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Crab cake, and what each one costs

Brick rowhouses on North Paca Street, one end wall painted red, a tree over the pavement
Brick rowhouses on North Paca Street, one end wall painted red, a tree over the pavement · Photo: Baltimore Heritage · CC0

Where to get a crab cake in Baltimore: five places known for one, from a Lexington Market counter founded in 1886 to a $20 Tuesday in Locust Point, with the price where there is one and the hours that decide when you go.

Updated Sep 28, 2026 · each stop says the day its sources were read, and what they left unconfirmed

This is for anyone who came to Baltimore wanting a crab cake, and for anyone who lives here and has settled on one place. It is not a ranking. It is five places known for one, each a different way to eat it: standing at a market counter, in a corner pub people cross the city for, under a green awning in Canton, on a Tuesday in Locust Point, and at a booked table in Fells Point.

The order follows the clock. Faidley's shuts in the late afternoon and all day Sunday, so it is lunch and it comes first. Koco's is out in Lauraville and closed Sunday and Monday, so it needs a plan. The last three are in the neighborhoods east and south of the harbor, and run into the evening. Two put a price on the crab cake you eat there: $28 at Faidley's, and $20 at Hull Street on a Tuesday.

Before you go

  • Faidley's is lunch: the counter shuts at 5pm Monday to Thursday, 5:30pm on Friday and Saturday, and all day Sunday. Go in by the market's Paca Street entrance.
  • Koco's is shut Sunday and Monday, and does not open until 4:30pm on a Tuesday.
  • The $20 crab cake at Hull Street Blues is Tuesdays only.
  • Thames Street Oyster House takes bookings on Resy and draws from well beyond Fells Point, so book. Monday to Thursday it is dinner only, from 4:30pm.
  • Canton and Locust Point have no public garage. At Mama's and Hull Street it is street parking.
  1. 1

    Market Center · Food · $$$

    Faidley's Seafood

    Start with the history. Faidley's is a seafood counter inside Lexington Market, founded in 1886 and run by the same family ever since, and its crab cake is the plainest statement of the thing: jumbo lump held together with a saltine crust and almost nothing else. You eat it standing up, which is the point, since nothing gets between you and the crab. It is $28. Use the market's Paca Street entrance and come for lunch, because the counter shuts at 5pm most days and all day Sunday.

    Sources read Sep 21, 2026

    Not confirmed: Payment methods, age policy and access. Lexington Market's own opening hours may differ from the counter's

    Hours: Mon-Thu 10am-5pm; Fri-Sat 10am-5:30pm; closed Sunday · full listing

  2. 2

    Lauraville · Food · $$$

    Koco's Pub

    Then out Harford Road to Lauraville, to the corner pub people drive across the city for. The reason is an 11oz crab cake made fresh each day, and in 2025 Baltimore Magazine's readers voted it the city's best. It is a pub rather than a restaurant, with a mural on the side wall, so expect a bar and not a dining room: the crab cake is the event. It is shut Sunday and Monday and opens at 4:30 on a Tuesday. The eat-in price is not published; uncooked crab cakes to take home are $112 for two.

    Sources read Sep 21, 2026

    Not confirmed: The price of a crab cake platter eaten in. The site lists uncooked crab cakes to take away at $112 for two, and does not publish the platter price. Payment, age and access are not published either.

    Hours: Tue 4:30-9pm; Wed-Fri 11am-9pm; Sat noon-9pm; closed Sun and Mon · full listing

  3. 3

    Canton · Food · $$

    Mama's on the Half Shell

    Back toward the harbor, Canton's crab cake is at the oyster house under the green awning on the corner of O'Donnell Square, the one the founding family kept when they closed Nacho Mama's across the street in January 2025. Raw bar and crab cakes are the draw, and it runs to 10pm on a weeknight, which neither of the first two does. Come for weekday happy hour, 3 to 6pm at the first-floor bar, and start with the raw bar, or at the weekend, when the doors open at 9am for brunch.

    Sources read Sep 17, 2026

    Not confirmed: Upper-floor access

    Hours: Mon-Thu 11am-10pm; Fri 11am-11pm; Sat 9am-11pm; Sun 9am-10pm · full listing

  4. 4

    Locust Point · Food · $$

    Hull Street Blues Cafe

    Locust Point's is the cheap one, and it has a day attached: the crab cake is $20 on Tuesdays. Hull Street Blues is a corner tavern deep in the row-house grid, a neighborhood treasure since 1984 by its own billing, and it runs on weekly ritual, with a $13 smash burger on Monday and trivia on Wednesday at 7:30pm. It is where Locust Point actually eats on a weeknight, and that is the reason to come: you are eating the crab cake the neighborhood eats. Open daily 11am to 10pm; park on the blocks around it.

    Sources read Sep 17, 2026

    Not confirmed: The 1889 building date

    Hours: Daily 11am-10pm · full listing

  5. 5

    Fells Point · Food · $$$

    Thames Street Oyster House

    End at a booked table in Fells Point. Thames Street Oyster House is the neighborhood's serious seafood room and the usual answer to where a Fells Point night starts, and here the crab cake shares a menu with a raw bar The Baltimore Banner counts among the city's most extensive. Come Monday to Thursday at 4:30, when local oysters are $2 until six, start with those and then order the crab cake. It draws from well beyond the neighborhood, so book on Resy. Friday to Sunday there is lunch as well, 11:30 to 2:30.

    Sources read Sep 17, 2026

    Not confirmed: Age policy, accessibility

    Hours: Mon-Thu 4:30-9:30pm; Fri-Sun lunch 11:30-2:30 and dinner 5-9:30pm · full listing