Crabby's Dockside Ft. Pierce — Restaurant in Fort Pierce

We have been wanting to try this place out since it opened. We arrived around 5:45 pm and the place didn't seem that busy as the tables were not close to full. We went on a waiting list and were told it would be 45 min. It took a lot longer than that, but our fault for not getting on the wait list by phone. I don't know what was wrong but maybe not enough workers to staff the business as there were empty tables even when we were seated upstairs outside and inside. We picked the upstairs outside because the band was playing downstairs outside and seemed too noisy to talk. The view and everything is good upstairs outside, but very very noisy. There is noise from downstairs and people were talking real loud plus the design of the building didn't knock down the noise. This room is soo cool its a shame that they missed the noise reduction. It killed the mood. Our service was outstanding and attentive but it took a long time to get our food. We ordered Chicken sandwiches and Grouper melt. The fries were good. The rest of the food was below par for the price and presentation. I am not talking about how it looked I am saying the bread was very thick, the end of a small tomato, a small piece of lettuce, one one ring of onion and the chicken was thick and over cooked. It tasted okay but was hard to eat. I would have only eaten the bottom half of bread but couldn't cut the sandwich in a plastic basket so I ate it like a sandwich. The place had a fair amount of rude people around also. While waiting on a bench the family on the bench next to us had a kid playing a video game on full volume for 10 min before it ended. We then were seated and after a bit the wife need to use the ladies room, She couldn't push her chair back because we had a lady talking on the phone facing the marina. So we tried to get her attention and I had to tap her to get her to move. I got the old dirty look and was surprised the staff didn't tell her to talk on the phone away from people who are not in her group. Very different behavior in general. I was telling my neighbor about this and all she said was you got to remember where your at. I will remember to not visit this establishment again. Its just as bad as the place...

This place has seemed to fall in line with the rest of the “tourist restaurants” in town. It hasn’t been open that long and the quality has dropped dramatically. I feel that if I walked into the kitchen I would see teenagers cooking pre made, frozen, and microwaved back to life meals. Not only because all I see running the place are teenagers but also the food comes out lazy and tasteless.

I order the stuffed mushrooms and they were cold, not room temperature… cold. I don’t understand how they were colder than room temperature but they were. Almost immediately it made my stomach upset. To be fair, I still ate half of them. Not because I liked them, but because I was hungry. Not the best choice I’ve ever made.

There is a saving grace, our waitress. She brought out another order for us and made sure they were nice and hot. They came out at the same time as our meal, but it’s the thought that counts. She later came by and gave me a free starter coupon to discount the starter off the bill.

Our meal was stuffed shrimp and coconut shrimp. Sadly, the best part of the entire order was the French fries. The Stuffed Shrimp was warm but not warm enough for me to believe that they cooked it for me. I guess there’s an issue there with stuffed foods. The Coconut Shrimp was mediocre and obviously frozen breaded shrimp in a bag they bought from Cheney Brothers. The Stuffed Shrimp was something that i've ordered the last time i visited. I loved it then and was disgusted by it now. Well at least the top stuffing layer was gross. The shrimp were pretty good in the sauce. If you removed 50% of the stuffing this dish would be great. I cant even begin to guess what was wrong with the stuffing, its just not good.

A message to the restaurant: I’ve been told by many friends that they had quality control issues too. I was really hoping that I just had an off day. The word is out and when the tourists leave you will fall into the spiral of death. I don’t want that to happen, everyone would really like a quality restaurant on the water. I will definitely be back and I genuinely hope I’m surprised by a massive jump in quality.

Rating: 2 stars because it wasn't the worst meal I've ever had but it was...

Let’s start with the downside…first off know coming in that you’re going to be forced to see some boats that you may or may not be able to afford as this location is dockside at the marina.

That being said the views are amazing and to capitalize you’ll want to sit upstairs in the open air dining area which is attached and to the upstairs bar. They do have indoor dining both upstairs and downstairs but I recommend the open air even when it’s hot because they have it set up so the air conditioning pours out across the bar through the open air dining plus the views aren’t as good inside.

Now I’m new to the area and have only eaten a few places on the jetty but when I tell you this is hands down the best food I’ve had to date in the area! OMG

I ordered the shrimp 3 ways with French fries (I mean you gotta see how the fry guy performs) and seasonal veg which was broccoli for me.

Fried shrimp was what you would expect. Crispy, crunchy goodness. Coconut shrimp was equally as good but elevated to 10 with this sort of pineapple tartar sauce and I just want some of that for everything summer. Then when I tell you the stuffed shrimp was AMAZING I mean you have got to try it. It’s like a Thanksgiving dinner stuffed inside a butterflied shrimp. It’s Sooooo good. Down to the sides the fries were cooked perfect but the broccoli must have been picked from the Garden of Eden. Not sure how to describe the flavor but if you want a non broccoli eater to eat broccoli then this is your place.

All in all I’m gonna have to be honest here…if you’re looking to party then probably go to the jetty but if you want superior food and great atmosphere combined with great service then this is it. Go talk to Kacey and the rest of the staff and tell em Rob sent ya...