Captain John's Crab House — Restaurant in Maryland

I am only leaving one star because I have to in order to leave a review. My family was so excited to get together for our cousins birthday today. My cousin called a few days in advance and was advised that she could reserve tables for 40 people on this date. Today we come in and let the “manager” know that we were there for the party of 40 however it will only be 27. She said “Thank God because we’re busy”. Our reservation was at 4 and we didn’t get seated until maybe 20-30 min later. Which we all understood somewhat because they were busy. We all sat down and our waiter immediately came to us and took down our drink orders. However we didn’t get our drinks for over 20 minutes because he had other tables to serve as well. ONE waiter to serve 27 people. PLUS handle other tables. Well.. it’s far from over. It was nearly a hour before our food orders were taken. Not quite a hour but nearly. At this point we’re all pretty dissatisfied. The crabs came out super fast. And honestly… they were good crabs. We were in good spirits that the service was going to be better. But unfortunately it got worse. We had several children with us that ordered simple dishes such as chicken tenders… Mac and cheese… 20 min go by… 30.. 40… ok so now I get up and ask the lady at the podium in the front for the supervisor. She said she is the supervisor. I advised her of the situation and my frustration. She tells me “what do you want me to do about it? I can’t do anything about that it’s not my fault. We are short staffed.” I then tell her that we had a reservation and was advised that you would be able to handle a party of 40! She said “we don’t do reservations here”…. Huh? I’m confused because when I came in I advised you that we were here for this reservation at 4 and you knew exactly what I was speaking of. Well at this point our children were so hungry that we just have them the appetizer that finally came out. After the food came out for our children nearly a hour later … again… my son didn’t get his dish. So his sisters had to split their food with him because he was so hungry. This was a horrible experience. What was supposed to be a great time with family became an EXHAUSTING and stressful day because of the experience from this restaurant. After 3 crabs I lost my appetite because of the stress this restaurant caused. Same with my husband who is a USMC vet by the way.. by the time his food came out he didn’t have an appetite any longer he just wanted to leave. Well… we had high hopes for you Captain Johns Seafood… high hopes.. never again though. Side note : we know the waiter did the best he could. We don’t place any...

Unfortunately this was my worst experience at Captain John's and I doubt that I will ever be back, is no longer worth the long drive to get there or the outrageous expense. I took my wife and twin sons there the evening of Thursday, August 4, 2022, and it wasn't until we received the bill (since it wasn't publicly disclosed or displayed anywhere) that we discovered a surcharge of $5.31 (which appears to be 3% of the total bill before tax based on my calculation) for use of a "credit" card. We also discovered (since alcohol prices aren't displayed in the menu either) that we were charged $17 ($16.99) for a pitcher of draft beer (which is way overpriced). So in addition to the surcharge itself, we also paid the MD state sales tax (6%) on the surcharge, and the 9% alcohol tax on top of the overpriced pitcher of draft beer. I asked our waitress if I used my debit card (which is the same as cash) then would I be charged the cash price and she said yes, but that wasn't the case at all. So instead of a "credit" card surcharge as displayed on the bill, they're really charging a surcharge for use of any card transaction (which should be transparent and made known to customers upfront but is not), and that surcharge should not be taxed the additional MD state sales tax. The alcohol prices should be transparent and made known upfront too. As far as the food, it was good, but definitely not worth the increased cost and expense compared to the smaller portion sizes and very little crab meat that came in the lump crab dip appetizer (was too creamy with hardly any crab meat, mostly just sauce, no lump at all) and soup (both cream of crab and MD crab soups had very little crab meat in them and no lump at all). So don't waste your time ordering these items or alcohol. We've had a lot better experiences in the past the others times we've been, but now it appears that Captain John's has gone down hill and not lived up to the reputation it once had. For my family of 4 the total bill was $194 before tip, and the recommended tip amount was 18% ($33) or 20% ($36). I left a $25 tip which was way more than sufficient for the level of service we received). So for the $220 I spent that night for the 4 of us to eat, we should've received a lot better and I can think of other great places to eat that wouldnt have cost us near that amount of money. So you got me this time Captain John's but...

Went to dinner for my moms birthday which was my family's first dining experience post-pandemic. Had no issue making a reservation or with being seated. The biggest problem was service. Our server was incompetent and negligent in experience. I noticed that the other servers were doing what appeared to be a great job servicing their patrons, however ours lacked attention to detail and hospitality. He made us feel very unwelcome in the establishment. He also kept suggesting items that were "cheaper" while ordering which made us feel inferior (insinuating we couldn't afford what we intended to order). He did poor job of making menu recommendations. He also did a poor job when taking our orders because once the food finally did come, everything was wrong. He brought us food we didn't order which held up our wait time even longer. We had a reservation at 6pm, but didn't get our food until 7:15-7:25pm and watched how other tables who came after us got their food (and drinks) before us. When the food finally came, he didn't even bring utensils! We had to go inside the restaurant to get them ourselves. We finally had to call for Management when our check was brought to us with items we never ordered. I also overheard our server disrespectfully calling us names while going to the bathroom. Our server did this in the lobby area of the restaurant for others to hear which was extremely unprofessional. It's sad that our server was not immediately reprimanded by the manager who was a witness to this. However, the same manager did apologize on server's behalf, which we slightly appreciated. In conclusion, what was supposed to be a celebratory event, turned into a disastrous evening that left us feeling emotionally drained. I will NEVER patronize any establishment that doesn't properly vet and then train its employees. During these rather difficult times where most Americans are slowly getting back to going out in public, most of our anxieties are already higher than normal, so you would think restaurants would go above and beyond to make most dining experiences a pleasant one, with the goal of retaining future business! Also, our server did not wear his mask properly over his mouth and nose, although the other...