Where Not to Eat

A Harrowing Tale of an Evening at Joe’s Crab Shack, Followed By a Double Homicide

The waitress does a dance...
The waitress does a dance… Photo: B. Spotswood/SF Gate

Local blogger Beth Spotswood, who has the self-imposed task of touring the city’s most horrifying, artery-clogging, and/or just plain embarrassing tourist traps, spent last night at Joe’s Crab Shack in Fisherman’s Wharf. Things started out badly enough (“No Doubt’s ‘Don’t Speak’ blared from the sound system and we were seated at a table by someone wearing a ‘got crabs?’ t-shirt.” ), and they only got worse from there (“All of a sudden, someone cranked the speakers and all of the servers broke into a dance… Some fellow patrons, all of whom were wearing ‘Let’s Get Crackin” bibs, jumped up and joined in the ‘Cha Cha Slide.’”).

And then, as if the gods were trying to communicate something very urgent to Beth about her repeated attempts to explore Fisherman’s Wharf, the souvenir shop directly next door to Joe’s played host to a double homicide mere minutes after she and her friend exited the restaurant.

Thankfully, she got out with her life, and lived to blog about it. We suggest she concentrate her efforts closer to the city’s core from here on out.

Tourist Trapped: Joe’s Crab Shack [SF Gate]
Earlier: Won Over By a True Tourist Trap? [Grub Street]
Fishermen’s Grotto Called ‘The Mel Gibson of Restaurants’ [Grub Street]

A Harrowing Tale of an Evening at Joe’s Crab Shack, Followed By a Double