Buddy’s Crabs & Ribs

I travel once a year to Annapolis, MD. We stopped here last year and it was great. This year was the worst food that I have ever had. We did the buffet. Food was cold, they gave us dirty silverware. Food was still stuck to it– really gross. Desserts were nothing special. Don’t bother walking in to this place. It is not worth the money.

Went to Buddy’s last night– incredible experience and loved all of it. The fried pickles were among the best I’ve ever eaten. We ordered gumbo and Maryland crab soup which were incredibly flavorful and stocked full of seafood and outstanding. The crabcakes had very little filler and were delicious. The waitress was very attentive and everything came out perfect.

I’ve been here twice now. The buffet is pretty good. It’s a bummer the buffet isn’t always open. Both times I have been here the service was good.
I was deciding between the ribs and the seafood platter and I should have gotten the ribs. My girlfriends crab salad and my house salad were great.
The Seafood Trio I was expecting a big crab cake, jumbo shrimp, and a big lobster tail for $ 39. The shrimp was very small looked like it came from a frozen package. The crab cake and the entire entrée was room temp. The lobster tail looked like a craw dad tail. The fries were not hot either.
Our bill was $ 60. Pretty expensive for what I paid. I feel a little fleeced. But other then that Annapolis is a nice place.

We were recommended this place by locals at Annapolis for their blue crabs. We ordered the medium blue crabs first. The crabs were tender and fresh and very well prepared. This was my first time eating steamed crabs and I loved it.
We also tried the crab cakes, fried shrimp, ribs, chicken tacos, hush puppies, baked ziti and chicken nuggets (for the kids). I tasted all the dishes and particularly liked the crab cake, the hush puppies and the fried shrimp. The shrimp tasted tender and fresh. I did not particularly like the ribs and thought they could have been better. My kid cousins really enjoyed the chicken nuggets and the fries.
This place is great for families with kids looking for fresh seafood. They have a kids menu and the food is free for kids under the age of 10.
The service was great! They were attentive and helpful. They also validated our parking.

This place is def overpriced. Do not get a trio. It’s $ 40 and comes with 4 pieces of shrimp, one small lobster and a crab cake. Also ordered male crabs and they gave us the wrong crabs. And again, this place is too overpriced. I suggest you go to a different crab house. Would not come back.

The all you can eat buffet is a joke. I should have listened to the previous reviews. The food was cold and looked left over from lunch. The Crab legs were okay because they were made to order. My husband said the ribs and gumbo were good and that was about it. Please don’t waste your time here. This is by far the worse buffet I have ever been to.

Do you want food poisoning? Come here. That crab soup all the tourists are raving about? They store it in the same buckets they use to bus and clean the tables. Locals do NOT eat here.

Food was meh. Ordered crab cake sandwich and rockfish with crabmeat. Both were bland. Crab cake was too much battered not enough meat. Ask for grilled rockfish, got fried rockfish instead. Very strong fishy taste. Crab meat did not taste fresh. There were flies buzzing around our table the whole time.

Dear Tourists: Don’t do it. I know, I know, you see the water and suddenly you have a hankering for food from the sea… but avoid this trap. If you must fall for a trap, go to Pusser’s, where at least you can get a view. The view from here is mostly of cars and street. You can kind of sort of see some boats docked at ego alley, but not particularly well. The food in the buffet is about as bad as the worst buffet you can think of. So please, don’t settle. Go elsewhere.

Every single time I’m in Annapolis, I try to get over to Buddy’s! Last Sunday, my sisters and I came for brunch and of course, Buddy’s did not disappoint!
Fresh and pretty food, great attentive service and that Navy town feel…
Matt our server was AMAZE-​BALLS! Endless Mimosa and french toast were divine on a crisp Sunday morning.
Get to Buddy’s! #AwesomeStaff

Absolutely horrible! I was told after the fact that it’s the worst place to get food in downtown Annapolis. Now, I can’t say it’s the worst because I haven’t tried every restaurant but I can say it was pretty bad.
I had the buffet, while my significant other ordered the ribs. The buffet was limited, shrimp was good (only reason it’s getting 2 stars) but overall as pretty bad. After dinner we looked at each other and both just felt sick. Needless to say, our date night was cut short because we just wanted to go home.
Service was horrible, he would disappear for long periods of time. He seems socially awkward due to the fact that he really wouldn’t speak to us.
Not to mention, my biggest pet peeve about places. It was so hot in there! My boyfriend and I will never go back.

Enjoyed the buffet but not sure what stood out for me. I sticked to the shell fish and shrimps at the buffet which where fresh. I recommend this place for families with children due to the openness of dinning area and the normal enjoyable food items children would like from the buffet like chicken nuggets and French Fries. There is a full bar which for me is always a plus.
Cost = 1 Star /​24.00 for buffet
Facility = 1 Star /​cheesy theme
Costumer Service = 1 Star /​professional
Overall Experience = 1 Star /​satisfied
Return Visit = 0 Stars /​menu and buffet needs updating! Especially with the location.

I skipped Buddy’s on the first pass through town, scared off by the reviews. Wandering through Annapolis, I found some of the haughtier options off limits on New Year’s Eve (love those reservation-​only joints full of empty tables at 6pm.) The buffet looked impressive at first glance and was a reasonable $ 24.95, and I was thankful to end my long walk, so I hoped to debunk the haters.
Starting with soups, the gumbo was decent, while the cream of crab seemed like it might have been better earlier in its lifespan. I was alarmed by the mundane steamed shrimp since that was one of the first items featured on the sign outside. And the usual buffet safe pick of fried chicken wasn’t too far about Banquet caliber.
The crab balls were sort of generic food matter. Even though they’re not going to give away the top-​shelf crab products in a buffet, the crustacean was put to better use in the crab imperial. The roast beef was respectable. The best item was roast turkey au jus, as the meat normally relegated to middlebrow sandwiches was treated with a juicy respect that is more often accorded to beef and pork.
Not that this matters to everyone, but in the restroom I found the no-​privacy urinal setup a bit surprising.

Buffet tasted like 2-​day old cafeteria food from grade school. The cookies were good, but pretty sure they just bought all the desserts from Sam’s Club or Costco.
Great location and nice view… Shame its wasted on such a god awful place. Even the kids with us didn’t like the pizza or chicken fingers. Ouch.
Save yourself the disappointment and go anywhere else. Even the CVS across the street.

Service was phenomenal! We recently had our Christmas party here, and the staff and manager were nothing but amazing to us.
We had a buffet of soups, pasta, chicken, ribs, and salads. The food was so-​so. I’m not a big buffet fan, so I was not too satisfied with the helpings of overly buttered, creamy food selections. Maybe because I just don’t normally eat that way. However, all my coworkers seemed to be happy with the food. So, perhaps I’ll come in on a normal day and re-​write my review. Fingers-​crossed, I may upgrade a star or two!

How on earth does this place stay open in the heart of downtown Annapolis. I tried the buffet, it seems that on my visit the hot food was all cold and the cold food was warm. I will avoid this place in the future, I am sure they have some really good food and drinks, just not on this day.

First time I graced this place with my presence in the last few years this past Sunday. My in-​laws invited me here for brunch. Buddy’s must have come to their senses because the last time I came here around 2008 to eat brunch it was at least $ 20-​$ 25 per person. Now they have dropped it down to $ 14.95 per person which I can handle! Good food as always with plenty of breakfast and lunch choices. They even have a chef that will personally make you an omelette! (make sure to bring some cash to tip him/​her.)
I have never eaten here for anything other than Sunday brunch, but one time I did gaze at the menu my eyes hurt from the prices. You might want to make sure you have a credit card with a high limit on it if you eat here. I guess it’s expected from being in a tourist area in Downtown Annapolis. Definitely a great location on the corner of Main Street and they always seemed to be busy.
Bottom line: Better than average food, good ambiance, bring plenty of $$$$.

I should preface my review with: I’m vegetarian and therefore usually avoid going to crab houses with every ounce of my being. That being said, my group and I had a really pleasant experience at this casual crab and rib restaurant.
One of our friends was about to leave the East Coast for the foreseeable future and had not yet experienced Maryland crab, a situation we had to rectify. We happened to be near Annapolis that day so we asked some locals where to eat and they suggested Buddy’s. The service was immediately friendly and attentive, but not overly so — they let us enjoy our meals without seeming pushy. I was nervous they wouldn’t have anything crab or rib-​free but was pleasantly surprised to find some vegetarian options including vegetarian ravioli, which I ordered. For $ 16 it was a good deal, since this included a starter salad and a pretty large portion of creamy, delicious ravioli (honestly better than I expected for a crab house). My friends got the all-​you-​can-​eat crab for about $ 29, which seemed like a good price since it included salad, soup, and a side (french fries, corn, or hushpuppies), not to mention unlimited crabs.
In sum, great casual restaurant for those looking for fresh crab and a real crab-​eating experience, and even those who aren’t into seafood.

Came here for our anniversary dinner on a Saturday night. We arrived at 8:15 and were seated right away. Our server was your typical surfer dude but he had a great personality.
Boyfriend ordered the Seafood Extravaganza and I got the Fettucini Alfredo with shrimp and chicken. My pasta was good, Kyle said his seafood was so-​so.
Had a wonderful table with a view!

While hubby and l were walking along Main Street in Annapolis, l had a hankering for seafood so we stumbled into Buddy’s for a quick bite before heading back to Baltimore. I ordered the appetizer seafood platter and he had the tilapia fish and chips. Overall, both good choices. The seafood sampler came with clams, fried shrimp, calamari and a mini crab cake. The food was not greasy and the calmari was good and not rubbery like some l have had in the past. The mini crabcake was large enough to fit on the bed of its Ritz cracker, but enough to give me a hint of what the larger one’s taste was all about. The two shrimp were butterflied and tasty, although they were coated in a different breading than the rest of the platter, which was a disappointment as l would have liked them in the same light coating as the calamari.
Hubby’s talapia fish and chips were good and weren’t
greasy either. We had never had tilapia as our fish of choice for this, but the coating and fish were flavorful and surprisingly good. All in all our early lunch was a hit!
They offer an array of seafood served raw, fried and broiled as well as the usual burgers, ribs, salads, etc. They also offer a buffet for around $ 23, but we didn’t have time to enjoy that bounty of goodness! They also offer a brunch for around $ 15 and we will definitely be back to partake in all of that goodness!