Big Crab Baymeadows — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Racist, Ageist and Homophobic. I will NEVER go back to the Big Crab / Boiling Crab / Boiling Crawfish EVER again. Last night, at their West Side Normandy location, I was told by the owner, who displayed obvious signs of deep seated racism, ageism and homophobia, in the MIDDLE of my meal, that I had to pay for what I had already ordered before I could order more. I have NEVER in my 30 years of living EVER been told that in any other restaurant in any city, state or country that I’ve ever been to. NEVER! I never once said I wasn’t paying for my food nor did I even so much as insinuate that I wouldn’t. So for her to come to my table out of nowhere and say that, she was stereotyping me bc of my race, age and the way I was dressed / my perceived sexuality. I bet she didn’t ask any White, Asian or straight looking patron to do that and probably never has nor will. She also threatened to call the police on me when I asked her. THE POLICE. FOR NOTHING. Again, pulling a race ploy to scare me because I’m Black. I don’t have a background. I told her to go ahead.

She cut me off, over talked me and then ignored me as I asked questions about what was going on and why, and decided to focus her attention on my guest who was half White, instead. She talked to her and pretended to act like I wasn’t even there anymore, trying to demean me. All that we were trying to explain to her was that they had overcharged us for something that we didn’t ask for that was brought out to the table. I asked her to even roll the cameras back. Once my guest explained the exact same story to her, she became rude and nasty with her as well. Since she was being so rude and I just wanted her to leave my table, I even offered to pay for it since it was already touched, to which she told me she’d rather throw it out back in the dumpster and proceeded to try to dig into our food without permission. Then, when given permission, refused to even take it back. She lied to me and told me it would be removed from my bill, yet there it was. SMH.

I told the owner that I’ve been giving them business since around 2010, to which she nastily responded that they’d only been open since 2013. Girl, 2010, 2013, 2015, I dont GAD. It doesn’t matter; I said “around”. The fact that I’ve been giving you business since near your inception which is a decade meant nothing to your internalized racism, ageism and homophobia. I will be cooking my own crabs at home like I love to do, and will be going back to the Juicy Crab like I have been for the past 7 or so years, when I want to eat out for crabs. I thank God that I switched to them some years back, and only went to Big Crab here and there. The Juicy Crab is always professional and is my place of choice. I’ve NEVER experienced with them what I experienced with the Big Crab last night.

Even my waitress looked at the owner like she had lost her mind. She looked so embarrassed. I felt so bad for her, having to work in such a toxic and hostile environment. The owner even REFUSED to let me add an extra tip for my waitress and literally snatched the receipt away from with the tip line on it when I told her that I was trying to tip the waitress, all bc she could tell that the the server / waitress knew she was wrong and she was trying to empathize / sympathize with me. How disgusting and low do you have to be to do something like that to your own employee. If you see this post, please share it so that others can known what this company really thinks about people of other races. Companies like this only get away with stuff like this because we don’t talk about it or do anything about it. I’ll be reporting them everywhere that they can be reported for...

My family and I have patronized this establishment every since relocating to Jacksononvile. Most of the time our orders are prepared properly. But for some reason the last few visits have been sub par. Today was one of the worst experiences that we have encountered while dining out. The waitress was extremely non attentive. She came to the table and took our order, each of the three orders requested that they exclude the sausage as we all chose the Tuesday Snow Crab special. I asked for an additional order of eggs to go along with my order. When our food arrived I opened my bag and noticed that there were extra sausages in my order, no potatoes, and no extra corn as I requested. I called the waitress to the table and asked her to correct my order. She informed my that she would take the extra sausages off of my order. As time went on I noticed that she wa me waiting on other customers and was not attempting to bringing me the potato’s that were missing from my order. We then called her to the table and asked for our checks so that we could pay and leave the establishment. After receiving the bill I noticed that we had been charged a service fee of $6 in addition to the $64 bill. Feeling that waitresses should be compensated tips based on their customer service, I asked the waitress to remove the device charge because she failed to complete my order and that I felt as if her terrible service didn’t not deserve a tip. She then proceeded to ask the manager to remove the service fee. After returning to our table she stated that the manager refused to remove the service fee for the food and that this could not be done. I told her that I was not paying for the service charge and she then went and got the manager. I then went on to explain to the manager that I did not receive my items that I ordered and that after telling the waitress my order was incorrect on several occasions she didn’t do anything to correct my order. I then went on to explain that on several occasions I was being waiting on by our usual waitress Kayla, Who by the way always provide do EXEMPLIARY customer service, I asked that the service fee be removed so that I could tip her, and her alone 20%. Because she explained to me that she has to share a portion of the service fee with other workers at the restaurant. The manager then went in to say that this was their policy and that it could not be altered. I then told him that he he was not telling the truth and that on several occasions Kayla had taken the charges off of my ticket. As I do not believe in tipping others funds that they don’t deserve nor do I think it is fair for an establishment to require their waitresses to share their wages with the other workers. I feel as if this is dishonesty at its best. I then told him to go ahead do what he had to do and that I would follow up with a review of their establishment, and forward my complaints to the BBB, FTC, CFPA, and file a complaint with the Labor Board. After completing the transaction I took the paperwork and left the establishment. My family and friends will not be supporting this establishment anymore. We have spent thousands of dollars patronizing them since the few months that we have been on this city. It’s shameful that this issue couldn’t be amicably resolved while I was at...

Visited this place yesterday and was very disappointed. Not so much about the food we ate or the server who attended to us, but the whole vibe about the place was not to our liking. Others may not have a problem with it, but I feel the management/owners will get more "one-time try-it" customers than "repeat" customers that want to come back for more. Soon those "one-time try-it" customers will begin to disappear.

We stopped by for an early dinner at 3pm. We wanted to get out of our protective bubble and wanted to avoid any crowd. We were greeted inside by extremely loud music...I think they call it Rap....not for our tuned ears of 50's & 60's vintage music. Had to ask for it to be turned down so we could have a conversation. The menu was almost useless. All the entrees were marked "Market Price". They should have a huge chalkboard so they could post the day's prices and have a menu with the sides and other fixed price items. Oh.....and their fine print contract so you don't get surprised with the 12% service fees that will be added to your bill. The selection was disappointing. I was expecting to be able to get a decent seafood dinner with a couple of different vegetables and a salad. No such thing.

We were contemplating leaving and going elsewhere, but decided to give a couple of items a try. I had some chicken wings and fries and wife had the Dungeness crab. The wings were good and much like those found at the local deli. The crab came out in a tied up in plastic bag that was ballooned with steam. Everything is ala carte, so no sides, just a side of melted butter as requested. Not sure if they were microwaved in the bag or not. My wife said the crab was good.

The waiter we had was very pleasant and checked a few times if we needed anything. Since they opened at 3pm and it was early, there were not many tables occupied. I asked for the check and just handed the waiter money to pay the bill without looking at it first. It was not until my change came back and I had already tipped the waiter 20%+ that I noticed the service fee added to the bill. It was 12% of the total bill that was added. When I asked about it, it was explained that it was for the bar and kitchen. My response was, "Why isn't that cost in the food and drink prices on the menu?" The waiter informed me it was listed on the menu as a add-on fee for all dine-in.

I think we will be one of those "one-time try-it"...