Captain James Crabhouse — Restaurant in Baltimore

My sisters, niece, and I decided to check out Captain James Crabhouse today, and overall, it was a memorable experience with a few notable highlights—and one significant hiccup.

The restaurant offers both indoor and outdoor dining options. We chose to sit on the expansive outdoor deck, which features plenty of seating with two-sided benches, allowing us to pick a spot that suited our group perfectly. The deck’s layout is spacious, and we appreciated the flexibility of choosing our seating.

From the moment we sat down, the customer service was on point. A server promptly greeted us, handed us menus, and rolled out brown construction paper on the table. This setup was functional and tidy, as it’s where they place the crabs. We ordered two dozen extra-large crabs—the largest available that day, although they also offer XXL crabs on other days. Alongside the crabs, we ordered some fries, which were delicious, and corn. The food arrived swiftly, within 10-15 minutes.

When the crabs were served, they were carefully slid onto our table—no mess, just a clean presentation. The crabs themselves were excellent—nicely sized, meaty, and full of flavor. We thoroughly enjoyed them, along with the perfectly cooked fries and corn.

However, our experience took a turn due to an unwelcome visitor—a large mouse or perhaps a baby rat that repeatedly ran onto the deck. My niece spotted it first, and I, being terrified of rodents, struggled to relax and enjoy my meal. The rodent appeared about four times, and although one of the workers eventually chased it away, it certainly impacted our experience. Given the restaurant’s location near the harbor, with surrounding grassy areas, I understand that such encounters might happen, especially outdoors. Still, it was unsettling, and I couldn’t fully enjoy my meal due to constantly checking for the rodent.

Despite this incident, we stayed and finished our meal. The food was still enjoyable, and we ended up laughing and enjoying our time together once the rodent stopped appearing. The customer service remained attentive, and the weather was perfect, making for a pleasant atmosphere overall.

In conclusion, while the rodent was a significant downside, the food, service, and setting at Captain James Crabhouse were commendable. I would visit again, but next time, I’d choose a spot further inside on the deck, away from the outer edges where the rodent appeared. The crabs and fries were worth the visit, and with a little adjustment in seating, it could be a perfect...

I have never felt the need to go to a manager to complain about the service before in my life but today I really had to. It was my best friend's birthday and we came out as a group to celebrate. Most of us are in the service industry as well so we can all understand a bad day and know that things aren't going to be perfect. We can even tolerate bad service but the indignant attitude we received today was extremely disrespectful and unprofessional. First of all when the server greeted our table she acted like we were at the drive thru and we are worth no value to her at all. All but one person at our table ordered the all you can eat crabs. The other person ordered 2 apps as entrees. The server came and dropped a tray of crabs and disappeared. We couldn't get drinks, our other guest couldn't order more food and trash had piled up on the table. She passed us and didn't grab any of the trash. When we asked her to take the trash away she told us she doesn't touch that stuff because it's dirty from our hands and her only job was to empty the bucket. When I asked her to come clear the rest of the trash she gave me an attitude and said it was our job to put it in the bucket but she hadn't even emptied the bucket. Then our guest who was ordering individual items was still hungry and she took so long to come take his order he was sitting for over half an hour just waiting to order another plate with nothing in front of him. She finally came and got his order and while he waited for his food he ate one crab ONE SINGLE crab and she ran right over and charged him for an entire all you can eat order. Where was she when she should have been providing service so the man wasn't sitting hungry for so long??? Then she walked past our table again without saying anything and took a whole drink cup away that still had alcohol in it. What happened to not clearing the trash even tho the drink was not trash??? When I told her she took a cup away that our guest was still drinking she had the audacity to give me an attitude like it was our fault she took the drink. This was the point that I had to get the manager. He quickly apologized, replaced the drink and changed our server. The new server had great energy, emptied the bucket before it was full and made sure everyone was taken care of. It ended up being nice but hopefully that person won't be given the opportunity to treat anybody...

I traveled from New Jersey with my family because my grandmother had been craving crabs for a long time. We found this place on TikTok and thought it would be a fun spot to try. The hostess was very welcoming that was honestly the best part of our experience.

Unfortunately, the rest of the visit was disappointing. When our crabs were served, the waitress slid the crabs off the tray directly onto the table, which caused my grandmother’s iced tea to spill all over her, her jacket, and her pocketbook. She was left wet and uncomfortable for the rest of the meal, and we had to go buy her new pants afterward.

When we asked how we could be accommodated, the waitress said all they could do was take the drink off the bill. We asked to speak with a manager. My grandmother also told the manager that her jacket was soaked and would need to be dry cleaned. The manager’s response? “Send us the dry cleaning bill.” My grandmother explained, “Why would I do that? I don’t even live in this state.” His reply was, “Well, if you want us to pay for your dry cleaning, that’s the only option.”

It honestly felt like the manager and the waitress just didn’t care. The manager also acted like we were just looking for free food, which wasn’t the case we simply wanted accountability and proper customer care. He eventually agreed to remove the fries and the drink, but that didn’t feel like enough considering what happened. I also requested the automatic $37 gratuity be removed, which he agreed to.

On top of that, the crabs had no seasoning, just tasted like plain water. Honestly, I could’ve stayed in Jersey and had better crabs at Mill Street. The fries and shrimp were good, though.

We really wanted to like this place because the vibe seemed great, but between the poor customer service, the lack of accountability, and the disappointing food, the whole experience just wasn’t...