The Fat Crab Cafe

I love the Fat Crab Café, and so do all of my friends who come with me. The seafood is super fresh and their soups well made and delicious. My favorites are the Chesapeake Eggs, the Fish and Chips, the fresh oysters on the half shell for just $1 on Saturdays, and the hot Lobster Roll (sooo stuffed with great lobster and no fillers). All delightful with a cool BYOB white wine, and especially great if you can sit outside. I think I go about every 2 weeks. Also, the servers always take good care of us.The place is not fancy, but the food is wonderful, and you get to eat with people of all ages and all walks of life.

The Fat Crab Cafe is my new favorite place for lunch in Lancaster. The counter service was friendly and fast. With several delicious sounding possibilities, we decided to try the New England Chowder and the Fish and Chips. Both were fantastic. Absolutely perfect for a rainy afternoon!

While parking space is limited, there are plenty of spaces nearby. It features a cafeteria-style casual dining experience where you order from the cashier/registrar and they bring the food to your table (return the dishes to the front when finished). Currently, they offer a $1 oyster special on Saturdays from noon to 4:30 (excluding December 23rd). Honestly, the food was better than I remember from three years ago. What attracts me the most, though, is the current oyster specials. I would love to go back to try their dinner menu as well.

We started out loving this place. We had some of the best, freshest scallops here that we had anywhere. But the next time, not so much. Fish and chips are just okay, but nothing special. The crab cakes are okay for what they are--no white meat; all claw meat. Portion sizes are average. The sides are definitely a problem. The mac and cheese can best described as gluey and flavorless. The horseradish potato salad sounded good, but wasn't. No horseradish flavor. Canned baked beans. We seriously never had a side here that was decent. I thought everyone could make simple sides. The decor really doesn't matter if the food is very good, but if it's not, I prefer not to eat in a barely heated room in cold weather. Lancaster sure could use good seafood place, but honestly, this is not it. Unimpressed.

Stopped in for lunch with my relatives & we were pleasantly surprised with how delicious the food was! We all had po boys- shrimp po boys & an oyster po boy. We also enjoyed The Crabman Fries. The "tar tar" sauce they gave for the po boys was AMAZING.

Delicious!! I was not expecting to find something this fresh and amazing all the way in Lancaster. We got the fish and chips and fresh catch of the day sandwich. Everything was fresh even the fries (not pictured)!! The service was quick and the staff was super friendly. They have a seafood market and cafe inside their one building. Everything is takeout right now with some outdoor seating available. The cafe you order at separate so it was very easy and no line. The seafood market side was really busy which was great to see. You can definitely tell they get regulars there. The best part was outside they just got a delivery of fresh crabs so you could see them outside in the garage area.

Big fan of Mr. Bill's! And have been looking forward to trying the cafe for quite sometime. Love the outdoor patio and plenty of seating inside. This may not be a frequent occurrence, but the prices on the TV didn't match with the prices on the menu. We ordered off the TV and didn't take notice of the difference until we got the check. No big deal, but we did mention it to staff and she didn't care, no apology offered or "thank you for letting us know." We thought we were doing them the favor incase it impacted future patrons, but instead it seemed like it was more of an annoyance that we said anything at all.Oyster Po Boy...I was skeptical to order. It's nearly impossible to find a restaurant that knows how to make a traditional Po Boy around here. No real complaints, just underwhelming. The flavor of the oyster was lost due to being fried and it was bland. I was hoping there would have been a spice in the breading. Enjoyed the sauce with the steamed clams, garlicky and buttery.

Ok welp, our first time here.. was enlightening. If anyone's seen my previous posts, we moved here about 3. 5 years ago and there are many places that are "firsts" for us. To celebrate my new job, I wanted to treat my husband to crabs/seafood... whatever.. We ordered the shrimp wrapped in bacon and I found those a bit tough but really tasty. We also got their loaded fries.. a home run. Those we were able to nosh on at the table. All was not lost .Went there Saturday and was in line at 6pm, Jonesing for blue claw crabs. I asked if they had blue claw and was met with a look of confusion.. "regular crabs?" Oh yeah. We have them but you have to take them to go because we close at 7:30. I didn't understand. She told me they took 1/2 an hour to steam. Umm no they really don't but maybe she meant that's how long the kitchen needed to get to them. "So I can't get 6 crabs and eat them here?" No they'll have to be "to go".. if I can ask the kitchen if theyre still steaming. "huh??" I don't understand this. "So I MAY be able to get them steamed, but I can't eat them here because theyre " to go"? She said "yes". Ok, so I can't get them "to go" and eat them here, then take the rest home if I don't finish by 7:30? "They'll have to be to go".. ummm okay. Whatever. It's an hour . I can def demolish 6 crabs in under an hour .. but ok. She said we have to give them an hour and a half to sit down to eat. I guess that was her way of telling me that's about what the average table stay is, but it came out-- not quite that way.It was our first time there and honestly I was disappointed that I didn't get to experience them hot, not having the mess at my own house and to have an evening where I was being served (whole reason I go OUT ) but my husband and I went back on our 30 minute ride back with my blue claws in and his huge Alaskan King crab legs in a bag. Needless to say, we drove as fast as we could to get them home while still hot. He got two crab legs in his order. This bad boy came in at 19.25" from end to point! Not even a joke. He picked then entire thing and had a nice pile that filled him up. $69.99 but worth it. He was quite happy, it was delicious.. my blues were excellent. We will def be going back, but next time with a clearer understanding of their time lines.. oh and it's a BYOB too.I was too busy eating to take pictures of my crabs... will this do?

Excellent! We were searching for good fish and chips - we found it! Upgraded to the cod and it was perfect. My husband got the oyster po boy, also excellent. We will definitely be back.

The french fries were good, the red seafood chowder had no fish in it and the blue fish was very dry (overcooked) Its not the first time I have had the red seafood chowder that did not have any fish in it but i thought it might be a one off so I wrote an email to the owner (manager?) rather than write a yelp review. Unfortunately, it wasnt a one-off. Quality control seems to be the problem here.