Joe’s Crab Shack

We do not take our kids to restaurants very often. In part this is because restaurants are expensive, but mostly it is because I want to be able to relax and enjoy restaurant meals. I don’t want to be heavily engaged in child management. However when a friend offers to take the whole family to Joe’s Crab Shack, I’m not going to say no. That’s what happend yesterday afternoon.

The kids were very excited by the prospect of eating out. Kiki and Link were particularly excited about the choice of venue because they’ve eaten there before. Gleek and Patches were excited because they absorbed the ambient excitement from the air. It was a bit chaotic getting them to put on shoes and into the car. Once they were all strapped into their seats, and therefore immobile, I requested them all to look at me. I informed them that they needed to behave themselves in the restaurant. The phrase “behave yourself” is a bit ambiguous for Gleek and Patches, so I then took a few minutes to describe the behavior I wanted to see. Mostly I put emphasis on sitting still because of previous experience with tag games through restaurant spaces.

Joe’s Crab Shack is one of those places that hangs toys and things all over the walls and ceilings. This was very good for the kids because they had lots of stuff to look at and think about. Gleek in particular was entranced by being in a restaurant. She was so entranced by every step that I began to feel a little guilty for depriving her of this mind opening experience earlier. Patches walked into the restaurant and immediately wanted to be picked up. He was scared of the “bugs” on the walls. The “bugs” were plastic crabs and lobsters. We were seated quickly and the kids were each handed a kid’s menu with coloring pages. Kiki shoved her kid’s menu out of the way and grabbed my menu instead. Kiki loves crab and there was no way she’d be ordering any kiddie meal. The other three kids were happy to order from the pictures. In fact they felt cool and grown up to be ordering their own food and drinks. Patches went for the popcorn shrimp, probably because it had the word “popcorn” in the name. Gleek went for a chicken shrimp combo. Link decided on pizza.

The kids were marvelously good. Gleek and Patches both stayed in their seats. They ate their dinners and everyone happily shared food samples with others. Patches even condescended to try eating a bite one of the “bugs” from his daddy’s plate. Gleek sampled the crab too. She informed us that she didn’t like it now, but it was okay because she would like it when she is a mom. It was a wonderful experience for us all. We decided to skip restaurant dessert because Gleek and Patches were getting antsy. I wanted to leave while we were all still enjoying the experience.

Fun and good food were had by all, and many thanks go out to the Strohls for sponsoring the event.