Last week we reported that Crisfield Seafood will be closing after nearly 80 years at 8012 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring The restaurant has been operating in Silver Spring since 1945 and will close permanently on Sunday, December 22nd. A visit today, as well as several reader reports, showed lines out the door and down the block for the restaurant. “It has been this way for the last five days or so” a customer told us after deciding he would wait today to get his final fix.
The restaurant is known for a variety of seafood dishes including the “Crisfield Special”, which consists of lump crabmeat mixed with a delicate white sauce and baked in a casserole. In 2022, the Crisfield earned recognition by being voted as one of WTOP’s 2022 ‘Best Seafood’ restaurants, coming in at #8.
The restaurant offers a menu that hasn’t changed much in decades. According to The Washington Post, “The Crisfield restaurant on Georgia Avenue deserves to be called a Maryland institution. (Okay, a Silver Spring institution.) After all, it was serving stuffed shrimp and crab imperial when Harry Truman was in the White House, when cars still had fenders and when most folks considered squid just another form of bait.” Over the years, plenty of local restaurants offered similar fare. In Silver Spring, Wheaton, and Bethesda, there were Fred and Harry’s, the Anchor Inn, and Bish Thompson’s. Today only Crisfield remains.
Crisfield has been owned by the Landis family since 1945. Today it’s owned by the third generation, with the seven owner/cousins being the grandchildren of Crisfield’s original owner, Lillian Landis. A representative from Crisfield posted the following on Facebook on Wednesday, December 11:
OUR TIME HAS COME! After nearly 80 years, we have decided it is enough. The original Crisfield Seafood Restaurant will close December 22nd. The Landis Family would like to thank all the great people, customers and teammates, that made this a very special place for 8 decades.
Fun Fact: Crisfield Seafood has a wall dedicated to late singer Jimmy Buffett, who would visit every time he had a show in town.