Cj’s Restaurant

Had the fried seafood platter on a busy Monday Night. Sat the bar, and the service was very good. The barkeep was attentive and personable.
The seafood was mostly overcooked: two of the fish filets were over fried such that they were inedible and the shrimp were a bit chewy. The scallops, clam strips and crab cake were properly done and tasty. The platter came with fries, which would have been great except for the fact that I had ordered onion rings. They were very promptly replaced with top notch o-​rings, so no complaints there.
Overall, it was an average experience. I judge seafood places by the fried fish before I will trust them to broil it. Unfortunately, they overcooked half of the platter, so I won’t make a return visit to try it out.

A good place to get your seafood fix. I’ve been coming to CJ’s for a while but its a staple to regular Baltomorians. I love the crab legs and the service. Its a great spot to dine alone too. You can just sit at the bar and chill or watch the game. I’ve done this on several occasions to avoid I-​695 traffic. During the summer they also have daily specials.

Whoa what a spot to eat. Where should I begin? I guess I’ll start with the great parking (tell tell sign #1) on a Friday night at that, I parked right out front by the way. So I started my night with a Long Island Iced tea looked at the menu and said wow what great prices, Received my food and oh my first thought I had was «what is this» my wife asked me do I want her food I told her she should at least taste it first. I then cut into my steak made of rubber I’m not even going to go any further on how disgusting the food was but I will say this the chef must have thought I had high blood pressure because the food was bland as hell no seasoning at all. The 2 good things I can say is the waiters were great and the salad taste good ps I guess they get the Crabs locally as the also taste like they come straight out of the Baltimore Harbor.

Took my girlfriend there to eat food was awesome, service was ok. Thought we would do a call in order next week and chill at home and lady put us on hold for 10 mins then was very rude and hung up on us. Honestly can get better crab some where else and not have to deal with rude service

Really disappointing. Ordered 4 dozen medium crabs. They all tasted mushy and like they were re-​steamed leftovers. Very sad since I don’t get back home to Baltimore that often.

Typical seafood joint atmosphere. Came on a Tuesday night, they were having a sale on Medium crabs — only $ 27.50 a dozen. We shrugged our shoulders and figured that, well, larges are $ 75, so even if the mediums are only half full we’ll come out ahead. Well, let me tell you: They do not serve empty crabs here. Out of the 3 dozen mediums we ended up ordering, exactly one of them was anything less than heavy and full. Definitely recommend if you’re in the area and need a crab fix.
Good service, decent atmosphere, and ample seating. Definitely planning on going back.

Based on reviews we were excited to visit. Pulling into parking lot should have been our first clue to run! Outside is just as important as inside! Door was dirty and knob so small we were afraid it was not the door!
Only one other couple in entire restaurant.
No steamed shrimp-​steamer broken!
Ok… Soup and salad. Not too hard to mess up unless you have more dressing than lettuce!
Peach crumb pie on menu but they don’t want to serve it yet because it just came out of oven!
Great décor… Service was fine… Won’t be on my list! I’ll keep going to Faidley’s!

Went here for lunch with my parents. We ordered the crab balls, Maryland crab soup and salad and 2 CJ Fried Combo platters. The food was excellent! Our waitress was very attentive and courteous. We will definitely be back!

I have come here way more times than I remember to check in. Anyway, I always enjoy coming here. The staff is friendly and very accommodating. I come here for the crabs. For the most part, the crabs are delish. Today however, the crabs were fair. I had a few hallow crabs that I had to send back. This is the first time this has happened to me here though. I usually come on Monday or Tuesday when they sell their medium crabs for $ 2.75 each (used to be $ 2.50 last year). You can get any quantity. I recently have grown fond of their buffalo wings with no buffalo sauce because the wings have a kick to them without the sauce; as well as their cream of crab soup. Today they had some good corn on the cob. I wish I could write more about this place, but I only come for crabs. This is so random, but I wish they had more than one toilet.

I am giving the cashier at the carry out 1 star (and that is to many). She is very rude and curt with customers. I left out today and didnt order because i asked her 1 thing and she acted as if I asked her for her first born. CJ’s will lose alot of business ifshe doesn’t get her coustomer service skills in order. I was the today June 20,2015 around 7:18pm. I have eaten at the restaurant plenty of times and the food and service is excellent.

Crabs were good. A lot of old bay on them but you can ask them to wash it down… clean spot and great atmosphere

I am literally so surprised that I am giving this place 5 stars, I can hardly believe it. I went there today for a business lunch and was skeptical. I’ve passed by CJ’s a literal million times and never felt any desire to check it out. And why would I? It’s in what essentially amounts to a baby blue shack on Reisterstown Road. Their website is antiquated and is basically designed using clip art, and their parking lot looks like a pile of rubble. But someone from out of town wanted to try a taste of Maryland and this was the place closest to the office so I figured… why the hell not?
Inside it’s like a no frills sports bar with ample seating, several TV’s and a fully stocked bar. They have a surprising amount of merchandise (who has ever purchased a CJ’s t-​shirt?) and some indication that maybe celebrities have dined here? (At least Tony Danza, anyway). The décor is like a cross between beach theme (literally any and every beach — I sat across from a poster of Waikiki) and Maryland theme (particularly the flag /​Ravens /​Orioles /​Terps). This is a place that would fit in VERY well in Ocean City. It’s not at all what I expected. The waitresses were very stereotypical Baltimore, as well. They wore very old school style uniforms and I could see them as waitresses in the 50’s at a diner serving burnt toast and black coffee. Alternately, for those of you in the know, they seemed a little bit like they were straight out of Hampden. I partially expected my waitress to swing by with a Natty Boh saying, «welcome to Bawlmer, hon!»
I started with the cream of crab soup. Let me just say: wow. It was SO GOOD. There was lots of lump crab meat that seemed freshly picked (as indicated by the unfortunate small piece of shell I found in my bowl). It was, by far, the best cream of crab soup I’ve had to date. Then we ordered a dozen medium crabs (which came out to around $ 45 or so). They were definitely on the smaller side, but I think that’s probably true across the board. They were piping hot and covered in a lot of seasoning. I assumed it was Old Bay but I read in someone’s review that they make their own crab seasoning. In any case, it was good, and the crabs had a good amount of meat. The waitress came by with drink refills often and cleaned out our shell bowls every 15 minutes or so, which is very appreciated. I really could have spent the entire afternoon there eating crabs and hanging out.
A couple of weird things: someone in my party ordered a salad with grilled shrimp on top and the waitress came back out because the kitchen wanted to know how many shrimp he wanted. Is there a right answer? Also, and this almost knocked the review down to 4 stars for me, they had no wet naps! Don’t serve me crabs covered in seasoning without wet naps! In any case, it felt like summer in Maryland today, and they have a new customer.

Ugh. Every time I try to give this place a second chance … Honestly. The crabs are good, food average. Sort of hit and miss. but the CUSTOMER SERVICE is AWFUL … It’s just not worth it to me anymore, I’ll take my chances elsewhere.

My crab cake expertise is novice, but so far this is by far the best crab cake I’ve had! We also ordered the steamed clams & two large crabs, but after the meal I felt that I would of happily skipped the crabs and clams to have two of these.
This isn’t saying that they weren’t good. The crabs were covered in this delicious seasoning that they make in house, and is similar to old bay. My only qualm with them was that for «large» crabs there wasn’t much too them. This could be that I am from California and when you buy crabs at the grocery store they are much bigger. These there wasn’t much to eat except for the front claws and the body. The crab meat was delicious though! The clams on the other hand were the biggest clams I’ve seen and they were also delicious. But like I said, in my option the Crabcakes were the star item!
Not fancy, has a great crab house vibe to it. Our waitress was a riot, seemed like she had been working there for years and she knew her crab! I wish it was closer to the city so that when I live in Baltimore starting this summer I would be able to eat here more often!

Once again i came and decided to try the broiled lobster tail. lets just say it was tasteless, dry, and overcooked. But i will say the steamed shrimp are always amazing! But i kept a smile on my face because no need get mad with the server when its the cook’s fault.

Stopped in to buy some beer to go (nice having an option on a Sunday when I felt like chillin’ with a beer after work). The bartender was rude from the start and, after I paid in cash, she apparently assumed that she could keep the change (even though it wasn’t very much) and didn’t even offer it to me.

After an afternoon of shopping around Baltimore with my fiancé and my brother, we consulted Unilocal for a good seafood restaurant. Many thanks to my Unilocal brothers and sisters!
A quick check of street view maps helped me recognize our destination after dark. We arrived slightly after 9:00 at night on a Saturday to a simple blue wooden establishment. We were in luck… open until 11:30.
We entered into a clean, homey atmosphere. A very nice hostess immediately seated us. Dining tables and booths were in the area we were seated. There was an elevated bar area with more tables.
We perused the menu, which was a seafood lover’s delight. Pages of choices to behold. To start, we chose the crab dip served in a bread bowl accompanied by breadsticks. Delicious!
I chose fried oysters for my entrée with sides of potato salad and applesauce. Absolutely scrumptious! Eight huge oysters was a very pleasant and tasty surprise. Both my fiancé and brother ordered the combo, one fried and one broiled. My fiancé raved about the scallops and crabcake. My brother said the clam strips were incredible. Both my fiancé and brother drooled over the sides of coleslaw and potato salad. The applesauce was chunky and yummy. Portions were very generous; dessert was out of the question, unfortunately.
Prices are on the on the slightly high side, but it is so worth it. It was unanimously agreed we will return!

Not the best crabs, I like mine made to order. However the food is decent and the have a nice staff. So we return. If you love French fries this is the spot!

I was in Pikesville for a class and the teacher showed me an article in the NY times saying this place could have the best crab cake in the country, so I had high hopes. I had just had a Bluestone crab cake the night before and I had proclaimed it was the best crab cake I had ever had.
I ordered two crab cakes with mashed potatoes and coleslaw. Coleslaw was bland, and lacked any seasoning. The mash tasted like instant so I was 0 for 2.
Now to the star of the plate, the crab cakes. They were two 6oz jumbo lump crab cakes. There were a few large lumps but it wasn’t lumpy like the Bluestone cakes were. There was way more filler in these cakes. Do t get me wrong the CJ’s cakes were good they just don’t compare to the Bluestone cakes.
If you are in the Pikesville area I would make the 15 minute drive up 695 to Bluestone in Timonium.

I wanted crabcakes when we were passing through Pikesville, MD recently and I got exactly what I was hoping for when we arrived at CJ’s.
You could smell Old Bay Seasoning in the parking lot as you’re walking in.
The atmosphere is a friendly sports bar.
The crabcakes were amazing. But the thing I give five stars, is the Crab Imperial Over Oysters appetizer. Whoah. Words just can’t describe it (so I took a picture)