Joe's Crab Shack
| Address » | 130 South Jordan Creek Parkway, West Des Moines IA (Map) |
| Phone » | (515) 226-9966 |
| Website » | http://www.joescrabshack.com |
| Downtown » | No |
| Type » | Restaurant |
| Tags » | Seafood |
| Avg User Rating » |
  (based on 13 reviews) |
| User Reviews | |
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User Reviews (13 reviews)
Apr 16, 2008 cambohooker
Just think of it this way, do you remember when Long John Silvers used to sell beer? Well, Joe's is like that only a sit down restaurant. Not that it is a bad thing, just don't come here expecting to get "Splash" quality seafood. Come here for a beer and breaded, greasy food.
Mar 02, 2008 
Rory
If zero stars was an option, this would have gotten zero. We made a reservation for group of people and with the reservation it still took over an hour to get a seated. Management didn't care or attempt to come to our table and apologize, then service was just as bad and the food was mediocre at best. We put a complaint on the website over a month ago and tried to contact management (who through email said they wanted to talk to us), but never heard back.
Feb 08, 2008 Bret
I've had much better crab cakes from the Hy-Vee meat counter. Joe's Crab Shack is like an upscale Long John Silver's (but LJS is cheaper and tastes better).
Jun 30, 2007 quietriot
The double dip is sooo yummy and I loved the Broiled Seafood Platter - delicious
Mar 28, 2007 Amanda
Really busy, but great food and drinks. Not recommended for a quite meal. ;)
Nov 27, 2006 Stephanie
It was crowded, dirty, and service was very poor. Will not go back and will not recommend to anyone. A very dissapointing experience.
Aug 10, 2006 Chad Brown
If this staff had taken the time to refill my drinks half as much as dance around the restaurant, I would rate this restaurant higher. The food is mediocre and we were not impressed. Never again.
Apr 05, 2006 Lady Sekhmet
I went there Sunday for dinner. Oh my goodness. The tackiness of the decor simply takes your breath away-I have never seen so much plastic crap hung everywhere in my life. And to think they paid good money for it. I had the Louisiana plater, which consisted of crawfish ettouffee, blacken talapia, and batter fried crawfish, along with their "famous" salad and hush puppies. The salad was average, with at least some other lettuces mixed in with the iceberg, although you only could get the house salad dressing, which was a very ordinary Italian (tasted remarkably like Wishbone's . . .hmmm). The cornbread and dinner rolls that came with the salad were good-although I am a big sucker for cornbread. It did have some nice pieces of corn in it and the bread had a sweetness to it. Now the main course was worth perhaps a D to D-. The ettouffee was greasy and tasteless, the talapia was semi-edible, and the battered crawfish were okay with lots, and I mean lots, of cocktail sauce. Granted, I have been to New Orleans and had the best dining experiences of my life there, but I wasn't judging this to that standard. Just the standard of an Iowan seafood place. Not good. Not good at all.
My girlfriend had the fish and chips and said that the fish was lighter and flakery than that she had had at the Waterfront, so perhaps that would have been the best choice.
The desert of the chocolate layer cake was very good, but it could have been smaller and have had a scoop of good vanilla ice cream with it to cut some of the richness of the cake.
The service was top notch, and is the only reason it scored as highly as it did. Although I did feel very badly for the servers when they were forced to do the Macarana. I could feel their pain and humiliation. I also noticed that when they were forced to do the Macarana and sing the birthday thing twice, the male servers completely disappeared. How curious!
So, great friendly service, crappy food, horrible atmosphere.
Mar 30, 2006 Tom Brazelton
Probably the most grating eating establishment I've ever been to.
Too much crap on the walls. Too much fake enthusiasm from the serving staff. Too many kids running around like idiots. Too much stimulation.
Food SUCKS. That is, unless you think everything should taste like crab. Even the napkins taste like crab.
Evil, evil place. Stay away!
Jan 20, 2006 Karen
We not only had great food and drinks; we had great entertainment with all the silly songs and dancing. It's definately a great place to take the kids.
Aug 03, 2005 KMG
You have to go for the BBQ crab legs. I agree, the atmosphere is a little hectic, it's certainly not a perfect "first date" restaurant, but go for the crab legs. The drinks aren't bad either.
May 29, 2005 zlarson
joes crab shack is ok. i went there for lunch this weekend and had crab stuffed shrimp. it was ok, nothing to great. the wait staff was very energetic though. they performed the macarena a couple times while i was there.
Mar 31, 2005 anthony
It should be called "Joe's Crap Shack." Flavorless overcooked food.
The 1.5 is for the friendly, energetic waiters and waitresses. :(