Rehoboth crabs come with a check. Lewes crabs come with a phone call

Exactly one crab operation between the Tanger outlets and downtown Lewes posts a firm steamed-crab price online. The Crab House in Rehoboth lists its all-you-can-eat feast at $69 a head on its own menu. Six operations matter on this stretch. At the Surfing Crab, the Crab Connect and Copp's, steamed blues run at market price quoted by phone or at the table.

Rehoboth sells crabs as a restaurant dinner. Its two crab rooms belong to hospitality groups. Big Fish Grill founders Eric and Norman Sugrue opened the Crab House in 2014. A later merger put it under the Atlas Restaurant Group umbrella. The $69 feast runs nightly from 4 to 8 p.m. with corn chowder and hush puppies included. There are 36 drafts to wash it down. Downtown, Claws Seafood House has held 167 Rehoboth Avenue since 2006 under Jeff Hamer's Fins Hospitality Group. It pours the group's own Big Oyster beer beside all-you-can-eat blues two blocks from the boardwalk. You know roughly what dinner costs before you park.

The three Lewes crab spots are family operations. Donald Vechery opened the Surfing Crab around 2009 in a converted barbecue joint north of the Nassau Bridge. His family started Bethesda Crab House in 1961. The kitchen steams every crab to order and quotes the day's price by size at the table. Bryan Stewart, a Lewes waterman-family son, founded the Crab Connect in 2019. It sells jumbo and mixed crabs by the dozen, half bushel and bushel from a Midway storefront with a steam trailer. Prices come by phone or chat. Copp's Seafood has done it the longest, on Copps Lane since 1971. Owners David Wing and Lisa Olivere bought the shack from the Copp family in 2022. They kept Miss Kay Copp's crab cake recipe in the deal. Steaming and seasoning still cost nothing extra.

Lewes Oyster House is the highest-rated seafood room in either town at 4.7 on Google. It does not steam a single crab. The 2022 tavern revival sits in the 1930s Walsh Building on Second Street. It serves oysters and seafood towers. The steamed-crab business stays out on the highway.

What the reviews actually say

The Lewes spots hold the higher crab ratings. The Surfing Crab holds 4.5 across some 1,120 Google reviews. The seasoning and the steamed-to-order heft draw the most repeat praise. The Crab Connect's fans call its crabs the heaviest and best packed on this stretch of coast. Copp's sits at 4.6. Reviewers praise lively crabs and fresh middle-neck clams sold from a dirt-lot shack.

The Rehoboth rooms rate lower. Claws sits at 4.2. Reviewers report crabs that run smaller but come heavy, hot and well seasoned. The room treats families well. The Crab House sits at 4.1 with the widest spread in the patch. Full crabs and named servers draw real praise. Multiple reviewers report lukewarm crabs and held fried chicken on peak nights.

At the Surfing Crab, reviewers describe slow pacing and brusque service near closing time. At the Crab Connect, price quotes sometimes shift between the phone call and the register. Copp's closes Mondays and Tuesdays and keeps short shack hours.

How to use the two towns

Buying for a vacation table with kids and no kitchen: Rehoboth. Take the Crab House feast early in the window. Or take Claws, walk from the beach and drink a local pint while you hammer.

Buying a dozen or a half bushel for a rented deck: Lewes. Call the Crab Connect at 302-396-4041 and Copp's at 302-645-9112 the morning you want them. Compare quotes by size. Let them steam and season before pickup. Market quotes generally run below restaurant prices for the same crabs.

Sitting down for crabs steamed to order: the Surfing Crab at opening. Order the cream of crab soup to cover the 20-to-30-minute steam wait.

If the party is done picking, book Lewes Oyster House on Second Street. July through October is the season that matters. The crabs get heavier every week from here.