Jay's Crab Shack — Restaurant in Ocean City

Instead of Crab Shack it should be called CRAP Shack!! We came for lunch and had a horrible experience. The waitress was rude and actually made us feel so not welcome we had to ask is it OK to come in. She rudely said sit where ever. The tables and long counter are so filthy from grease and other sticky stuff that they are discolored. Now that could be a sign it gets packed since we read reviews that said the best seafood and crab cakes in Ocean City. Besides our better judgement and rude waitress we ordered only one order to try of the famous crab cake sandwich (caution measure). The waitress practically threw the plate down and when we noticed it was missing cole slaw she huffed and rolled her eyes and went to get it. The crab cake if you can call it that was what I call crab mush on a bun. It was like it had been chopped up and regurgitated slop mushed together and placed on a Portuguese type roll. It had crab in it but no type of garnish or toppings. No tarter sauce or lemon. It came with french fries which you can tell where cooked in old oil. We tasted it..disgusting! The thing that finally made me take action was the broken wilted little piece of romaine lettuce under the french fries. It looked like it was remnant from another's meal that was stuck to the plate. I spoke to the young chef or non-chef behind the counter who had prepared our food. Very brave to cook in front of your guests and serve such crap. I asked him what is this? holding up the romaine piece. He ignored me and after my insistence for an answer he said, decoration. I told him he needs to work on that! Then informed him we are not paying for this horrible food. Gave the waitress and him a good lecture on food safety, quality, and customer service. The response was...we are young and with a I don't care arrogant look stated the real chef is not here so just leave. Stay Away from Jay's...

We had an extremely unprofessional experience with this restaurant. I emailed the night before we wanted to lunch at Jay's to see when they would open, we were told it would open at noon. When we arrived they were late in opening and the waitress who was setting up saw several families waiting outside (with small children) looking in etc. She did not bother to come outside to give us a head's up to say they would be opening late or to invite us in while she finishes getting things ready etc. So about quarter after 12 I called to ask when they would be opening and was told 12:30 to 1, when I referenced the email from the owner she said oh well we are running late (confusion much?). So we decided to go elsewhere but when I emailed the owner just to explain our experience and to clarify their times, I was met with a very short and kind of rude email about how he was in a car accident and had to bend his hood back to a position he could drive in. The email was clearly sent to make us feel guilty for reaching out to him and sounded a bit over the top. It was incredibly unprofessional and tacky. Simply saying there was a personal emergency would have been enough and the tone of the email could have been more pleasant. I totally understand frustrating situations such as accidents, if one occurred, however taking your frustrations out on customers is inappropriate. We will definitely not be going back here. I think if you want to foster good relations with customers this is not the way to do it. Really disappointed because we were looking forward to...

The food was really good and it was served piping hot, which is a rarity for restaurants these days. I had the beer battered shrimp with fries and coleslaw. The shrimp were very fresh and the beer batter coating was staying on the shrimp very nicely and was well seasoned.

The fries were served hot and crispy. I got the plain fries, but they also had Old Bay fries, which other people in my dining party enjoyed.

You could tell they're really making the effort at this place. The indoor dining area wasn't huge but I noticed they were doing a brisk takeout business. They also had a couple of tables outdoors for outdoor dining.

The atmosphere is very casual and surfer chic, if you can put the word chic next to surfer. I suppose a better description would be surfer gnarly, or surfer Spicoli, from the movie 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'. Yep, that's it. This place is totally Spicoli, but instead of tasty waves you get very tasty food.

Our server was attentive and helpful. She was knowledgeable about the menu and was able to accommodate our requests with our food order.

The restroom was clean and well stocked, which is said to be a good indication of how seriously they take cleaning in the parts of the kitchen that customers can't see.

We will definitely be dining here again in the future. This place is definitely worth a try if you are contemplating it. The food is delicious, and it's reasonably priced for the quality and freshness of the food items that...