For those that may have never heard of them, Joe's is a chain of
seafood restaurants. They try to give the image of a real crab shack
but with modern furnishings and meeting health codes.

My wife likes seafood and has been seeing a lot of commercials on TV
for this place. As you would expect, it looks good on TV so the only
way to find out is to try it out. I took a day off this week and we
headed to the one in Methuen, MA, about 80 miles from us. The plan
was to have a late lunch/early dinner so we arrived about 3 PM. There
were only three other tables at that time so service was quick.

One of the big features in the various crab pot dinners. You can get
them for one or two, you can get various seasonings and variations. We
got he original for two. It had snow crab, dungenous, shrimp,
sausage, potatoes, corn on the cob. It was properly cooked and hot.

The down side though, the crabs were previously frozen as you would
expect in this type of operation. The texture was poor Taste was
OK.

Like any crab shack, there was the bucket on the table for shells, a
roll of paper towels, bibs, and a couple of sinks (aside from the
restroom) where you could wash your hands. They do have beer, but
since I was driving, I had iced tea. Beer is the traditional beverage
served with crabs on the picnic table at home or the joints along the
shore.

If you live in Nebraska or Kansas, it may be good seafood. Methuen is
about an hour's drive from Gloucester, one of the best seafood ports
in the country, two hours from New Bedford.. We are used to getting
fresh, top quality seafood so this was just an OK meal. I'd not ever
bother again. If you live within 200 miles of the coast, you should
be able to do much better.