I'm convinced that Kent Island does not have any decent crab houses, only tourist-trappy,…read morehigh-priced, private equity-owned eateries that ship crabs in from the gulf coast and cut corners everywhere to maximize profit.
Fisherman's Crab Deck is a classic example of this dilemma- I took my daughter here after picking her up from stay-over camp in Chestertown. We both wanted steamed crabs, and had been to Harris in the past and were not impressed, so we checked out Yelp and found the ratings were pretty good here, so we stopped in.
First impressions are important, and after entering and following the sign to be seated, all we saw were a bunch of women gabbing away like they were sharing last night's dating stories. Eventually one came up and asked us whether we wanted inside or outside seating. We asked for a table near the water, and got seated near some clown who spent his entire time in the restaurant shouting on his phone. So, I know staff can't control what people do once seated (to an extent), but maybe this suggests what type of clients they get.
Anyway, our waitress comes up and takes our drink order- I asked to sample two beers on draft that I was not familiar with- she looked at me like I wanted a free dink or something, but reluctantly told me she would "ask the bartender" if this was ok. She wasn't rude or anything, but just seem slightly annoyed at my request, as well as the entire time "serving" us.
We get our drinks, order our crabs, and I got some ears of corn and crab soup. The soup was ok, the ears of corn tasted like cow corn that had been shipped in from Bangladesh- they were that bad, and at $4 a piece, this was a high crime. I didn't dare tell our server given her demeanor- I didn't want to chance a blow-up.
The crabs themselves were ok- nothing special, but not bad. With that said, we ordered extra-large and got large- one trick these Kent Island crab houses have is that they undersize their crabs- extra-large are actually large, large are actually mediums, etc. No respectable crab house would do this, but I guess Fisherman's and others nearby think it's another way to make more money.
Another thing I noticed is that this place doesn't use Old Bay seasoning, which is treasonous in Maryland. The server said they use their own recipe, which is about 90% salt dumped on the crabs, and saves them money. Additionally, they don't use butter to dip the crab meat in- you get liquid margarine which tastes like chemicals. Finally, their vinegar dip is not vinegar- don't ask me what it is, but it tastes terrible!
For two people, our bill came to over $115, and we only ordered a half a dozen crabs. Outrageous. Bad corn, small crab sizes, no Old Bay, and a patron at the next table yacking over how his sub-contractor is over-charging his company. I won't even mention the finicky waitress.
Two stars, Fisherman's- and I'm never coming back.
