Ms. Apples Crab Shack — Restaurant in Merritt Island

If you're looking for a fancy sit down seafood restaurant, this is not for you.

BUT, if you get excited about eating with your hands and ending your dining experience with food all over your hands/face/clothes/hair (yes, hair...hammers were involved in this whole fooding process), Ms. Apples is a must-try in this area.

Food: The menu is a list of 15(?) choices, all less than $12. I chose the #3: Garlic Crab and Shrimp. It came with 3 blue crabs and 15+ shrimps, smothered in their special garlic sauce. At first glance, I thought the garlic sauce would be overpowering and I actually wanted to taste the crab and shrimp. But whatever else was mixed in with the garlic in the sauce made everything work really well together with the seafood, which itself was very fresh and flavorful.

Atmosphere/Presentation: This place is really a seafood market with a bunch of picnic tables outside, not a restaurant. I got my meal extremely fast, mostly because it was pre-packaged and waiting in the fridge. There are several microwaves around for people to use, and next to them are directions for how much time to nuke the food (organized by the meal #). Note: I went at somewhat of an odd hour to eat (~4pm), so unsure if this is the norm. I did see some customers pick out live crabs from the tanks and have them cook everything fresh, but no idea if the prices differ for this option.

My only regret is that I wore business clothes and went back to work afterwards. Everyday life lessons: Garlicky breath and stained pants do not get you promoted. Actually, no. I regret nothing.

Overall experience? Messy...

From a restaurant owner, I know how it feels when the food gets wasted, but what the owner did was pure robbery. Last year, I wrote a review about how they switched out my live crabs I caught with dead ones. I came here again today with my wife after a year and the owner did the exact same thing to us. The price for regular size crabs is 10.95 and jumbo crabs is 11.95. Not caring about a dollar difference, we went for the jumbo ones. I took my time and caught all the healthy/active ones in the container, in total, I bought 12 crabs and the total was 110 plus $3 cooking fee. My wife gave her 120 and she returned back $2, when we looked confused and about to raise a question about the short change, the owner beat us to it and pointed out the missing $5 and blame on her age. We laughed it off and went outside, 15 mins later we received our crabs. The first few ones on top were full of meat, as it should, because I carefully picked them. We ate 4 crabs and left, later that night we ate the remaining but let me just say the remaining ones were tiny, the meat was shrunk and odor from being old. Something that shouldnt happen from the live crabs I caught, I bought 12 and only 11 were in the bag, we didnt count until we started eating them, they used to put a lot of spices on the crabs, now it was barely there and not much flavor. Overall, this place takes advantage of you not being around and switched out the crabs, along with taking back some when you have a lot in the bucket. It is just a poor practice and should be called out. I will more cautious if I ever come...

My family has been coming for years. We come for the live Blue crab and shrimp.. They will cook the crabs but be prepared for slow service and long waits for microwave if you eat there. We enjoy the picnic atmosphere and if you come prepared, you can make it truly delicious. We pack for a picnic. You will need a roll of paper towels as it's messy and theirs is too little and non absorbent. Bring paper bowls for melting your own butter. Apples " butter" is not good. You will wish for really good butter when you order the crabs. If you like lots of Cajun seasoning, bring a can of old bay along. Bring crab crackers and crab hammers. You will need them and they don't sell them. Bring a real knife and paper plates and plastic sturdy silverware. Bring hand soap (outdoor sinks are convenient but often lack soap). We also bring watermelon, desserts and drinks to round out our picnic. Bathrooms get an F! Update: today we waited an hour and no blue claw crabs! Update: found an amazing seafood take out place with picnic tables with all of the amenities that Ms,Apple lacks plus SPARKLING clean bathrooms! Will make a review of my...