Music is too damn loud! Can't hear myself think, let alone talk to others in my group. [Additional content to hit 85 characters.]

Nikki, was amazing!! She was attentive to all our needs and extremely knowledgeable of the menu!

Joe's Crab in Oceanside has a great location right by the ocean, making it the perfect spot to enjoy the view and watch the sunset. The ambiance is relaxed. The food was good, especially the Sailor's Shrimp Plate. I counted about 20 shrimp for $25, prepared in different ways, so it felt like a great value for the price. The service was a little distracted at times, but overall it was okay. read more

Our server Sarah was amazing. Food great. Love the view of oceanside harbor Will come back for sure. read more

A promo from a reward app and the added bonus of being a Landry's member plus near my destination that day led me to enjoy my dinner overlooking the sunset on the harbor. The best surprise... the burger. The promo I had was a challenge to enjoy an All-American meal at a local hangout. Joe's Crab Shack did not disappoint. Not sure if I met the criteria for the promo challenge, but JCS met my challenge... a good All-American cheeseburger and fries! Got my Landry's points and the server was good to check on me often. I'll be back for sure!!! read more

Good food on the water!! Crab boil was very good! Service was excellent! Max was very attentive read more

This JCS took a bit to get out food out. It was about a 30 minute wait. But it was good eats. Always a fan of the peel and eat shrimp. Full bar but there are mocktail options. Food is a bit pricey but welcome to seafood inflation. read more

We had great experiences with our server Sarah she was best of the best I never since lots of energy and afford on one person I highly recommend her I don't think five star is even enough for her read more

Love it. Joe's never disappoints. Katie did great for food, drink, and service. Please support one of the last Joe's in SoCal.

Our waitress Sarah is what made this experience so great. She was as the only one serving when we got there during lunch hour. She did a great job to greet everyone and take orders. She had such a good positive energy. We got stuffed mushrooms. They were so good and then a seafood boil to share. The seafood boil was decent. It's a lot of food and was perfect for 2 of us to share. In fact we didn't finish it all but close to it. We will be back and hopefully when we go back Sarah will be working again. read more

Joe's Crab Shack - Seafood Near Me - Oceanside, California

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Always a pleasant time at Joe's! Katie is always so friendly as is the rest of staff! Always love stopping in when in town!!! read more

I really wanted to love this visit because it's been years, and we always stroll past it at the harbor but the experience ended up feeling pretty middle-of-the-road. Our server, Michelle, was kind, but we rarely saw her, and even simple things like water refills took a while. The calamari came out dry, and the kids' pizza was... rough. It looked like spaghetti marinara poured on top of a crust and left under a heat lamp a little too long and oddly, it was brought out last, after our crab boil and my Captain's dish. With a $120 tab and no alcohol, it just didn't match the quality or service we hoped for. I hate saying it, because I genuinely wanted this to be a nostalgic return, but I don't think we'll be back. read more

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First time at Joe crabs shack and it definitely lived up to the hype. We ordered two queen boiled crabs, one cajun and one captains secret sauce and both were so good. Rich, buttery, perfectly balanced flavors that didn't even need extra seasoning. My mom had the Creole glazed salmon and loved it. The vibe is warm and very family friendly, with cute shark decor throughout. Service was also great, everyone was kind and welcoming. Will definitely be back. read more

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Food was great! I had fried shrimp platter of 5 different shrimp. My wife had shrimp scampi, veggies, and rice. Our best meal ever at a Joe's. Service was excellent. Madison did an over the top job on taking care of us. Will definitely ask for her next time we are in Oceanside location read more

This is our tradition when we vacation in Oceanside, to go to Joe's Crab Shack. We had such a great experience last year and were very excited to visit again. Unfortunately, they no longer have happy hour at this location. We are sort of happy hour connoisseurs so we were super disappointed. Food was okay. Our server was very good. Probably will hit another restaurant that has happy hour next year. read more

Stopped in today 03/15/2026 . for Dinner my sister treated me to dinner for my Birthday. Witch in the 03/19. Have the losbster boil later had lobster tail shrimp and bacon rapped shrimp. And crab cakes . Food was delicious. Staff was professional and polite they did a. Good job. This is the second time I been to a Joe's Crab shack. I recommend trying the. And I be back again . read more

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It's like sea food chilies. Nothing on the menu is exciting. Same food and drinks offered anywhere in the country but that's what you get from a massive chain. Drinks are so sweet. It does have a fun atmosphere - waitstaff gos to dance from time to time. It isn't cheap! It's good seafood for a chain but you pay for it. The view however is hard to beat and it offers the best parking in the harbor read more

Michelle and Madison were fantastic! Attentive and great service. Yummy food and good prices.

Why is the service so bad here. It's embarrassing. We had guest fly in and we waited to give them a harbor view with a yummy meal and great service. 2/3 ain't too bad. But the service was so incredibly slow that we were completely forgotten for 30 mins at a time. Drinks were not refilled, we were given the wrong thing multiple times. He was nice when he did come around, but was MiA most the night. My Crab was perfect. Seriously. Corn too. Mashed potatoes with cheese n bacon, best I've had. Seriously. Asparagus was very flavorful. My raspberry tea was just ok. I never got a refill though. Was tired and past ready to leave and took 15 mins to get my raspberry to go. My daughter's crab was dirty looking and so gross. She didn't eat it. I shared mine with her. So she got a cheeseburger, which took 45 mins to get. He forgot her oranges twice and she had specifically asked what type of Mac n cheese they have and he said Kraft. He brought some spicy gross breaded Mac n cheese that was NOT Kraft but replaced it with the Kraft. But it took 30 mins. My son got the cheeseburger meal. He asked for a plain cheeseburger, just bun meat cheese and got a hamburger. We waited 45 mins for cheese. No exaggeration. Poor guy was patient for a while but we were all eating and he had to just wait. Guy kept forgetting so he brought a fresh cheeseburger, but 6 of us had already finished eating when he finally got his food and yup, his oranges were forgotten. They got a cool shark drink. That was fun. Server was super patient explaining it to the kids how it works. Like I said when he was there, he was nice. Drink is beyond sugary but it's a kids shark drink, kinda expected that. Husband dish was fine. His soup was fine. The two Couples we brought got fried dishes and their dishes came out 35 mins before ours. So if you are in a hurry I suppose fried is the way to go. We asked for kids dessert to go 3 times. He came with it plated and we were shocked, we asked is that the TO GO dessert we asked for? He said yes and served the kids. We were so tired and had our left overs boxed up and paid. We really wanted the dessert to go. But we knew waiting for to go containers would take 30 minutes so then eating it would be faster. We'd love to bring ppl here but a year ago it was horrible service so we stopped coming. We hoped it would be better. Why can't this place get workers who serve well? Our guest won't be returning and I don't blame them. The other families we brought got last year won't ever return either. We even took a year break. The crab is so yummy, but kids meal crab was trashy looking and tasted ruined. We were still charged for it. Such a mess. So avoidable. A-One Chinese restaurant in Vista has absolutely delicious crab bake. And impeccable service. Go there. Oh and link the owner posts doesn't work. No one ever responded read more

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I ordered the steak, shrimp, and crab legs.. the shrimp and steak were overcooked. My kids order the boil and ate every single thing off the plate! Our server was very funny and helpful.. she would disappear for a little bit, but then come back after a while. But she was super nice so that made up for it. We were seated outside and had a great view of all the boats and the light house. The music and decor were great! All of it was a vibe. Even brought back home our cups that light up! read more

Joe's Crab Shack - Seafood Near Me - Oceanside, California

Was at Joe's Crab Shack for my birthday, in hopes that this time it's not horrible food and service. I ended up ordering a sea food boil expecting a whole thing, when it got too my table it was very small for 50$, let alone barley any taste other than a very spicy sauce (I asked for medium and it was very spicy, I know how medium should taste, I should not be snuffling at all and I'm not sensitive to spice I just didn't want it spiced up), I didn't like it and sent it back. Then I went home and made my own which costed me the same amount as it would if I went and ate there. read more

Joe's Crab Shack - My sea food boil that costed the same $$ - Seafood Near Me - Oceanside, California

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We went for dinner tonight for my birthday and we had an AMAZING server Madison. She was on top of everything, great personality she made me dress as a butterfly so everyone could sing happ birthday. I think by far she has the 2nd best server we've had. We even stayed to watch the other birthday guest just to see what she picked out for him. Thank you again Madison for a great experience and birthday read more

Joe's Crab Shack - My Bib - Seafood Near Me - Oceanside, California

What's good at Joe's... The sampler appetizer is good, the sauce of the joe's seafood is also good. The service is ok. What can be improved... The shrimp and sausage are hard. The margarita lack the tequila.... taste like mocktails. For this experience I will give it 3.8 read more

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Don't sleep on this place, it's a 10/10!! Came here while visiting on vacation, and I'm glad we did. The sea food is fresh, the sauce is amazing and they give just the right portions. Other seafood boil places the sauce is mostly oily and runny, BUT Joe's sauce is nice and thickly packed with flavor. Recommend Joe's Famous Boils, The Cajun with mild garlic sauce. I also really like that we got to take home the piña colada cups as a souvenir!! Thanks Joe, will definitely be coming back next time. read more

Joe's Crab Shack - The Cajun - Seafood Near Me - Oceanside, California

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Food was good, got the lobster tail plate with a side of captain sauce amazing only complaint we have is service.. one server per section we got our food like 25 mins after we would place it i understand the seafood and steaks but kids meals.? We got our plates i was missing sauce i requested and someone else didn't get the shrimp trying to get the server's attention was draining. Even to get a refill or even get the check to pay and to pay! Overall good food read more

Food was great! We wanted seafood extravaganza and the king crab did not disappoint! Nikki our server, was genuinely friendly, and accommodating. The view of the bay is beautiful and so relaxing. read more

Nikki is awesome! Service was fast and friendly, food and drinks were delicious . We will return. Today we sat outside and the breeze was lovely. read more

This place could have been a great...the ambience was colorful and fun with a lot of happy patrons enjoying their food. However, my experience there was not so positive; for one thing my friend and I each ordered a fish plate...and it took forever to get it. Fish is usually fast to cook but it took almost an hour to get our dinner. My dish was extremely salty which killed the taste of the fish. Plus the dish my friend ordered arrived at the table with an item she specifically asked not to include. It took another 15 minutes for her food to come out. She was not happy at all. We went into the restaurant at around 8PM and left near closing at 10PM. That was ridiculous...never again. read more

Happy hour has some good deals and in the winter you can watch the sunset. Crab and Shrimp nachos was very good. Was going to try more but decided to come back the next day. Good selection of beers and spirits. read more

This was where the family chose to go after our Oceanside adventure boat ride. Just a shout out to the staff who were very accommodating for our large group. The ambiance was very casual as the restaurant is right off of the boardwalk, so you have nice views of the ocean. Our server was really sweet and attentive. My hubby and I both enjoyed our food. He had the fish and chips and I had the salmon. I also go to try some of the poppers which had just the perfect kick to them. Oh yeah, I forgot they also have the cutest gift shop that can keep you occupied until you are seated. read more

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Love the atmosphere the waitress Aaniyah was super sweet definitely comming back. Been here many times. Love the food here.

Too bad this restaurant has a beautiful view but it did not match the food they serve. Our server was fine but had to be reminded. For a seafood restaurant they claim to be, our orders were not great seafood entrees. We are not coming back. Joes has been around for a while so I think there's no way of improving their offerings. Restaurants need to read people's reviews to improve. read more

Great dinner at Joe's. Service was awesome. Our server Rayley was on top of it and attentive. Food was great. Crab cakes were tasty. Sirloin/shrimp money. Sides were all great and seasoned nicely. Son got lobster tails and loved them. Great food and great service on a Saturday night! What more can you ask for? How about a Manager who checked in to ensure things were going well multiple times and Chef who came out and addressed allergy questions we had. read more

They are either way too understaffed or the staff doesn't care. They were "so busy" yesterday but a bunch of tables were open and everyone was moving so slow with some people just standing around. We sat at the bar to avoid the 35 minute wait as the host told us to do and we sat there for 15 minutes without being acknowledged by the bar tender even for a menu. He spent almost five minutes making two drinks for another table. The other guy at the bar ignored us and acknowledged people who sat down after us and they didn't get service anytime soon either. We just walked out and ate at the fish and chips place which had way better service even though they were busy too. read more

This was my first visit to Joe's Crab Shack in Oceanside, and unfortunately, it wasn't the experience I was hoping for. When we arrived, we were told the wait would be about 35 minutes, which was completely understandable. We requested to be seated outside so we could enjoy the beautiful ocean view, and we were told that wouldn't be a problem. However, when our table was ready, the hostess informed us there wasn't a server available to serve the outdoor section. We accepted that and were seated inside. Within about 10 minutes, though, we noticed two families being seated outside, which was confusing and disappointing. As a first-time guest, I was taking my time deciding what to order. When I was ready, I asked if I could substitute the green beans for Parmesan asparagus and was told no. While I understand that not every request can be accommodated, it added to an already disappointing experience. The one bright spot of our visit was Aniyah, the bartender. She was friendly, attentive, and provided excellent service when serving our drinks. I work in customer service myself, so I understand that there are policies and limitations. However, what I don't understand is why we were told we couldn't be seated outside due to staffing, only to watch other guests be seated there shortly afterward. Better communication and consistency would have made a big difference. I hope Joe's Crab Shack takes this feedback as an opportunity to improve its customer service and overall guest experience. read more

They Turned My Teenager Into a Crab-ager and I've Never Been Happier! Where do I even begin? We took our newly minted 13-year-old to Joe's Crab Shack for her birthday dinner, hoping for a decent meal and maybe a half-hearted "Happy Birthday" song. What we got was an experience of legendary proportions that will be talked about in our family for years to come. Let's start with the food. I ordered the salmon, and it was cooked to absolute perfection--flaky, moist, and covered in a glaze that I would happily eat on a flip-flop. The rest of the table was in heaven with their chicken fettuccine and, of course, the glorious crab legs that Joe's is famous for. Even the kids' meals were a hit, served on the cutest crab-shaped trays! But the food, as fantastic as it was, was just the opening act. The main event was orchestrated by our server, the phenomenal Cheryl. She wasn't just a server; she was a master of ceremonies, a dance captain, and a joy-spreader. She was attentive, hilarious, and had more personality in her little finger than most people have in their whole body. When it came time for the birthday festivities, the Joe's Crab Shack team didn't just sing a song. Oh no. They lovingly dressed my daughter in a full-blown crab costume, complete with claws and googly eyes. Then, the entire restaurant staff, led by the dancing queen Cheryl, sang "Happy Birthday" before breaking into the "Cupid Shuffle." Yes, you read that right. My daughter, dressed as a crab, did the Cupid Shuffle with servers, hosts, and fellow patrons. It was the most wonderfully absurd and joy-filled moment I've ever witnessed in a restaurant. Thank you, Joe's Crab Shack, and a massive thank you to Cheryl for making my daughter's 13th birthday unforgettable. You guys don't just serve food; you serve up pure, unadulterated fun. 5 stars isn't enough!! read more

Allison deserves a raise. For the personalized napkins to even the bib. I was greeted with respect, a fist bump, and a smile. Ordered what I wanted, and I was having a great day already, and made it better. Allison was able to suggest too notch options, and sides that I adored. Very delicious, a very humble and quiet atmosphere, but I did show up around the opening hours. Bought some shirts, really good puns, and worth it. Food- 9/10. The king crab meat slid out of the shell. About 2-3 lbs. Not including the boil potatoes and corn on the cobs. Truly a King's feast. Location- 10/10. Absolutely breathtaking. Can't wait to just sit in the parking lot again. Will say, tends to be a bit crowded around noon, but it's easily manageable. However, my time frame was around an hour after opening. I was able to park right out front. Experience- 20/10. Allison, was able to take a day that I had originally thought was an ok day, to be an absolutely amazing day. Such a bubbly and nice personality. A wonderful smile, and she looks at you while taking the order, not at the pad n paper. Absolutely not name dropping, but the only person's name I got was Allison, the bartender kicked but too on the new seasonal Espresso Martini. So good. read more

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If you've ever been to Joe's Crab Shack back in the day, you would know that the atmosphere is friendly and fun. The food was "ok" in my opinion. My family enjoyed their food. We all had the same shrimp plate which had very limited seasoning on the shrimp the Cole slaw and fries were good. The margarita was tasty, sorry no pic. I would go again simply to enjoy the beautiful city of Oceanside. The view is amazing! read more

Joe's Crab Shack - Shrimp plate - Seafood Near Me - Oceanside, California

Sarah was awesome! Fantastic service. Stopped in for a late dinner. The creole salmon, and the land and sea meals were great- plates licked clean. Finished off with the peach cobbler, SO GOOD. Will be back. read more

Joes Crab Shack will always have a place in my heart! My drinks were good, food was good and we bought some shirts!! read more

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