Juicy Seafood & Bar, 6501 N Fwy, Fort Worth. 682-250-5798. Noon-10pm Sun-Thu, noon-11pm Fri-Sat. Happy hour 3-7pm Sun-Thu.
With three locations around Dallas, Juicy Seafood & Bar recently opened a Fort Worth spot right beyond The Wall (the territory north of Meacham Airport) — and right next to another, rather popular seafood restaurant. From Juicy’s entrance, you could throw a bag of scallops or one empty beer bottle (please don’t do that) and hit Joe’s Crab Shack. The culinary-O.G. outpost of the once-formidable/now-shrinking 35-year-old chain has been sitting in its current location near the I-35/Western Center intersection since the Paleozoic Era, long before the neighborhood exploded from a handful of eateries to what it is today: a city within the city, replete with a ton of chains but also a few mom-and-pops. Let’s consult the plagiarism machine: Is opening a restaurant right next to one serving the exact same cuisine as yours a smart business move?
HAL 9000, in his soothing voice, answers, “Opening a restaurant right next to a competitor serving the exact same food is often a smart move called clustering. It draws more people to the area because customers know they have choices. You share heavy foot traffic and save money on finding a new customer base.”
Well, color me learned. Thanks, HAL 9000.
So, maybe in your daily travels, you’ll find yourself beyond The Wall. Maybe headed to Texas Motor Speedway for some high-speed fender-benders or to Denton for some high-school football action or live indie-rock. Or maybe to Christian Brothers Automotive for a $9 million tire rotation, and maybe you’ll make a stop at 7-Eleven or Race Trac to pump some $4/gallon gas along the way. Just know that crab legs? We got crab legs. The specific setting in which you choose to enjoy them depends.
Photo by Abeeku Yankah
We all know Joe’s: shiny, cheesy, beachy, loud, and family-forward, with a legit playground out front. Juicy represents a somewhat elevated, decidedly anti-kitschy affair. “Shiny wood” is what I’d written in my notes. A shaded, enclosed patio cradles a medium-sized bar counter outfitted with dozens of taps. Booths and a few four-tops busy the dining room, and all the TVs broadcast sports or stunts.
Juicy, when my 14-year-old son and I visited last week, was also loud, oddly loud — don’t know who was in charge of the playlist, but the lewd rap music definitely said, “Kiddie playground, crayons, and servers gathering around tables and singing ‘Happy Birthday’ are next door, you scallywags!”
That’s great, Juicy, but you know what else is also next door? Those all-important handheld plastic blades to slice through the crab shells to reach the meat inside. Nutcrackers alone aren’t going to … cut it.
Photo by Abeeku Yankah
And that, along with the really inappropriate rap music and our scandalously puny appetizer serving of fried calamari, is my only real complaint: no shellers. The quality of Juicy’s food overall was exceptional.
Along with fresh snow-crab legs that my sheller-less self had to take home to eat comfortably and without looking like a newly divorced dad with a sledgehammer and a baseball bat in a rage room, my Party of One special came with succulent, not-small shrimp; huge coins of zesty sausage; a couple red potatoes; two peeled hard-boiled eggs (?); and half a corn on the cob, everything cooked to perfection, every bite exploding with flavor and true to the restaurant’s name, all the goodies bathing in mildly seasoned garlic butter as requested. All that was missing was a slice or three of warm, buttery garlic bread. BYOGB? Along with BYOScissors? Kidding! I know it’s 2026 and the world is on fire, but please do not bring your own food or any potential weapons to a restaurant. Yet.
Photo by Abeeku Yankah
The cost of my Party of One (~$35) made me giggle nervously like a guy who forgot his passport at airport security. “I’ll just sell some plasma.” A few days later, still high from my initial Juicy experience, I pulled up the menu on my phone and homed in on the Weekend Special: lobster tail, half-pound snow-crab legs, half-pound shrimp, corn, two potatoes. Just as I was about to load up the Nissan Rogue with my hungry ass and pounce, the sound of autopay bills zinging out of my banking app caused me to stop and consult the plagiarism machine again. HAL 9000 kindly told me that market price for Juicy’s Weekend Special was ~$45. I hung the car keys back up. “Next payday,” I told myself, patting my tummy and wiping a tear from my cheek. Always next payday.
With the economy the way it is (terrible — thanks, Obama), seafood prices in general aren’t exactly low. Juicy’s numbers appear to be around average for the region. The deliciousness of the fare is worth the splurge.
Photo by Abeeku Yankah
As with most crab shacks, Juicy’s simple three-step ordering process reduces the sensory overload of the enormous laminated menus in all different sizes — is this a thing at fast-casual restaurants now? three or four menus per person? Stop it. Anyway, pick your seafood (king crab legs, snow crab legs, lobster tail, scallops, Dungeness crab, shrimp, crawfish when in season, mussels, or clams), then your sauce (house, lemon pepper, garlic butter, or spicy Cajun), then your heat level (from mild to “Nuclear”), then you can sit back and watch the “NOW OPEN” banners wave outside or some hayseed do a flip on a lawnmower on TV. Add-ons include corn on the cob, red potatoes, smoked sausage links, and egg, and for folks who don’t want to get messy — believe me, boil bags go all over — Juicy also offers three platters: grilled salmon, fried catfish, and shrimp scampi in addition to a handful of mostly fried appetizers. My boy went with the superbly done catfish, not too flaky cornmeal exterior and melt-in-your-mouth tender inside. Definitely a reorder next time.
Photo by Abeeku Yankah
Juicy sits in a former sports bar much beloved by the neighborhood, and while it’s great that the building is no longer vacant, all the soul that Boston’s Pizza had as a warm, colorful, buzzy, friendly post-Little League-game or big-game-watching spot is gone, replaced with “shiny wood” and $45 entrees.
There’s no reason for a special trip to Juicy other than the spectacular seafood, and if that’s not enough for you or for you and the fam, perhaps you’ve heard of a fun little joint called Joe’s Crab Shack? Look! You’re already there.
Juicy Seafood & Bar
Weekend Special $44.99
Party of One $34.99
Fried catfish basket $15
Calamari $12.95
