hope they get things together. We use to really like Joe's.
(1)Randi Anita T.
This is the worse Joes we have ever eaten at. The garlic bread was half the portion but twice the price ask for there garlic butter, they gave me melted butter with sliced garlic. .yuk. I asked for lemons 3 times and got them when my food got cold. Our balls of fire never arrived. Never saw a manager, sure he or she was hiding. Never will be back!
(1)Mike T.
Eat here every time when visiting from tn. Usually good but this time terrible. Order ragin Cajun and forgot to include potatoes and another plate was missing sausage. Corn was the size of something on a salad. They did bring potato corn and sausage later but completely no seasoning. Manager came but she seemed annoyed and unapologetic. Never offered to take the pot back and bring another even though crab was cold brown and undercooked. Spent 100 bucks for two people. Bar area smelled so bad we couldn't order drinks there. We will never return and suggest the health dept look into that place. It is disgustingly dirty with employees who don't care. Btw. Beware trying to hold a salt and pepper shaker. So greezed down from the last patrons they couldn't be handled. Tried to give negative starts but won't let me.
(1)Darick J.
Good food with great prices. The waitress was always there to help out. Wife did crab and I did shrimp. The atmosphere was good and we bought tee shirts!
(4)Robin S.
Horrible, we were at the table for an hour before we received our food. And the place was only 1/4 full. Food had wrong seasoning. Had to ask 3 times for butter, lemon, refills, etc. I started having to go to the drink station myself. Joe's in Birmingham is so good, but Destin is bad.
(1)Shannon M.
We had a very large party that these folks treated like royalty! I had the chipotle cheeseburger Hot but very delicious!
(5)Travis H.
Well I read the reviews and was like no way Joe's crab shack can't be bad...... well this one is crap.... me and my wife got the steamer pots cause there usually awesome... well not here one they didn't have sausage but they failed to tell us.... but the waitress didn't know and when we asked her she brought out some shrimp I'm place of it since they was out.... it was nice of her and it wasn't her fault.... but the food was off... it just didn't taste like the other Joe's we've ate at before... there was less food than normal but they charge you the same price... it took along time for seating too.... tables was just sitting there with food all over them and no one cleaned them off... they was a big line of people waiting and they had room but no one cleaned off the dang tables...... I'll never come back to this place again.... the crab trap was way better and service was awesome there
(1)Rachel A.
Food was so good. Shared a couple steam pots. The bloody Mary's are the best. It's hard to find a good bar that can get a bloody Mary right. The kids menu is awesome.
(5)Cathy D.
Very disappointed with this Joe's Crab Shack- it was about 95 degrees today and just as hot inside the restaurant, there were a lot of flies and a foul fish odor inside. The table didn't look clean and we left without ordering. No excuse for not alerting customers to the malfunctioning air conditioning before being seated!
(1)Jessica L.
Worst experience! Looked forward to going all weekend for our friends bachlorette party, finally made it today at 11 for lunch. , Appetizers took forever to get to the table. Drinks stayed empty. When it got time to leave they had no to go boxes and basically told us we were up the creek with taking our leftovers from a $30 meal. Finally, after we went and got sandwich bags out of our car did they bring us tinfoil. Wait staff looked like bumps on a log offering no kind of resolution. Really disappointed.
(1)Samantha Ann W.
I grew up in Florida and with seafood. I know and love seafood. Yesterday was the first time I went to Joe's and I had no idea it would almost turn me off of seafood all together. For starters we waited an hour to sit down.. They looked empty inside so this was confusing, I assumed they were understaffed for a saturday. We patiently waited and finally sat down. Even though our waitress was a sweet heart.. Our drinks were always empty. They only had one frier running so they could only fry select items. Another hour passes by before we finally get our food and one of the orders was wrong. ALL of the seafood was over steamed, dry and flovourless. Also the whole place is sticky and dirty... Not to mention while my daughter and I were washing our hands in the bathroom, one of the employees used the restroom and walked out without washing. No way in HELL I will EVER go back to that place especially with how much it costs.
(1)Terri W.
We waited about an hour and a half to receive our food and the place wasn't full at all. We also had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table, and at that point the restaurant was nearly empty. The prices were high, food portions on the small side, and generally just didn't taste that good. My chicken sandwich was tiny! The chicken was half the size I normally receive. And the bottom bun was soggy. My table mates pot thing had hardly any crab in it. I will not return.
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