Mud City Crab House

We’ve been coming here for years, but alas i think we’re done. At 4pm on a Monday the joint was so noisy we couldn’t even have a conversation. And good luck parking! The food was 50/50 as we had a good (but small) fried calamari appy, and the soft shell crab (fresh not frozen) was well prepared and delicious. But the imperial crab stuffed flounder was dry and tasteless. If you order it ask for some drawn butter.

Heard about this place researching top seafood spots in LBI and it definitely is amazing. I was driving home on a Friday and decided to get there right when it opened to try it out before my trip. I arrived around 1120 and there was a parking lot full of cars. (Obviously a great sign). We got seated pretty quick and as did almost every table. It was packed! The service was very prompt and informative. The food was absolutely delicious. (We got a lot to try between the group.) The bill came and we were surprised how affordable it was! This place will definitely be on a must go to every time I’m in LBI.

Dined on a Saturday night and the wait was not bad at all. Nice seating outside with a fire pit while you wait. Madison took care of us and had provided us with amazing service. She made recommendations and checked in on us throughout the meal. 10/10 thank you Madison!

We stopped in after hearing that they were now officially open for the season. Altogether it wasn’t a bad experience I don’t think that they were at full season form with some of the seafood items. Fried Calamare was overcooked and chewy, the pieces were also on the small side, New England clam chowder was okay, but lacking flavor and a little light on the clams, nothing special, especially around here with so much chowder competition. The star appetizer and best part of the meal were the raw oysters, which were very fresh, chilled and exquisite tasting. We also had a couple of different varieties of their crab cakes which were OK but just ordinary. For dinner we had fried clams, which were on the small side and lacking plumpness and flavor, a stuffed flounder was completely flavorless, the grouper was just ordinary and the mussels sauteed in olive oil and garlic were a disappointment, the star of the dinner meals was the broiled seafood platter which was nicely grilled, fresh and tasty. The place was quite busy when we were there but service was friendly and efficient, we loved the outdoor bar truck. We look forward to coming back once they get their sea legs in order.

a fantastic seafood spot by the shore, this place has every fish on the planet you can think of! And every which way you can cook it. Started out with some great clams, almost oreganata style, perfect bread for dipping. I also had a no filler all meat crabcakes, which I truly appreciate it, I actually ended up putting it on top of my Caesar salad. For dinner I had salmon with wasabi sauce. My fiancé had the fried shrimp with french fries. Will definitely be back to try some cocktails!

We enjoy coming to mud city and have always had a great experience. Unfortunately, we had Wendy P. as a server. If anything is wrong with your food, she would never know. She never came back to the table to check. The other servers around us were very attentive of their people. The only thing she did on time was bring out the food. After that, we had to call for her attention. Management please remind her she’s in the hospitality industry and being pleasant and attentive goes a long way.

There aren't a lot of legit sit-down eating options in this area, but I had a good feeling about this one in the day leading up to our visit. I saw several vehicles with bumper stickers for Mud City, and our taciturn Uber driver to the restaurant brightened up the minute we pulled into the parking lot, exclaiming, "This is my favorite place in the area." It's clearly very popular amongst tourists and locals, and I can understand why. I came here with my top-tier chums on the 4th of July for dinner around 4:30pm. (That was partially because we wanted to have plenty of time to get back to our Airbnb for fireworks, but also because we have the sleeping schedules of 90-year-olds. No shame.) Despite the slightly off hour, Mud City was hopping both inside and out, and we had a short wait of less than 10 minutes before we were seated. If memory serves, we were told the wait was roughly 20 or 25 minutes, but it was dramatically shorter than that - love a solid overestimate. While we waited, we grabbed drinks at the makeshift Airstream bar outside - super cool setup. There's also a decent-sized firepit right next to the Airstream that would have been a perfect place to hang out for a while if it wasn't occupied the entire time we were there. Solid viewpoint of the nearby marshlands as well (we were right by the causeway that goes onto LBI), which will always remind me of Dawson's Creek. I got the Honey Palmer, which was basically a boozy Arnold Palmer. Very much a Shore drink; you're not getting edgy mixology or anything like that, but it's a sweeter, refreshing beverage. Definitely hit the spot. We secured a table close to the entrance and right near an obligatory lobster tank. Morally, I didn't see a choice here - I went with the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake entree, touted as the best in NJ. Delicious and I think safe to say the best crab cakes I've ever had. With my texture-based palate, I tend to shy away from the crab cakes that have crunchy shizzle in them like celery, so having ones like this that have tons of crab and a bit of breading is perfect for me. It came with both tartar and cocktail sauce (which I thought was a subtle flex as well - usually it's one or the other and my preferred cocktail sauce is on the backburner), but honestly didn't need either. The only downside was that it was so filling I barely went after my sides, corn and a baked potato, respectively. One of my chums got an a la carte crabcake as well. She wasn't quite as over the moon about it as I was. What was strange though about that situation was that her crabcake came on an extremely small plate - there was literally no room to move the food around on said plate, and it was awkward to cut up and consume. I would definitely serve that on a medium-sized plate, even if you don't really have any accompanying sides to fill it up - odd optic. The service was okay, but ultimately uneven. Our waitress was around more often at the beginning of the meal and was professional/efficient, but as the experience went on was harder and harder to track down. We weren't in a hurry - shore time is slow time - but some of the waits were very noticeable and caused delays in ordering, getting the check, etc. But again, if you're staring impatiently at your watch on vacation, you're not doing this right. One of the better places we ended up at, and would definitely go back to at the very least hang out at the edgy fire pit. And the crabcakes are worth it.

Mud City is always a good time. Delicious food- and great vibes. Especially outdoor seating! Recommend getting a bunch of apps to share. Have been back many times. The dirty goose martini is amazing- and so is the sesame tuna special! My husband said the snow crab was the best crab he’s ever had. 100/10