Crab Shack — Restaurant in Teignbridge

This was thoroughly disappointing.

Having visited a few years ago and had a wonderful lunch, I was excited to return. Unfortunately, I didn't realise the place had changed hands.

The restaurant layout and decor is entirely different, lacking the cosiness of my previous experience and being replaced with stark simplicity. Not an issue but perhaps it should have been a red flag that things had changed.

The table we booked was not ready when we arrived two minutes late. When we were seated, it was in the direct line of the door, inviting an unpleasant cold draft to wash over us whenever a patron entered or exited from the chilly evening outside.

We were given menus and left to peruse them, quickly disappointed to find that not only was the menu selection decidedly lacking and uninspired, but that the prices had increased wildly since our last visit. Given neither myself nor my companion could even find a meal we were definitely enticed by, we were doubtful that we would be served anything worthy of its price tag.

Fifteen minutes passed and we watched a large party arrive after us and be served drinks, whilst a table for two who had been there before us looked increasingly frustrated to not have had their order taken yet. We still hadn't been asked whether we would like any drinks or even table water at this point.

Only one waiter was visible and didn't appear to be aware of the mounting service issues as he asked a further two small parties, arriving for their bookings, if they could wait outside as their tables were not ready.

After a few minutes more consideration, we decided to cut our losses and leave. Shockingly, nobody working in the restaurant seemed to even notice that the customers of one of only four tables in the restaurant had just walked out.

We received a pleading phonecall five or ten minutes later, practically begging us to return and promising that our table would be prioritised. We politely declined, explaining why we had left and our misgivings regarding the service and likelihood of actually receiving a meal we would be happy with that evening.

Sadly, I cannot recommend this restaurant I its...

Great location and good, fresh locally sourced seafood food but need to train and organise their waiting staff a bit better. I did plenty of waitressing when I was young and remember being allocated a number of tables to look after. There didn't seem to be that system in place, we were asked if we were ready to order twice by two different members of staff (after we ordered) but there was no one checking in if everything was ok when we did in fact need some attention. Giving a bit of water and lemon to clean the hands after eating mussels is a good idea but please provide either an extra napkin or paper towel. We got asked if everything was ok after we finished... Getting a bill took a while and we assumed it must have been very busy and, as usual these days, not enough staff. We waited so long to pay, our parking ran out of time and I hurried back to the car to avoid a penalty. My partner sat outside for another ten minutes politely waiting for that bill and then decided to pop in to see if he could pay as we really needed to go. Most customers were sat eating outside and we assumed that there were only three waiters on duty rushed off their feet working all the tables... To my partner's surprise, when he came in to try and pay, he saw three more waiters just standing inside an empty restaurant seemingly doing nothing... I hope this review helps distribute waiting staff better in the busiest areas. Everyone was friendly and welcoming and this would have been a lovely meal if the service was organised...

This was our 2nd time eating in the crab shack, we booked at the beginning of the week to ensure we got a table and took the kids for an experience and the food, the staff are lovely the food is awesome, lovely place to eat- however this time was a bit disappointing , asked for a beer of the menu, not available, no oysters, no mussels, no clams - completely understand seafood is all-seasonal so no drama, we opted to share a hot platter, (as this came with a whole lobster plus extras for only an extra £10 vs the cost of a lobster) and told they would swap the mussels and clams for extra something else as didn’t have these items. It came out with half a lobster plus the other bits promised we queried this we where told that sometimes the chef will give you a big half by weight rather than whole lobster - I have never heard of this and felt more upset we where then just being lied to - the table opposite also had ordered the lobster and they received whole one - so I guess this must have been a small one!? They also told us we are not really telling people to order the hot platter as we don’t have much of it - to which we replied this would have been nice to know when you took are order, they offered 20% off, which we agreed to even though being sat by a sign that said whole lobster £120 meaning a missing half should £60?! So I wanted to leave 2.5 stars, but don’t worry these are really big starts , like bright and weighty ones it’s basically a 5 star...