The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar

Service, service, service. We had a party of 8 and the hostess at the hostess stand was probably the best customer service we had at this establishment, but once we got the waitress for our table she was inattentive, rude and condescending. The menu said to order our flounder plate 25 minutes prior to ordering everything else, which we did. Well the flounder came out fast and all the other food came out late and sporadically. When I asked about it, our waitress said condescedingly “Well, you guys ordered the flounder early, that’s why everything came out so late.” She wasn’t apologetic. No drink refills until we asked. As an out of town person, this place was touted as a great place to eat, but bad service ruins good food any day, and our waitress was one of the worst we’ve had in a while. Lastly the handicap accommodations are lacking, so if your loved one is on a walker, the ramp is on the opposite side from the elevator, which made us have to climb steep steps, which could have been dangerous. The waitress also rudely asked for us to move our mobility challenged relative because of “flow of traffic” behind her. Someone should have said something about that before we sat her down. Overall, extremely poor experience and if the service was better, the review would be better as well. Also, if you are someone who wants to come to this restaurant, know that they don’t separate checks for parties 8 or more and they AUTOMATICALLY add 18% for a tip. A fact that didn’t escape our waitress as she treated us poorly as she asked us to move our own dishes and plates.

Wheelchair accessibility: Extremely poorly thought out handicap options…

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Blue Crab Dip

I tried a vegan pizza called The Frank. It was good, but just ok. My friend had the shrimp pasta which was EXCELLENT!!!! It was super creamy, with fresh jumbo shrimp (no fishy seafood smell). I definitely recommend it!

Vegetarian options: The Frank pizza was labeled vegan.

Parking: Lot is small but there is free parking across the street as part of the Lakefront, not specifically for the restaurant.

Kid-friendliness: Yes

Wheelchair accessibility: Not sure if there is an elevator to dine-in upstairs. On the first floor, live music is played on occasion.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Order the onion rings!
Isa our server was a delight.

Thank you. Great view. Reasonably priced. My dad loved the oysters.
Maybe add hush puppies without jalapeños? But they were good.
Hidden gem of a place. There is an elevator which we appreciate greatly.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Shrimp is not cleaned out before frying or boiling.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 5

The food was perfectly cooked, BUT none of our plates ( eight different dishes) were seasoned. Adding salt after the food is fried doesn't taste the same. The best of our dishes were the crab claws in a sauce. It also lacked seasoning but we were able to add salt, black pepper and hot sauce. That made it perfect. We have all been to the Blue Crab in the past but the chef was really off this time.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 5

Really good fresh seafood and lovely outside deck brother water. Worth the trip out of the city to see the lakefront and have a good bite!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Fried Oyster Platter

Location is beautiful. Service was good. Food was only okay. Chargrilled oysters were very small and covered with too much parmesan cheese. Blackened catfish didn't have much flavor. Not sure I'll be returning. Just didn't wow me.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 4

Had a poor experience with the waiter. Such an attitude. Two of us were served 15 minutes after everyone else. Brought out cold bisque after entrees. Advised he’s doing the best he can while he took a break to visit with his family while serving. Also would not give separate checks and just said….. well it’s stated in the menu. Added gratuity when it was not deserving. Won’t be back.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 1

I ordered the crab meat au gratin & two blue crabs along with some sides. The blue crabs were on the bigger size however I was very disappointed to open the crab & all the meat was mushy in BOTH crabs! This isn’t how crabs are supposed to be cooked or served. I mean the name of the restaurant is BLUE CRAB! The au gratin was amazing and so was the bartender!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Blue Crab Dip

SLOW went first discount oyster night and they only had one guy shucking oysters. Took 25 minutes to get a dozen oysters and a half hour to get a fried shrimp poboy. The waiter was nice but clearly had a slow kitchen. Understaffed and no manager in sight. This is the second poor experience. Probably a good place for a drink on the veranda but sad frustrating experience basically

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 1

Went for happy hour and we didn't have to wait to be seated. People started to flow in after we ordered our food though. Raw oysters were nice and plump. Everything tastes as expected. Great spot to hang out while eating seafood. Good amount of parking available too

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Raw Oysters Mkt, Grilled Oysters

Love the atmosphere! Our server was pleasant and attentive. However, our food came out randomly. Our appetizer of onion rings came out after all the entrees. The entrees were brought at different times. Several of us were halfway finished when the rest were just getting their food.
The pompano was fresh and cooked perfectly. The only food disappointment was the seafood gumbo. It looked amazing when it brought to the table. However, it was under seasoned, and the seafood was scarce. I expected fresh seafood as the restaurant sits on the water. It was a bowl of dark brown water with a few shrimp. I would hesitate to bring an out of town friend to try the gumbo.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 4

Party

Kid-friendliness: Bar tender was very friendly

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

The view and location are nice, it’s right on the lake and you get a peek of the lake from the outside balconies. Their website said they had live music on Sunday, December 11th, but when we went, it was dead and there were 3-4 other tables in the restaurant. The first time I came we got average service, but this last visit was awful. The server never came by to ask how we were doing, she forgot about our bottle of wine we had ordered until after we had already finished our appetizers. It was either a bar tender or another server that finally brought the wine out while our server was standing around chit chatting with the other servers. Then came our food, we ordered three daily mahi specials, it was supposed to be the catch of the day, but it had to have been frozen or it was the cooks first day or first time ever cooking fish. The fish was so dry, completely overdone and chewy. We ordered it blackened, which is a seasoning style and nowhere ever does it say to cook the moisture out of the fish completely. My friend that I was with ordered a salad and she tried the mahi and got up from the table and went and got the server to tell her that the fish was all way overdone and dried out. So they sent three daily specials back to the cook and said “they want it blackened but not over cooked.” The reason I believe it may have been frozen was they must have tried to microwave it before they cooked it or they literally let it sit on the grill while it thawed out. The second round of fish was worse than the first! It was super salty (they obviously didn’t know how to season “blackened” style) and even drier than the first time. It took about 20-30 minutes each time to prepare the fish, when cooking a piece of mahi is about 4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness. While we waited for the mahi to be cooked the second time, our server took all the sides off of the plates and left them on the table. So the expectation of her was that we should eat the sides cold, when the fish finally came back out again. It was awful. I sent my fish back but my parents were hungry and were not about to wait for a third meal to be cooked up overdone again. The manager apologized and said the cooks aren’t trained to cook any other way!! We only received a comp for one meal, which because this was the daily special, was $25 per plate. So we spent $75 on fish that might as well have been jerky soaked in salt for a week. The whole experience from the ambiance to the server to the manager and the food was all unforgettably horrendous. My friend lives nearby and usually takes out of town guests and other visitors here, but after that experience, she will never want to bring anyone to eat there again.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 2

Was not impressed by the waitress. Food was good. She was a little snippy and got the orders wrong. She might have been new but I would never let anyone on the floor without some sort of customer service training

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Sandwich, Poboy, Catfish Platter