Joe's Crab Shack

I didn't know what to expect with all of these mixed reviews. Lucky for me, I must have came on a good day, cause my meal was awesome.

It was my moms birthday. Everyone ordered a bucket of some crab plus other goodies. Except my little brother. He had to be different and ordered the crab cake dinner that tasted like it was marinated in salt. Yep, this lip pucker dish went back.

I had a bucket with lobster and snow crab. My snow crab was hot, delicate, rich, and sweet. It was so damn good. My lobster was bordering on over cooked, but I was still happy eating it. The bucket came with potatoes and corn, I killed it.

For dessert, key lime pie. It was giant, tart, sweet, and "light." I almost didn't feel guilty.

Overall, it was a great meal, and service was exceptional. They even sang happy birthday to my mom, although, we would have preferred some free dessert instead :p .

I am biased here. I love Joe's Crab Shack. I grew up on it. I looked forward to it when my family would make the long trek from the Northwoods to the Twin Cities. This was our little slice of Southern paradise in the frigid months of a Minnesota Winter.

And then I moved to the cities for college and came to this place...and it was crap!

I stayed away for almost three years and I am so glad I came back! We must of just had a very bad experience with poor management because this place is alive and kicking like I remembered it as a kid.

The food is great, love those crab nachos and it kicks the pants off of Red Lobster any day. Their steam pots are a tad overpriced, but that is what I get for living in Minnesota and the only crustacean I have access to is lake crayfish (and if I put a lobster or crab in my salt-water aquarium).

Right now drinks are 1/2 off on Thursdays so that is a pretty swell deal too. Love me some crabs!

First time & LAST time here...

When we first arrived, no one really greeted us and we waited a few minutes to be seated in a semi-empty restaurant. We were handed menus and asked the waitress if we could have a few minutes to figure out what to drink and eat (they offered a wide range of seafood items and a full bar), but we didn't think she'd give us THAT much time. We had to wait at least 10 mins to order our drinks, food and even water. The food came out in a decent time and our waitress was super nice, but the timeliness in service was not good.

On Tuesdays, they have a "Twos Tuesday" special where a variety of alcoholic drinks and appetizers are only $2.00! Awesome right?! Well not really... The drinks did not taste alcoholic at all, and the fried seafood tasted quite mediocre. Their $2 special consisted of about 6 popcorn shrimps on a plate of fries, the oysters were not too bad (I've had worst in Minnesota), but the crab "taters" or what ever was like a slaw on top of fries. First bite of my meal and I was like mehhhh.

One pro was that they have their own parking lot, so finding a spot was not a problem. But it was also just really loud, something I know iiiiiiii personally cannot control, but still - I could barely here myself or my roommate talk.

All in all, if you want seafood go somewhere else.

Jeremy is our server ! He knows the menu and is a very good server! Food was really good place is clean manager is on the floor checking on guest .
I'm coming back !!!!!

My overall experience is "meh".

You may be able to spot the establishment from afar but you have to go through the back to get to the parking lot.

The restaurant's style is supposed to be like a distressed crab shack basically. We were greeted and seated promptly on a Saturday evening. Drinks specials covered the bar area.

Service was ok. The waitress wrote cute sayings on our bibs and put it on us. She never came by to refill our drinks but we didn't need it. She was attentive and very nice.

The kids menu had 6 or so meals to choose from. The kids with us loved the food: fries, moz sticks, fish sticks, and popcorn shrimp. It was less than $6 per meal.

The steampots we ordered looked plentiful on the picture (so we decided to share a pot per couple) but when we received our order, it was less. There were a few empty shells. The crab legs were juicy. The butter they provided was bland. It wasn't worth $25-$30 per pot. The sampler on the other hand was delicious. It came with 4 jalapeño poppers, a handful of fried calamari, and a side of baked crab dip with tortilla chips ($12+).

Pass on the steampot and perhaps order something worthwhile and more filling.

$109 plus tip, 2 buckets of King Crab Legs, Crab Dip appetizer, and Coconut Shrimp. All very good. The only little thing not great was the side potatoes. They looked boiled grey and unseasoned. I got 4 tiny halves with my crab legs, my partner got 0. Thankfully we were both full, so we didn't care. The lemonade is a fake sugar mix which might not matter, but is good to know. Nice big patio with a great children's play area attached.

Poor quality food. Ordered prime rib and per my photos, they both came back burnt! Literally! Very poor lighting conditions along with pricing errors on our checks which charged $30 more. Had to get that corrected as well. For sure, first and last time going there :)

There are quality and quantity seafood to be had anywhere in the country. As for Minneapolis, MN, I will say it...Most seafood places here that I have tried are pretty much 'bleh' for me and more about quantity over quality: i.e. any asian buffets on any given night.

As for the obvious, seafood places - Red Lobster, Italian places that serve 'seafood', I can't stand it because the choices are extremely limited and seems to know only how to cook a lobster one way and love to over cook a shrimp dish.

So where does Joe's Cab Shack comes in? I am not going to deny that they are one step away from being EXACTLY like Red Lobster. Joe's is extremely different in a sense that they go beyond the standard fried everything and steam only lobster, alaskan crab, etc...@ Joe's, they give you plenty of options choose your seafood meal. There is Duch's Crab, King Crab, Green Mussels, Scallops, etc. The menu is extensive and will probably please practically everyone...including my daughter insist that she wants pizza for dinner @ a seafood joint?! Okay, she is only 7 and I can't disown her just yet...yet. Heck, they even have 2 different size steaks that would put a smile to my dad's face.

Hence if you are looking a place to entertain your family and friends. This is a pretty good bet because they have EVERYTHING to choose from.

Note: I have read a few of people complaining about their meal...Look, if you choose a seafood dish that is meant to be steamed(Joe's specialty), guess what? 1) It is steam - Hence you might expect it to be bland compare to a butter/garlic stir fried dish. 2) You can tell them DON'T over cook it: you insist your lobster is medium rare. 3) Did I say it was steam?

I love the servers here. They sing, dance, and go out of their way to make you and your guess happy. That is a lot more than I can say about 99% of the restaurants out there. More important, you don't have to tip them base on their sing/dance number...but the look on my kid's face is priceless...

All in all, this is as good as it gets for Minneapolis on the seafood fan fair. More important, at Joe's they put up a lot of personality and charm. Yes, there are BETTER tasting and cheaper seafood places in Minneapolis. No, I refuse to call a place a good seafood place just because they served Walleyes...Yes, there are seafood market that have a fresher dish. Sometimes, you need a complete place with a big menu that you can bring your parents, children, other family members that you are NOT sure about, etc...This is a place for you.

The day will come when I become a grumpy old man and go out only for me and I will probably give this place a 2 star. Until then, this place gets a 4 star for a good place to entertain my family and friends.

One more thing: the carrot cake is CRAZY GOOD! I would go there on that ALONE.

If you are from the south and have eaten a Publix carrot cake, this one is pretty d@mn close. No, it is still not better than Publix.

My son chose this restaurant for his family birthday dinner. There were six of us for dinner and it was $177.00+tip. It was subpar food. Totally NOT worth that kind of money.
We all ordered the boils and the garlic was tasteless. The sunset fire was meh, as well as the Cajun.
Service was okay. Not great, but okay.
We sat on the deck and that was awesome but we certainly could have gone for some good food and excellent service elsewhere. Bummer. I was hoping this place had changed their game.

Just left Joe's and I am sad to say that it was not a great meal. When you spend that kind of money and leave not totally full. If you're going to call your place a Crab Shack don't you think you would have crab legs that actually looks like crab legs. The meat I got out of the crab legs was so small it was shredded by the time you got it out. The potions were terrible for the prices. I don't even want to give one star. The clusters of crab legs that came out looked like they belonged on a kids menu.
I am so thankful I can go to Red Lobster from now on because I won't go back to Joe's Crabshack.