Joe's Crab Shack

Get the steaming hot pots, for pete's sake, people. It's just fresh seafood steamed, so they can't mess it up. AMAZING staff-totally on the ball even though the sprawling complex has a few different dining rooms. The views are great. A bit expensive, so be prepared. more

Very loud. Very expensive. Terrible food and poor service. Took my children there for Mothers Day. After an hour wait (expected), we got the seat by the door. Poor atmosphere. Ordered lobster. Lobster was overcooked and green. Very salty. Nothing tasted like real seafood. I can't believe I actually left lobster and steamed clams uneaten on my plate. What a surprise. We won't be going back. Earns two stars because of its location on the river, and deco. more

great more

People keep saying how this is an expensive place to dine with awful service but I have to disagree. Their pots are no more than $30 each and can easily fill up two people. $15 a person seems reasonable for a dine-in, especially seafood. Some things are ridiculously overpriced, but hey, all restaurants have menus like this. Don't get the stuffed mushrooms. 7 bite sized shrooms for about $10. Not worth it. I will admit, however, that I was less than enthused by their cleanliness. The chair had stains on it and the table had rings from glasses all over it. Nothing to get mad about since it's a very easy fix. The waitress did a decent job (but I think we got lucky since the others seemed like they were having troubles focusing). She checked in on us regularly, was friendly, and never let our glasses go empty. I wasn't impressed with the food but I wasn't unsatisfied. It was good. Nothing was the best I had ever had, but it was all good. You get quite a bit of food. I ordered shrimp alfredo and I was delighted to see that there was enough for me to have a shrimp or two in EVERY BITE. 7 people walked away with a check of $135, which I think is reasonable for all of the seafood we ordered. Overall 8/10 Service: 7.5/10 (slow but good. Never made us feel like a burden and tended to every whim we had) Cleanliness: 6/10 (you'd think they'd take better care in cleaning up after customers that just ate seafood and heaps of butter) Atmosphere: 7/10 (very shack-like, that's for sure. They should invest in new furniture) Food: 9/10 more

Several friends and I decided to go out on a week night for drinks and to catch up. As soon as we sat down at the booth, the waitress asked if we needed menus. We informed her we would only be ordering drinks during our visit. After about 25 minutes of watching her help every table around ours and her not even stopping once to ask what we wanted to drink we decided to move to the bar. There we were greeted with the bartender after about 6-7 minutes of waiting. He was not friendly whatsoever. Made horrible drinks, then proceeded to give each of us our check and not even ask if we wanted anything else to drink. Mind you this was a week day, and it was hardly busy at all. After feeling completely disrespected we decided to move over to Beaches where we were greeted with friendly service and smiles and great drinks! Dont think I will be going back to joes crap shack any time soon. more

Freezer burned crawfish and old crab was not our idea of a great way to spend $140. We ordered 1 kids meal, 1 crab bucket and 2 steam pots. My husband and his friend ordered one of the spiked teas, strawberry comfort and just about choked when we found out they were $8.99 each for a small mason jar full of ice with a splash of juice and no detectable alcohol at all. The service was great for our party of 5 but not great enough to make us forget about the horrible food. It lacked flavor, freshness and the quality that Joe's advertises. We will not go back. more

We made reservations for 3:30 for a party of 20 to celebrate our sons birthday. We were told 3:30 is the latest a group our size could get a reservation (and none were taken after 4:00) so we took it. We finally got our table around 3:45 or and sat down for what we thought would be an enjoyable dinner. more

Its was jus all around poor! Pros: Loud! Cons: Cold! more

After seeing the commercial, I was excited to see that there was a Joe's within traveling distance to my new home. After I read the reviews, and in consideration of the price I decided not to go to Joe's with my family of 5. Why spend so much with such a great chance that the food and service would be substandard??? Pros: liked the tv commercials Cons: read the reviews & am an intelligent consumer! more

We had a fabulous time, and I almost didnt go because of the bad reviews this place had gotten. The atmosphere was fun and loud. The service was excellent, friendly, upbeat. The food was perfect. We had crab nachos (not what you expect but yummmmmm) and shared The crab feast steam pot. The red pot.s were good the sausage tasted boiled, but we werent there for sausage. We were having such a good time we closed the place down and not one person looked at us impatiently or started vacuuming like most places will. They kept saying not a problem and were happy we were happy. We cant wait to go back. Pros: Yummy Mai Tais Cons: A long drive for us is the only bad thing I can write more

First the bartender on duty can't mix drinks, our waiter had to go back and try again on my wifes mojito. Garlic bread appetizer was ok but not worth the price, seafood enchiladas tasted like seasalt enchiladas, overall, a very bad and expensive outing. I will never go back to Joes Cra p Shack!! If you want river views and decks just go next door to Who-song and Larrys. Pros: on the river Cons: kitchens food more

Let's get one thing straight right away: Joe's Crab Shack is a chain restaurant. Aka lower your expectations! With that in mind... I went with my aunt, aunt's friend, and cousin this evening. I am always wary of chain restaurants and had some reservations about Joe's, but it surprised me. The crab was good, very meaty and one bucket was adequate for my cousin and I to split. It was cooked fine. I couldn't taste the seasoning, but I love plain dungeness crab dipped in butter regardless. The sides were a little skimpy. Got a refill on our drinks no problem. Service was friendly. And the location is awesome; it was so nice to relax and chat with good people outside on the deck overlooking the Columbia River. The only downside was the price. I admit, it was way too expensive for what you got. But to be fair, that is how most chain restaurants are. So here is my recommendation: if you go here, keep in mind that it is a chain restaurant. It is tacky, loud, and the food will not be winning an award anytime soon. But for a relaxed atmosphere, decent grub, and good views, this place isn't half bad. If you want white tablecloths and caviar, go elsewhere and let the rest of us middle Americans enjoy it. Pros: Decent food, great views, fun atmosphere Cons: Overpriced more

Dirty distasteful water! Dirty, especially the bathrooms. Fried food that isn't even tastefl is mostly what composes the menu. Pros: the view Cons: the cleanliness more

Everything is steamed and over cooked. No flavor. I will never go back and suggest that you go anywhere else BUT this place. I eat out a lot and this place is an overpriced joke! Pros: location Cons: FOOD more

This place makes Red Lobster look like MORTONS! Staff was very friendly, but the food was awful. We ordered the Beantown Bake (2 Lobsters, 1LB clams, 6 shrimp, 1 sausage, 2 potatoes). The lobster were so tiny they could have been confused for a large crawfish. They were obviously frozen....I could have got a larger and fresher one at Albertsons. Clams were way overcooked, corn was mushy overall for a $40.99 bake for 2 it wasn't worth $20. Pros: scenic view Cons: quality, disco lights, bad dancing servers! more

Maybe Joes crab shack is not a good fit for the folks of Portland area. Joes use to be one of my favorite places to eat in California and excited for this one to open I ran there. Long lines long waits but Time and time again disappointed to the point I now will not return. I think Joes is made more for vacationers, and this town isn't busting with them. Pros: its on the river Cons: slow; bad food; poor quality and flavor and they don't stand behind it. Eat at your own risk more

We had hoped to beat the heat by enjoying a meal on the deck near the river. Our food took over 30 minutes to arrive and our steak looked like it had been microwaved. The manager came over an apologized and said he ""wanted to take care of us"" and offered to buy our dinner and give us desserts. We passed on the desserts. Then we received a bill and he had only taken off $12.00 for my son's meal not the $22.00 Steak. We paid the bill but told the manager that were not happy and would not be back. more

Tonight we went to Joe's to celebrate a birthday. In our party of 4 was my 16 year old daughter how is a vegetarian who is not into fish. We had been there a couple of years ago and she was able to order a cheese pizza. Tonight however there was nothing on the menu she cared for. There was not a good vegetarian choice. we asked for a children's menu and was told that she was to old for the kid's menu. I asked if they did grilled cheese and was told no, I asked about the pizza she had that last time she was there and was told it was on the kids menu. I asked if we could order it and I was willing to pay more and again I was told no. This was said very rudely. Since this was the birthday persons choice of restaurant and we had already ordered beverages and that had been delivered, we did not get up and leave or make a fuss. My daughter ended up ordering french fries which came in a small dish. The fries had so much salt on them that she could not eat them. The other food served was also high in salt content, even the garlic bread was salty. more

This comes from experience. I spent 30 years in the restaurant business, working with some of the best. I can walk into a restaurant, and in a heart beat know if things are going well. We like good food and service, and normally it doesn't take much to please us. My wife and I, stopped by Joe's at dinner time a couple of Sundays ago. We were seated, then proceeded to wait, and wait and wait, until finally one of the waiters noticed, and said he would take care of us. After he got it going, the service was OK. only OK. We got served, the shrimp was good, but when paying the prices Joe's charge, I would, expect great. Last Sunday, we thought that our young adult kids would enjoy Joe's, it is kinda fun. It was my wifes birthday, and we were to have 7 in the party. We called for a reservation, for 6 PM. My wife,a friend and I, arrived shortly after the kids at 6:01 PM. Seeing my daughter across the restaurant figured that they were being seated, and joined them. They proceeded to say that the window area table reserved for ,was given away to a group with a simalar name, and we were being seated in a less than desirable location. My wife stopped and spoke to the hostess or manager, or whom ever and arranged a better table. We went back to the lobby and watched the crew get three tables cleaned and reset. The crew was slow , and didn't seem to care that they had screwed up OUR, reservation and with that, would give some concerted attention to getting us seated. While the sign jokes about the crew being less than great, a joke is one thing and less than good in reality is another. We got seated. the waitress was nice, offered drinks and we were off. A few got drinks, and we got 2 appetizers. Our order was taken, the appetizers brought and eaten, salads arrived and were eaten, We were served our dinners at 7:31 PM yes 7:31,with a 6 PM reservation. Bill was $165 tax and and tip over $200. Have to be really hungry 2 go again. Pros: food good, not great good Cons: Services needs help. Had plenty of help on, just were not, trained or preformed poorly more

This restaurant has been out of business for almost 5 years. The only Chart House in the area is in Portland on Terwilliger more