Allentown: The Stoned Crab (January 2016)

My spouse and I dined at the Stoned Crab on a Sunday afternoon in mid-January 2016. The Stoned Crab is open for lunch on weekdays and for dinner daily (beginning at 4:00 pm). The restaurant accepts reservations by telephone or via the Open Table reservation system.
The Stoned Crab is officially located in Macungie, although it is located very close to the Wescosville area, just a little over a mile from Hamilton Boulevard. This location has housed a restaurant for decades; years ago it hosted an establishment called Le Due Sorrell, and in the late 1970s, it hosted another (although unrelated) iteration of the Stoned Crab. This version of the Stoned Crab opened in April of 2005, and we have dined there many many times since then.
The restaurant offers two areas for dining: the more casual street level, which features huge wooden booths (with slight nautical elements) as well as a U-shaped bar that hosts a very lively local crowd during happy hour (however, the patrons are older rather than younger), when it features drink and appetizer specials. A more formal and beautiful dining space occupies the second floor, with high ceilings, rustic wooden beams, interesting paint colors, and coordinating fabric valances on the windows (similar valances are on the downstairs windows). Restrooms are available on both levels; however, you reach the second floor via a steep long staircase (no elevator is available for the mobility impaired).
The Stoned Crab serves steaks and seafood, but it also offers a nice selection of appetizers, burgers, and salads as well. We rarely order anything but the burgers because they are so tasty. The restaurant used to order their hamburger rolls from Le Bus in Manayunk, and they were phenomenal, although on two recent visits, the restaurant appears to be using a different bread purveyor (but the burgers are still pretty darn good!). The restaurant serves its burgers with skin-on steak fries, or you can substitute another side like the chef’s starch du jour (usually some kind of flavored mashed potatoes) or a tiny side salad. For dessert, we recommend either the peanut butter pie or the bourbon pecan pie (served warm and topped with vanilla ice cream). Despite the restaurant’s name, we have never (seasonally in fall/winter/spring) seen “stone crabs” on their menu.
We really enjoy going to the Stoned Crab for a burger on a Friday evening after work, or for a very late lunch/early dinner on the weekends. 



 

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