Shanty Seafood — Restaurant in Laurel

Let me preface by saying Ms. Mary was great! She was personable and accommodating upon taking our order and delivering our meals! Though that is true for me, what is also true is that some of the food prepared for our family gathering let her down. The fried shrimp was seasoned well and cooked great! The muscles were steamed just right, but the 8+lbs of boiled shrimp, and two trays of crab mac were overcooked! The bushel and 1/2 of the female crabs were a terrible disappointment! They were over-seasoned with Rock salt that should never be allowed for human consumption! Additionally, the female crabs were so small that they should've been illegal to pull in and eat; and truly should've been thrown back to grow...poor things! We had mounds and mounds of young crabs that denied the eater the customary picking and eating with crab utensils and tools or even the teeth! The event happened on 4/8, and I was left with at least a bushel in my possession while my guest threw most of the rest in the trash! An expensive risk in a local business that I won't make the mistake ever again!

A few days later, I contacted Ms. Mary and shared my experience as they requested, and was told a Mr. Chris would be contacting me, but to date, I've not received a call or a voice mail message.

I trusted the reviews, I trusted the staff, and I invested in a neighbor, and my trust was blatantly betrayed to the tune of over $600 dollars! I can be so naïve in my trust of hu (men). This restaurant may better serve smaller orders than larger ones as it failed us on such a special day and moment of our...

My boyfriend suggested me to go here, he wouldn’t stop talking about it. He said there was a black guy that made some good behind shrimp deviled eggs. He said they were $2 a piece, I mean that sounds accurate. The first red flag, I didn’t see not one black person in there which was fine I had faith the other employees knew what they were doing. Around 3:00PM on a Sunday, when I asked if they had shrimp deviled eggs the guy(A) at the front wasn’t sure so he went in the back to ask the other employees. There was 3 of them in the back and the first person the only woman(B) in the kitchen spoke up and said with an attitude “NO”. Then one of the guys in the back guy(C) said instantly there’s some in prepped in the fridge, the woman said “no there’s not I’ll have to make some from strach”. They exchanged a few more words then the guy(C) walked to the front and told me they do I asked how long considering what I just heard and he said 5-10mins. Second red flag BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE he didn’t even look at me when he was talking he started bagging up someone else order before ringing me up to pay. He charged me $10 for 4 shrimp delived eggs. I was so hungry I ate them as soon as I got them in the car and EWE it was warm! It was over seasoned and it was MESSY! Jesus...

Shanty is owned by a 5th generation waterman from Smith Island and anyone that knows Eastern Shore hard, soft and crab cakes doesnt need to know much more about the quality of the crabs you are about to eat here! They source their own crabs and use family recipes that make this not only a great-tasting experience but unique. I ordered the crab cake and one-pound of steamed shrimp special and two dozen hard crabs to go and it was all amazing. I thought I had every crab cake possible but their 200 year-old Smith family recipe was fantastic and unlike anything I have ever had - yes I asked the owner what was in it and there was no way he was giving up the secret. Really great and worth the money. I recommend you stop by here before you make it to the shore as I paid 2/3rds the price for high quality large crabs that were freshly caught the same day. Gotta try the soft-shells next time I am there. Door #3 in the...