Crab Shack — Restaurant in Port Richey

I usually don’t give bad reviews, but I’ve never been so upset about a restaurant experience. The location is somewhat hidden, but it sits in a nice spot by the water, complete with a decent waterfront seating area and live music, which initially gave us high hopes. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives end.

To start with, while not the restaurant’s fault, the place was ridiculously crowded. It wasn’t just a normal crowd of people sitting at tables—there was literally no room to walk through. This made the experience uncomfortable from the get-go.

Now, moving onto the service side of things, which was inexcusable. We were seated and waited a full 15 minutes just to place our drink orders. After that, it took another 20 minutes for our food orders to be taken. Our appetizer didn’t arrive until a full 40 minutes later, and the main courses were even worse. It took at least another hour for the entrees to start coming out. When they finally did, only two of the four dishes arrived, and one of them had a stale bun. By the time the third entree came out, we had already been filling up on drinks, and the two people who had received their food were nearly finished. As for the fourth entree, we were told it was “accidentally dropped at another table” and would take even longer—despite already having waited for over an hour and a half. To make matters worse, people who arrived after us were getting their food within 20-30 minutes. At that point, we’d had enough and decided to leave, but when we asked for boxes to take leftovers, none were provided.

When the bill came, the server said she’d apply a discount for the long wait, which we appreciated, but when the check arrived, only the standard 10% military discount had been applied—nothing else as promised for the poor service and long wait. I was hoping for some form of acknowledgment for the time we wasted, but that clearly wasn’t a priority.

On top of all that, when we tried to express our dissatisfaction to the server on our way out, she refused to take any responsibility. Instead of apologizing or trying to fix the situation, she proceeded to blame everyone but herself and suggested we “apply to the restaurant” if we had an issue with the wait. She even sarcastically remarked, “Feel free to leave a $0.00 tip,” which was beyond unprofessional and disappointing. As someone who used to work as a server at a busy seafood restaurant, I know how important it is to listen to feedback, especially when customers wait over two hours for full service, and the service they receive is subpar at best. To react the way she did, instead of attempting to make things right, is completely unacceptable.

For context, we arrived at 2:15 PM and left at 5:00 PM, having spent almost three hours looking for a simple lunch. Overall, I can’t say enough how frustrating and disappointing this experience was. Between the disorganized service, the poor food quality, and the unprofessional attitude of the server, I won't...

Update Reply To The Owner: Absolutely not a fake review. I provided a copy of my receipt. Your lack of acceptance or response further shows how bad the service is, and that the owners would rather claim spam than address the issues at their own restaurant.

Update: Even more a reason to not come here, the owner has addressed every other positive review but this one. They don't care if you get bad service.

We went on a Saturday night with a party of 6 for our father's birthday. After we sat we were greeted quickly and the server took our drink order. When she came back with the drinks, we gave her our order. I ordered a Buffalo Chicken wrap and asked for no ranch and no tomatoes. The server began to read back the tables order and did not repeat it back correctly. I told her no ranch and tomatoes and she said "I know I know I have to do it this way." At 7:12pm the tables order came out (I specifically looked because after watching 2 other tables have issues the food came out in about 45 minutes, which we thought was great.) My meal was not made correctly. The "food runner" (the job title she gave herself) said she would have it made correctly and left the incorrect meal on the table. Our server was never notified. She came back about 20 minutes later and I had to ask about my meal and then said they were still remaking the wrap. The untouched wrap still sitting on the table, the server never questioned it, nothing. By now my family is done eating, getting to go boxes and the check because everything is taking so long. At 7:44pm my new meal finally came out. Again it was made incorrectly. We now asked the see the manager. The "not the manager" (as she described herself, think her name was Loraine) came over and said she was never informed there were issues, and while apologetic, it was way too late. We watched at least 2 other tables have issues she had to address. One table of 6 we watched be told after an hour, their food order never made it to the kitchen, and the "not the manager" told them point blank and I quote, "if you want to wait another hour we can make your food". The table got up and left. No management on Saturday night and servers and staff that didn't seem to care. Poor way to run a restaurant. I will never come back and would recommend that you don't waste your time either. Thank you for comping the bill, and thank you for ruining our father's...

Tonight we came in, as we did on many other occasions. We asked for a table for 3 & were informed by the host that do to a large party, that was taking over 1/2 the restaurant, it would be 15-30 minutes “while we allow the kitchen to catch up”. We said fine and he said we could wait at the bar. We went to the bar and tray after tray of food come out of the kitchen. We watched people just walk in and sit at a table & get served. We didn’t want to eat at the bar. We wanted a table. After 30 minutes my husband went to check on a table & was told by the same Asian gentleman that he was going to check with the manager & be right back. He never came back. I went up to the podium & the same host was speaking with a couple, telling them the same thing he told us 30+ minutes prior. He ended by saying he was going to find his manager. My turn. I told him he needed to get his manager, right now. He said yeah & started to assist another customer. I said No, you need to find your manager, right now. He walked away & never came back. I went back to the bar & informed the people I was with that we either need to order at the bar or go somewhere else. We decided to order at the bar. We wanted dinner. While we were looking at the menu, same host came by & said oh, you decided to eat at the bar. I said yes, because you seem to be struggling to do your job. He started to make excuses & I asked him to please just go away & allow us to enjoy dinner. While he was walking away he said, “you don’t like it, you can go to McDonalds”. There was a couple beside us who said, wow did you hear that, who was he talking to. I said me. With this we were done. Part of my party walked out and was considering walking out without taking care of our check. I stayed behind to take care of it. I never did see a manager and sadly, we’ll never be back. Never in my husband’s 75 & my 62 years have we ever been treated this way at an establishment we’re just trying to support! Guess they don’t need our support, and I’m telling all my friends!!!! PS And we don’t even...