***Check your bag before leaving!!!! I asked for extra seasoning and my crabs had no seasoning on them, this visit. I did get a bag of seasoning before leaving, thankfully.***Worth a try!! The staff is very professional and attentive. The service is fast; I ordered when I arrived and waited only about 10 minutes. The prices are reasonable for the area and the taste is pretty good. I ordered a dozen of the medium males and they were a good size. Most of them were very meaty; I only had one that was light and empty. The seasoning is very tasty! It’s not too salty and has some kick to it. It is not a rock salt blend. The seasoning did not reach the inside of the crab well, so the meat and “mustard” were bland. Being a Baltimore native, my expectations may be higher than most. All in all, great place to try. The restaurant is large and offers dine-in with an all-you-can-eat option. There is ample parking as well.
I’ve been at Captain Pell’s couple of times and was happy with their crabs and beer. I usually go with “all you can eat” spices and sauce are delicious. Recommend!
This is the first review I’ve written, but I felt compelled since I read so many negative reviews AFTER I submitted my carry out order for a dozen large and a dozen x-large. I’m a life long Marylander (47) and am always struggling to find affordable good crabs. Picked up at 5:30, every table appeared to be filled, staff was courteous, and from what I could see in the kitchen everyone was working hard and competent. To keep in mind, like any food, crabs continue to cook if you leave them in a confined space - let them “breathe” a bit to avoid the mushiness others have cited. If you open multiple crabs, and they are dead (black) inside, I get it, that is unacceptable. Every crab we had was delicious. Maybe changes were made after all of the negative feedback - we had a great experience and will be back. Two more notes: 1. Prices were competitive (I called around quite a bit). 2. For non-regular crab eaters, when you pull off a leg and get a big hunk of meat on the end, that means the crab was steamed to perfection - this also means (obviously) that there will be less meat when you eat the body - not sure that was apparent to other reviewers. Bonus: to the reviewer who said there was too much seasoning, you don’t actually eat the seasoning on the shell - you can easily scrape it off in 2 sec
Saturday night I was hungry for seafood so I stopped at Captain Pell’s in Fairfax and decided to treat myself, so I ordered some jumbo steamed shrimp and 3 jumbo crabs to go. Since I moved from Maryland to Virginia I have been going to Captain Pell’s often with family and friends, but never ordered the jumbo crabs there, so when I got home, was very disappointed to see the size of the crabs. The shrimp were great but the crabs at the most a size large, not much meat and missing claw’s. The only jumbo size was the price I paid for them!!!I feel cheated and will never go back.
So I took the family there (4) for my son's birthday. Service was "nominal"... the other 3 got their orders fairly quickly- I had to ask 3 times to get mine. I got the 2lb crab leg. Crab legs this time were quite "under par" - they were very overcooked (too long in water) and were soft- no "snap". For the money they charge (my bill for 4 people was $225) I would expect that at least they could cook the carb legs correctly. The french fries and corn on the cob were worth mentioning (sad isn't it?) as they are worth the least but were the best tasting. For the price- I would go across the street to their competitor- at least if you are after crab legs.. or Red Lobster. If the carb there isn't so good.. at least it's not over-charged. Probably will not go back. One note I did go on a Saturday at 7pm when they are busiest. Maybe quality would improve on a slower night.
Great access to crabs. Parking is tight. Smell outside is horrific. No ambiance. Basic crab dive. Bossy girl at the cashier was not friendly. Will not go again.
Walking in to this restaurant, you are hit with the overwhelming stench of seafood. And not in a good way… Once inside the restaurant, it is very plain. Could use a little updating. My issue is that our server never wrote anything down. So we were brought the wrong drinks. They came back twice to ask again what we wanted for our entrees. Then brought the wrong entree. Took him a while to bring an extra item we asked for. (By that time, we didn’t need it any more.) Fried oysters were very good, but because he had brought the wrong entree, he took my plate back, took off the wrong entree, then brought the plate back to the table, with just the fries and cole slaw in it. Then we waited for my oysters while the fries got cold. (They weren’t that hot to begin with.) I know this is a Fairfax institution, but perhaps servers should write orders down so they don’t forget!!
My family and me traveled to Washington DC area to visit family and attend a wedding. We wanted fresh seafood, my family recommended this place. At first I was think someplace on the waterfront but glad we came here. My daughter who never tried seafood before loved it.
The food was good and we got seated right away. However, the server we had tells lies! He said he didn't take a gratuity off my card. My bill was 176.06. When I got home and checked, he had swiped my card for 202.47. That's an extra 26.41. I gave him a 20.00 bill for a tip. I hope his manager reads this because I manage a law firm and I might just get petty about that and cause them some financial problems. I hate people that lie.
Good seafood for a reasonable price. We got a dozen female medium crabs and a crab leg combo. The fried shrimp was just ok but the crab cake was good. Overall the seafood was fresh. Big dining room and quick, polite service