Schultz's Crab House — Restaurant in Middle River

My family has patronized this small, unpretentious oh-so-blue-collar restaurant near the water in a working class neighborhood outside Baltimore City since it opened in the last sixties. It has always been a "go to" place for lunch, dinner, and eat in or carry out crabs for those of us raised in the neighborhood. Fancy, it's not, with knotty pine walls decorated with stuffed fish, a tile floor, metal framed chairs, and formica tables covered in white paper to accommodate steamed crab picking.

The menu is seafood heavy (though one of my Mom's favorite lunches here was the homemade chicken salad), and crab, fresh from the Chesapeake Bay (in season) is king here. This is one of the few Baltimore area places that still serves an old-fashioned crab cake (broiled or fried) made of backfin. The newer, trendy lump crab cake is on the menu, too, but we "purists" prefer the taste of the one's like Mom made at home, using all the meat (lump to claws)from crabs left over from a crab picking. The flavor of the Old Bay just seems to blend better with the sweet meat when smaller pieces of crab are used.

Of course, yesterday's lunch started with a cup of the Maryland (tomato based) crab soup, chock full of fresh vegetables, with an ample portion of crab meat. This version of this classic, spicy hot soup is as authentic as it gets. The cream of crab is excellent, too, though very filling and, therefore, not recommended as the start of a big meal.

The lunch entrée was another favorite, the crab fluff. Basically it is a crab cake dipped in batter and fried. Crisp outside, so moist and creamy inside that the tartar sauce accompanying it is hardly needed. The choice of side dishes is limited, but the quintessential fries and cole slaw (fresh made) are available, as well as house made macaroni and potato salad and a couple of hot vegetables. My fries were hot and well cooked and my house salad of lettuce, tomato, onion, olives and croutons was excellent. The ranch dressing served on the side was above average. A dessert of chocolate mousse cake with whipped cream was fresh and will please any chocolate lover. Not overly sweet, it was the perfect close to a very satisfying meal.

This is a restaurant that is extremely consistent in providing quality food and good to excellent service. The meals are not as fancy, but often as good as those served in the much pricier restaurants in the Inner Harbor. Baltimore has always been a blue collar town. If a visitor wants to experience how "real" people in Baltimore live and how they eat, this is one of the few places left that truly has the "vibe" of...

Had my son call and ask if they had 2 dollar crabs, they said yes. So i call back to order and they said just come in. When i sent a friend to get them the price changed and some young kid get on the phone n said if i was going to make such a deal over the price difference that oh well go someplace else. Its not just the price difference now it the fact that my son then i was lied to now its its the way im being disrespected by some young kid .so i asked to talk to his manager and he said its going to be awhile and he would pick up the phone n hang it back up twice to make a loud clunking noise in my ear then the third time after 14 mins of games he hung up on me .i called back and he put his buddy co worker on the line acting to be his manager and called me a lier it never happened. So had my friend go back so he could find the real manger and stood there for 27 mins to have her basically tell me he made a mistake n its a misunderstanding. Ok i give it the price thing maybe .but clunking the phone in my ear n sitting on hold for 14 mins and lieing about the buddy being a manger wasnt a misunderstanding . So the f/m who said she was the owner i will be calling tomorrow to find out how such a great place my family dined at for yrs could turn ugly in just a couple yrs .this place was a great family environment with a worm cozy feeling with the best food in the area turn into a less then average place .so sad when people loose control of what they worked so hard to build there...

This is our third time this summer going there 1st time great the shrimp we got awesome, service was good , second time ,we got crabs and shrimp both was not good the jumbo shrimp was tough and hard to peel crabs was supposed to be jumbo but looked like smalls paid 60 dollars for crabs that were paper shells service ok, today we went for the very last time horrible service waitress named barb, according to the bill she never introduced herself we ordered 2 lbs of shrimp couldn't even eat them she took them back after I explained to her you can't peel them they are over cooked and so small it's crazy she said what you want me to do I said take them I don't want any more, of the shrimp is horrible she said they were young boys in the back probably didn't pay attention to timer, my Husband really wanted shrimp so she took them back and had more brought Back that looked the same but he ate them we also ordered crabs once again the crabs ,we ordered she came to the table with the crab bucket and mallots and took them back with her my husband had to ask for them, he said you took them back with you she said oh did I ordered a beer and my husband ordered a beer after she brought the crabs it was the last time we saw her I had to get a bus boy to get me a Coke she finally came with the bill and I had to take it to her this service is got today was horrible and the food here is not what it used to be nor the service last time I will visit and sure will tell...