The Buffet was huge...If you couldn't find something to eat here you weren't hungry! There is a ton of different types of food including, a salad bar, seafood, carving station, Chinese, American, and a dessert station. The service was wonderful. It was very accommodating to large groups.

You can find a number of very negative reviews of Phillips Flagship Restaurant on the Internet, but why not? These disappointed diners went for a buffet. You do not go to Phillips for a buffet. You go to Phillips for what made them a famous small chain of restaurants around the Chesapeake Bay– fresh seafood from the Bay. That means you go to Phillips for Blue Crab, oysters, clams, scallops, flounder, and Rockfish. Mostly, you go to Phillips Flagship Restaurant for crab, and for crab, you must eat Phillips’ crab cakes. Crab cakes come in two ways. Crab Cake diner is two crab cakes served with veggies, salad, bread, and all that stuff. It’s easier on the budget and not as filling to opt for the alternative, a crab cake sandwich. 

The seas of America produce three types of edible crabs, Blue (east coast), King (Alaska), and Dungeness (west coast). Comparing Blue Crab to the other two is like comparing tenderloin to tough hamburger. Blue crab, and especially Phillip’s crab cakes, is one of the greatest dishes the country offers.

Bay Rockfish is a variety of stripped black sea bass that rivals Chilean Sea Bass in flavor, providing you get your Chilean Sea Bass fresh caught that morning. The weather, pollution, or over fishing periodically depletes the Rockfish population and Virginia and Maryland ban Rockfish fishing until the population recovers. A ban can last a decade.

Stuffed Shrimp or Stuffed Flounder are also worthwhile dishes. Jumbo shrimp or flounder are stuffed with crab meat. In either case, it makes a delightful combination. Crab Imperial is the third great crab dish. Basically, it is pile of crab drenched in butter and cream.

Phillips Flagship Restaurant is a monstrous place, which gives it somewhat of an assembly line feel. I’ve seen it swallow up six tour bus loads without blinking. Considering the size of the place, it works pretty well, except apparently for the buffet, which we never tried, nor would I even consider it with Crab Cakes on the menu.

The name, Phillips Flagship Restaurant, does not mean it is the flagship restaurant of the chain. That one is in Ocean City, MD. The Flagship was the original name of the restaurant, which was later acquired by Phillips. The Flagship was very popular, but not as good as Phillips, and I’d bet the new management kept some of the popular Flagship meals on the menu.

It bears repeating– stick to what Phillips Flagship Restaurant does best. If you are visiting the area, you must try crab, either crab cakes or Crab Imperial or Stuffed Shrimp or Stuffed Flounder.

If you want to try equally good crab in a more intimate setting than a restaurant serving hundreds, try Fred and Harry’s in Silver Spring at the intersection of University Blvd and Colesville Rd, or the Anchor Inn near the Wheaton Plaza Shopping Center in Wheaton/Silver Spring.

There is ample free parking in the large garage under the restaurant.