Joe's Stone Crab Fans Prefer This Dish Over The Restaurant's Namesake

It's not too hard to figure out what the signature dish at Joe's Stone Crab is. A staple of the Miami dining scene since 1913, the legendary eatery — which has since expanded to include locations in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C. — is widely considered to be home to some of the absolute best crab legs in the U.S. Yet, despite stone crab clearly being the restaurant's main attraction, several diners have a greater fondness for the crustacean's royal cousin.

"Hot take, I preferred the King Crab legs over the stone crab," one Yelp user wrote in 2024. They still awarded the restaurant's namesake a respectable rating of 4 out of 5. The king crab, however, which they described as "expensive but delicious," not only received the highest possible score from the reviewer (5 out of 5), but also the label of "must try."

If you're only a casual seafood eater, you might be curious about what sets these two types of clawed critters apart. For starters, king crabs are often sourced off of the Alaskan coast, whereas 99% of stone crabs in the U.S. come from Florida (per the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). An order of king crab typically consists of clusters of legs and sometimes the claws; order stone crab, however, and you'll get claws exclusively. This is because fishers are only allowed to remove a single pincer from the creatures before they return them to the ocean, where they regrow the appendage.

As far as taste goes, stone crab claws are generally described as being sweet and succulent, whereas king crab is often compared to lobster — in that it's still sweet but richer in flavor. Both stone and king made our list of the most delicious types of crabs to eat; however, as a reminder, if you're dining at Joe's Stone Crab, some patrons suggest the regal crustacean may be a better choice.

"Yes, you should go for the stone crab, but the Alaskan king crab are the absolute best anywhere," said one Tripadvisor reviewer in 2019. This sentiment was also echoed in our own ranking of chain restaurant crab legs. There's another dish the eatery does right, though, and believe it or not, it doesn't come from the sea.

Many diners rave about the restaurant's fried chicken, which, at $8.95 an order, is one of the cheapest things you can order at Joe's Stone Crab. One Reddit user wrote in 2021 that it was the best fried chicken they'd ever had, and The Miami New Times agreed, as it declared the restaurant's fried chicken to be the city's best in its 2023 Best of Miami roundup. "Don't assume the price point justifies a dish that'll come out too salty or dry. The fried chicken is drool-worthy, with crispy skin and juicy meat that melts right off the drumstick," the publication proclaimed.