Crab Shack on the James
7601 River Rd, Newport News, VA 23607, USA
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7601 River Rd, Newport News, VA 23607, USASee Your Business Here!
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My husband and I stopped after observing a full parking lot each time we had driven by. We always say a full parking lot tells the tail of a good restaurant. Well.....upon arrival we quickly realized that their parking lot is shared with folks visiting the fishing pier. It was obvious once we were seated due to low number of folks seated. I ordered the fried shrimp with salad and a baked potato. My husband ordered flounder with a salad and fries. His fries looked old and were cold. The fish was decent. My shrimp were good but the baked potato was cold. How do you serve a cold baked potato. The salad was mostly lettuce. It appeared that they cut two cherry tomatoes in each of salads and sprinkled a slice of cucumber on each...the reason I gave a 3 star was the quality of the drinks. Would definitely go back for the drinks not.the food.
At the table I sat at last night 7/2022 was 12 people and the next table had 8, so we spent some money. We ordered a verity of food. The She-crab soup was awful, the food came out Luke-warm and both tables complained about it. We were told if you ordered crab cake/s you can not return it. Additionally, was told how to pay for the food in groups of 4; what!! excuse me no ma'am, on top of the food that came out of a box. It was like eating at a fast food restaurant, but seafood. If me and my family were not raised eating seafood, we would have thought that this mess was pretty good. However this was a complete sea food disaster "I cant rate it". When my sister got home she was in the bathroom and I threw my food away, fearing I was next. My niece described, her experience with the food to the manager as being the worst DAME thing that she ever put in her mouth and sent her food back, we all should have done the same. __end__________
Very good seafood with a fantastic view. Reasonable prices, and a very friendly staff. My brother and I shared the combination seafood platter with extra sides and it was sufficient for both of us. Caution: if you are coming out of Newport News be sure to turn right at the stoplight before you get to the big bridge or you will be traveling almost 6 miles across the river before you can turn around and return to Newport News.
I'll start this by saying service was excellent, and we had a party of 25 or so. The restaurant is also in a great location with fantastic views. The food, however, was only ok. I expected good quality crab here, so close to the ocean and the name. I got the flounder stuffed with crab, and the crab was a pile of mush in the middle. The flounder was decent, but WAY too salty at times. I also tried three appetizers. The fried calamari which was, like the flounder, way too salty. I couldn't taste the calamari at all, just the salty breading. The crab dip, where the crab was totally lost, and the Shack Attack Shrimp, which was the best of the three, perhaps because of simplicity. Nothing was bad, but it was all kind of middle of the road. I expect more from seafood on the coast.
The sunset is the best part of eating here. The service is generally pretty good but the food never strikes me as great. It gets clear on so many dishes but they are mostly just ok. But the sunsets there make coming here worth it for us.