Crabby Joes won where 3 guys and a stove lost

Taking my usual Blog Picture!

So here we were on a thursday evening in Huntsville not knowing what we wanted other than not wanting to cook. Since this trip was an annual one for the last few years, we were getting to know this area of the Muskokas fairly well, but still had not tried out much of the local cuisine. As we come into Huntsville along highway 60 from Algonquin Park, we had often noticed 3 Guys and a Stove and thought it worthy of a trip. So, off we went!
Well, it seems that quite a few others had had the same idea. As we hunted for a space in the packed parking lot, we guessed that we were in for a healthy wait. On the way in, this restaurant had the forethought to post their entire menu at the entrance. It looked like fairly regular North American cuisine. What was most striking was the pricing. Hardly an entree below $20 with many into the mid $30 range. A chat with the hostess waqrning of a 45 minute wait was enough to change our minds. Thus we headed off again in the search for more reasonable and readily available sustenance.

Where we went: As we headed into town on King William Street, we came across Crabby Joes. We knew nothing about it other than it didn’t look crowded, (not always a good sign with restaurants). Anyway, at this stage, our hunger was becoming more acute so we decided to take the plunge. As we had surmised from the outside, the place was far from full but looked OK on the surface. Rather like a Kelsey’s or Casey’s to those who know the style. As expected, we were shown straight to a table.

What we ordered: One of the more impressive aspects of this restaurant was the sheer variety of dishes available. The only slight repetition in what we ordered was that one ordered the ribs and wings combo while another took the full rack. Others ordered grilled salmon, ravioli stuffed with butternut squash and I ordered seafood pasta. Being a sucker for good marketing, a bucket of Corona (4 beers for $15) caught my eye and I persuaded 3 of our group that they really wanted a Corona!

What we got:

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As is often the case in a restaurant that is not overly busy, the service was one of the downfalls here. Although our server was pleasant enough, we sometimes felt abandoned. Getting a refill of coffee, for example turned out to be more difficult than it ordinarily should be. The food, when it arrived was OK but not outstanding. The salmon looked overcooked, the chicken wings and ribs needed some garnish on the plate to spice it up a little and the ravioli looked downright garish. As for my seafood pasta, I quite enjoyed it. There was a good amount of shrimp, making me believe that they hadn’t been counted out as in many restaurants.

What really caught our attention was the desserts and as you can tell from the picture gallery above, they looked as good as the description promised. However, the proof of the pudding was not in the eating. It turns out that cheesecake with white chocolate and hazelnut is not as good a combination as one would have expected and the white chocolate fudge cake was heavy gooey and sickly sweet.

Summary

• Positives: Bright and clean with a great selection of food 
• Negatives: Deserts were a big disappointment.
• Recommendation: Definitely worth a try if you are in Huntsville.

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