The Original Crabby Bill's — Restaurant in Indian Rocks Beach

Don't you hate it when you ask a local for a recommendation to eat only to find out that they were so wrong? That was how my experience with Crabby Bill's came out. I had had a great meal in the area at a similar restaurant earlier in the week and had high hopes for this one. Not so.

To begin with, the restaurant was in total chaos. It seems as if there was no hostess working, so guests would simply walk to the outdoor dining area and line up by a giant crocodile in hopes that a staff member would see them and pity them enough to find them a table.

As I watched, people would just jump on an open table, in lieu of any interaction with a staff member. I decided that must be the way it's done and did so myself. Once there, the waitress brought me the drink for the previous occupants who had since hightailed it out of there. She was, of course, disappointed, but took my drink order, which came out fairly quickly.

I sat there, listening to the music, which was actually good. I didn't catch the musician's name, but he crossed back and forth between country, classic rock and even some more modern rock. Pretty good for a solo artist.

I eventually had the chance to make my food order, which was the Catfish with Red Potatoes and Broccoli. Because I had checked in on Yelp, I got a free order of Onion Rings. That whole order went in. About 20-30 minutes later, the harried waitress came back to tell me that their computer had gone down and was needing to be restarted before the order could be started.

About 45 minutes after getting there, a large basked of Onion Rings was delivered. These were actually pretty good, although very messy with the spicy remoulade. After another 10-15 minutes, another basket arrived, with a different waiter looking confused that I already had some.

I sat there some more, listening to music and observing the customers. As I watched, a table full of occupants got up and left. I later overheard a conversation that they had left without paying. Another example of how understaffed the restaurant seems to be.

When my food finally arrived, about 60-75 minutes after my own arrival, I wish I could say it was worth the wait. It was actually pretty disappointing. The catfish was probably the best thing about the meal, but even it was not amazing. It was fried, as expected, but seemed a bit on the dry side. The small tub of coleslaw wasn't bad, but the red potatoes and broccoli were terrible. Both were excessively mushy and bland. They would have been better being eaten with a spoon than a fork. The flavor was exactly what you'd expect for cooking these with spices.

Overall, not an experience I will not repeat. The best part about it was the live music. If only the rest had matched. Incidentally, if you're looking for a job, I'm guessing this place could...

For Most Ratings, It's All Relative, and Crabby Bill's Shines in Mediocrity.

At the time of this review, Crabby Bill’s is in the top five places to eat in the Clearwater area (number two to be precise). And perhaps they deserve to be there because this is a small beach town, that is in the middle of simultaneous growth and decay.

My family and I started with the Local Smoked Fish Spread ($9) made from Mahi and served with "veggies;" the veggies were a small bowl of jalapeños and a single leaf of Romain lettuce. The spread had little to no flavor, it could’ve used seasoning from something as simple as salt and pepper to something as complex as Old Bay seasoning. It left me wondering if they just got a tub of spread from the local Costco, to then just serve it to customers.

I ordered their Crab Stuffed Red Shrimp ($19), which was shrimp and lump crab stuffing, over-baked, and served over a cream sauce; you had a choice of two sides--I got the mac-and-cheese and their sweet hush puppies. The sides were fine nothing great but nothing bad, but the shrimp and crab were completely underwhelming. The name of the dish is actually misnomer, the shrimp was not stuffed with crab, but rather attached to side of the ball of stuffing. The flavors were unbalanced and too rich, whereby I craved additional shrimp and less cream sauce—or at least a bed of pasta underneath.

My wife ordered their Great Grouper Sandwich ($14), blackened (you can also get it grilled or fried) and a choice of either fries or coleslaw. She too was underwhelmed, nay disappointed, while the fish itself had a good flavor it was way too salty and diminished the blackened flavors. Our kids ordered a cheeseburger with fries ($7) and the burgers were actually good—good quality beef and cooked well.

Being in Florida you get a sense of a patent protection of the environment and especially the ocean, which is a very good thing. They had a sign that said “plastic straws suck” and I commend them for eliminating plastic straws from their restaurant and having paper alternatives for those with disabilities or kids. However, they have buckets of crackers individually wrapped in plastic, whereby you generate a lot of waste, and single-use plastic bowls for certain side dishes. If you’re going to try to protect the environment, go all in and get rid of all kinds of single use plastic products. Overall this place...

Crabby bills has great atmosphere, lots of Florida beach charm, and a varied menu of seafood entrees. However, they appear to have recently added a 10% service fee automatically to all bills (not part of gratuity), which didn't seem to be reflected by the service or unorthodox table prep. Food was a mixed bag, ranging from good to acceptable but underseasoned, and the random grifty photo ($15 for one, $20 for two) left a bad taste in my mouth.

Pros: +Great selection and variety of seafood +Great atmosphere with lots of decor and Florida charm +Quiet inside, didn't feel overcrowded or obnoxiously loud like some venues +Good variety of foods, some seafood and some more conventional choices +Chicken sandwich was delicious per table member +Crab cake was good, but somehow was broiled and served lukewarm. +Sides were great (Mac and cheese, fries)

Cons: -10% service charge added to the bill (not part of gratuity, judging by pictures of the menu available online, it's a recent addition). -Substandard table prep. Table was handed a single paper basket with forks, knives, and some crackers sometime between when food was ordered and when it arrived. Have not encountered a restaurant where this occurs before. -Waitress forgot elements of order (a salad), attempted to serve it after entrees were delivered after being told it was no longer wanted. -Waitress indicated plate was hot, was barely lukewarm, as was its contents, two broiled crab cakes. -Blackened shrimp pasta was severely under seasoned, only thing seasoned seems to be the shrimp itself. -Asked a staff member in a white shirt for a container of mustard. Rather than making any effort to remedy, told us we need to talk to our waitress and walked off. Our waitress showed up five minutes later for unrelated reasons. -Random person not wearing a crabby bills shirt taking photos in the restaurant as a "cute, fast, free" souveniers, handing out what looked like an advertisement with a tiny photo in the center, then offering to sell 4x6 photos for $15 for one and $20 for two. Felt more like a grift than anything else. This seemed to occur with random tables as I only saw this occur with one other table...