Claws Seafood House

Good solid seafood place in Rehoboth. Typical choice of fish w/​various sauces/​cooking styles. Good oysters. All you can eat options. Not clear where the seafood is coming from.
Big place with good, local beers and large tables for groups. Loud, family-​style atmosphere. Patio out front is good, but furniture is sub-​optimal.

The food was really good and the happy hour drink specials were really reasonably priced. Had dinner here and came back for happy hour the next day.

Good meaty crabs! We thought this would be a overpriced tourist trap total opposite reasonable priced large crabs at $ 69dz and other menu items. Good service and right near the boardwalk and the heart of Rehoboth.

Great Fish. Super friendly waitress. Specials were truly enjoyable. We sat outside and it was so much fun. The food was good, the service was great, the weather was fantastic. Go!

We stopped by Claws on a day trip to the beach, hankering for some good seafood. After an afternoon of sand, salt, and sun, we needed some cool, indoor seating, and were happy to find that they had tables ready for non-​porch tables. We were seated quickly, and the waitress quickly took our appetizer order: Hushpuppies. They brought about 15 of them with a homemade, whipped honey butter, which melted over the freshly cooked pieces. It was sublime.
When our main order arrived (after a slight delay), the order was mostly right, but they got one of my side dishes wrong. No problem, things happen. The correct sides they brought — corn on the cob and coleslaw — were excellent. My girlfriend’s side of mac and cheese wasn’t to her liking — was more akin to macaroni salad than a traditional type of mac and cheese. My fried shrimp was perfectly cooked with fresh, plump shrimp, and came out hot. My girlfriend had the lobster roll, which she thought was incredibly fresh with a perfectly toasted bun, and the celery gave a nice touch of crunch. Both came with enough food for us to take home in a box.
The prices were moderate, but for a seafood place on the beach, it was great that every entrée wasn’t $ 30+. They do seem to have an all-​you-​can-​eat whole crab experience for $ 40/​person, which I would love to do… that seemed very popular.
If there was one downside here, it’s that the service was a little iffy. As I said, there were some delays in getting our entrees out, a side was wrong, and our server had to be asked a few times for items. Our check was a little late, and when she refilled our drinks, she didn’t add any ice. These are all small details, but together they bump the place down to 4 stars.
Overall, this place is a treat, and definitely worth a visit for seafood lovers coming to the beach.

Great customer service from Matt, he was so nice, and was always smiling. Crab dip was fresh and fantastic, and fried Oysters was really tasty, lightly bread and soft. Only issue is that its super duper loud hard to have conversation. But definitely its a good spot.

Greeted pleasantly by the hostess. Good stuff. Got sat in dining room at our choice immediately. Good stuff again. Looked at menu and was underwhelmed. The prices were absolutely ridiculous-​$ 2.50 for a kids size lemonade that held maybe 6 oz? $ 2.50 for my adult sized iced tea– ok. Grouper prices to add to a Caesar salad? $ 14 to add grouper to an $ 8 salad. Not interested in paying $ 25/​per person for a family lunch.
Son got popcorn shrimp, applesauce off kids menu for $ 8 — and it came with a frisbee and a free scoop of ice cream. Best deal of the place. If you are into kids meals, you can get a great deal here. Otherwise, save your $ for places like BigFish, Fins, or even the Cultured Pearl.

Restaurants that cater to the tourist crowd can get into some bad habits. If you have a customer base that’s willing to pay a bit more for some seafood at the beach, what’s stopping that restaurant from overcharging for bland, tough, and just generally mediocre food? Nothing, I guess.
Claws lacks effort in their menu. The Mahi-​Mahi we ordered felt thrown together. Flavor came solely from the salsa served on the side, and you shouldn’t ever need salsa to flavor fish.
Fries on the side were cold about 30 seconds after getting to the table, and suffered from the same blandness that plagued the fish.
I’ll give them credit for the potato salad though, nice creamy flavor and big chunks of potato.
There are some much better seafood options in the area. Claws is a tourist trap guilty of serving mediocre food at high prices.
Not recommended.

We were greeted outside by a hostess who was picking off her fake nails and left one of them on her clipboard as she sat us.
The dining area was extremely loud, and general cleanliness was lacking. To go boxes were practically sitting on the floor.
The crab cake sandwich was nothing to write home about. The po boy wasn’t great either. I asked the waitress if she liked the Mac and cheese, and she gave a rave review. It was lacking flavor and just plain awful.
Will not return.

I actually wish I lived next to the beach for this place in particular.
First off, it was surprisingly not busy during lunch time, maybe we just got lucky? Anyways, the service was pretty quick. We got mozzarella sticks, calamari and crab dip. Mozzarella sticks were suuuuper cheesy and the crab dip had a lot of chunks of crabs in it — loved it. The calamari was also very crispy. I got a side caesar salad which came out pretty quickly after I ordered it.
And now for what we came for. crab legs! The order we got comes with two sides and we got fries and mac n cheese. The crabs were pretty salty and flavorful — I was thoroughly impressed. Normally, I have to put old bay on crabs by itself but it was already flavored. I put the crab in the mac n cheese and let me tell you… yum! It was extremely easy to open/​crack too. There was a lot of meat inside the crabs.
The happy hour is a must too! I wish we knew about it before but as we were leaving we figured out it was happy hour time and they have $ 9 for snow crabs. This place is wonderful!

This place would’ve gotten a higher rating from me if it weren’t for the customer service issues my friends and I experienced while dining there over the weekend.
First off, the hostesses were a bit rude when seating us. I may chalk it up to teens here for the summer break needing a summer job, but still.
Secondly, there was an issue with menu pricing. My friend ordered the all-​you-​can-​eat crab option which was PRINTED on the menu at $ 29.99. Upon receipt of the bill, they charged him $ 39.99. We asked about it, but our waiter just said «no, it’s $ 39.99.» When my friends asked another employee, they said that the menu was wrong, that it really is $ 39.99! Talk about FALSE advertising! If anything, print a note or let your guests know when you’re explaining the menu/​taking their orders that there is a misprint on the menu.
The food was really good, though. So they have that going for them!

Eh? That’s pretty much what we all felt after eating here. The server was good and accommodating and the buffalo wings and fish and chips were decent.
Avoid the max and cheese at all costs. It says it is made from scratch every day but it looked like it was from a package and was completely tasteless. It looked as bad as it tasted.
Overall it was what you would expect from the typical beach tourist trap.

Snow crab claws for $ 9 at happy hour. Need I say more?
In all seriousness, this promotion is exactly what drew me to Claws this past weekend during a visit to Rehoboth (and the positive Unilocal reviews cemented that decision). I love snow crab claws and can never get enough, and for them to feature them for $ 9? That was enough for me to plan to eat a big breakfast and starve through lunch so I could arrive as happy hour was beginning. The claws arrived hot and seasoned with old bay. Good amounts of meat on them, too. Two «bunches» per $ 9. My husband and I liked them so much we ordered another round — dinner be damned!
This was one of the more crowded happy hours we encountered during our time in Rehoboth, and I can see why. While we didn’t order anything else, I could see others at the bar were enjoying their steamed shrimp and raw bar items.
I’d definitely return.

Seeking seafood on a Saturday night. First choice was Shorebreak Lodge — gf wanted to try the grilled octopus. But alas, they don’t take walk-​ins after 5:30 p.m. Henlopen City Oyster House had a 90 minute wait for 2 ppl.
Claws said it would be 30 minutes; I think it was closer to an hour though. It’s VERY LOUD inside. The drinks are STRONG. I had the grapefruit crush and made the mistake of taking a sip without swirling around the ice. Whoa. It was very tasty but I only drank half and was tipsy for a few hours. My gf had the dark and stormy, which was even stronger.
She loved the grouper risotto, which is grouper on top of risotto topped with lobster sauce. I enjoyed the mango mahi — it was slightly overcooked but nicely flavored and I liked the rice and thin asparagus. We wanted dessert but were stuffed.
Very good service. Would go back.

Not sure I get all the great reviews for this place. It’s fine, I guess, and the location is good — right on the Rehoboth Beach main drag.
I ordered a half-​dozen blue crabs, and they almost certainly had been frozen. Very little meat, kind of stringy and gross. The wife’s rockfish was good, if not overly creative or memorable.
If you value location over food, this place is solid. You won’t go hungry, and the beer list is pretty good. But there’s a touristy vibe that I didn’t like, and if you’re more interested in food quality, there are much better crab houses within a short drive of this place. I probably won’t go back unless my car breaks down near the boardwalk.

Folks if you’re seeking edible steamed crabs, look elsewhere. Last night we ordered a ½ dozen XLs and they were awful. Dry, stringy and off flavor. Explained to server the situation and she «spoke with manager» and another ½ dozen «fresher» ones came out. These were equally bad. At this point I just wanted them removed from our bill (we also had shrimp and hush puppies — which were fine, but really nothing to get excited about) and when I received the check I saw the manager had simply reduced check by $ 25. Long and short. Requested to speak with manager, explained the crabs were the worst I’ve ever had, and would not pay for them. He agreed and even notes there had been several earlier complaints — but we’re serving them anyway. Wow.
Not MD Crabs — from Texas. Issue was not with cooking. Probably storage and keeping them in cool past prime. One of the crabs aprons was opened, indicating it was probably dead before taking a steam. Just wouldn’t recommend this place. The crabs aren’t local and they knowingly serve them despite multiple complaints in a single night.

This was our second visit to Claws. The 1^st time we weren’t impressed but this visit was really good. Our server was great. She even showed us how to break down a lobster.
We ordered Fried Shrimp, Swordfish, Lobster Bake, Mussels, Peel & Eat Shrimp, and a Seafood Bake.
The fried shrimp had a light crispy coating. The mussels were very tasty. The Seafood Bake was filled with seafood-​no skimping or fillers. The peel and eat shrimp were fresh. The best dish of all was the Swordfish. It was lightly broiled. It was some of the best fish I have ever eaten.
We all enjoyed sharing and everyone walked away full and happy.

Love this place, it is becoming a vacation mainstay for our annual trip to Rehoboth. Quick service. Have to get the crabs. Good beer. Kid friendly. Can get very busy, so we try to eat on the earlier side (say 6 – 6:30).
Wasn’t wowed by the crab dip. But again, we go for the whole crabs.

Excellent happy hour spot. You can spend a while here without breaking the bank. The Fordham Lagers were a nice special for $ 2 and the $ 1 oysters are a steal!
You can relax here and enjoy the TV’s or bar scene while sipping on numerous drink specials and seafood.
Only didn’t reach 4 stars because the space is outdated and needs some TLC.

Thanks to Unilocal for pointing us in the direction of Claws Seafood House! Situated on the strip that is Rehoboth Avenue, you can’t miss this all red converted Cape Cod. Even at 9:00 pm this place had a 45 minute wait!
We were one of the last customers to be sat but our waitress was as gracious as ever. This place is easily four stars but the sweet customer service definitely pushes it to the five star category. She was super friendly, checking in on us, and making her favorite recommendations. The table behind us had never eaten crabs before so she took some time to sit with them and show them the entire process.
The boy and I split a bowl of lobster bisque, a half dozen of XL crabs, corn and a basket of hush puppies and we left completely stuffed. They actually throw in an extra crab or two with every order in case one of the crabs are light or bad which I thought was a nice touch. Luckily all of our crabs were top notch quality so we ended up with bonus crabs. All of our crabs were extremely meaty, moist and seasoned with a heavy hand of Old Bay. Prices for our dinner were actually pretty reasonable compared to what I would pay at the Marina. We got all of this plus three beers for under $ 80…and we didn’t even have to clean up.
Apparently their happy hour specials are even better! Can’t wait to go back.