Joe's Crab Shack

I seldom review chain restaurants but I will in this case because of the exceptional value and quality of the food. We went to Joe's on a whim and found an extremely good seafood restaurant. This is not a place you should go if you are on a diet ... more

I seldom review chain restaurants but I will in this case because of the exceptional value and quality of the food. We went to Joe's on a whim and found an extremely good seafood restaurant. This is not a place you should go if you are on a diet, because between the battered shrimp, the crab legs dipped in melted butter, and the side dishes, you can expect to eat a lot. We weren't disappointed with anything. My father and mother each ordered a combination platter and I ordered the king crab legs. It was more than anyone could safely eat: I could not eat all my crab legs: five gigantic king crab legs was more than I could handle. This is not a restaurant where you go if you want to maintain dignity. There's a pail in the middle of the table where people throw the crab shells, and my crab legs were actually served in another pail. Expect to wear a bib, make a mess, and generally make a pig of yourself. The service was excellent, and the restaurant decor was nice with a nautical theme. It was very loud even though we came during off hours and were among the only diners present. The noise was not due to other diners but to the fact that the volume of the music was cranked up and the staff was line dancing to "Love Shack". If you've ever had someone line dancing, clapping, and singing three feet from your head you'll know how hard it is to maintain a conversation with your fellow diners unless you can lip read. Evidently management feels compelled to create a lot of noise so that patrons feel as though there's a "scene" of some kind so that they can focus on people besides the family and friends at their table. Experienced diners know that this is actually a volume restaurant ploy to move customers out as quickly as possible to free up space for the next customer. They did turn the music down when we requested that they do so, but the noise and the "scene" factor are what keep me from giving this restaurant a full five stars. less