Mr. Bill's Terrace Inn Crab House — Restaurant in Essex

When Mr. Steve (The Owner) was still alive I use patronize this place to get steamed crabs weekly. I was even offered a job there as the Karaoke D.J but I had to decline due to other obligations. However, I was at Costco and saw that they sold gift cards to Bill Crabhouse and it brought back great memories so I decided to buy $200 worth of gift card because after eating crabs and wings the bill would usually be about $160. I called Mr. Bills tonight around 4:30 and spoke to Shannon and I explained who I was and that I would be coming there tonight for crabs and she advised me that she had small, mediums and large. I let her know that I wanted to make reservations for seating and large crabs and I would be there around 7P.M. Shannon said that they didnt take reservations for parties less than 6 people but call when I am on my way and she would put me on the list. I called when on my way to the crabhouse and she said that she would put me on the list. I arrived at 6;50 and introduced myself to her and she told me that it would be a brief wait. An hour passed and I approached her to asked for a follow up on my wait time. Shannon told me that I had four people in front of me but assured me that they had plenty of medium and large crabs because she was aware that I was only there for crabs. I stood at the door from 6:50 to 8:15 until a seat at the bar became available. As I sat at the bar awaiting a phone call from Shannon to let me know that a table was available. I was advised by Ashley that most of the crabs were sold out and that they only had a little bit of small males which is not what I reserved and or quoted to be available for me prior to my arrival or while I was at the crabhouse. I explained what I had experienced and what I was told by Shannon and while sitting there the owners daughters Tina came to the bar. I explained the situation, and she said that she would look into it and be right back. Tina, who is now the owner or manager passed me several more times and didnt say a word to me about the inconvenience or anything at all which was so unprofessional and disheartening. Again, I had $200 in gift card and due to this terrible customer service and poor communication, I spent it on anything that I could find on the menu because I KNEW THAT I WOULD NEVER EVER RETURN TO THIS PLACE. One thing about Mr. Steve is that he ran a very strict and professional operation and everyone to include the employees knew it. A memory that still sits with me is the last time that I saw Mr. Steve I was there eating crabs and I ran into Richard and Annabel Sher who I knew from my prior profession before retirement. I was introduced to a man that looked so familiar to me by Richard Sher and it so happened to be Oprah Winfrey's fiancé Stedman Graham sitting there eating crabs. The environment was very pleasant and you had a GREAT Experience back then but obviously not anymore. I WILL NEVER RETURN AND POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE DONT WASTE YOUR TIME AT A PLACE THAT LACKS DECENT CUSTOMER SERVICE... TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TERRIBLE...

So, after many years of people telling me I absolutely HAD to come here because the crabs are amazing I finally gave Mr. Bills a try. This review might be slightly long but I'm breaking it down into several areas of critique:

Crabs - We ordered $75 Crabs, the largest they had, and they were hot, fresh, and nice size. In my opinion what makes crabs amazing is the seasoning and in my opinion this seasoning is HORRID! I've read all the reviews about how it's Old Bay... but it's NOT!!! The seasoning has nutmeg in it and is much coarser than Old Bay. The nutmeg for some might be a welcome addition, my son loved it, but I absolutely hated it. It pretty much ruined the crabs for me which were tasty and sweat on the inside but I just couldn't get past the nutmeg. Also, not all the crabs were cooked at the same doneness... so some were slightly overcooked.

Crab Dip - tasty and had plenty of chips and pita bread for dipping. Made more with claw and inside than with backfin but good.

Cream of Crab Soup - While this had lots of flavor and I didn't need to add any seasoning to it this was by far the shelliest crab soup I've EVER had!!! My hubby and son wouldn't eat it. (as an aside they also have this 1/2 MD crab 1/2 Cream of Crab combo which was also very tasty but also very shelly)

Oysters - Nice size but shucked poorly as they were very gritty and not chilled enough.

Crab Cake and Fluff - these were nice size and tasty but very heavy in the mustard. My husband who doesn't eat crabs got the crab cake. He actually hates mustard so it was a sad day for him as he could barely eat the crab cake and left almost all of it. My son however LOVED the crab cake and fluff.

Onion Rings WERE AWESOME!!!!

Service - The service was okay. She was busy as it seemed like there were only 3 waitresses for the entire place so it wasn't great but it was decent enough. Steve the owner was working the hostess stand and was very pleasant and attentive. We ordered a salad that actually never showed up but everything else came out hot and within a reasonable amount of time. My biggest complaint is that there is NO FREE REFILLS on ANY drinks and the waitress did not tell us this, nor did the menu mention this. Not only are the soda's not free refills but neither is the ice tea!!! WHAT?! We drink A LOT and between my family of 5 got 3 pitchers of soda and 1.5 pitchers of ice tea... we spent $35 on non-alcoholic drinks. That's just WRONG!!!!

All in all if you like the taste of their seasoning and crab cakes and don't mind spending a fortune for non alcoholic drinks you will probably be very happy going here. I on the other hand will just go to Costas...

My fiance and I decided we wanted crabs for dinner so we go to Mr. Bill's. We get there and find our own seat which I didnt know we had to do and the waitress came for our drink order. I requested a top shelf to long island and fiance wanted a Heineken but they only had Heineken lite so he opted for a National bohemian which I know nothing about lol. When the drinks came, the Long Island was the disgusting, it taste like nothing but cheap ass vodka and a splash of coke. When the waitress returned I told her the drink was disgusting, she offered to fix it but my fisnce said just bring a coke and he would do it and I asked for a Grand Marnier and pineapple. Well this drink came back all pineapple juice and a splash of grand marnier. I could tell this place likes to cut corners with their alcohol and still over charge their customers. We order a dozen crabs with very very lite seasoning, hushpuppies, buffalo and honey barbecue wings, and a broiled seafood platter with whipped potatoes. First they were out of potatoes so I asked for vegetables. The crabs came out with all of this muddy ass seasoning on them, half of them wasnt done, the seafood platter was warmed up too long in the microwave because the fish was rubbery, the crabcake was salty and the whole dish was covered in old bay seasoning. The wings were dried out with sauce on them and it took forever to get my vegetables. The place was loud with other patrons were we couldnt even hear each other talk and let me just say the only thing I truly enjoyed was the hushpuppies with the honey mustard sauce. All of that disgusting food and poor service they had the nerve to tack on automatic gratuities. We were not mad with the price $164.00 but the food was definitely NOT worth that much. Needless to say, we WONT be returning but my advice for Mr. Bill and his cooking staff, yall really need to step your game up on the quality and taste of the food. Our whole meal was...