Do NOT eat at Joe's

J.'s sister is in town and her friend Ruby came in from the city. We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in Lawrenceville, which is right off Route 1 South before the split to 95/295. You can spot it from the giant neon sign that says "EAT AT JOE'S." At night the whole place is lit up like Christmas. It looks like it belongs at Disney World, next to Pirates of the Caribbean. When we walked in, the waitresses were dancing to "Staying Alive," and they were all wearing Joe's merchandise - T-shirts that said "Peace, Love & Crabs" and "Got Crabs?" They were giving out balloon animals to the kids, and it looked like everyone got their drinks in glasses with flashing neon lights on the bottom (turns out you have to buy the glasses). The festive atmosphere must be the big draw, because talk about overpriced seafood. Perhaps it was more of a let-down because the hush puppies and crab/lobster dip we had for appetizers were so good, so ... promising. I got fried scallops, expecting the big deep-sea scallops, but they gave me tiny bay scallops instead. No one ordered crab, so maybe I should reserve my judgment. We chickened out b/c we didn't want to bak chiu (get our hands dirty). Also, the crab was expensive. For a cheapskate like me, $18 is a lot for a creature that's more shell than fish.