Captain John's Crab House - Newburg

? Oh, my... I don't know if it's the fact that I didn't get my crabs all summer, but when I finally sat down, it was a celebration? and we ordered snow crabs, blue crabs, hush puppies, shrimps and fries. Was it? amazing, the crabs were not as feathered as they were normally as if it was the beginning of the season, but you must expect that it is at the end of the season. But it was a wonderful place to sit. The family and I went there for my birthday and it was a very nice time. My only concern was that there was not much help, there was, I think, three waiters all over the place and it was pretty busy. So our drinks would be low or down to nothing and we had to look for a refill. The atmosphere was a bit cold so that the butter for the crabs hardens very quickly, so there were a few times we had to ask for additional butter. It seemed as though all waiters worked together, so we didn't have the same waitress all the time, but we tipped after three waitresses, so instead of 20% we gave a tip about 40% Cuz it was a very pleasant atmosphere, they were all very friendly. It was very alive. It was a pleasant atmosphere, was not stressed. It was a very relaxed dinner. I would recommend this restaurant for a great crab festival?

I love the view of the water and enjoy the company of the family and enjoy great food.

Wow! Amazingly best oysters Rockefeller and Rockfish Imperial I had in years! Ate the oysters so fast I didn't think to get good pictures and omg the stuffed Rockfish was just crab n cheese! No filler!

Our waitress was very nice and attentive. Had everything you could eat crabs. The crabs, corn and Hush puppies were delicious. I don't know if it was the way this was my first time, but the salad bar wasn't everything. I'd come back.

Unfortunately this was my worst experience at Captain John 's and I doubt that I will ever be back, is no longer worth the long drive to get there or the outrageous expense. I took my wife and twin sons there the evening of Thursday, August 4, 2022, and it wasn 't until we received the bill since it wasn 't publicly disclosed or displayed anywhere that we discovered a surcharge of $5.31 which appears to be 3% of the total bill before tax based on my calculation for use of a credit card. We also discovered since alcohol prices aren 't displayed in the menu either that we were charged $17 $16.99 for a pitcher of draft beer which is way overpriced . So in addition to the surcharge itself, we also paid the MD state sales tax 6% on the surcharge, and the 9% alcohol tax on top of the overpriced pitcher of draft beer. I asked our waitress if I used my debit card which is the same as cash then would I be charged the cash price and she said yes, but that wasn 't the case at all. So instead of a credit card surcharge as displayed on the bill, they 're really charging a surcharge for use of any card transaction which should be transparent and made known to customers upfront but is not , and that surcharge should not be taxed the additional MD state sales tax. The alcohol prices should be transparent and made known upfront too. As far as the food, it was good, but definitely not worth the increased cost and expense compared to the smaller portion sizes and very little crab meat that came in the lump crab dip appetizer was too creamy with hardly any crab meat, mostly just sauce, no lump at all and soup both cream of crab and MD crab soups had very little crab meat in them and no lump at all . So don 't waste your time ordering these items or alcohol. We 've had a lot better experiences in the past the others times we 've been, but now it appears that Captain John 's has gone down hill and not lived up to the reputation it once had. For my family of 4 the total bill was $194 before tip, and the recommended tip amount was 18% $33 or 20% $36 . I left a $25 tip which was way more than sufficient for the level of service we received . So for the $220 I spent that night for the 4 of us to eat, we should 've received a lot better and I can think of other great places to eat that wouldnt have cost us near that amount of money. So you got me this time Captain John 's but never again.