South Jersey Shore Crab/Seafood House Roundup

[Cheesesteak]

Everybody knows the kind of place I'm taking about. The crab house on the bay, tons of seafood, stale dinner rolls with the little gold packets of butter, lukewarm crabs soups. What are the places that do this type if dining really well? What are your favorites? For this particular thread I'd like to limit it between Sea Isle and Cape May.

As an example, I'd say a place like Mike's in Sea Isle is dead average. People love it, but I guess it's just cause they're down the shore and drunk. I know that people also love the Lobster House like the place invented seafood itself, but I think that it's just ok. I'm not looking for upscale sit-down dinners, just for a place that puts a little more care than usual into their product.

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The Lobster House
906 Schellengers Landing Rd, Cape May, NJ 08204

[menton1]

It's not on the water, but I keep hearing good things about the Blue Claw Crab Eatery in Burlington. Any reviews?

[Foody4life]

we enjoy Blue Claw especially off season as they fly in crab, year round. The place hasn't changed is years and continues to satisfy. It's in a forgotten area of the asphalt jungle that is Route 130 N and shares a building with an adult video store. But once inside and picking crab, the neighborhood is quickly forgotten!

We were there last month for lunch and enjoyed another feast of Blue, King, Dungeness and Snow. Here's an old thread with my 09 review. Comments hold true today. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/1867...

The Blue Claw hits the spot and is close to home.

[albinoni]

I'll second the Blue Claw. We were there this past winter on our way back from Philly--excellent quality. It is not a big place, and it takes a long time to eat a platter of crabs, so I would only go off-peak, or it might be a very long wait for a talbe (maybe for this reason, they do a big takeout biz). We made one mistake--we ordered the crabs spicy, which was fine at first, but got monotonous after awhile. But we will definitely go back if we are in the nabe.

[mamahess]

The Clam Bar in Somers Point on Bay Avenue....Yummmmm!

[mamahess]

Yes...on the bay in Somers Point...the place doesn't have water views though.

[scarlet knight]

Mud city is good on way to wildwood and Cape May. Don't recall the town, i'm sure someone does.

[diablo]

Manahawkin.

[johnpm]

Sharky's Feeding Frenzy, on Ocean Drive south of Wildwood, is just what you want (at least it's just what I want now that I've thought about it).

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Sharky's Feeding Frenzy
977 Ocean Dr, Cape May, NJ 08204

Ocean Drive Bar & Restaurant
3915 Landis Ave, Sea Isle City, NJ 08243

[Cheesesteak]

I'm very intrigued about this Sharky's place. They have good crabs? I found a little bit about them on the internet, not much though. Can you elaborate for me?

[johnpm]

Sharky's is a fun place. Right on the water; absolutely informal. There's some seating under the roof and more outside, I think. Unfortunately, I've never had crabs there so can't comment. Good fish and soup, but my wife had a roast beef sandwich which was sub-par.

[VFresser]

Sharkey's has awesome ribs, and I have seen other diners dive into heaps of crabs. Just watch out for marauding gullss -- it is an open-air shack.

[menton1]

Others here familiar with the Shore have reported, to my surprise, that the Shore is a wasteland for good seafood! Apparently most of it is trucked in from the Fulton Fish Market.

Seems that one needs to head to either New England or the Delaware/Maryland Shore for the type of place you are looking for...

[equal_Mark]

Are there issues we should know about the seafood from the Fulton Fish Market?

[fishnut]

The quality and variety of seafood at Fulton is about as good as it gets, anywhere.
It is just funny that folks equate good seafood restaurants to proximity to the ocean. A place in upstate NY has the same access to quality fish as any place along Jersey shore.