Joe's Crab Shack

Just passing this place at night got me all excited to come
here, with it's 50's neon sign flashing "Eat At Joe's". From
the moment you enter it's one big party. The place is
furnished with wooden picnic tables and stock-full of giant
sharks, fisherman's nets with petrified sea life and toys
hanging from the ceilings, it's all fun, fun, fun! Every night
there's a talented soul going table to table creating crazy
balloon hats for Joe's guests to wear. Throughout your
meal the lights go dim and the disco balls take over
shooting colors everywhere while the wait staff kicks up
their heels to an off-the-wall tune. Everyone gets up to
dance. It's wild and wacky and we loved it!

We started our meal with a rich appetizer called Blue Crab
Dip which was a blend of crab and cheeses served with tri-
colored corn tortilla chips. The Crispy Calamari was tender
with a light and crispy coating and a fresh marinara for
dipping, I dipped mine in a side order of tartar sauce. The
Alaskan King Crab Legs was a full pound, made to order
barbecued, garlic-style or steamed and served with a
small corn on the cob and parsley potatoes and coleslaw
on request for $25.99. They made a creamy Clam Chowder
that was more finely chopped than chunky and can be
ordered in a sourdough bread bowl. Their menu was varied
offering such fare as a Crab Cake Sandwich, Tuna Steak
Sandwich, Gumbo and even 4 kinds of crab; Dungeness
Crab, Snow Crab, Blue Crab and Alaskan King Crab.

No party is complete without the sweets and Joe made two
that we approved of. The Bananas Foster was two ice
cream filled crepes topped with chocolate sauce, a
caramel "Foster" sauce, sliced bananas and whipped
cream, this was so good. The Chocolate Overdose was
equally yummy with three layers of chocolate cake, a rich
chocolate mouse between each one of them, then topped
with chocolate sauce, (heavy sigh!). The food is nothing
gourmet here, but I don't think people come here for that
anyways.

Located at 2607 Pacific Coast Highway, overlooking
Newport Bay in Newport Beach.

Telephone (949) 650-1818

There are Joe's Crab Shack locations in Long Beach,
Redondo Beach and Newport Beach. Evidently Joe's has
now acquired the Rainforest Cafe chain, another fun
restaurant you need to go to if you haven't yet.

Website: www.joescrabshack.com