Crab Alley — Restaurant in Ocean City

Let me start out by saying we came here on a recommendation from a friend for the “best” crab cakes in Ocean City. It had been pouring for hours but finally stopped, so we sat up on the covered patio. We should have known the second we sat down and watched a server drop a bag of chips on the dirty wet floor and place them directly on top of a plate of food headed out to a table what kind of experience we were about to have. Our server Camden was a pleasant young chap of about 5’7”, calm demeanor and a shoo-in for a Corbin Bleu lookalike contest. Our service was excellent and not the subject of this review. The hushpuppies were so small and hard they could have served as ammunition for the war against Russia or even torpedos in the great mollusk war. They would have been better served shipped to Ukraine to help the cause. They are lucky we didn't chip a tooth or we’d be sending them our dental bills. The coleslaw was straight mayo and cabbage. No flavor, no seasoning, not even salt and pepper. You’ll instantly know where all of the mayo in the building went. The malt vinegar on the table might “seem” like a good idea to zhuzh it up, but you would be sadly mistaken. It didn't necessarily make it worse, but definitely didn't make it better. If you put fairy dust on garbage, it’s still garbage. The green beans were steamed with the highest quality tap water that Delaware can buy and served from faucet-to-table as any high-end establishment would. Again, we were at a loss for butter or seasoning. Remember, they spent their seasonal budget on the mayo. On to the proteins! Three of our party went for those amazing crab cakes we had heard so much about. This is where that mayo budget strikes again. Camden said they were the size of his palm, so we each ordered just one; two fried and one broiled. They must be growers not showers. Three fried came out and, bless Camden’s heart, he couldn’t even tell the difference. We could understand if they were small but mighty (with flavor) but it was all canned crab and mayo. I tried to pour some Old Bay on that bad boy but it only made the little pocket demon more nauseating. To give them some credit, although mushy, they were made of mostly crab. However, those crabs died in vane. The rest of our party ordered steaks, both medium. One came out like shoe leather and the other still mooing. Lack of seasoning was a prominent feature once again. I've never seen a grown woman use ketchup on her steak until that day. Other highlights of the meal included a battle that ensued over closing the adjacent window at a neighboring table. We found that to be pretty entertaining, as well as the fragrant smell of the devil’s lettuce wafting up from the parking lot below. That, mixed with the invigorating scent of low tide really was the spotlight of the evening. Good lord, this place was bad. I’m just glad this was our first meal of the trip. This meal set our standards super low. It could only go up from here. We cannot stress enough how much we DO NOT recommend eating here. But please give...

The food was absolutely amazing and the service we received for the first part of our experience was amazing as well! However during our experience we received a complaint from the workers that a seated nearby white family made, and it was regarding the volume level coming from my autistic 4 year old cousins IPad. Had the family actually came up to us personally and asked us nicely to turn the volume down rather than make a complaint to the staff it would’ve gone down differently but this was not the case. Now I understand this particular event wasn’t the employees fault but something that really struck a nerve and got me upset was when things went south and all the employees were coming at me and family as if we were the attackers. Need I mention that the adult man from the family who made the complaint stood up and acted as if he wanted to fight my MINOR BROTHER!!!!! yet my family and I were still being talked to and treated as if we were the ones overreacting and causing a scene. “You guys are prolonging your stay” one of the employees stated as if we didn’t pay a bill of $500+ for our service!!!! If we paid for this amount for service what are we prolonging????? I’d hate to make it about race but it really sure seems like it, and the way the other family and the rest of the waiters handled the situation made it very clear that’s what this was about. All of the workers were holding us back, but did nothing when the white family stood up and gave us the same energy we gave them. While my mother and aunt were trying to de-escalate the situation, the 2 older white ladies from the family who made the complaint were doing the complete opposite by yelling stuff and adding fuel to the fire, yet my family and I were the ones being told to stop calm down and practically getting kicked out, in addition on top of this, one of the employees even came up to us and stated “I don’t know what’s going on but you guys needs to leave” you want to tell us this isn’t about race but there’s so many factors in this situation that clearly points it out that it is. The employees made it seem as if we were the attackers and the other family members were the victims. The family had mentioned they understand as they work with special needs kids, but God forbid they do because who knows how they’re treated there. Once again i’d like to make it clear that the food was great but the way my family and I were treated towards the end was absolutely unacceptable. There was certainly a right way to go about the situation but the way they went about it was...

If I could give zero stars, I would.

I've been coming to OC, MD for 16 years. Of that, I've been coming to Crab Alley for about 10. Every year since I've started, both food and service have been getting abysmal. I'm a single person and vacation solo by choice. I should've stopped coming here 2 years ago after an incident involving overhearing my server telling a colleague I was STILL eating (it was 8:15 - they closed at 9) and likely wasn't going to tip (even with hearing that, I tipped 20% after he only came to my table twice: to drop off my drink and dinner, not even checking on the meal, and to drop the check). Last night I arrived at 7:40 and was taken upstairs, seated between 3 tables that were eating and left with a menu and nothing else. 5 minutes go by, I see another table sat. Another 5 minutes go by, a server comes, bypassing me and going to the next table to chit chat. I'm actively looking at her trying to engage her attention. By now, it's almost 8pm, I'm starving and in need of water (it was still in the mid80s at 8pm). Not once did she look at me or acknowledge me, so I grabbed my keys and walked back downstairs to my car. It was only when I get to the stairs and hit the parking lot I hear "Ma'am ma'am.. we're you waiting on a server?" and after responding yes, am told "Oh she's downstairs, we're short staffed." The place had maybe 9 tables total (up and downstairs) with 4 servers and a few at the bar. If it takes you 12-15 minutes to greet your table, then you need better communication between your hostess (who was sitting at the booth closest to the kitchen) and your serving staff or have someone greet your table for you so they're acknowledged. I took my business to Sellos a block away, had a fabulous meal, fantastic service and will recommend them to anyone who wants a dinner rec. Crab Alley - do better. It shouldn't take a patron leaving for your wait staff to...