CJ's Crab Shack

 

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David S.

Harrisonburg, VA

The best place on Ocean Drive!  You won't ind a better combination of food and drinks anywhere, but the best part is the people!  Chris and Jori (C and J) make everyone that comes through the door or onto the sidewalk special.  It seems like everyone that works there is related to them somehow and before you leave you will feel like you are too!  Whatever you do in South Beach don't skip CJ's!

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Elite '08

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Maria M.

Woodside, NY

For our last dining experience in South Beach, I could not leave without sampling the stone crab, which is supposedly native to these parts.  The famous Joe's was not open, so we settled on this one, close to our hotel.

To start, I had the shrimp and avocado with tomato, which was like gazpacho crossed with ceviche.  Really good.  I tried to resist dipping some french bread into it, but I could not.  Definitely recommended.  And then we had the stone crab appetizer.  OK, three.  Delicious!  This is definitely something that any Miami visitor must sample.  The sauce they included on the side was only so-so, like a very thinned out honey-mustard dressing.  Meh.

The service was snappy and not pretentious, which is hard to find in South Beach.  The prices were pretty damn good, and I'll give it four stars, even though they ever-so-nicely tacked on a 19% service charge.  Not gratuity.  Service charge.  This practice may be standard in that neck of the woods, but really, WTF?

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Sydney K.

Brooklyn, NY

On the last night in South Beach, my finance  (she just asked on this trip:)  and I ate here, even though Chris (the C of CJ's....the J being his lovely girlfriend Jori)  had been trying to get us to sit down and eat all week as we came and went through the restaurant to get to our hotel room upstairs.  It turns out that he wasn't just doing the hard sell we had been getting all week from everyone....he was telling the truth...the food here is amazing.

It looks like any one of the many Ocean Drive spots, with a hostess out front pointing to plates of foodish stuff on plates that are supposed to entice you in to pay way too much for a lackluster meal.  but don't be fooled, this place has got great food, great service, and the owners are just wonderful.

We had oysters on the half shell....excellent and not too pricey and shared the CJ's crab combo entree which included blue crab, baked oysters, shrimp and devil crab...a truly amazing crab cake baked right in the original shell.  For at least ten minutes my baby and I didn't speak to each other so intent were we on taking apart and sucking every last bit of meat from those crab shells.  Delicious.

Chris let us try the crab dip....like spinach/artichoke dip...but with crab...what a good idea! And Jori insisted I try the rum punch...which might very well be the best rum punch I've ever had....I ended up ordering three glasses by the end of the night.   We ended the meal with the delicate and amazing key lime pie, and not usually into sweets my sweetie ended up eating half the slice.  

In fact we loved this spot so much that before our flight out the next day we went back and ate still more crab.  So much of South Beach is full of overpriced food that isn't any good....this spot stands out as one of the best meals of the trip...and it wasn't at some pretentious spot where you are worried that your clothes aren't right.

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