Pros:
Just off the W&OD trail--easily bike-accessible
Lots of outdoor seating with shade and fans
Delicious crabs, tasty hushpuppies, decent fried oysters
Very clean for a crab shack, with hand sanitizer, a basket of wet wipes, and even an outdoor sink (nice touches)
Cons:
Seriously outrageous price! (It was $113 for 18 large crabs.) Everything else seemed reasonably priced, but the price on the crabs was really painful.
I love crabs, and I enjoyed myself at Lowry's. I would be happy to go back again, but probably not for crabs, just because of the steep price.
Next time, I want crabs, I'll probably stick with Tim's in Dumfries, Captain Pell's in Fairfax, or LP Steamers in Baltimore.
I have lived in the area for years and always drove by this place. Â Finally, when my mom was in town visiting we decided to give this a try. Â WOW! Â I was so happy to have made the choice.
First things first, it is a small building so in winter (when we went) you may want to call ahead for a seat. Â THe food was simply amazing, I really never expected such good crabs this far inland. Â I do not know how they do it, but I do hope that they keep doing it.
Our server was super friendly, and I rewarded her with a nice tip.
My only complaint is that the salad was a bit of a joke. Â So lesson learned, no salads on the next visit, more room for delicious crabs!
We love this place. Especially in the summer when you can sit and eat outside. The inside of the restaurant is a little small and cramped, and there is only one unisex bathroom. However, the food is great, and the prices are reasonable. Kids meals come with soft serve ice cream which is a nice treat. Â I highly recommend the crab cake sliders and onion petals.
Review Source:Being local, we frequent the crab shack a lot.
It has its pluses and minuses. Â Most of the seating is outside...so its best to go when the climate outside is the nicest. Â Its also a great spot for kids (especially outside) as its just picnic tables and stones...my kids spend more time playing under the table in the stones than eating...we actually get a chance to relax there and not worry about the kids and the standard NOVA anti- kid snobs.
The food can go anywhere between great and not so great. Â The seafood is generally pretty good but WAY over priced. Â This place is quite far from the shore and you will be paying quite a premium for the luxury.
Their chicken is very good as is there burgers. Â If you stay away from the seafood and stick with the american food, the price is more reasonable and the food is good. Â We haven't had much like with the more specialty items.
Its a great place to go, once you know what to expect, and what dishes to have and stay away from for the sake of your pocket book.
Service can be hit or miss...usually high school kids in the summer...we've had anywhere from very friendly prompt service, to extremely slow, poor service....
Location is the best...can't beat hamilton, va...one of the best towns in VA...
I absolutely loved sitting outside on a beautiful night, rocks under my feet - reminded me of a lot of the places back home. But Lowry's is definitely for locals, and as first-timers we felt very out of place. Even our waitress, nice as she was, expected us to  just know what we wanted and seemed put off when we needed menus. But for me that adds to the charm - I love places where everyone knows each other. Food was good but I definitely felt it was a bit overpriced for what you get.
Review Source:This is a place you try when it's nice outside since the majority of the tables are outdoors, when it's really busy you may end up with other people sitting at your round McDonald's-like picnic table. They do have a few big fans set up for outside and you'll be eating over gravel (so its not too high heel friendly, very casual seafood style place) with the occasional super loud drunk laughing woman sitting nearby. They do have bug-spray on the table along with the usual condiments and hand sanitizer, also an outdoor sink which is a great thing to have for messy crab crackin' outdoors.
As for the food the small amount of clam strips were tasty, the hush-puppies were fair as were the onion petals. I didn't care for the "crab balls" and the mac salad was a bit plain and watery. My dads shrimp were also very spicy (the way he likes!) and those were OK too. Overall I didn't find it to be anything overly great, not sure I'd recommend it or not.
Great find! Out of all the crab places I've been to, this one without a doubt stands out from the rest. And I will start with my disclaimer - I personally am not a huge blue crabs fan (mainly because of the work that is required for the prize). So one of the big reasons why I enjoyed Lowry's so much was because they had an extensive menu catering to any and all customers that may come their way. From delicious fried chicken and burgers to soft-shell crab, salmon, and fresh raw oysters the size of golf balls (only a slight exaggeration), it's hard to pick just one thing off the menu! They also have made-to-order milkshakes and house made ice cream and apple pie. I went with a big group of family, and got to sample their fried oysters, fried calamari, soft-shell crab, salmon, fried chicken, waffle fries, onion straws, corn fritters, blue crab, and last but not least, their ice cream. Everything was so tasty! My favorites were the soft-shell crab and the fried chicken and waffle fries (very flavorful). The corn fritters were a little dry for my liking and the fried oysters had more batter than oyster, in my opinion! It also would have been nice if there was roomier seating indoors, but hey, it's a shack after all, right? Other than that, we had an excellent server who always checked on us and was very friendly and accommodating. Will definitely be coming back!
Review Source:Fathers day... We took to the car and played our favorite family game "Left-Right-Straight", at every intersection someone gets to determine the direction the car goes.. After a couple hours of this we drove past a restaurant that was chock full of people sitting on a patio... we turned around.
Lowry's Crab Shack... (I should preface this review by saying i am not a blue crab fan. I come from Alaska. I like crab legs the size of childrens arms.) The menu has a wide variety... which is good, and a good kids menu. We ordered fried shrimp as an appetizer. It was just ok.. the batter seemed extremely salty to me. We then ordered  beer battered fish and chips, sliders and chicken fingers for the kids and being a fried chicken addict i had to get the fried chicken after seeing on the menu that it was pan fried to order.
The fish and chips was pretty good, not great, it seemed a little over done and the batter to fish ration was very much in the batters favor. Chicken fingers were good. nothing to write home (yelp) about. The sliders were also good, although it seemed like they just made a burger and cut it into 4 pieces which isn't sliders at all but a quartered hamburger....right?
The fried chicken was quite good. Moist and juicy, crunchy not too salty, not too bland. Had i made this fried chicken at home i would have been quite proud of it!
The service was good, they were busy and i never had need of anything during our meal. The price seemed very reasonable... under $60 (sans tip) for food with 3 beers and an iced tea and dessert....ohhhh dessert. The ice cream is REALLY good here. Soft serve..it kinda has what i liken to a marshmallowy flavor / texture.
All in all we really enjoyed our meal here and will certainly return.
Spent a nice early Friday evening on the patio with beers and spicy crabs! Â Have been here many times and it is the best seafood game around. Â Service is good and the menu is nice and varied. Â Kids love the soft serve and sometimes we stop by just for that. Â My folks love this place too! Â Whenever they visit they want to go here. Â My only complaint is that the seating inside is cramped so we usually only go in the summer and sit outside. Â Love it!
Review Source:I have been meaning to try this place out for a year or so. Â I went today and splurged on a dozen steam blue crabs. Â They were mediums, pretty darn meety, and fresh tasting [how can it not be? Oddly, Ive had weird / re heated tasting crabs before, yuck]. Â We sat outside and it was around 2p on a Saturday. Â Decent round of guests, and not packed. Â The service was good, the side items and shrimp were that of typical seafood joints (no where near a red lobster...not that I know red lobster well). Â I am very happy there is a traditional beach-like crab/seafood shack around, this inside is tiny, so expect a wait during regular business hours! Â We'll be back!
Review Source:We have had take out several times but decided to dine in this time. The place was overflowing crowded by 7pm. We had a party of 8 and had to slit into 2 tables. They do have 1 larger table that would have seated us, but it was taken. The 4 of us crammed into a mighty small booth.
They were out of scallops (my fav), so I went with the beer battered catch (flounder). Actually I thought the portion was huge. I had my fill, shared with others and still brought some home. My 15 year old had the fish taco and said it was good, hubby had the stuffed flounder (that did look small to me). My daughter had the fried shrimp. Everyone liked their food. My daughter said the applesauce was delicious, and she is my pickiest eater. We had the crab balls as an appetizer and the were excellent.
4 stars for the seating mostly. The wait staff was friendly and attentive.
Good food, although the portion are smal for what you pay. Â 1 lb. of King crab legs got be 2 sets of legs. Â At Cap'n Pells in Fairfax a 1.5 is getting me 5 legs and they're bigger and full of crab meat. Â These seemed empty inside the shell. Â It's okay if I don't want to drive to Fairfax but the drive is worth it to Fairfax when I really want some crab legs and room to spread out. Â It is a shack so I shouldn't expect a lot of room.
Review Source:The steamed crabs were pricey but good. Tried the oyster po boy and was disappointed. The bread was too dense and combined with the lettuce & tomatoes overwhelmed the meager amount of oysters. And too make matters worse they used cocktail sauce instead of the customary tarter sauce or mayo. From what I saw others had ordered the other seafood dishes looked good. Will go back.
Review Source:Stumbled across this place by accident, as we were fruit picking near by. A crab shack - that does authentic southern cooking - we had the fried chicken, and sole. Fresh and very tasty! Great atmosphere, and friendly waitresses who made a big fuss over our baby (unfortunately we can't say the same of the front desk). Did i mention the bill was $23 for 2 meals, and drinks? Sweet!
Review Source:This place is awesome.  We've been here many times, both takeout and dine-in and they have been consistent with the quality of their crabs, fried shrimp and sides!  We've gotten dozens of  large crabs during one seating and most if not all the crabs are fresh, meaty and seasoned well.  If you don't like too much of the old bay, then make sure to let them know because they do put tons on their crabs.  The Admiral's platter is the very jump fried shrimp(15 pieces, I think) with 2 or 3 sides.  It's about $20 but well worth it.  There is outdoor seating and limited indoor seating.  You can call ahead for takeout and they'll have the order 'hot and ready' for pickup.  This is probably the closest crab place to the P-ville area.
Review Source:I'm from the eastern shore of Maryland, so I was raised on good seafood. Just finished off another half a bushel of crabs and a couple pounds of steamed shrimp from Lowry's... YUM. They are the only place I have found in the DC area that makes steamed crabs the right way. Â Big thumbs up, they made our Labor Day weekend very special!
~H
We stopped for lunch at Lowry's at Wayside Seafood Market and have good things to report. When Lowry's opened about 2 years ago, it was a bit of a surprise when fans of the old Planet Wayside first drove by to see what was now in its place. Long gone were the Planet's funky dining room, outdoor deck, and the ancient rest stop "facilities" that were held over from its old life as a traveler's rest area on old Rt. 7. In its place was a brand new building serving cooked to order seafood, with a full selection of fresh fish and shellfish in a great market setting.
Lowry's now sports indoor and outdoor seating, live music on the weekends, and is the only place you'll likely find within 40 miles to get a bushel of steamed blue crabs to pick. The lunch crowd was impressive, with the indoor seating filled and overflowing into the outdoor area by noon. The daily specials included several "salad" sandwiches with sides, including crab, seafood, tuna, chicken, and egg salad for around $6. We decided to order from the regular menu, putting the kitchen's blue crab acumen to the test by ordering the Crab Ball Basket and the Softshell Sandwich.
The Basket came with four big balls of seasoned backfin crab meat, a couple of hushpuppies, and a choice of side dish which was cinnamon applesauce in our case. The crab balls are just smaller versions of the crabcake elsewhere on the menu and were nicely spiced with large pieces of crab and a minimum amount of filler to hold it all together. As usual, the hushpuppies were nice and crispy, with a light texture that would have gone well with a little butter. While tasty, the applesauce could have done with a lot less cinnamon, which made it a bit bitter.
The softshell sandwich was served with lettuce, tomato, and tartar sauce on a buttered and toasted bun, with a side of Lowry's signature waffle-cut fries. The crab was a nice size, bigger than the bun could hold, and was very lightly breaded and cooked just so. Having grown up in Hampton Roads, one can be a bit snobby about one's crabs. For a landlocked seafood shop at the foot of the Blue Ridge, Lowry's does softshells better than most places I've dined at within a stone's throw of the Chesapeake or Atlantic.
Our lunch with drinks and two entrees was about $25. That seems the norm for most sit-down lunch places in our area now, but still seems a bit high to my out-of-date dining sensibilities. Regardless, Lowry's is a great place to head if you have a desire for some good seafood for lunch or dinner, or for some fresh fish to take home and cook. It should still be one of the more popular destinations for bikers on the W&OD with live music outside on the weekend, and it's a great place to bring the kids, too. And nothing beats being able to drive a few miles to dump a basket of crabs on the table and whack away with a hammer for a weekend afternoon meal with friends.
3.25
This is one of the few restaurants located in Hamilton. Â Every time we've driven past this place always looks packed. Tonight my family decided to try our luck. Â This is a nice little family run shop buried in the country of Loudoun County. Â This place is both dine in or carry out. Â There are only 7 tables inside, so you might have to wait. Â They also have seating outside if you don't mind getting bit by bugs.
We were greed at the door by the hostess and we asked for a table inside. Â Lucky we got there when we did. Â About 5 minutes later the inside was full. Â They have a very large menu of all sort of seafood: Â king crabs, snow crabs, fish, shrimp, scallops, and so on. Â I like the idea of having a neighborhood place that only serves seafood. Â I was having a hard time deciding what to get. Â I asked the waitress what the popular food was. Â She said the shrimp, crab cakes, and oysters. Â I had originally wanted the king crab legs. Â Man did they look good. Â The guy next to me got one and man was it huge. Â Any how, I got the coconut shrimp and the oysters and my wife go the shrimp. Â
The food came out pretty fast. Â To be honest, all our food tasted fine. Â It wasn't really anything special like WOW this is the best I've ever had. Â Everything that came out was hot and was decent. Â Its better than Red Lobster. Â I'd much rather spend my money here then there. Â At least here I know their stuff is fresh. Â My only complaint was the portions sizes of their baskets were a little small. Â I was still hungry after we left. Â
The décor is nothing fancy inside.  There are few crabs and things hang on the wall and the tables are pretty small.  The people who work there are all nice and the service was good.  No complaints there.  On my next visit over I'll have to try the king crab legs and the crab cakes.  Oh BTW the do have hushpuppies.  Those were good also =)  Then again, can you really go wrong with things are fried? =)
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