How could I go all the way to Miami without stopping in at one of its most famous institutions? As a single female, I was petrified of trying to get a table inside the restaurant (Googling for Joe's Stone Crabs will bring many stories of the rudeness of the staff), so instead I went to the takeaway shop next door. The menu in there is different than that of the restaurant, but it had plenty of things I wished to try, and there were even some seats inside where many people were eating. To see the difference in menus, you can take a look at their website.
Upon entering, there is Joe's merchandise lining the right hand side, deli displays, and crab cracking on the left and the order station directly in front. After perusing all that was available, I ordered a crab cake sandwich, a small order of garlic creamed spinach (hey, I was eating alone!), and a slice of key lime pie.
While waiting for my order - and it's a long wait - I decide to study each and every one of the seafood salads on offer in the refrigerated case. The man behind the counter and I start chatting about the salads when I mention that I've never had conch before. He then proceeds to give me a large sample of the conch salad! Conch is quite a tough meat. He tells me that I ought to try conch fritters and that they're the best at Joe's. Well, the service is great at Joe's takeaway!
The food was terrific. The crab cake sits on a brioche like bun with lettuce and tomato, and there is a terrific salsa on the side. They accidentally gave me regular creamed spinach instead of garlic. It was nice, but garlic would have made it nicer! This will teach me a lesson to check my order before leaving. The key lime pie was also very good, but I could not finish it after the sandwich and all the cream in the spinach.
It is definitely recommended! Joe's is in the very south part of South Beach, and just asking will probably result in pointed fingers to its general location!