"This was our first visit with o Joe’s Crab Shack and it was anticlimactic. The appetizer, Fire Balls, were yummy with ranch on them but had little flavor without. If you like a little kick but not good on hot then these are perfect. The Jalapeño was enough to tingle your tongue but not be painful and the kick did not last long, no painful after-burn. The French fries that came with the fire balls were hot and crispy with soft centers. That was the only highlight to the food. We ordered the Pirate Platter with broccoli and East coast platter. The grilled shrimp in the Pirate Platter was so over cooked it reminded me of stale bubblegum. The seasoning was decent. The grilled tilapia was very greasy and the seasoning was tasteless. The fried fish batter was the consistency of cardboard, very hard to cut and tasted about the same. I took two bites and had to stop. The fried popcorn shrimp was standard, kind of hard to mess that up. I will say the the shrimp inside was tender which was a pleasant surprise after the grilled shrimp texture. My husband ordered the East Coast platter and described it as lackluster. The crab cake was good with a little flavor and nice moist texture. A plus was that there was no shell in the crab cake which is hard to do. Otherwise, the platter was edible but not enjoyable. The salads were fresh and crisp. The Ranch dressing and balsamic vinaigrette were delicious. Coleslaw came with both platters and was a little different with a variety of flavors and nicely cool and crisp. It wasn’t exactly sweet but did lean that direction. I didn’t try the broccoli I ordered so can’t comment on that. The service was good. We were seated immediately upon arrival and it was a little busy at 6:00pm. The server came over promptly and took our order. The appetizer came out quickly and was followed by the entire meal meal about 10 minutes later. One frustrating points was that the salads came out with the meal so you had to choose between your salad getting warm or your food getting cold. I guess you could eat them at the same time but my brain doesn’t work that way. I ate the fish first while it was hot and it was still awful. Overall, I would not recommend this restaurant. The food was pricey at $25+ a plate and was lower quality than Long John Silver. I am told the seafood boils are amazing but at $90 for two people I am glad I didn’t try it because if they had tasted anything like these platters I would have been steamed myself. On a side note… The atmosphere was clean with interesting decor to look at. The stereo was loud and an obnoxious rock type station that gave me a headache after an hour. This is also an interactive restaurant. Every time a child ordered a Shark drink the server shouted “Everyone out of the water!” And the patrons responded by shouting quite exuberantly “SHARK!”. It was fun the first two times but got very annoying as my headache built throughout the meal. If you have children it looked to be a hit with them."
