Joe’s Stone Crab Is Accepting Online Reservations

For the last 100 or so years, you had two options to get a table at Joe’s Stone Crab in South Beach. You could either wait - which could take anywhere from three to four hours. Or you could (allegedly) just tip the maître d’ for expedited service. The difficulty of getting seated has always been part of the charm and mythology around Joe’s, the kind of wonderfully old school establishment that just doesn’t exist in today’s Miami of fancy new things. And, for the most part, folks have been happy to participate in Joe’s antiquated system.

But change has come for us all over the last year, Joe’s included. And, since October, Joe’s has been accepting reservations via Resy. A representative from the restaurant told us that Joe’s has no plans to discontinue the online reservation system as of now.

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We’re not quite sure how this information slipped past our radar, especially considering it’s been a thing since October. Maybe the people nabbing online reservations at Joe’s felt just a tinge of shame for skipping such a legendary line with the click of a finger, and wanted to keep quiet about it. Maybe we were just too distracted with, you know, literally everything. But now that we know this, we can’t not share it with you. And, yes, we realize this is slightly cruel information to tell you with only days left of stone crab season. But this is all the more reason to use Joe’s newfangled reservation system to book one of the few remaining tables left before season ends on May 9. At the time of this writing, there are quite a few tables available on Resy - mostly for lunch but a few dinner slots too.

Even though they won’t be serving stone crab after their regular season ends on May 9, Joe’s will still be open through the summer (from May 11 through July 31) and walk-ins are still very much welcome. But the days of watching your father awkwardly pass $40 to a maître d’ might be numbered.