Maryland Crab at Cantler’s Riverside Inn

Maryland is known for having incredible crab. Restaurants all over Maryland boast fresh crab dishes, homemade crab cakes, and hand out crab bibs and mini hammers left and right. I really love fish, or rather, the idea of it. As a landlocked Midwesterner, I haven’t been exposed to much fish in my life. Sure, we have the Mississippi, but trust me, you do not want to eat anything fished from the St. Louis riverbanks. Although my travels have opened me up to some new fish dishes, I had never eaten fresh crab before my trip to Maryland. I was determined to find an incredible Maryland crab restaurant, and I did!

Cantler’s Riverside Inn

My lovely local hosts, Ellen and Ben, live in Baltimore, but they took me to Annapolis for my first taste of fresh Maryland crab. We went to a simple but extremely popular restaurant called Cantler’s Riverside Inn. This waterfront restaurant is hidden away from the busy streets, yet still only a few minutes from Annapolis’s City Dock. The coveted view makes for long wait times if you want an outside table, so if you are set on patio dining, you’ll need to show up early. However, we were starving, so we just settled for indoors and focused on the food.

Crab Crazy!

Cantler’s has got it all- Maryland blue crabs, crab cakes, crab imperial, steamed hardshell crabs, and crab dip. Of course, they also have other options such as lobsters, scallops, oysters, clams, shrimp, and more. I was excited and impatient, so I suggested we start out with the crab dip.

Crab dip with freshly baked bread, still warm from the oven.

It was incredible. The dip was so good, I almost forgot I had ordered an entree. It was creamy and filled with delicious chunks of crab. Before this dip, the best crab I had ever had was the imitation stuff they put on salad bars – so this was a pretty magical food experience for me. I’m not ashamed to say I woofed down at least half of this dip.

Cracking into the crab

In the end, I actually decided against ordering a full crab. The thing is, I don’t even like eating meat off bones- it just completely grosses me out and I have to fight to keep my appetite. I figured that my reaction to cracking open a shell would not be very good. Luckily, Ben was more than willing to take on the challenge.

First, you have to slice the crab open.

Then, you get this mini hammer to beat the meat out of the crab.

Hammer time!

Watching Ben was fun, and he assured me that the crab was delicious, but we both agreed that it seemed like a lot of work. It took him nearly 30 minutes to get all the meat out! Granted, he had never done it before, but I can’t imagine the process goes very quickly for seasoned crab eaters either.

I chose to order a crab cake sandwich with a side of hush puppies. The crab meat was absolutely delectable. I was already pretty full from the attack I launched on the crab dip, but I was not willing to leave any of this ball of flavor behind.

Crab cake (no breading/not fried) with hush puppies.

I wouldn’t call this meal cheap, but it wasn’t too terribly expensive either, considering the quality of the food. If you go with a group, you can get some great deals on huge crab platters or all-you-can-eat specials. Beware though, there are time limits on the all-you-can-eat deals! If you are looking for a great place to have a laid back, delicious meal full of incredibly fresh crab, I highly recommend Cantler’s Riverside Inn. As an added bonus, Annapolis is a really nice little town to just walk around and window shop as you try to work off your giant meal.