I took the 1-hour, 45 minute trip down to Jasper’s, in Largo, MD for a Saturday night birthday dinner with my relatives that had originally been planned to be held at Maggiano’s, in D.C. but got switched at the last minute. (Please note, to find this restaurant by GPS, you may have to put in Upper Marlboro, MD instead of Largo, MD…GPS does not seem to be able to locate it, using the latter.) Since there had been no reservation made in advance at Jasper’s, the wait for seating was somewhere around an hour. When I walked into Jasper’s, I noticed that it was a pretty large and well-lit place with a fully-stocked, sports-type bar in the middle with large TV’s around the top. From what I understand, not only is this a family restaurant, it sorta doubles as a hang out spot for folks in the 30’s – 40’s age group. That was obvious when I got there. The atmosphere is young, hip and fun, but not teeny-bopper. You’ll see what I mean when/if you try it out.

 While the six of us waited at the bar for our seating, a few of my cousins decided to get appetizers…they had the hot crab dip and the calamari. I did not try any of it, as I wanted to save my appetite for my entrée. But from what they’ve said, they REALLY enjoyed both dishes.

So finally we got seated…Our server must have been new to this type of work, as he didn’t seem to realize that stopping in the middle of taking drink orders (saying “hold on, I’ll be right back”), walking off and not being seen again for about 10 minutes is not a good look. Apparently the lady at the table next to us had asked him to bring her a bowl of broccoli and cheese, but instead of going straight to the kitchen to get it, he came to take our drink orders (she was a bully, by the way – shouting across the room at someone she knew, for not going out of their way to come say hello to her). Either way, my side-eye was ready at this point. Strike one.

After our server had come back with the bully lady’s broccoli and cheese, he resumed taking our drink orders…but took forever (again) to come back with the drinks and take our food orders. All I wanted to drink was water – I wanted to keep things simple. I think everyone else had the same thing in mind; they kept their drink orders simple as well.

We got our drinks and we all placed our orders for food. I ordered a Caesar salad to start. Our server asked me if I wanted to add bacon bits to my salad and I told him yes – knowing I normally never have bacon in my Caesar salad but I was gonna go off the cuff a little bit because he offered it. I should have stayed in line with my “keep it simple” method like I did when I ordered water to drink, as the server brought me my salad without the bacon that he offered me. Instead it had little pieces of red peppers that resembled bacon, sprinkled on it. I didn’t ask for that. BUT, rather than sending the whole salad back and running the risk of having to sit there with a loud growling stomach while everybody else had salad, I sent him back for my bacon…I never got it tho. Strikes two and three for him. *sigh*  

Anyway, my entrée choice was called the Jasper’s Crab Explosion, which is basically a baked crab cake but the way it’s put together is more like a “pile” of seasoned lump crab meat, rather than being “caked” or pattied together. This usually comes with fries and coleslaw, but I substituted a baked potato for the fries. My entrée was absolutely delicious! The Crab Explosion is somewhat on the spicy side, but it’s not “hot” or overbearing. It’s very flavorful. The baked potato was done perfectly; nice and tender the whole way through. It was excellent. Around the table, I noticed that my cousins ordered the Blackened Tilapia, the Baked Stuffed Shrimp, and the Fried Fisherman’s platter. I didn’t dip my fork in any of their plates though. LOL

Despite my gripes with the server, I do plan to go back and visit this place again because the food is that good and I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I hope I end up with a better server next time and it has been duly noted to make reservations first, as their crowd definitely calls for it.

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