The Kickin’ Crab

I really had high hopes for this place, but the food wasn’t fresh, and my friends and I just didn’t enjoy it much. We ordered the number 2 combo with king crab legs, crawfish, and shrimp. We haven’t eaten much crawfish before, so we couldn’t really rate it; the shrimp, however, was very rubbery and chewy– definitely not fresh, and the crab was decent enough, but severely overcooked– the shell wouldn’t crack at all. The service wasn’t terrific either: our server understood our complaint, but weakly replied saying that the food tended to be overcooked during rushes. Overall, not a great value for money. The Cajun fries were delicious, as was the lychee sake.

Ppl are nice and kind Everything is nice.
Sometimes they forget what u ordered, so make sure if they put ur order in.
Their raw oyster is the best. It is one of my favorite restaurant. Their restroom is very neat and clean.

This place is way better than the crab shack good service didn’t have to wait long to be seated, food came out fast and and the spices gave the food the right taste the king crab legs was my fav.

First thing I liked about this location was the service. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. The First thing I did not care for about this location was the flies and I am assuming it was because the side doors were left open for ventilation because it didn’t feel like there was any air conditioning.
Now on to the food, you can only order by the full pound so we got the shrimp, clams and crawfish. We also ordered a side of the garlic noodles that was recommended by the waiter. The noodles did compliment the seafood and one order was plenty for two of us. I had the mild which still has a tiny kick to it and my husband had the spicy which was too spicy for me. The ambiance was typical to other kickin’ crab locations but the service was best at this location.

That’s some good $***! Had some crab legs w/​kicking crab sauce and a side of the red rice. That sauce is on point!

I’ve been to a couple kickin’ crab locations but this one is definitely my favorite! The food here is really good! I had a party of 6 and we were seated within 10 minutes which is nice. Usually parties of 6 take 20 – 30 minutes at other places. I had the best server, her name was Vivian. She would always check up on my table and make sure our drinks were always filled. She’s also really bubbly and sweet which makes coming here a great experience. I will definitely come back to this location!

I really want to give them 4 stars for how the food tasted but due to unhappy waitress, delayed food, next day stomach ache I’ll have to settle for 3.

I love this place!!! Kick in style flavoring is always the best and they are always consistent.

Wouldn’t let me use occ student discount for to-​go order even though the coupon doesn’t state it.

First time to this location service was good and fast only thing was they didn’t give us the salt and pepper along with the limes we had to ask for them and the shrimp were a bit over cooked but other than that everything was great no wait wait time either that was a mega plus

Sub-​par at best. We ordered the combo #2 with king crab and shrimp and the garlic noodles. While the flavor was good, the shrimp was terribly over-​cooked. We’re talking rubbery and inedible.
We advised the waiter, and instead of just fixing it, we were told we should have told them sooner. We let them know pretty much as soon as we realized just how bad the shrimp was.
The ONLY reason that this isn’t a one star review is because the manager attempted to fix the situation. They did bring out a new order of shrimp, but this too was over-​cooked, although not as badly. We were also told he would take 10% off the price of the order, but the bill did not reflect this.
The garlic noodles were actually good, but we came here for seafood, not pasta.
Not returning.

First I would like to say that I have been to numerous crawfish location and this is not my first time here. PLEASE READ THE SERVICE SECTION.
Food ⁴⁄₅: It was my sisters first time we so we ordered alot of different types of food. For appetizers, we ordered: cajun fries (³⁄₅ tasted like any other), garlic noodles (⁴⁄₅), cajun garlic butter tilapia (³⁄₅).
For our seafood specialty, we ordered the combo #1 2 lbs crawfish and 1 lb of clams (shrimp was out which was severely disappointing). We ordered medium spice, kickin style seasoning with extra corn, sausage and potatoes which was better than most places.
Later we decided to order more crawfish since it was pretty damn good, but then a problem occurred…
Service ¹⁄₅: When we first received the combo, we noticed that the crawfish seemed like it was very little. like it was 1 lbs but we weren’t sure and didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. When we ordered the 2 lbs we saw a BIG difference on how much we got. You can CLEARLY see that the amount we ate from combo #1 vs the new 2 lbs we received was not nearly on the same level. We brought this to attention to our waiter and he said that he couldn’t do anything about it even though it was so obvious and we should have told him before, but how can we know unless we have something to compare it to. Plus you can see that what we did eat from our first bag wasn’t even half of the new bag. After that we never saw him the rest of the night.
This place could have been an easy ⁴⁄₅ if the service could have tried a little harder, but it seemed like the young gentlemen completely did not want to help us and even ignored us after.

Not sure if it’s just this location or if the entire chain has gone down hill. This was the first time I have been to a kickin crab on a Friday night where the place wasn’t packed. It was practically empty of customers.
My party was charged for tap water… the waiter was nice enough to inform us only after we had started drinking it. They brought us out a half portion of edamame which tasted great but was horribly over priced.
The combo was great except for the potatoes and crawfish. The potatoes were raw in the center and half the crawfish were severely undersized (about half the size of the others).
Avoiding this location and possibly the entire chain if my next experience is similar elsewhere.

First time at this location but I’ve been to other locations.
The food was okay. We got the smallest combo with 2 pounds of shrimp and a pound of clams in garlic butter. (I can’t handle spicy :3). The flavor of the seafood was average. I’ve had better. I did like all the garlic chunks at the bottom. We also ordered sweet potato fries and they were cooked perfectly, not over cooked or burnt.
The service was good. Our waiter was very nice and friendly. He did mess up our order but he made it up to us by giving us 3 extra corn (we were supposed to substitute sausages for more corn and potato but we found sausage in our bag).
THEY CHARGE FOR WATER?! REGULAR TAP! It’s a few cents and I know California is in a drought but really? Good thing they don’t charge extra for refill

Not a fan. Surprised they don’t charge for napkins. Potatoes were good, crawfish were useless, shrimp was yummy and so was the corn. They charge you for water. 35 cents and a baby plastic cup… I doubt the 35 cents is keeping the lights on. Also not a fan of the check in discount. Says 10% and that got me in the door. Only to see when activated you needed to be an occ student.
The staff is friendly and the food is seasoned well. Just don’t think you get the most for your money here.

Went here cause I had a craving for seafood on a Friday night and had no time for waiting for a table at Boiling Crab. Super great customer service and very reasonable pricing. I got the smallest combo meal and my husband and I could not get through half. Reheated the next day and it was wonderful. Food came out prompt and super tasty. I got the Kicking Crab sauce mild. The corn was terrible. The shrimp is a little drier than Boiling Crab but clams and crawfish were great. Didn’t like paying for water. Aside from that, very positive experience and would recommend to anyone!

Came in during a biz trip. The first Waitress I encountered was cold and somewhat robotic.
I was charged for tap water… first time for me.
I ordered steamed Broccoli which was cold.
I have to say that the snow crab was very good.
Ambience is so/so…as for some reason they have loud music in background.
Won’t come back.

I think your best bet when coming to The Kickin’ Crab is to order their combo specials. Last night we got combo #2 — one dungeness crab, shrimp, and crawfish. Each combo comes with 4 slices of sausage, 2 pieces of corn, and potatoes, all in a bag! You also get to pick the sauces and spiciness level. Salt, pepper and lime available on request only. We also ordered the garlic noodles. Delicious :) I ended up taking whatever was left home.
Tips:
— Don’t come here wearing nice clothes, even though they give you a bib! It’s also a good idea to wear short sleeves. Thankfully, I was wearing a t-​shirt last night.
— Use a straw for your drink because your hands will be busy.
— Don’t be afraid to stand up to do your job. I think only applies to short people like me; I found it easier for me to stand up to break the crab apart.
— Bring a paper towel or two with you to the bathroom after you inevitably wash your hands and face after dinner. They only have one Dyson hand dryer in the ladies room, which is completely useless as it can only fit your hands and forearms, but not your face.
Glad this location opened up! It wasn’t crowded and parking’s a breeze. They also have TV’s so I may come here during a game. Best part – I don’t have to clean up! :P

Kickin’ Crab, you kick my diet to the curb with your delicious juicy succulent jumbo shrimp, well seasoned finger lickin’ good Cajun fries and gluttonous heavenly carb loaded garlic pasta. I love you.
I haven’t had Kickin’ Crab or BC in more than a year and on this visit, I went to TOOOOWWWWNNN on my meal with no RAGRETS! We called ahead of time and this Costa Mesa location wait time was significantly less than the Irvine and Santa Ana location. The wait was 1 hour for those locations while our wait here was only 20 mins. Woohoo!
First off, their servers are seriously so amazing, sweet, accommodating and polite! When we first sat down, we were seated so closely together to other parties that I could literally lean over and touch them. Servers, bus boys and patrons were constantly squeezing through the tiny walkway to get through and knocking over our paper towel roll. I was pretty upset they stuck us in such a sucky spot but all we had to do was ask and you shall receive :) the party of 4 right next to us left so our server accommodated us by putting two tables together. We had WAY more space and wasn’t bothered by people walking by.
They don’t offer ½ pounds so either share or eat a whole pound to yourself! Must order 1 pound Kickin style spicy shrimp with garlic noodles and Cajun style fries! Perfect meal for 2 people right there! If you’re thinking about getting spicy spicy, DON’T DO IT!!! My boyfriend and I decided to order spicy spicy for our second pound of shrimp and that was the hugest mistake ever!!! Hot damn it was spicy and this is coming from a girl who can handle the heat!
I ate the entire meal to my heart’s desire with no regrets :)

I am a HUGE Kickin Crab fan & was so excited that one opened up which is closer to HB! The restaurant is new, modern & decorated as a whimsical seafood establishment.
We were warmly greeted by our cute & bubbly server … Luv that! We were seated & ordered the following for lunch:
(1) Fried Oysters
Deep fried Cajun seasoned oysters served with a cocktail sauce. Lightly battered & so yummy!
(2) 2 Lbs. Shrimp w/​2 Corns
My shrimps & corn arrived spicy «kickin style» which consists of lemon, butter, garlic & Cajun seasoning. My entrée was fresh … But, I noticed that the sizes of the shrimps were not consistent. Some were smaller than others.
(3) Fish Tacos
Hubby’s 3 deep fried tacos were on the smaller side … But he said they were tasty
(4) Side of Kickin Style Sauce
I requested a side of kickin style dipping sauce for my shrimp. A dollar charge for a small container of sauce? I hate to be nickeled & dimed … :(
I enjoyed my lunch at the Kickin Crab which was A-​OK … 3 Stars!