Crabland

I purchased some live crabs from Fruit Land which is directly across from Crabland last year; cooked and seasoned them myself and was satisfied. Not sure if they cooked crabs; called recently and they recommended Crabland. I called ahead to ensure Crabland had large males and they said they did. My wife and I made the 45 minute trip to Essex Maryland to purchase two dozen of large males. It was the day before July 4^th and traffic on 95 and 895 was in gridlock, but we had a taste for crabs and took the trip. We arrived, placed the order; waited 15 – 20 for them to be cooked. Everyone was pleasant as we received our crabs and left. The crabs were heavily seasoned which made the crabs seem heavy with meat. As we selected the crabs for eating, we noticed that the majority of them were nearly empty of meat. When the crabs were finished, we estimated over 85% of the crabs from Crabland were extremely light with no meat. We believe Crabland knew that the crabs we purchased were light and should have advised us before we paid or gave us crabs with meat to ensure that we were return customers. If their intent was to drive us away; it worked. We will not purchase any seafood or any other items from Crabland again.

Crab land is right next to Fruit land (they sell live crabs) I believe they are owned by the same people. I’ve only been there about 10 times and each time I’ve been treated with respect and given a fair price. They have good crab and plenty of other items on the menu. They aren’t over seasoned. They use a house blend and although I prefer Old Bay the blend they use is just fine. I’ve never sat down to eat there but there is a small dining area. When ever I’m there they are always busy but never too busy to stop and help. I’ve always been greeted with a friendly hello. They also often have $ 1 Crabs.