The Crabby Oyster — Restaurant in Seaside

The Crabby Oyster on Broadway had a “crabby” front desk gentleman that didn’t want to serve us.

We walked in and saw 2 families before us and kindly asked to order to-go. Less than 5 minutes later, we asked if it was possible to dine-in because no one was behind us and the two families before us was seated. The rude gentlemen there said “we don’t do that. It’s not allowed. People do that all the time to cut the line.” Mind you, there was absolutely no one waiting behind us. He told us there would be no one to serve us if we decided to dine in (the time was 3:40pm) but if we wanted to wait until the next shift change at 4pm, we could. His shift was over at 4pm I guess and he didn’t want to serve us. I asked him would it be possible to give us our to-go plates and let us eat in one of the many empty seats, and he said “no” because no one would serve us, which I said we don’t mind. Then he proceeded with another excuse of “they can’t replate the dishes because theyre already in to-go containers”. Once again, we didn’t need dishes as they were in to-go containers as he said. I questioned, what difference would it make if I was to cancel my to-go order and ask to dine in, and he argumentatively replied “then cancel it. You don’t have to stay here.” I was very non-confrontational and asked for clarification especially since no one was waiting behind us and we wanted to eat-in as there was no tables outside to eat. The rude gentlemen proceeded to cancel our order without us telling him to cancel it. Excuses after excuses with no proper explanation of why his ridiculous rule would apply to us because once again, there was absolutely nobody waiting behind us. So not only did he lose two customers because of his poor, rude attitude, but now the food that was supposedly plated was now possibly wasted. Good job idiot. If you’re having a bad day, and are done with tourists, don’t take it out on customers. Just go find another job because I’m sure someone who is more grateful than you would do a better job, like the sweet lady who helped us before his rude self came along. The lady that took our order had black/dark brown hair and glasses. Thank you for your kindness. However she also didnt intervene when the rude employee created a scene. She was on the computer behind him not saying a word as he was flailing his arms in irritation. If you’re the owner and you’re reading this, get rid of that employee or write him up about his behavior. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time because he was so confident in being rude to us and didn’t hesitate. Keep it up dude. You’re costing this restaurant money. Get some training and therapy, then try again. We did however go next store to Sam’s Seaside Cafe. Waaaay better service and...

"Save Your Money and Your Sanity – The Crabby Oyster Is a Complete Joke"

Do yourself a favor and run the other direction if you see this place. The Crabby Oyster is hands down the most pathetic excuse for a seafood restaurant I’ve ever had the misfortune of stepping into.

We were told this place had “good food”—whoever said that must’ve been high or paid off. It was garbage from beginning to end. My brother and his wife ordered the "seafood feast for two" which turned out to be nothing more than a sad, overpriced bucket of disappointment. For $100+, you’d expect a spread. What they got was a few scraps that looked like leftovers from someone else’s plate. It wouldn’t even fill one person, let alone two.

I kept it simple and ordered a bacon egg cheeseburger, thinking they couldn’t possibly mess that up. I was dead wrong. The egg was cooked to hell and dry as cardboard, but somehow the burger itself was still rare. Fries? Over-salted and soggy. You’d get better quality at a truck stop.

And then there’s my partner’s order—which didn’t even show up until they were closing. That’s right, her food came out cold right before we were told we had to leave. She didn’t even get to eat. And when she voiced a completely valid complaint, the waitress (one of their main ones, unfortunately) basically said, “Well, I can just take it back and not charge you.” No apology. No attempt to fix it. Just attitude. Like we were the problem.

Oh, and let me not forget—we had to practically beg for ice water. Literal water. The one thing that should be the easiest to bring to a table. Our server acted like it was a chore to acknowledge us at all until she absolutely had to. Zero urgency. Zero care. She flat-out ignored us for most of the time we were there.

Meanwhile, the staff were cleaning around us like we were intruding in their space. You could feel the energy—like they just wanted us gone. Even worse, some of the staff were speaking Spanish (which I understand enough of), and they were definitely making jokes about us while we were still sitting there. Unbelievable. Unprofessional. Disrespectful.

Bottom line: This place is trash. The food is overpriced and underwhelming, the service is rude and lazy, and the atmosphere is straight-up hostile. Do NOT waste your time or money here. If you’re in Seaside, Oregon and thinking about going to The Crabby Oyster, go literally anywhere else. Cross the street, go to a food truck, eat gas station sushi—you’ll have a better experience than you will here.

Wouldn’t eat here again if...

We have been here quite a few times to eat and it's always been great. This last time was a little frustrating though. It was memorial day weekend so busy was to be expected. We ordered food to go and I will say that an attitude was not what I expected. It's a long story but let's just say that I was disappointed with the service. I know it can get crazy and overwhelming but giving attitude to a guest is a sure way to lose business. We decided to get to go because we could see that it was busy and eating in our room looking at the ocean was a better option for us . One of the 2 employees looked sort of confused so I assumed she was new and I understand how hard that can be. The other thought that calling me "Hon" would cancel out the attitude she was throwing around. She took our order and didn't write it down, and said she didn't know when it would be ready because it "was busy". My husband said we would be back in 20 and asked if we would need a receipt and her answer was "I don't know, will you need a receipt?" I mean... come on. We paid cash, so we didn't know if there were other people working there or how they would know that that was our food and she said " don't worry Hon, I'll remember ". It was just super annoying because we could see that they were busy and I was sympathetic to their situation as I've been busy at my place of business as well. I will say that I don't know what happens before we got there so she might have been legitimately just trying to get through her day, but hopefully she made it through the rush and had a better afternoon. I'm certain in that line of work it can be hit-or-miss so I'm not angry. At the end of the day this is still a great place to eat and the people are still fairly friendly. I think it would be helpful if they remembered that working in a seafood restaurant in a town next to the ocean on Memorial Day weekend is going to be busy. And plan...