The Great Machipongo Clam Shack

Stopped in while visiting a friend in Onancock. What a treat our server was incredible. The gumbo was delicious chock-​o-​block with seafood and my partner’s clam basket was great «fresh and sweet». We couldn’t leave without grabbing some frozen stuffed clams to take back to our host’s home and they were a hit. When we come back it makes the revisit list. We love us a shack :).

We venture to the Eastern Shore once a year for our anniversary and for the first few years, we passed this place up because it looked like a dump. We took a chance and tried them out two years ago though and now it’s become a regular stop for us. Looks can be deceiving! Their seafood baskets for lunch are delicious. I love the scallops and they have the best tarter sauce I have ever had. The service is lackluster though, but the food is worth it. They are a little pricey and you don’t get a huge amount of food, but the seafood has always tasted fresh.

Eh. Interesting spot. Food was eh.

I’m sorry, but I live like a mile down the road from this place, and I have a couple things to say:
The clams they sell on ice are not always fresh. If you’re an out of stater, DONT do it. If you really can’t resist, make sure NONE of their shells are open, and if they are, tap them to see if they immediately close. One dead clam stinks up the whole pot!
Much of their food is slightly overpriced and fried. You can get everything they have at better restaurants on the shore, such as «Stingrays», «The Shanti», or «Kelly’s» outside of Cape Charles. There’s also El Maguey in Exmore if you’re in the mood for some FANTASTIC Mexican. There’s Tops in Cape Charles that makes some of the best Chinese I’ve ever had. All in all, this place is mediocre at best and there are substitutes for it!
Some nice things about this place include fantastic beverages — the tea especially. They also have live music on occasion, but it is important to note that this is also a feature of Kelly’s as well. In summary, there’s better places on the shore for what you can find here. Go here if you want a reminder of that.

Steamed spiced shrimp was good. Cooked the right way. The she crab soup was the best part of the meal. I had a crab pot sandwich which was highly mediocre. Dry and flavorless. My husband asked for sweet tea and they said they ran out of sugar. I thought it was a joke!
Best part of the whole place was the post-​it note reviews in the bathroom.

Year after year when i visit relatives this the the spot to go for a real treat. We never eat fried food, but we pig out at this place. Best po-​boys around. Nothing comes out greasy. Very friendly local kids as waiters.

Great local place on drive south. People friendly. Fresh seafood. Not greasy. Fish great. Reasonable priced. Good beer selection.

Best soft shell crabs I have ever had. Four crabs on a platter with awesome hush puppies, yummy string beans and a nice, light cole slaw. Super fresh food, perfectly cooked.
Clean, open and relaxed spot inside of an old McDonald’s — yay small businesses. Loved the pantry shopping too!
The Great Machipongo Clam Shack is awesome!!!

I would never come back here. Service was slow. We both had crab cake sandwiches. It was the worst we both have ever had. I would rather have a frozen Mrs. Paul’s crab cake. It was mushy and didn’t even look appetizing. The roll wasn’t good either. Came with a piece of lettuce and slice of tomato with cole slaw on side. We ordered fries and there were about 12 cold pieces of fries in a basket. Don’t waste your time, appetite or money on this place.

Glad we finally stopped after all these years of passing it! Excellent service, very clean, and the food was very good! We will definitely stop again.

Went for the second time and wow what a difference. The service has been awful today.
–Why did our soups come out after we got our entrees? Service
–Why did the seafood gumbo come out lukewarm? The waitress was shocked it was warm… well it was
–Why did it take ten minutes to get my sweet tea refilled? Service
–Why did I get unsweetened tea? Lack of attention to detail
I hate that I took eight people here with me to try it out and had to apologize to them about the experience. Maybe I will come back. Maybe not.
**Gave this place another star because the manager was extremely gracious about the experience

My wife and I stopped here for dinner on a Saturday night on our drive home to NJ from VA beach. We got a table easily but the place filled up very quickly after we arrived and soon there were no open tables. They have a decent bottled beer selection for $ 3 and $ 4.
We started with she-​crab soup and a dozen oysters. Interestingly enough for a seafood restaurant, the server said she’d have to check if there was anyone working in the kitchen who could shuck them. They were mild with a slightly briny finish ($ 15 dozen). Inexpensive in the scheme of things, but I thought they’d be cheaper considering the proximity to where they’re from! The soup was good and tasted homemade. It was thinner than other versions we had in ocean city Maryland and va beach. Could have used a bit more sherry in our opinions, but we used a lot of the «house seasoning» (old bay) on the table and that did the trick.
For entrees my wife had had the oyster po boy. It was good — came with sweet fries, slaw, and hush puppies. The sandwich came with Parmesan cheese, which seemed odd, but you couldn’t even taste it. I had the soft shell crab platter, which came with 4 small ones. They were good, not great — could have been seasoned better. We waited 20 minutes or so after finishing our appetizers before our entrees came out, and when they did they weren’t very hot. So that was a bit of a disappointment. We watched quite a few tables that came in after us receive and even finish their food before we got ours.
It was an average seafood meal on the whole. We had expected more based off of the reviews and the story about the roots of the restaurant. There seems to be quite a following though — the bathroom walls were covered in post-​its with compliments.

Do yourself a favor and keep driving! The «just seafood restaurant» could aptly be renamed– the «the frozen seafood restaurant». Fish was frozen and tasted like it, avoid the fish and chips basket (frozen fish from South Africa– couldn’t even hide after taste with a bucket of ketchup.
Will not return.

Arrived about 20 minutes before closing.
Doors were locked. Staff scurried out of sight as we pulled on the locked door.
No attempt to let us in.
No interest in our business.

These ladies are so sweet! Great customer service! Makes you feel like you’re at home.
Oysters are great and they got some good craft beer too!

Thanks Unilocal for pointing us to Great Machipongo Clam Shack and their gluten free menu. Having Celiac Disease is hard enough. Having Celiac Disease and finding places to eat on the road is that much harder. The food here was fresh and yummy! The staff was amazing and super friendly and accommodating and took extra care to create a meal that was safe to eat. Thanks! We will be sure to stop here on all of our trips up North. Thank you!

This place is ok, but not great. I had a crab cake sandwich that was flat and a touch mushy. There was definitely zero lump crabmeat it in, it was all shredded crab meat. Not awful, just not very good and only slightly crabby tasting. The hushpuppies that came with it were ok, but not great. Like most local places, they make the hushpuppies sweet instead of savory, which I find a bit weird. The coleslaw was fine.
The ambiance of the place is a bit mixed. It looks a bit like a place in the FL keyes and they play 50s music not too loud, which is nice. The place is also not on the loud side, which I appreciate. We had lunch on a Fri, and the clientele at that time was on the senior side, a bit like eating at the Sage Diner. It appeared they have music and entertainment on weekend evenings, so perhaps it comes a bit more alive at that time?
There is a little store inside with frozen seafood and lots of condiments of alllllll sorts. It’s kind of odd, actually (miso, siracha, stash teas). Seems a bit out of place for a seafood shack on the eastern shore of VA. But I’m not knocking it. If they can make a buck that way, then obviously it fills a need.
I also thought the place was a touch expensive. I paid $ 12 for a meh-​quality crab cake sandwich that came with 3 hushpuppies and small cup of cole slaw. I would probably feel better about the price if the quality was higher, but the two just don’t match up.
Overall, I don’t think it’s an awful place, I’d probably give it 2.5 stars. But I probably will not go back, either.

My husband and I stopped here for lunch as we were passing through.
This isn’t a fancy place, and was once a Burger King (if memory serves) but the décor has been updated to reflect the seafood menu.
I had the seafood basket that included clam strips, scallops, and shrimp. My husband had fish and chips. Both were very good. My scallops were awesome — lightly battered and huge.
I think the prices are a little high, but not outrageously so. We would definitely stop again.

I want a purple pearl :(

It was my 3^rd visit in about 2 years. My friend loves stopping by this spot whenever we visit the Eastern Shore. The food is ok but, as a a previous reviewer wrote, a little overpriced.
Service was less than stellar. I immediately let our waitress know we were celebrating my birthday weekend thinking we could receive the best service ever. Instead, this visit put a damper to my day. While I wasn’t initially ready to order, the waitress never came back for our dinner order. My friend was able to put in an appetizer and unfortunately I was undecided & wishy washy (yes…I’m one of them). We saw her visit a larger table 2 – 3 times while circling other tables & completely bypassing us. Drinks were not filled. My set of utensils were not given upon the arrival of my friend’s appetizer. My friend’s hushpuppies from her appetizer were missing which eventually we received. Several customers have come and gone at this point since we sat down. BTW, it was NOT slammed packed.
We flagged down a gentleman who appeared to be a waiter as we heard him offering a sample of the soup. So, we asked if we could get a sample of each too! After all, it was my birthday and by this time, I was ready to chew my arm off. Still, no order had been placed because waitress never came back. We asked the dude if we could place our order with him which is when our waitress FINALLY walked up.
Fast forward… food also took a long time. We ended up having to ask if we could get our food to go. A different waitress came up saying «your order was just put in 15 minutes ago»…little did she know it took for ever (approximately 40 minutes) to take our order.
My friend ordered a soft shell crab sandwich. They packed a crab cake sandwich. They didn’t offer her to keep their error but, asked if she wanted to pay for the crab cake. Normally, places allow customers to keep their boo boos. Do they recycle to serve to other customers or eat it in the back I wonder… Irrelevant but, really? Where’s the business sense?
As for me… I spent way too much at an establishment I was not happy in due to service. It was a let down to a gorgeous day in the Eastern Shore while celebrating my birthday.
I give three stars as I don’t recall other visits being this disappointing. Also, I really enjoyed the hush puppies and she crab soup was yummy too! The waitress was still making an effort to be cordial despite lag time. Other than that, I’m going to make my friend try other establishments the next time she decides to take a ride to the Eastern Shore. MCS has run it’s course in my book. Maybe I’ll revisit a couple of years down the road… I hope they do well because overall it’s truly not a bad spot.