Joe's Crab Shack — Restaurant in Garden Grove

We used to love this place pre-Covid and would go about 3-4 times a year. In fact, this was the place that helped us discover and love Bairdi crab back when they had it years ago. Unfortunately, this first time back since Covid has had us deciding never to go back again. Their general service and food quality has gone completely downhill.

First let's talk about service and general ambiance. When we came for dinner, less than half the restaurant was full. We brought our 1 year old but the hostess sat us at a bar table and then told us we couldn't have a high chair at the bar. A manager then came in and settled the situation by sitting us at a normal 4 person booth and put a high chair at the end of it. Maybe the hostess was really new and knew nothing about babies, who knows. The table was only semi-clean and completely dirty with used paper towels below. Our bartender didn't quite know the drinks, so maybe she was new, too. Our server was okay, sometimes rushed but sometimes very accommodating, but we were under the impression that everyone was either confused by their job or just cranky. Not a great overall atmosphere.

As for the food, I'm really sorry to say I've had better seafood at cheap seafood buffets. We got two steam pots and an added cluster of queen crab. They no longer have the Sam Adams steam pot which used to be our favorite, but that's okay and we just stuck to the Classic. The crab was either too fishy or bland and watery. Maybe 10% of it was mediocre tasting. Dipping it in butter didn't help much as all you could taste was basically watered butter. Okay, fine, so maybe crab was just out of season? (Still, I think you can get better crab than this out of season.) The potatoes were super bland and dry. Corn was not very plump, and that was sad because corn IS in season! The shrimp was also very dry and bland. The only thing of passable quality was the sausages and they were just that - passable.

Their prices have increased significantly, too, but that's understandable as everything now has gone up in price. However, to lower the quality of food this much in addition to increased prices is unfortunately just not going to keep this old...

Im downgrading this restaurant review. Joe's did a bait-and-switch. First 2 times i went there the price of the exact same meal ( with shrimp) and drink after a 20 dollar (40% tip) was around $65. This 3rd (and last) time Joe's charged me 20 more for the crab but gave me no shrimp, and when I inquired why so much more money for less food. I was told by the bartender manning the bar that those previous price prices were their specialty prices and not the regular price. So for less food in my main dish, I paid about 20 or 30 MORE. Which translated into a $110 bill for ONE person after a lesser 22 percent tip for the server and one less customer for Joe's. I thanked my friendly server bartender and said to myself and now the whole world, gee if I want steamed crab, my local grocery store has it for much less and they said they'd steam it for me right there in the store..... hmm. Going to try that next time!

ORIGINAL REVIEW.....went there last Saturday on a whim not expecting much. The Joe's Crab Shack in Newport Beach closed a few years ago, and I had always eaten at that one since it is closest to where I reside. I was really impressed with the service. I ate at the bar. The female bartender was a hoot. She was working her tail off, but made time to talk and joke with me. The service was fast and good. The dungeoness crab pot was delectable! Clean restaurant, clean bathroom, friendly fast service, good tastey food. I'd eat there every day if I could afford it, although the prices were not that steep compared to Crab Cooker. And after going to JOE'S, I'm not going back to...

I so wanted this review to be a 5 star, but unfortunately it wasn’t. As a Landry’s Select Club Member, I really wanted this to be great. The atmosphere was promising and seemed fun when we entered. The host and hostess’s were full of energy and smiles! But that’s the best I got. Our waitress seemed stretch thin, so much so when our food came and we needed to add a few things we couldn’t find her for at least 20-25 minutes which by then what we wanted to request wasn’t needed. We ordered a few appetizers as our meals because we weren’t overly hungry and they weren’t anything special food wise. I tried the crab cake (which really needed some lemon added to it, but that issue above I mentioned about waitress disappearing meant I couldn’t request this). And my husband ordered chicken tenders which were OK. The honey mustard thankfully was really good because he had asked for barbecue sauce with them which didn’t come and no waitress to get some from until he had eaten them all. Even getting drinks refilled was difficult. I did forget to photograph our food (we were hot and tired from a day at Disneyland), but I did include the quick video of the location I took when we sat down to show it really wasn’t crazy busy. I’d have forgiven the lack of service if this place was packed. But sadly it wasn’t. All in all I had hoped for better as I have gotten a ton better at other Landry restaurants across the US. We visit Anaheim and Orange County California frequently and I am not sure we will give this location another shot. It just was too...