Jakes Crab Shack

I’ve been coming been coming down to the shore for over ten years. These bars down here don’t even try anymore because they have no competition. Stumbled upon jack’s crab house and couldn’t have been happier. Food was amazing and our server Kylie was very attentive. I will be back. Try the coconut shrimp, out if this world.

I’d say this place is a solid three-​stars. We ate here for lunch when we were in the mood for something other than your standard, fried boardwalk food. Surprisingly it was a lot better than we thought. Everything was reasonably priced and the portions were rather large. I ordered the Crab Pot which came with an overwhelming amount of food and was fairly well cooked and seasoned. My wife went with a cheeseburger, but unfortunately that was overcooked. Overall it’s an OK place, especially for the area. The came out fast but the service was a bit sparce, otherwise I’d say it was overall one of the better options for a real meal on the boardwalk.

First time here for the price the good was ok the Crab Bisque was good NE Cl Chowder was very watery. My wife had fish and chips it was full of grease and had no flavor besides the breeding fell off. I had the Crab Pot not bad but was filling. Doubt if I come back. The service was good but very noisy and tight.

I am glad I ignored all the bad reviews and went to Jake’s. This is the first review they have had after Sandy destroyed their restaurant. It is now a semi permanent food truck. We had the crab balls and crab cake sandwich, both were good. Good boardwalk fries too. Yummy home made lemonade. Pricing is in line with NJ boardwalk food prices. Kid at the register said they are planning on rebuilding the restaurant for next summer.

Having participated in the Lighthouse Challenge this week end and in the mood for fresh seafood, we thought we’d give this place a try for lunch today.
WHAT A MISTAKE. The place was pretty much empty other than our party of four and another table of ⁸⁄₁₀ people, half of whom were kids under teenage.
We ordered one appetizer, two fish and chips and two fish fillet sandwiches.
Approximately 30 minutes later… three of the four orders arrived, cold. Then the fourth arrived soggy. The fries and fish were awful, obviously hadn’t changed the oil in the fryer all week end, and, our waitress was too busy watching the Giants game on TV to care.
I would reccommend this place to someone I really don’t like– should have had a McDonalds fish sandwich combo, at least I know the oil is changed and the fries are good.

Would have been a 1-​star review for food but the great beachside patio adds another star. For a place to be called a crab shack you expect their crab to be the best they’ve got. What I got at 8.49 was 4 tablespoons’ worth of mostly-​batter, claw meat (in other words not lump meat), morsels dripping with grease. Their other signature item, freshly squeezed lemonade, was sugar ice water with a halved lemon thrown in. It was tooth achingly sweet and barely had any lemon flavor. Another review stated it wasn’t sweet which is why I sprang for a large 6-​dollar cup of this, and it was an expensive disappointment. Such a shame to spoil such a good location with raging mediocrity.

I thought the food was really good here. I read some of the other reviews, and fortunately, I did not experience any of those problems. My bf and I ordered the Sloppy Jake crab cake sandwich with lettuce, tomato, swiss cheese, russian dressing and coleslaw and it was delicious. I’ll agree with all of the other reviews, it was a little small for me for the price. We also had beach fries which were PERFECT. Usually when I order fries, i don’t finish them, but I ate every single fry.
The only complaint my fiancé’ and I both had was that we thought we could get a big basket of beach fries, but we actually got a minuscule box. We felt it should have been bigger.
The lemonade was made just the way I like it… not too sweet. As we were leaving, I asked the waitress for more ice, and she actually refilled my cup and gave me an entire cup of lemonade. I thought that was nice, considering lemonade costs $ 3.50 a cup.
Overall, Jake’s was ok with me. I will return next time I’m in Belmar.

The pictures of the food they post are a lie. I went out of my way for the lobster roll after seeing the picture on Facebook. Not even close! With a soda it was 20 dollars. It was a little lobster with Mayo on a hot dog roll and a coke in a paper cup. It is on the beach but I live here so for 20 dollars you can eat like a king at lunch and much better food too. Ie. Harrigans, jacks, etc

I agree with everyone else who rated this place poorly. We were one of maybe 6 tables in the restaurant and it took over 30 minutes to get our order. Staff was friendly and apologized for the long wait, but it’s really unacceptable to wait that long especially for the sub par food that was served. I accepted a much better meal for that long of a wait.
I ordered the blackened tuna which was very expensive for the 3 ounces that came out. Not to mention it was fully cooked, I expected the tuna to be seared. My girlfriend ordered a blackened chicken sandwich. Portions were incredibly small and expensive. The blackened seasoning was probably 90% salt and I’ll have to drink 3 gallons of water a day for a week to reduce my sodium level now.
I do not recommend this place at all, if you want seafood, it’s worth the walk to Mr. Shrimp, they are actually a real seafood place, they just aren’t on the beach.

So, I came here after I was craving crabs after spending the day at the beach. I had really high expectations from this place, especially because it’s a family business and was located down the shore (I would expect the seafood to be great!). Unfortunately, that was not the case. Don’t get me wrong, the food wasn’t bad, but not what I had initially expected.
So, where do I start? Service was extremely slow and inattentive. After waiting for about 5 minutes (with tons of empty tables outside), we were finally told to sit down by Jake himself. We probably waited another 5 – 10 minutes for the menu to come out. While eating there, we saw at least 2 different parties sit down and then leave after waiting such a long time to be attended. I understand this is a family run business but in my opinion, that should make the service friendlier than a chain restaurant.
Food was good, but not great. Food was fresh and portion size was good. We ordered the bucket of blue claw crabs, served with home made French Fries and corn on the cob. The crabs weren’t really well seasoned.
In all honesty, if it wasn’t for the slow service, I would probably give this place 3 stars. Unfortunately, you can find better service at Joe’s Crab Shack.

sadly there are no less then one star to give this place!
1– expensive food for tiny portion i mean sample portions!
2– food is not even near good (ceaser salad made with field greens and balsamic!!! crab cakes taste like frozen $ 2 crab cakes box you get from shop rite)
To be fair the staff was friendly, but sadly i was not there for that!
there are few other choice on the shore you can get a decent bite to eat and enjoy it and pay less!
a definite do not recommend

Great food, great atmosphere, quiet and cozy. Jets and Giants football on a 12 ft screen and beer and liquor delivered (b.y.o). Why is this place not packed out every day?