Rants

Someone Is Not a Fan of the Barking Crab’s $80 Crab Bowl, But Maybe Things Have Improved

Occasionally a Chowhound poster becomes completely and utterly enraged by a horrible restaurant experience. While we (usually) empathize with the plight of the disgruntled diner, we also can’t help but cackle manically at our keyboard. After all, these laments are more colorful and far juicier than reviews from mainstream critics, who have to abide by certain tenets of diplomacy. Anyway, one such Hound celebrated a birthday at the Barking Crab, recently named one of America’s Tackiest Restaurants by Zagat. This poor person went on to pen a post titled … “Stay Away from the Barking Crab.”

On the atmosphere: “What an awful, disgusting, offensive experience. It was overpriced, the food was terrible, and I really felt like this tourist trap of a restaurant was taking advantage of its patrons.”

On the lobster roll: ” I’m so glad that I had eaten a late lunch or I might have cried when it came out.”

On the soft-shell crabs: “Two of our guests had soft shell crabs, one as a platter and one as a sandwich. Both of them got crabs that were not soft. And by not soft I mean they literally had to pick hard pieces of shell that were completely inedible out of the dish.”

On the three-types-of-crab bowl: “Two of them were good, one tasted rotten.”

And, lastly, on the drinks: “Weak and also overpriced and I just felt so ripped off and offended.”

The crabby diner then urges others to steer clear, leading to a chorus of similar laments, including one enterprising poster who encourages a strongly worded letter bemoaning the unseemly lobster roll.

Interestingly, this post was penned two summers ago and was somehow resurrected over the weekend, a rarity in Houndville. And, unlike many such screeds, this one has a happy ending. Another visitor to Barking Crab stumbled in over the holiday weekend and felt compelled to set the record straight: “My daughter recently graduated law school and we stayed in the Seaport area. I know about the Barking Crab and all it’s…”bites”. But we (being three) went in knowing what we would get foodwise. We had a great time! Wait and all! The food was great because we knew what to expect, but it was a beautiful summer-like night with great excitement and the view is spectacular.”

We haven’t been to the Barking Crab in a very long time, but if you’ve supped there of late, please let us know about it in the comments.

Stay Away from the Barking Crab [Chowhound]

Related: Clearly Zagat’s Not Aware of the Kowloon

Someone Is Not a Fan of the Barking Crab’s $80 Crab Bowl, But Maybe Things Have