Crab Alley cooks facing the boats
Burned off 9th Street in 1994 and reborn on the commercial harbor in 1995, Crab Alley holds the best Google number of any crab house in this patch. Recent reviews put the snow crab feast for two at $145.
Best crabs in Ocean City, Maryland — ranked crab houses, today's steamed crab prices, and the coast from Virginia Beach to Lewes
Start here: The best crabs in Ocean City, Maryland right now
The price board
What a dozen runs right now. Phoned in or read off the posted board. Every number carries its date.
- The Shrimp BoatWest Ocean City
- mixed$1.99/ea
shrimpboatoc.com specials page; posted as male crabs, size not specified, weekdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in season, no order limit · 2026-08-01
- Higgins Crab House 31st StreetMidtown Ocean City
- mixed$61.99/AYCE pp
posted online menu, higginscrabhouse.com · 2026-08-01
- Higgins Crab House NorthNorth Ocean City
- mixed$61.99/AYCE pp
posted online menu, higginscrabhouse.com · 2026-08-01
- The Crab HouseRehoboth Beach
- mixed$69/AYCE pp
official website · 2026-08-01
Latest dispatches
· Berlin
Elliott's Seafood answers the phone five hours a day. That is the storefront
A takeout-only crab shack on Adkins Road runs the highest Google rating of any crab room between the bridge and the beach. The terms are the strictest.
· Berlin
Forty-one years on the road to Assateague
The VanFossen family has steamed crabs on Route 611 since 1985, a mile short of the ponies. The all-you-can-eat crabs run small before July and earn five stars in August.
The all-you-can-eat ledger: what a crab feast costs from 23rd Street to Route 611
Five houses run the all-you-can-eat crab table in and around Ocean City this summer. Only one of them will print the price. Here is the ledger as of August 1.
The Crab Bag grades its crabs like a produce stand
The 130th Street crab house prints a five-class sizing chart and quotes its dozens by phone. The recurring complaint is the bill, not the crabs.
The only crab house on the boardwalk is at 2nd Street
Since 1976, Mug & Mallet has been the one place on the boards where dinner arrives with a mallet. Reviewers rate the food average and go anyway for the location.
The West Ocean City crab crawl, drawbridge to harbor
Four heavyweights share three miles of mainland: a market that posts its crab price in public, a crab house on the working harbor and two feast rooms on Route 50. How to run them in one afternoon.
Thirteen thousand crabs a week at the foot of the drawbridge
Hooper's has held the mainland end of the Route 50 bridge since 1981 with a bayside all-you-can-eat crab feast. Reviewers hold it at 4.3. The recurring complaint is the check.
· Lewes
A 1961 crab family steams to order by the Nassau Bridge
The Surfing Crab brings Bethesda Crab House bloodlines to Route 1 in Lewes. Every crab goes into the steamer after you order it.
The lists
5 spots ranked
Best waterfront crab decks
Crabs with the water underneath you. Ranked by the review record.
5 spots ranked
Best crabs at the Delaware beaches
Fenwick to Lewes ranked. Slower Lower's steamed-crab rooms by the review record.
5 spots ranked
Best crab cakes on the shore
The crab cake specialists and the kitchens that outcook them. Ranked by the review record.
5 spots ranked
Best carryout crab shacks — the locals' list
Phone ahead, pick up a dozen and eat on your own porch. The shacks locals actually use, ranked.
The towns — Ocean City first
West Ocean City MD · 4 crab houses
The commercial-harbor side of the Route 50 bridge: the mainland's biggest crab feasts, its seafood markets, and the boats that supply both.
Downtown Ocean City MD · 2 crab houses
The inlet end of the island: exactly one true crab house survives on the boards, and the serious seafood sits at the south end facing Assateague.
Midtown Ocean City MD · 2 crab houses
The mid-island stretch where the boardwalk crowds thin out and the bayside crab decks begin.
North Ocean City MD · 3 crab houses
The condo-tower blocks from 94th to the Delaware line, home to the island's densest cluster of crab rooms.
Ocean Pines MD · 1 crab house
A big year-round community west of the bay where the crab eating happens at neighborhood tables and carryout counters.
Berlin MD · 2 crab houses
A Main Street town whose crab spots sit on its highway edges, from a Route 611 institution to a phone-order shack.
Fenwick Island DE · 1 crab house
The quiet town at the Maryland line lost both of its crab houses in the last year, and the hunt now ends across a town border.
South Bethany DE · 1 crab house
No boardwalk and almost no restaurants; the crab move is a carryout market on the Route 1 strip just above the town line.
Bethany Beach DE · 2 crab houses
The Blue Crab closed after 22 summers and Claws took over the room, while Mickey's keeps steaming a block off the highway.
Dewey Beach DE · 2 crab houses
The bar town got a proper crab house in 2023 when the Starboard people opened the Claw, and Woody's serves its crab cake all year.
Rehoboth Beach DE · 2 crab houses
Rehoboth eats its steamed crabs at restaurant tables, and two local restaurant groups own nearly every one of them.
Lewes DE · 4 crab houses
The dining rooms are on the canal; the crabs are roadside, sold by the dozen and the half bushel by families who work the water.
Virginia Beach VA · 4 crab houses
The southern anchor of the map: Shore Drive's working docks on Lynnhaven Inlet put Chesapeake Bay blues on the table a few hundred yards off the boat.