August 2026
Elliott's Seafood
- the food: two dozen steamed males and a pound of spiced shrimp for less than two buffet seats on Coastal Highway
- the room: there isn't one — it's a phone-order takeout shack
- the reason that actually decided it: a 4.9 on Google while the famous names sit at 3.8
Elliott's Seafood in Berlin holds a 4.9 on Google as of this month. That is the highest rating of any crab house on this coast. It comes from a phone-order takeout shack on Adkins Road with no deck, no water view, and no dining room. None of the big rooms on Coastal Highway comes near the number. Higgins runs 3.8 at both ends of town. The Crab Bag is an institution with ten times the review count. It sits at 4.2.
Reviewers describe calling ahead and driving out Route 346 for the combo boards. The boards pair two dozen steamed males with a pound of spiced shrimp. Males are jimmies, the big crabs. That is dinner for two pickers, not a snack. The posted price sat between $60 and $80 this summer, per the shop's own Facebook postings. The all-you-can-eat rooms on this coast post $49.99 to $69 a seat. The whole board costs less than two of those seats. And reviewers consistently call the crabs heavier and hotter than what the tourist rooms serve.
The recurring complaint is supply. Elliott's sells out. It keeps shack hours, and the phone window opens in the afternoon. When you call, ask what is running heavy. If you did not call first, you are driving home empty.
August is peak season. The crabs run as heavy as they get all year, and the gap between a good dozen and a great one is never wider. The house winning that comparison is a Berlin takeout counter. Your table is your own tailgate.
The pick changes monthly and the big rooms will get their turns. A boardwalk night at a crab deck is its own kind of right answer. For August, call Elliott's in the afternoon and order the combo board. Eat it on your own porch.