We enjoyed stopping here on our trip to the outer banks. We were greeted by the sound of a piano playing in the corner, and the staff was exceptionally friendly. The food was good but not great, although the hushpuppies were perfect. The store itself and its employees have a very positive attitude as evidenced by the various things hanging on the walls. I will definitely stop here again. Oh and don't forget to check out the bathroom walls!
Review Source:This place was wonderful! The quaint decor and ocean theme really pulls you in. Plus fantastic outdoor seating is always lovely. Let me say though thr this food is unbelievably good!!! I had the coconut shrimp....WOW!!! The best shrimp I've ever had. My family raved about the Hush Puppies (to die for), calamari that is worth having twice and they even have a great Gluten-Free menu! Not only is the food good but it is served fast and proportioned so that you are no longer hungry but don't leave sick! I highly recommend it of your in the mood for seafood! (also I personally aren't always a seafood person but this changed my mind and try have great options if you do t want seafood.) 2 thumbs up!!!!!
Review Source:Food was good, but what is memorable about Great Machipongo is the atmosphere. Â If you go, don't miss the bathrooms, whose walls are covered with post-it notes from happy patrons. Â There was a woman playing the piano, and I had to appreciate the board promoting "Sunday afternoon paino playing"; that's a pretty good description of the music. Â The other outstanding feature of this place is the awesome number of freezers filled with any kind of seafood you can get in the area; buy it and prepare it at home.
Review Source:Stopped here on the way to Virginia and on the way back...first time I had the grilled salmon sandwich which was unseasoned and very bland and raw in the middle. The dill sauce that came with the sandwich was amazing though, slightly disappointed that they don't sell it. Second time I got the She Crab Soup which was okay, could have used some salt but what really annoyed me was that it had a ton of shell in it...kept having to pick shell out of the soup until I finally gave up and had enough. I had also gotten the soft shell crab sandwich...very disappointing, didn't taste fresh or seasoned. The best thing in the basket was the crinkle fries which I'm sure are frozen.
Not worth the stop...you can get better at a fast food joint.
I came in full of expectation: a locally owned seafood place with great decoration, informal and enthusiastic. Â Servers very friendly, and the live music was fun... but the food. Â I was told that the tuna was served pink, and smiled at this. Â But it was overcooked and rock hard. Â The oysters that were "dusted with cornmeal and lightly fried" were mainly batter and deep fried. Â The broccoli was stone cold, and the mac and cheese had little taste. Â What a disappointment! Â
Not a place to go back to.
The best food ever.  Homemade soups that make want you to come back for more.  Our second trip to this delicious restaurant.  We ordered one of each of their homemade soups, Peggy's  Crab soup, Eastern Shore Clam Chowder and She Crab Soup.  Each was delicious.  The soups were full of seafood.  the clam chowder had whole clams and lots of  them, not full of potatoes(a positive thing for me).  The she crab soup was full of crab meat.  Also the crab soup was full of crab meat.  The broiled flounder was fresh and tasty.  The Joe's seafood sampler was full of clam strips, scallops and shrimp.  The hush puppies were the best ever, homemade and moist on the inside.  The crab-cake sandwich was superb.  If this restaurant were on the Jersey Shore it would be a knock out hit, but then they would not have their fresh seafood source, the backbone of their menu.  We will definitely return for these unique soups and seafood menu items.
Review Source:Great stop on your way to or from the Outer Banks. Â The tomato based crap soup was delicious. Â My daughter enjoyed the calamari and stuffed clams. The hush puppies will not disappoint. My husband agreed that the fish and chips and soft shelled crab were fried to perfection. Â The one disappointment Is the crab cake. Â It has no flavor. Â The only salvage was the old bay like seasoning that s on the table. Â Enjoy a crab cake some place else on the Eastern Shore
Review Source:I passed by here with my wife and daughter en route to the Outer Banks. We stopped and ate well. I had some fried fish, and ate my daughter's clams strips when she couldn't finish them. Everything was fresh and good, and is a wonderful little roadside shack.
A couple people were complaining that it was a little too divey - that's kind of the point. The owners re-purposed a McDonalds, remaking that chain restaurant into something fresh, unpretentious and original. If I didn't live about four hours away, I could see myself coming here regularly.
Delicious! Â
When people ask me what's a good seafood restaurant I tell them to take the scenic hike over to the eastern shore to try the clam shack.
The evidence hits you in the face as you walk in the door. The fresh seafood aroma of baked fish and seasoned shrimp beckon you to order the entire menu! Â My favorites here include the fish and chips which feature savory hush puppies and amazingly flaky fresh fried fish. The cole slaw is great and couples well with the meal. Having tried most of the menu I can say I love most of their items, especially the soft shell crabs!
The only two things I have a gripe about are the shrimp, which when you peel off the shell lack any real flavor. Also, the she crab soup was very thick and mealy, whereas places like Bubba's have a soupier, spicier, saltier variety. It could very well be my personal preference but I just didn't care too much for it (or it could have been the fact that I ordered 8 things and was deathly full!!)
Overall I'd highly recommend the clam shack. It's an eastern shore specialty with a warm, family friendly atmosphere, great local live music, and a friendly staff 8)
Typical run of the mill side of the road Dive. They mostly do fried food, nothing exciting. The food is the basic fried seafood stuff, fried clams, fried shrimp. Nothing really exciting.
Its a dumpy divey little place, slow service, not very clean, seems very old.
You could probably get better quality food at red lobster
Barely off the boat lump crab, crab cakes, and shrimp, along with delicious hush puppies. Live music on Saturday evenings. The place looks like a dive from the outside, and only a little better from the inside, but, who cares? The food is delicious, and the service is very good, even when they're busy.
Review Source:I had to stop. Â Having just driven through Maryland, I was thinking of crab. Â I should have just kept driving.
I got the soft-shell crab sandwich. Â The crab was extremely greasy and had a limp and tasteless batter. Â The crab had an overwhelmingly fishy taste. Â All yellowy crab guts and no meat. Â I took a few bites and just threw it away.....
I cant attest for anything else here, but the quality of this particular item suggests that the other fare may not be any better. Â Poorly fried, and probably frozen. Â
One extra star for the great name, and the fact that they recycled an old McDonald's  property.  I wish I could have ordered a Filet 'O Fish.
This place was gross. I had heard such good things about the GMCS from the locals that I finally decided to go the other night with my husband. Everything from the service (a totally apathetic young woman) to the diet pepsi (from a gun, but way too much syrup) was substandard. And not cheap.
I had been looking forward to a good crab cake all summer, since I am living on the Eastern Shore of VA, and this one was gummy, tasteless (I honestly could not even taste one bit of crab flavor) and had an unpleasant texture, totally underwhelming.
My husband ordered the shrimp & chips and could barely gag it down, the shrimp was underbattered, underseasoned and rubbery and the cocktail sauce was way too horseradishy. The fries were clearly frozen and ended up soggy on the plate.
Add to that the ketchup was an off-brand and you have yourself a perfectly disappointing experience.
Too bad...
The Seafood is SOOO FRESH I got slapped in the Face. Heading north to New Jersey we stopped at this local restaurant. We were greeted with a big smile. They do have bands playing music on some nights. I had the 1/2 of crab meat pound, the crab vegetable soup, and 1 pound of cold fresh shrimp. Lunch for two was $35 and the service was fast and friendly. The restrooms were very clean too. It was a nice break and the food was great. They also ship fresh seafood anywhere in the USA.
Review Source:With a name like this, how can you resist stopping in?
My son and I were heading home after a long fishing vacation. We had read the reviews and heard the locals rave about this place.
We just so happened to stop in when they had a small duo playing music.
I ordered the softshell crab special and my son got the fish and chips.
I tried one of the local brews (and liked it so much that I bought a six pack to go).
Mad bonus, check out the shop adjoined to the dinning room. Plenty of seafood to take home plus cool shirts.
Very friendly with lots to look at.
Seafood should be fresh, and it should not be over-seasoned or over-breaded, so that you can really enjoy the flavor of the main attraction. Â I've NEVER had seafood that fits this description better than the Machipongo Clam Shack. Â
The menu isn't the biggest I've ever seen, but what they do, they do very well. Â They have more fried options than broiled, but there are always non-fried choices as well. Â And besides, they fry everything perfectly, so I say, go for it! Â I generally get the calamari and my husband usually gets the scallops, but he also gets oysters. Â All have a very light breading, and come out very light golden, not the brownish color that warns you things are overcooked.
The sweet potato fries are truly excellent, but if you don't want cinnamon and sugar on them, just tell the waitress and they'll leave it off. Â (We generally ask for "light on the sugar" and they're happy to do that, too.)
Out of the dozens of times we've been here, we've had two dinners  that weren't cooked to our liking.  We sent them back and they were quickly replaced with perfectly cooked shellfish.  One time they said a new girl was being trained, and the regular cook made the replacement.  Of course, we'd all like our meals to be perfect the first time, but I love this food so much, I can overlook a glitch or two.  Especially considering we're in the middle of nowhere here.  It's not like you have a dozen trained chefs to choose from if you need a new fry cook.
We've always had excellent service, but then we don't come on weekends. Â I'm sure it can get very busy when there's a lot of tourist traffic.
Prices are mostly excellent. Â There are a couple of items that I think are overpriced, but 90% of the menu is ridiculously cheap. Â We generally spend about $25 for two of us, including iced teas, and we always leave stuffed,
Machipongo - I just love saying it! Machipongo, say it with me now Machipongo
We were on our way from NYC to KittyHawk, NC and on a hunt for Seasoned Steamed Crabs by the bushel. We made a few calls and Susan's Seafood was closed on Sun and the closest Chick-Fil-A (we don't have them in NY) was 2 hrs away. While randoming Yelping while on the move, we found the Great Machipongo Clam Shack. We passed by and there was a good amount of cars in the lot... intriguing... we turned back, we had to try this place!
The waiter suggested the Crabcakes and Soft Shell Crabs. I opted for the SoftShell Crab sandwich. My fiancee opted for the Fried Oyster PoBoy. His Poboy was great, as were the sweet potato fries but my Soft Shell Crab sandwich was out of this world ridiculous! Two small crabs on a sandwich, this thing was Bursting with flavor! Tartar Sauce, cocktail sauce, it was all good. And the Hush Puppies, these things were awesome! Just enough sweet and just enough crunch, these were soooo good! I wanted a plate of them! The slaw was pretty bland. But overall for $11 a sandwich, this was totally worth it and instantly gained my respect as an excellent establishment.
* Found out later they also serve seasoned crabs... didn't see any mallets though, and that's half the fun!
So great! We had piles of fresh clams and I can't stop dreaming about them. Â
I love everything about this place. Â Hippies meet the sea with a side of tourists and shelves of wine for sale. Â
The prices are really great--we ate what was fresh--clams and crabs. Â
The one drawback? 11 hours from my house.
We had lunch there today. Â Friendly and helpful service, attractive place with interesting pictures on the walls.
I had a seafood cake (Seaside or Bayside, not sure) and my wife had shrimp salad. Â We shared a cup of she-crab soup (their cups are 12 oz., plenty big to share). Â The soup was great, as was the shrimp salad. Â I think the seafood cake was quite good but I'm no real judge of them. Â There were sweet-potato fries (very good) and cole-slaw (also good) for me and slaw and hush puppies (quite good, I'm told) for her.
We are in the area for six days and will be experiencing several restaurants. Â If this is an indication we're in for a real treat.
This place is great. Â Good food. Â Friendly service. Â Cheap beer and lots of options on the menu.
I stopped in twice and was not disappointed. Â The soups are all good. Â For dinner I got one of the broiled platters (pictured) which was a lot of food. I think the platter came with 4 huge tender scallops, 4 big shrimp, a crap cake, two large sides, hush puppies and sauces. Â I was hungry, but had trouble finishing it. Â Shrimp and scallops were great, crab cake was okay...I actually think that one piece would have been better fried but I liked the rest broiled.
Good bottled beer was $3! Â If you come during happy hour the beer is $2 and the mixed drinks are $2.50. Â That's not bad.
So here's the thing, the menu isn't that different from other local seafood places you have been to...a bunch of seafood sandwiches and platters you can get fried or broiled. Â What's different here is the quality seafood, friendly service, and a real eclectic local feel. Â You walk in and want to come back again before you've even been served your food. Â It's not fine dining, it's a seafood shack! Â Get your self some chowder, a cold beer, and enjoy the music. Â
I'll be back.
This is a great place for the down home feeling! Â The locals like this place so we thought we would try it. My husband got Joe's Seafood Sampler (fried shrimp, scallops and clam strips) and I got the Bayside Seafood Cake (broiled crab, fish, shrimp and scallops). Â Well the locals were right! The fried was lightly coated and the flavor rang thru and the cake...well just say I would for sure order it again! Â Service was good and friendly and we felt they really cared about us and the food they prepared. I will eat there again. Â The room was filled with lots of funny posters and there were local cookbooks, good wine and a section to pickup some fresh seafood. Â Sooooo...try it on your way on Rt. 13 of the Eastern Shore of Virginia! You will get a treat!
Review Source:Yeah! A no frills, no pretension, real live seafood dive! You don't stop at a roadside seafood joint on the eastern shore in the middle of NOWHERE for "classy" or "ambiance." The people were friendly, the clientele diverse, with both locals and tourists, and it had PERSONALITY. There is a little bar, a little stage with local entertainment (seems to lean towards open mic/folk/americana/coffeehouse stuff), a seafood store and souvenir shop in the restaurant. Of course it is in an old fast-food building, what else would it be next to an old US highway? What do you want, a Tudor manor house? it's a seafood joint!
Oh, the food... it was really good. Simple and tasty. I had the seafood cake sandwich=GREAT, my partner had the crab cake sandwich, which was the chunky lumpy heavy-on-the-crabmeat, light-on-the-filler type. Mostly lump, not claw, and excellent. We liked the slaw and hush puppies, too. Service was not super fast/efficient, but we weren't in a huge hurry. At least they were friendly!
The most disappointing thing about this place is that it was actually in Machipongo at one point. Now its in Nassawadox, still along 13 but further north. When I would come home on vacation this place was the greatest. Friendly people, all about service with a smile. Now the management has changed. The people tend to look at you like you don't really want to buy anything.One older lady in particular just seems like she doesn't care what you want. I can understand a little based on the surrounding area with a lot of drugs and so on, but customer service should still be customer service. 2 stars for not being what it used to be.
Review Source:Drove around twice before deciding to go in--the dead untagged mercedes in the parking spoke "go away", but I went in anyway. Â Saturday nite, so live entertainment, which apparently varies each saturday nite. Â Our was pretty good, though odd.
Beer is all bottle, and a pretty good variety, with frozen mugs. Â I had the scallops and oysters. Â Oysters were quite good--scallops good though really would rather not have had fried.
Sides -- slaw and mashed potato -- were quite mediocre, although the hush puppies were good.
Service was fine.
I think the owners are distracted and running on autopilot, but overall pretty good---just not the great seafood restaurant i was hoping for.
I'd never been across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. 17.6 miles of road and bridge and tunnels. Impressive. Something inside me commands that if I am that close to the Chesapeake Bay, I should eat some seafood. We drove from the bridge all the way out to Nassawadox, VA, for a little seafood adventure.
We decided that we should try to The Machipongo Clam Shack. Memorable name. Middle of no where. Let's go.
When we arrived, I thought, wow. That looks like an old Hardee's. I think it was.
We were seated promptly and still cold from walked the entire length of the pier on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, we ordered Clam Chowder, hubby's favorite. It was delicious. I thought. Okay. If their chowder is that good, this place is going to rock! Not so much. Most people seem to revere the fresh seafood for purchase. After having the  crab cake (good crab to breading ratio, but weird flavors and odd consistency) and the peel and eat shrimp, we were relieved that we'd saved some chowder to end on. $40 for lunch doesn't seem right in a reconditioned Hardee's. We got our Machipongo on. Whatever happens in Nassawadox, stays in Nassawadox. I'll fondly remember our trip out there and the quality of the chowder, but try to forget the shrimp, crab cake and the price.
This was my first trip on the shore without stopping here. Â Squeaker was sleeping happily in her carseat, so I didn't dare jinx it! Â As the other Yelpers have mentioned, it's a great spot for a meal or to pick up fresh seafood. Â Love the drive-thru as well. Â My faves are the steamed clams, steamed shrimp, and crab cake sandwich. Â Highly recommended.
Review Source:Seafood
I tend to drive up and down the eastern shore of Delaware / Maryland & Virginia (the Delmarva peninsula) a lot- and usually my stops are reserved for gas or rest rooms.
In this case, I was starving and having passed the Great Machipongo Clam Shack a zillion times, I wanted to finally get in there. Â Firstly - the name grabs your attention as it is way too much to handle while flying by doing 80. Â There are some bill boards announcing it which does get your attention - otherwise by the time you figured out the name, you'd be long past it.
The place serves seafood and plenty of it. Â Additionally it is a seafood market where you can get some killer deals on very fresh sea items and take them home with you.
The waiter was top notch- very polite and johnny on the spot with everything. Â In fact, everyone working there was very awesome- a young group of workers and the entire place is an outpost for various causes from saving Tibet to protecting the fish through sustainable fishing.
The food was very good- and that of course stems from the fact that it  was fresh - not frozen - and cooked to order.  While waiting for the food, I was looking around -the entire place is a loaded with nautical gear and pictures to remind you of where you are -
Live music on Thursdays (I think) either open mike or bands.
Great little place and absolutely worth hitting again  Parking around the perimeter.
In or around Chesapeak Bay Bridge Tunnel? Hungry for some seafood and not sure where to go? We were in Virginia Beach for a wedding and on our way home to New York. Just 26 miles north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel on Route 13, we saw a small establishment called The Great Machipongo Clam Shack. Since none of us had our seafood fix in Virginia Beach, we all decided to check it out.
Pulling into the lot, the place reminded me of a familiar fast food chain restaurant. (I couldn't quite put my mind to it until I read the previous Yelp post that it used to be a McDonald's). The ambiance of the restaurant was pretty old, with brown tiled floors, blue walls, laminated tables with wooden chairs, and several plastic seated booth tables. We were greeted by a tall man, who I assume is the owner, and asked if we would be ordering out or dining in. We decided to dine-in, and were seated by the owner. The hostess came by and informed us she was short menus (which was a piece of plain paper), so we only had one menu for our party of 4. I browsed around the tables and saw one on another vacant table so I snatched it so we could look at the menu more easily.
Service was somewhat inattentive, as the waitress took about another 10 minutes to come by to take our order. I decided to order the Macho Clam Fritter Sandwich ($7.99) with a side of cole slaw. The waitress asked if I wanted cole slaw or fries to my surprise, so I requested the latter. We also all asked for glasses of water with lemon. It took about another 10 minutes for the waitress to bring over our waters for a restaurant that was not busy at all, with only about 5 of 20 tables occupied. As we sat and chatted, and waited for our food, I noticed this was a locals joint. As each patron walked in, they would say hi to the owner, waitress, and other patrons, all addressing by first names. A true locals joint. A party of two patrons did come in at one time and sat by a table near us. They sat there for about 10 minutes without anyone ever coming to them, so they got up and left. I noticed you really have to holler and get the waitress or owner's attention to get service.
Our orders finally came out in about 15-20 minutes from ordering. My entree was presented on a red plastic basket on top of a piece of parchment paper. The clam fritter was quite huge, almost the size and thickness of a whopper, sitting on a seedless hamburger bun. Included on the side was a small portion of fries, and to my surprise was a small cup of cole slaw, two hush puppies, and two cups of tartar sauce. My eyes lit up with all the extra food they tossed on my plate. Not bad!! And the food was delicious. The clam fritter was perfectly deep fried, and was not filled with extra breading or random ingredients. I could taste the clam as it was meant to be eaten. Compliment the clam fritter with the tartar sauce and mmmm mmmm....delicioius! The fries were crisp on the outside and moist on the inside, a fairly standard french fry, but good nonetheless. The cole slaw was homemade and fresh. The vinaigrette and mayonaisse in the cole slaw were light and not overpowering. The hush puppies were perfectly fried and moist on the inside. I also had a chance to try the Chesapeak Lump Crabcake ($9.99) which was very delicious. The crabmeat was generous without all the extra fillers (bread, etc.) that you find at most franchise restaurants which only include 10% crabmeat. Everyone was pretty content with their meals and were pretty full.
This shack is where it's at! Despite the slow and slightly subpar service, this locals joint does not skimp on portions. And even though their food might take some time to prepare (as a sign in the restaurant goes, "Good Food Takes Time!"), it is for good reason, quality seafood at its finest. And let's not forget, cheap prices! While you wait for your food, you can read the interesting health nutrition facts for a variety of seafoods and other random chatchkis on the wall. If it weren't for the slow and subpar service, and slightly unappealing ambiance, I would give this place 5 stars.
Note: If you're on the go, you can also order fresh seafood ranging from clams, mussels, shrimp, lobster, scallops, octopus, crabcakes, fish, alligator meat and more! Just don't forget that cooler. If you did, they also have styrofoam coolers available to keep your seafood cool for your road trip.
We stop here en route to SC when avoiding the DC traffic on 95 (I've been coming here since at most 2003). Â It's in a converted McDonald's--with drive through service from a hand-painted sign.
We usually order a pound of cold boiled shrimp to eat and then pick up a pints of oysters for $11, chowder clams at $4/dozen, and anything else that looks good (frozen lobsters and crabs, fish cakes, etc.). Â If you need a cooler, they have those with freezer packs (our cooler has lasted over a year, having been reused for items from the farmer's market as well as for picnics).
The original location is a tiny shack with less to purchase, but with a greater ambiance. Â It's a real shack.
A gem if you happen to travel on this tiny road. Â On our next visit in a few weeks, I may pick up some alligator--it doesn't taste like chicken at all, but is really good.
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