Joe’s Crab Shack

Joes visit on Feb 13, 2016. Wonderful and quick service! Manager Jeremy and waitress Alex were responsive and nice. Whole family loved the night and kids enjoyed playing on the slide. Food was cooked to perfection and crab was huge! We will be back to this Joes soon! Thank you Jeremy and Alex!

So a bit of a switch a too. Their clam chowder is still some of the best in the city!!! However, it’s NOT the signature bowl!!! The signature bowl is just really potato soup with hits of clam! Get the regular clam chowder but as a bowl instead of a cup… Much more clam and delicious! Again, avoid their signature bowl… I had it and after I complained, they offered to make it right-​huzzah for that!!!

Went with my girlfriends in the middle of the week about an hour after this location opened for the day. There were only two other small parties in the restaurant. Though our server was polite and attentive, the experience as a whole was horrible. Our drinks were horrible, and our food took over an hour to make it to the table. Once our food arrived it was cold and overcooked. We notified our servers who notified the manager. The manager said that he couldn’t understand how that could have happened, and remade ONE of the steam pots. He was very nonchalant and borderline rude and condescending. He offered to remove the appetizers (there was only 2 ordered between the 6 of us) and apply their military discount. When the checks came, none of that was done.

Food marginal at best, How do u ruin a salad? Very disappointing. Have eaten at other locations out of state and they were Fantastic. Don’t waste ur time or $$. Also bathrooms were disgusting. Lose, Lose

Not great expensive and small portions. Then they started singing and dancing around loud and weird

3 $ margaritas, pints and hurricanes during happy hour… Vero is great at the bar. 5 $ appetizers at happy hour too. Chill atmosphere to relax.

Good service, great Dungeness crab dinner. Perfect! Corn on cob sweet, potatoes perfectly cooked. Loved everything about it!

Still my favorite place for seafood ragin cagin pot with two loster claws and the great balls of fire for a starter

Good service, great food, and good cocktails. I even got a discount for being a veteran. They figured it out because I payed with my Usaa card.

Love the food. I am not usually a chain seafood person. But Joe’s is pretty good. The grilled shrimp was good and the steamed crab legs were excellent.
So a night trying to avoid Mexican in San Antonio Joe’s Crab Shack was the perfect choice. The stuff was all friendly and the atmosphere is cool.

Not really too excited about Joe’s Crab Shack, but definitely not excited about this one. For some reason it seems that all the flavor in Alamo Heights seems to be running out. How a restaurant can make Clam Chowder taste like salad is beyond me. However, I have to admit that being able to grab a bowl on a quick trip of the 281 is nice.

I brought my husband here for his birthday because he loves crab meat. Ordered drinks and announced to the waitress it was my husband’s birthday to see if they offered him a free drink, cupcake or dessert like they usually offer anywhere. Our server was very friendly and attentive bringing our drinks out. Only problem is my piña colada came virgin, which came out to be the most expensive on the bill! The food portions were good but bland unfortunately. Nothing to brag about sadly. They sang to him and made him wear a hawaiian skirt but no cake or treat was offered to celebrate the occasion! Boo, last time I’m celebrating a birthday here!!! Only good thing is that it was a happy hour and it was a half price deal for only certain drinks and ours weren’t included! Horrible luck i guess. Don’t know if we’ll wanna be back…

Joes is Joes. You have to go there to get my drift. Rather typical chain seafood restaurant approach with farmed everything on the menu.
The food is decent, will help curb the need for a farm raised seafood fix. I couldn’t order anything fresh from the Gulf, which saddens me.
The wait staff are ok with the service. Seem to not respond as quick as I’d like but there might be a reason for it…
let me let you into the Joe Craziness factor. They break out in dance and song spontaneously, and at your wish. I have to say, it is rather well done and quite fun. The staff and the diners just get up and have a sweet simple fun silly moment, Then the staff runs pell mell to catch up with all they got behind for the moment of silliness.
Joes does fun things for your birthday. Just trust me, they’ll have ya going about collecting stuff from tables, flapping your wings and beaks like a sea gull, and other such silly stuff. Really, it is fun. The people and the character they bring is the primary strength of Joe Crab Shack. The food is standard and ok, prices are typical seafood prices, atmosphere rather standard chain seafood type, but they excel at having fun with you, not at your expense.

We found the food to be way over priced. The service was poor. The waiter was curt. Will never go to this place again.

As I am currently sitting at the table waiting for my food to arrive, this 1-​star review is based only on the fact that I can’t hear a thing because the music is so loud. The two others in my party and I are huddled in a circle at the table yelling at each other and even then can barely hear. I didn’t know I’d need to learn how to read lips to dine here.
Service is okay. I do feel bad that they have to dance and act like they enjoy the overdone routine when certain songs come on. I had to remind the server that my food comes with hush puppies and fries… his excuse was «they always forget that»…doesn’t that mean you, the server, always forget that?
Only redeeming quality is that I love seafood, and the food is good. As long as you don’t mind eating silently and ignoring your table companions.

Partner and I ate Joe’s for the first time and enjoyed the food. We had the jumbo bairdi and snow crab. Really enjoyed it all, but the snow crab was the winner. Also had the crab and lobster queso and it was great.
Our waiter was really nice and friendly although a bit slow on refills and silverware.
We will be back.

Stopped in for dessert and a mixed drink. This Joes is much better than the one on 410 the service was good, the place was packed and the wife liked the dessert.

Post Note ⁹⁄₁₇: I submitted feedback to Corporate offices. They were very responsive and apologized for the lack of customer support. They provided us with a gift certificate.
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I recommend the place be renamed Joe’s Crap Shack.
Save your $$, Go to Woodlawn Lake and catch anything, I’m sure it will be better!!!
Tonight we tried Joe’s after unfavorable experience years ago in Virginia Beach. We should have known better, different city didn’t make a difference.
Ordered variety appetizer (so, so), catfish (ok), and shrimp alfredo (yuck).
First we sat in a booth that I felt something crawling up my arm as the waitress came and took our drink order. I think she may have thought I had parkinsons as I continued to shake my hand for some fuzz feeling.
Then my partner later said you have ant crawling up your arm. I knew it!!! ANd then there was plenty of them all over the dinner table.
We requested another table.
Dinner arrived. The pasta had a funny taste like it had adagio cheese, or bad cheese all together. I told my partner to look at the menu, perhaps we missed that. But the menu did not indicate what type of cheese was in the ingredients. We asked the waitress and she didn’t seem really into it, but convinced her that she should ask the cook, as my partner is allergic to certain cheeses.
She confirmed it was only Parmesan.
We didn’t eat it. Manager came by our table and apologized and did offer to cook something else. We declined. It was a bad dinner.
Strongly recommend management consider better customer service, i.e., offer a desert, drink or woooo why not a discount to our $ 50 meal. We’ll never know, but we’re passing the word on — reconsider dinner away from Joe’s Crap Shack.

It’s unfortunate that I am coming back to drop my original 5 star review to 1. The first 2 times I ate at Joe’s were phenomenal and I rarely drop my ratings after I write a review.
— The temperature in the restaurant was extremely cold and uncomfortable
— I ordered a Piña colada that tasted like freezer odor, I am assuming that the drink is pre-​made a kept frozen which would be ok but, the freezer should at least have ARM & HAMMER™ boxes to absorb the odor
— My wife ordered a ‘Dixie’ salad that was suppose to come with: bacon, hush puppies, fried chicken strips, black beans, and corn relish. When the salad came out it had one chicken strip worth of chicken and hush puppies on a bed of lettuce nothing else that was described on the menu. So she sent back the salad.
— The server was unwelcoming and inattentive
Another thing that just hit me, the manager never even came out after we sent back 2 items in one visit. I know some are thinking that this place is very busy. This was not the case. There were only 5 tables worth of patrons. Needless to say I will not be returning to this location, possibly Joe’s in general.

Lemme just say from the start, at the end of dinner we had ½ off, free appetizer, and $ 20 gift certificate for next visit for everyone at the table. I could smell the rubber bar floor mats from the front door.
Started with drinks, simple… water, we’re not refilled by waitress until 1 hour in.
Took orders at 6:30, 8:15 still no food. Restaurant was emptying out.
Orders distributed wrong/​cold. Asked 2 waiters if this was a «classic steam pot,» got 3 answers. Mine had seasoning on it, I asked for steamed only, no seasoning. I gave up and ate my crab. Everyone at table was having same issues. Butter, tartar sauce was not distributed till later. The manager wanted to make it right, she brought extra crab.
Obviously a new waitress, she tried to make it up by being extra cool with my daughter since it was her birthday, which was brave of her. After our tempers cooled, the manager told us of all the comps she gave us. We appreciated them, but many will not return.
Where else can you get crab in San Antonio? Red lobster? Yeah right. Chinese buffet? Not in the mood to hug a toilet later. Speaking of toilets, don’t restaurants have a back bathroom for employees so we don’t see the guy who cleans the table come out of the sweaty stall and splash water on his hands before scurrying out again?