The Narrows, Crab Cakes and Cream Of Crab Soup on the Kent Narrows in Grasonville

[Kibbee Nayee]

Lady Kibbee and I dined at The Narrows on Friday night. We went mostly on the recommendations concerning their crabcakes, and those recommendations were spot-on. But there was much more to like. This is a very good seafood restaurant too, not just a crab house.

For starters, Lady Kibbee had the mussels and i had the gazpacho with crab meat. The mussels were one of the down notes of the meal, somewhat fishy and gritty. But the gazpacho was excellent, with a generous pile of crab in the middle. The bread basket was fresh and warm, and one of the selections was a sweet brown bread with nuts and raisins that was really nice.

The mains included the aforementioned crab cakes, and The Narrows had decided to make available a crab cake, a sauteed soft shell and a pile of fried oysters, all of the specialties of the kitchen, on one platter for $44. I went with that, and Lady Kibbee did the swordfish special. I really loved the crab cake, although it was slightly smaller than some of the signature crab cakes in this area. But it was all lump crab and seasonings, with no filler. The soft shell was also good, but the fired oysters were heavy on the oil. Next time, I'll stick with the crab cakes and eschew the distractions. The sword fish was fresh and cooked competently, so I surmise that the kitchen knows a thing or two about seafood cooking.

I ordered a bottle of Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay '08 for $40. Out came an '09 but I didn't balk.

Service was very good. Overall value was so so, but I suspect Kent Island is on the pricy side of the spectrum. I wouldn't call this a destination or worth a detour, but if I'm on Kent Island again in the future, this is where I'll have another meal.

[Joe H]

While I have not been in at least 4 years, we did go once with our friends to the 'new' version of the restaurant, and the nicest thing I could say about it was 'Meh.'

Googling around shows that this place is now closed.

Fortunately, from Google Street view it looks like Mastellone's across and up the street still seems to be in business. Whew.

We had lunch at the Narrows today on Kent Island, Shark on the Harbor two nights ago, Liquid Assets last night, Captain's Table, etc. in O. C.

I passionately believe that the Narrows is the best seafood restaurant in the state of Maryland.

[DanielK]

The cream-of-crab soup is the best anywhere, and the crabcakes are excellent. Generally, any dish with local seafood is also excellent, but Joe might be exaggerating a bit. Once you get past those things, salads/sides are pretty mediocre, and anything from the land or non-local seafood isn't worth ordering.

But I drive an hour+ and across the bridge for the soup and crabcakes as often as I can.

[Joe H]

The cream-of-crab soup is the best anywhere, and the crabcakes are excellent. Generally, any dish with local seafood is also excellent, but Joe might be exaggerating a bit. Once you get past those things, salads/sides are pretty mediocre, and anything from the land or non-local seafood isn't worth ordering.

But I drive an hour+ and across the bridge for the soup and crabcakes as often as I can.

Absolutely, totally disagree.  Cioppino to crab gazpacho (which I am eating as I type this) to green curry seafood stew (lunch on Tuesday).   Next time you go, the green curry seafood stew.  Cannot imagine going to the Narrows and ordering anything from the "land."  We've probably been twenty five to thirty times over the last fifteen years and at this point I may have worked my way through virtually every seafood dish they have although, to be honest, my wife orders crab crakes and cream of crab soup every time.

The Narrows actually "suffers" from doing two things (cream of crab soup and crab cakes) so well.  While I am not a fan of their red crab soup they do an excellent job with the three mentioned above among others.