The Boiling Crab

Was there for my brother’s birthday, his favorite Cajun style seafood place. This was the best Cajun style seafood place I have ever been to. We ordered King crab delicious with «the works» spicemix at a medium heat. $ 24 per pound. Shrimp $ 10/​lb. So good. Best fried calamari, great chicken wings, fries, steamed potato and corn on the cob. Very busy place 45 minute wait was totally worth it. $ 4 import beer and $ 2.50 free refill soft drinks. Don’t forget a sharpie to tag the walls of this funny delicious place. Good service, small parking lot.

The best!!! Me And my wife are addicted!!! We go at least once a week!!! Order take out and skip the wait! Can’t wait until next week!!! 2 lbs shrimp and 2 clusters of snow crab! That’s all we need! Oh and a few beers of course!

Yeaterday was my first time going! Its so good! The wait obviously is the only thing that kills it but im going to still give it a 5 star because i loved the shrimp and fries! If u cant wait atleast 1 ½ dont go.

Ordered take out instead to take home! Wait was like 20 – 25 mins! Not bad compared to waiting 2 – 3 hours to be seated!

The food is good. I personally am not a fan of seafood, especially if I have to work for it peeling/​opening it myself. Flavor was okay it definitely smelled better and more robust than it tasted. the 3 other people in my group were extremely satisfied with their food! They got crab! Waiter was nice and everything came out quick.
Reason for the low rating is actually the hostess, we were a party of 4 and waited almost 3 hours, several parties of 2 or 3 and 6 or more that came after us were seated before us. My bf noticed and spoke to the hostess maybe 2 or 3 times. She was about to seat a party of 5 that literally just walked in and he noticed and said something and so she hesitantly sat us down after almost 3 hours of waiting. We were one of the only non-​Asian groups and although I want to believe that wasn’t the reason she treated us poorly it certainly seems that way.

Long wait that was definitely worth it. I came here with a party of 9 and it took us about a 45 minute wait on a Friday night. We were finally seated all together and our orders were taken. The service was efficient and accommodating although I wish they had brought out all our food at once instead of bringing out the crab orders and fries first.
My friend and I split a pound of shrimp and a pound of the frozen crawfish in the whole shebang sauce, plus each one cob of corn. It was messy and gross and fun and salty and really delicious. Not sure about the quality of the seafood because it was so saucy and spicy, but it was really good. It ended up being around $ 13 for the each of us including tax and tip.
I really enjoyed this experience and would be willing to come back. Definitely worth the wait.

The food here is always delicious! Be prepared to wait at least an hour unless you arrive prior to opening. Also be prepared to get messy. As my friend said who ate there for the first time last Sunday when we went «This is definitely not a first date place!» I recommend the whole she bang for your seasoning. This is a combination of lemon pepper, garlic and Cajun. Mild has a bit of a kick so unless you are a hot head you might want to try that vs medium or XXX hot. Looking forward to many happy returns.

Today the Service was the worst. I really do enjoy eating here but after a hour wait we only received our waters, no one checked on us and we had to keep asking about getting our food. Eventually the manager came over and took it item off of the bill which was cool. The food was delicious like always, but sorry boiling crab today the service was a hot mess.

Being a person that loves seafood, I was nothing short of impressed by my amazing dinner here. Love the fish and chips, the shrimp was exquisite.

Freaking awesome service and food!
Be warned: don’t call and order (they’re super busy and you’re probably not going to get through– more power to you if you do) and good luck if you can find parking around these narrow street areas.
My method: Drop someone off to do the order and circle back to pick them up.

There’s nothin’ so primal and appetitive as eating with your hands and because of this the boiling crab hits it just right for me. Yes there’s a long line, a wait sometimes upwards of 45 minutes but the shrimp, andouille sausage, corn, and boiled potatoes in the whole shebang sauce is outrageously good, finger lickin’ good and eating these items with my hands hits it just right for me.
I don’t care if I have to wait. I don’t care if I’m so hungry my better sense would make me just as well go to another amazing resto in the area. And there are myriads in Alhambra. I don’t. I stick it out. Because the boiling crab hits it just right for me.
One less star — ²⁄₃ times the king crab legs were not fresh. Never ordering that again.
Visits: more than 10– in different locations.
Tip: Come early before 5pm if you wanna be seated soon. Or after 9pm. Or get it togo. Go up to the reservations clerk and make sure you get a number.

I’ve came here before a couple years back and I’ve came here today with my family. The service was great but the females who works here has a bad vibe in my opinion. I was waiting for my to go order and waited a good 10 – 15 minute or so and nothing came out still. A very nice man with a man bun came and told my mom he will check on our order and then another man came and said the same thing. I sadly didn’t catch their names but if I did I would’ve put it in this review. I give this place a 4 star only because the girls who works here just give off a bad vibe but other than that it’s a rad place! A lot of young people and families here. Waiting is a bitch but worth it.

Come ready to get your bib on & eat like a seafood-​obsessed caveman! YES, It’s fun and finger licking messy here!
This restaurant is true to its name — seafood is the main draw here — shrimp, crawfish, crab legs, mussels, clams, etc. The only thing missing is the waterfront view!
This is what I call Asiany Cajun food. It’s like a traditional Cajun boil but with a twist (due to the ASIAN area it’s in).
Here’s an interesting video of The Boiling Crab on Valley Blvd. in Alhambra — this is what finally made us go here…

On our first visit:
~2 pound dungeness crab $ 38 (market price).
~2 pounds shrimp was $ 20 (market price).
Added potatoes, corn, and 1 pound sausage to the shrimp mix above. The sausage was $ 8 for one pound. I forgot the exact price for the corn (4 half pieces) & potatoes, but it was $ 4ish more. Still had some leftover shrimp and corn to take home.
On our 2^nd visit:
~Cajun chowder $ 9. It had three medium size shrimp in it.
~Fried calamari $ 10.
~Chicken tenders with cajun fries $ 7 (kids meal)
~2 pounds crawfish — $ 15 (market price). Corn was included when buying 2 pounds on this particular day.
~2 pounds shrimp — $ 20
I have to say the SHRIMP is the best thing here.
Anyway, pick the spices you want your seafood mixed in, and then pick how hot you want it. We tried the rajun cajun and the garlic sauce on our first visit, then tried the whole sha-​bang (with the lemon pepper added) on our second visit. Both were good, but we prefer the rajun cajun + garlic sauces only (not so much the lemon pepper). You can order it non-​spicy, mild, medium, and triple X hot! We ordered it medium hot on the first visit, then mild hot on the second. Spicy really means SPICY here!
The server will let you know if crawfish is in season before you order. That way you know if you will get previously frozen crawfish or the ones that come LIVE right out of the tank before it reaches your table. I had no idea when those critters are in season cause I don’t keep up with that shiet (ours was frozen before the boil).
No complaints about the service, but the wait is long. 40 – 45 Minutes to get in the first time and more than an hour to get in the second time. Sunday dinner was much busier than Friday evening. Make sure you charge your tablet or cell before you get there, and get them games ready for the kids while you are at it. This restaurant SHOULD offer Wi-​fi at the least.
BTW, parking is CRAY CRAY madness here. This place has parking for maybe 15 cars AND a security guard going nutty. Prepare to park a block away.
Here’s the PDF menu for this particular location…

The staff here has really been lacking. Slow service. Even no service. My family and I arrived around 4:30 and it wasn’t busy considering there were only about 3 parties seated. We just stood there at the podium and not one staff member acknowledged us when they swiftly walked back and forth in front of us. We were seated about 2 minutes later AFTER the fact that another family walked right in front of us and the staff went ahead and sat them first. We had a party of 6 and were sat a table that was meant for 4. Still not understanding the poor decisions of the staff here because there were so many damn tables open. Took about another 5 – 6 minutes before someone asked if we would like to order some drinks. Then another 5 – 6 minutes to get the drinks and thus order our food…
The crawfish here is NEVER fresh. ALWAYS frozen. And it’s nasty… Skip the crawfish by all means here unless you like it rubbery and flavorless. Shrimp was mushy. Oysters were so gross I don’t even want to talk about it and the 1 lb of clams we ordered were 70% shells and nice little pieces of meat. It was a great deal. The potatoes were good though. So yeah, this location just sucks all around. Nice try, BC Alhambra.

Boiling Crab, why do you tug at my heart strings and tempt me with your garlicky, whole shebang goodness?
I used to eat here quite often when I was younger, but I’ve since learned that I’m an impatient hungry woman now and can’t be bothered to wait 1+ hours to chow down on some salty, spicy, garlicky seafood in a bag. Instead, I’ve learned to just order my meals to-​go and eat in the comfort of my home without getting judged by the splatters of sauce all over my clothes and face.
Needless to say, cajun fries, crawfish, shrimp, and snow crab legs are amazingly delicious. Go. Eat. Drink. Now.

This boiling crab location is okay. I prefer the one on Main Street better. This one you wait in the back near their small parking lot rather than in front of the restaurant. Because they have a small parking lot expect to NOT find parking and park on the side streets. The inside I would say is a little smaller than most, however the food is just as great. No complaints there. The customer service is always nice and accommodating to their customers! Some are actually really funny/​friendly too!
The wait is ALWAYS long so that’s a big downfall. But I have yet to see a location where you never wait… So there’s really no choice. Whenever you go, there will be a line.

Boiling crab always leaves you feeling full and satisfied… and smelly but it’s always worth it. The wait whenever I went has always been at least an hour. I suggest to-​go. They usually have your order ready 15 minutes after you call. So you can have your delicious food asap.
You can also ask for bibs when you order to-​go. The mess is something to be careful for though. I usually put everything into a giant pot so my family and I can just eat out of that. Plus leftovers are still delicious the next day.

The Boiling Crab is still the standard by which all other Vietnamese Cajun style seafood is measured. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, if you’re chowing down on spicy seafood from a plastic bag, then you’re probably comparing it to BC: is the sauce as good as the Whole Shebang? Is the line as long? Can I write on the walls?
I don’t do hour-​long waits for any restaurant, so it can be a pain for me to visit BC. Over the years I’ve usually opted for other options like The Shack or Star Crab or whatever knockoff is nearby and offering immediate seating. Yes, they’re never as good as BC, but I’m always done eating by the time my party would’ve been seated at BC.
So, the trick is to go during off-​peak hours to get your hands in those bags of crawfish, shrimp, crabs, clams, mussels, and what-​not. It’s all about the Whole Shebang sauce, adjusted to your preferred heat. Since I no longer equate sweating through my clothes as a gauge of how good a meal is, I tend to order mild or medium these days.
There’s a reason why BC is so popular: the food is always delicious. My wife and I usually order crawfish, shrimp, and one other item (the king crab legs are superb) and we like adding corn on the cob to the bag and sometimes the sausage. No matter what you order, though, the best accompaniment is simple steamed rice. With so much flavor going on in those bags, the rice serves as a nice base and it’s perfect for soaking up all of that extra sauce.

Holy mother of God, has the She-​Bang Medium always been this spicy? I’ve been to several other Boiling Crab locations in and around the San Gabriel Valley and never recalled it being this spicy. Well, ‘spicy’ is relatively subjective but I sweat up a storm, dining here on Sunday.
So the sister was visiting from the crotch of California, that’s Fresno for the uninformed. She had a craving for Boiling Crab so we made and effort to drop by before she head home. You’d figured that coming around 3pm would beat the usual rush hour. You’d be completely wrong! Rush hour at BC starts at 11am, when the open, and ends when they close at 10pm. As such, we ended up waiting for 1 ½ hours. Wasn’t too bad, gave us a chance to show the little sister the wedding venue and picked up some Banh Mi and Che (located a block a way) for the ride back home.
We ended up with 2lbs of Clams, 2lbs of Crabs, 1lb of Sausage and 3 corns on a cob. More than enough food for the 3 of us and in the ended, there was a struggle to finish the food. The fiancé and sister are both weak links when it comes to eating.
This BC seems to be bigger than the one on Main St. in Alhambra which is nice since they can accommodate more people but on the flip side, the shaded waiting area is much smaller. I hope you like standing in the sun!

I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the Boiling Crab family of restaurants … I’ve never had a bad experience at any of them, but I just can’t buy into the hype that seems to surround the chain, and I don’t feel that the typically long waits in line are worth it.
Having said that, I took 7 of my family members out here for dinner the other day, and I was pleased to see that they all seemed to enjoy themselves, quickly reducing their bags of crab and shrimp into a hopelessly messy pile of shells on the table.
As I wasn’t too eager to have my hands covered in sauce (and was too lazy to de-​shell my shrimp), I opted for the fried shrimp basket, which contained a pretty filling portion of fried shrimp, Cajun fries, and a decently sized cup of cocktail sauce. It wasn’t bad.
I did also sample some of my cousin’s shrimp in «The Whole She-​Bang» sauce. I personally found that it left something to be desired for me, and I’m glad that I had opted for the fried shrimp basket.
The bill came out to a bit under $ 130 before tax and tip. I think that pricing was pretty reasonable, considering that it provided 8 people with a ton of seafood (and also a few drinks, and some Cajun chowder and corn on the cob as well).
The service provided by the staff was pretty decent (I should also note that having someone wrap a bib around my neck as an adult was a novel and amusing experience).
The seating at the tables are wood, and not particularly comfortable to sit on for any duration of time. Despite finding it distasteful, it was probably a wise choice, considering how long the typical wait time already is.
The restroom was as badly tagged up as the rest of the eatery, but it was actually a bit cleaner than I expected.
The parking lot in the back is extremely small — you are likely to have to find parking on the curb down the street.
Overall, although it’s not *my* cup of tea, I think The Boiling Crab is still worth trying out if you really enjoy shelled seafood, and do not mind waiting in line for an hour or two.