The East Coast Chain With The Best Crab Cakes, According To Reviews

You can step into almost any seafood restaurant along the waters of the East Coast and find some kind of crab dish on the menu. More often than not, it's a loaded crab cake, complete with a crispy coating, fresh tartar sauce, and a pile of bright herbs. Every state claims to do it best, but crab cakes tend to differ depending on the area. Maryland is known for its filler-free hunks of crab, while New Englanders like to sear their panko-coated patties until crisp. Tastes differ, but there is one Baltimore-based chain you need to visit if you find yourself in the area: Phillips Seafood Restaurant.

Phillips Seafood is a family-owned business that's been dishing out crab-loaded soups, dips, pastas, and plates to Marylanders since 1956. The company is now a recognized player in the international seafood market and operates a number of different locations, but it all started with a simple crab shack.

Finding themselves with a surplus of crabs one season, Brice and Shirley Phillips, a local couple who were operating a seafood packing plant on Chesapeake Bay, decided to take out a loan and set up a small take-out joint. It was a hit, and the crab cake recipe Shirly Phillips developed continues to be one of Phillips' signatures. It's even earned the restaurant a spot on our list of best crab cakes in Baltimore.

The Phillips Seafood Restaurant crab cakes are made with prime crab meat, a touch of mayonnaise, buttery cracker crumbs, lemon, and a secret seasoning blend. There are two options available at the flagship Inner Harbor location: the classic Hoopers Island Crab Cakes, served in two 4-oz portions, and the Ultimate Crab Cake, an 8-oz cake of jumbo lump crab meat. Staying true to traditional Maryland crab cakes, the filler is minimal, which allows the sweet flavor of the crab to shine through.

According to online reviews, they're some of the best around. One OpenTable user said, "[The] Crab cakes are the real deal! No filler, crab meat." Another wrote, "The crab cake was full of crab meat — the way it should be." On Yelp, a customer said in a review, "The highlight of the meal was definitely the crab cakes! They were packed with huge chunks of crab and cooked with a nice crust on the outside."

The Ultimate Crab Cake is served with vegetables, and the Hoopers Island Crab Cakes are served with vegetables and mashed potatoes when ordered as an entree, but you can order a crab cake sandwich too, which comes highly recommended. You can also add the crab cakes to some dishes, like salads or a steak. And Phillips Seafood sells its crab cakes in stores and ships them to locations in the contiguous United States. If you nab some, serve with roasted veggies or on a toasted bun and pretend you're right on the Maryland coast. Additionally, you can always make classic Maryland crab cakes – just make sure to keep things simple.