Live Up to Your Commercial, Joe's Crab Shack

Truth in advertising is something that needs to be taken with a grain
of salt. Joe's only has to has real crab legs in their commercial.
There is nothing to say that they bucket isn't filled with ice almost
up to the top and the crab legs put on there at the very last second.

It isn't false avdertising since you got what they advertised. You
ordered king crab and that is what you got, not a bucket of french
fries.

it seems most everyone here has forgotten something.
truth in advertising. one should be able to expect what they see on
the menu board or commercial, Mc D's Subway Burgerking you name it.
next time you eat at a restaurant, DEMAND that you be served what you
were shown.

just my two (one after tax) cents

Haven't you ever heard of buyer beware? Commercials are just to sell
products. I never expect to get what I see in a commercial, I'm
shocked that you do.

P.S. - Red Lobster? Oh my.

Maybe it could be because they spend an entire day shooting a
commercial to get everything to look perfect and enticing, and in real
life they spend 15 minutes cooking it and slapping it on a plate so
they can get orders out on time.
How does anyone over the age of 3 live their lives based on the
"truths" they get from a commercial?
I have seen Red Lobster commercials too but I know better than to
believe in the Utopia a commercial presents about a company.

This one has me thinking about my 5 dollar foot long Subway Sandwich
recently.

Ads never live up to their actual product. I know my Subways didn't
have a quarter of the meat the ones in the commercials had on them.
Even the display boards over promote the look of food and menus.

If you thought it looked skimpy I would of said is this all you got
for me. Take it back then I don't want it. If they are bold enough
to bring you out a skimpy size ..then be bold enough to send it back.
After all it is your money.

I would of then paid for my drinks and left.

You didn't even get full you say!

Nothing worse than going out to eat and spending your money then going
home hungry!

If so, you'd be writing a lot of letters. Even Red Lobster juices up
the food in their commercials. I've been there before - their shrimp
specials they advertise on television look nothing like what actually
comes on the plate. Highly disappointing? No, because I know better.
Most of the time, the stuff in the commercial is not even real food!
*gasp* Props are used and used often. Did you know that most ice cream
advertisements use butter in their commercials rather than ice cream
because it looks better and holds up longer in shoots. A golden rule
of commercial shoots is don't eat the food on set because, again, most
of the time - its not real.

So, if you want me to see this complaint as valid - you better start
posting more letters to other companies that you patronize who have
advertisement of their food items.

In my limited seafood dining experience (mostly just Red Lobster),
crab legs are sold by the weight -- 1 pounds, 1.5 pounds, and 2 pounds
seem to be the most common. Did the menu (or signage in the
restaurant) not tell you the amount (or weight) of food you were
getting?

This link has some help:

http://www.joescrabshack.com/menus.php?LC=CORP

Not as much information as I might expect, but perhaps some things
vary by location/region of the country.

I love crab legs even more than lobster. My only problem with
ordering them is they often are cold by the time I get to the last of
them. Whomever, downthread, recommended going to an Asian buffet that
offers crab legs: Thank you! I would gladly pay $15 for all I can
eat. Because I can eat A LOT of crab legs! :)

I never go into a restaurant (fast food or sit-down type) and expect
EXACTLY what I see in their commercials. Is that a good thing...?
Up for debate.

I've been to Joe's Crab Shack once and while the food was good, the
atmosphere was just way too loud and rowdy.

The food in pictures and commercials is very much enhanced to draw
customers in. Its not false advertising at all. There was most likely
the same amount of crab legs in these buckets as on the ad, but it
depends on the size and how these are arranged. They can easily make
the buckets overflow by placement.

Did you look at the menu or ask the server how many crab legs are with
each sized bucket? That would have probably made a difference also.

As for Red Lobster I have never gotten quantity or quality for the
amount of money we have forked out there...I have given it three tries
and that is it.

I would rather go to a Chinese Buffet and get all the crab legs one
can eat. Generally the buffet is $9-$10 and adding all you can eat
crab legs is an additional $2-$3 for each person who chooses to eat
these.
Much better value for the money. I see people going back 4,5 & 6 times
just for crab legs.

Since when does the food on your plate look like the food in the
commercial? Come on. You should have let the manager know, and they
could have got you some more food.

You're absolutely right.

Except that businesses have been pulling this for many years. They've
been showing products that look more appetizing or look bigger in
their ads.

Almost every food product ad carries the "serving suggestion"
comment.

Campbell Soup used to put marbles in the bottom of in-ad soup bowls in
order to prop-up the veggies to give the illusion that there were more
of them.

I'll bet that's what Joes did. The number of crab legs shown in the
ads is likely the same as what was delivered. Except that, the ad
version had something else in the bucket (like ice) to push the food
out the top of the bucket to give the illusion.

Some people, like Patti, will feel cheated and not return. Maybe
she'll spread the word to convince a handful of others not to go.

But, time and time again, people will go to a product/restaurant based
on the ad, find out that what's in the restaurant doesn't match, and
then STILL go back.

Point is, unless it's horrendously misleading, history shows that
businesses don't go out of business based on this tactic. They just
don't.

They SHOULD. So, I'm not disagreeing with you. But, the questions
is: do they?

NB: I've not seen this ad, so for all I know it is egregious.

Patti D.,
Did you bring this to the attention of the Store Manager at the time?
Reimbursement? Hardly. If it would have been brought up then it could
have been "fixed".
Maybe an appetizer coupon.
BillR.