UPDATE: Hurricanes Helene and Milton delivered some flooding to Everglades City, but the impact was much less than further up the coast. Many businesses had water inside, but most have reopened and will welcome visitors for stone crab season. Prices, which are supply-driven, will develop as the harvest progresses.
If you want your Florida stone crabs right off the dock as fresh as you can find them, then you need to go to a funky small town where the highway ends and the wilderness begins — Everglades City.
Everglades City stone crabs are the same delicacy, often from the same boats, as is served in fancy restaurants like Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach.
To get your Florida stone crabs fresh, you need to come during stone crab season — Oct. 15 to May 1.
Everglades City is a small fishing town about 35 miles south of Naples and 80 miles west of Miami. Dozens of stone-crab fishermen are based on its Barron River, and so are several informal, unpretentious seafood restaurants.
Everglades City is used to dealing with hurricanes. In 2017, Hurricane Irma brought a 6 to 8 foot storm surge through the town destroying homes and businesses, just weeks before stone crab season. On Sept. 28, 2022, Everglades City experienced serious flooding from Hurricane Ian.
Everglades City folks, however, aren’t giving up.
“These are some of the most resilient people I’ve ever seen in my life,” Mayor Howie Grimm told a Naples Daily News reporter after Hurricane Irma in 2017.
If you get your Florida stone crabs at Joe’s Stone Crabs on Miami Beach, you might spot a visiting celebrity. At the Everglades City restaurants, on the other hand, you might spot a visiting manatee in the river your table overlooks.
Have a perfect getaway to Everglades City with our itinerary and guide.
Stone crab season is Oct. 15 to May 1. (If you’re cutting it close to season opening or closing, don’t expect crabs on Oct. 15 because you can’t harvest them fast enough to serve on opening day. )
Best spots for Florida stone crabs in Everglades City
In Everglades City, several restaurants specialize in Florida stone crabs in casual water-front open-air restaurants.
When we want a stone crab experience, we stop at the well-regarded Triad Seafood, 401 School Drive West.
Triad serves a great variety of fresh seafood, and we can also recommend the fried-conch sandwich. It comes with fresh herb-seasoned fries and coleslaw. The sweet potato fries were great, too.
Stone crab prices vary during the season and a low harvest meant high prices. You can count on your least expensive stone crab dinner being at least $30 and as much as $60 for jumbo at Triad, where these dinners come with two side dishes. Triad also offers an all-you-can-eat option at market prices, which can vary week to week.
At City Seafood, 702 Begonia St., diners buy their stone crabs by the pound and separately order any side dishes they wish.
The picnic-table decor at these places fits the outdoorsy style of Everglades City. Dining areas at Triad and City Seafood are inside screened porches overlooking the river. From the street, you might not even guess Triad was a restaurant. Down the block, City Seafood puts on a bit more curb appeal, though the style is decidedly rustic.
Both Everglades City restaurants sell cooked stone crabs for take-out also.
Camellia Street Grill, 202 Camellia Street, is another open-air spot on the Barron River where we’ve had excellent food. Locals recommend it too. The tin-roofed restaurant has live bluegrass music on Saturday nights. You’ll know you’re there when you see the painted VW beetle at the curb. Our vegetarians raved about the veggie burgers, and it offers plenty of fresh fish options, including Florida stone crabs.
The Florida stone crab story
Florida stone crab season runs Oct. 15 to May 1 so that the crabs can grow back their missing claws — well, that’s semi-true and makes a good story.
Florida stone crabs aren’t killed when they’re harvested. Claws that meet state requirements are wrenched off the crabs and the animals are tossed back, fully able to survive and thrive. It actually takes about 18 months for the claws to grow back, but the off-season helps protect the crabs from over-fishing.
Crabs are caught in baited traps (frozen pig feet or mullet is often used.) In Everglades City, piles of crabs traps along the river are proof this really is a stone crab city.
Florida stone crabs are cooked in boiling water immediately after harvest, on the boat or at dockside, to prevent the meat from sticking to the inside of the shell, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Florida stone crabs are served in the shell, usually cold with a mustard dipping sauce. They’re sweet and firm, and many compare them to lobster. Plenty of Floridians say they’re better than lobster.
If you love seafood, you also might want to head to Everglades City on the first weekend of February for its very popular annual Everglades Seafood festival.
Links for Everglades City restaurants:
- City Seafood and its Yelp reviews
- Triad Seafood and its Yelp reviews
- Camelia Street Grill and its Yelp reviews
Things to do in Everglades City area
Florida stone crab isn’t the only reason to visit Everglades City. We love it for its proximity to so many outdoors adventures. Have a perfect getaway to Everglades City with our itinerary and guide.
- Our favorite Everglades kayak trail is the Turner River, eight miles from Everglades City.
- A great saltwater kayak trail nearby is Sandfly Loop, which gives you a taste of the Ten Thousand Island. For this, you launch from the Gulf Coast Visitor Center for Everglades National Park.
- Halfway Creek is another great kayak trail close to Everglades City.
- We’ve stayed at Ivey House Adventure Hotel in Everglades City, which also operates a kayaking outfitter. It’s less than a block to the two restaurants referenced here.
- If you’re interested in the building of the Tamiami Trail, visit nearby Collier-Seminole State Park, which has the historic Bay City walking dredge, the last of its kind in existence.
- Visit one of our favorite, off-the-beaten-track stops, historic Smallwood Store on Chokoloskee, just four miles away. (Its docks are a lovely place to watch the sunset.)
- Our guide to the scenic drive across Florida via Tamiami Trail is full of good places to hike, picnic and explore nearby.
- Nearby Ochopee Post Office on the Tamiami Trail is the smallest in the US. And so cute.
- Big Cypress National Preserve wraps around Everglades City and is full of opportunities for adventure.
- Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park: Excellent trail for bicycling and wildlife viewing in Everglades National Park.
- Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery: It’s always a thrill to view his large-format black-and-white photos of Florida’s wilds.
- Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park: Big, wild and great for Everglades hiking and kayaking
- There are good boat tours offered at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center, but the dock is closed for the 2024-25 winter season because of restoration work in Everglades National Park. Boat tours are offered from a different location.
Florida stone crabs at seafood festivals
Starting with the opening of stone crab season, there are a series of seafood festivals where stone crabs is often the star. Here’s a guide to seafood festivals in Florida.
The author, Bonnie Gross, travels with her husband David Blasco, discovering off-the-beaten path places to hike, kayak, bike, swim and explore. Florida Rambler was founded in 2010 by Bonnie and fellow journalist Bob Rountree, two long-time Florida residents who have spent decades exploring the Florida outdoors. Their articles have been published in the Sun Sentinel, the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, The Guardian and Visit Florida.
Dale Hamblin
Wednesday 30th of October 2019
Which restaurant to eat at as will only be there for lunch! Thank You Dale L Hamblin
Bonnie Gross
Saturday 2nd of November 2019
My favorite is Triad, and they are only open for lunch.
Bonnie Gross
Tuesday 11th of December 2018
Yikes. Thank you. (Funny. Thousands of people have read this and never commented. Glad to get a chance to correct it.)
John
Wednesday 3rd of January 2018
R.V. friendly lots of nearby overnite for a fee. The food and people always a welcome stop. Load up the rv and save some freezer space for 20 lb. bags of take home stone crab. The Egans
Bob Rountree
Friday 5th of January 2018
I highly recommend Collier-Seminole State Park for camping. The sites are quite nice, the park is quiet, and it's close to both Everglades City and Marco Island. There are often campsites availables, especially for tents and pop-ups.