The Saucy Crab

We ordered the Costal Combo 45.00 it is plenty of food for two since it comes with sides. The service was great, our server Sarah was very friendly and efficient. I should mention that our neighbor table got the Monday special which is all you can eat snow crab 34.99 and they accepted the challenge they loved it. I really enjoyed it. They also had a draft special and it was perfectly cold.

I am from Louisiana & my boyfriend, who is from North Carolina is not a big fan of seafood like I am so when he went out of town for work, it was the perfect time for me to try this place so I could get some crabs!
I got the Canadian Dungeness Crab. For some reason, they sell theirs by the pounds, which is odd to me because in Louisiana, they don’t do that. But anyway. I got 2lbs of that type of crab, which equaled two legs (not a lot for the price you pay). I got them mixed in the cajun sauce because after all, I am a Cajun.
I picked them up, came home, & dug in. The smell was unique. The taste is NOT Cajun, but at least they tried. I can’t complain because maybe Cajun to them is not the same Cajun I think of. I ate the first one & it had good flavor. They were easy enough to break with my hands because I had no claw pliers. The butter I dipped them in was unique as well, but tasty. The potatoes had no flavor. I did not get them mixed in the sauce because I like boiled potatoes on their own, but they had no butter or salt flavor. That is something simple so make that better.
I would not mind trying some of the other items there. I enjoyed it. Nothing like Louisiana, but it will do.

An uncharacteristically short review for one reason… the service was terrible so we never ate there. Was seated on a Sat. evening at about 7:30 PM. First sign something was amiss was the fact I scanned and saw almost no servers walking around, and the place was strangely dead for a Sat night. Most around us had already been served so it wasn’t like the kitchen was backed up.
Almost ten min. later still no server, although one did walk right past our table and never gave us more than a passing glance. We got up and left. On the way out we mentioned the reason to the millennial hostess, only to get a disinterested response «I told them you were here.»
If I were to guess, I’d say this place is in it’s final death throes and the sign will be dark in 2016.

I’ve been there twice and ordered the crab boil. The crab was good but the sausage was over cooked both times. The popcorn was good as well. Ordered a hurricane but it wasn’t more than a cool breeze. The service is slow and the bartender should probably receive more training on how to properly mix cocktails. He is no mixologist.

Delicious! Best seafood restaurant in Durham. It is similar to the type of seafood you would get at Joes Crabshack. I had the steamed snow crab with old bay spice and garlic lemon butter dip, corn and potatoes.

I love the food here, but the wait staff was horrible! You can tell our server didn’t even want us in his section. It took for ever to get our drink order. We we’re missing food with our meal. I had to hail down our waiter for refills. This establishment needs to start treating their employees better, because it’s starting to show.

Went to this restaurant last Sat with my wife. Its our first time there, so we were not familiar how to get to there. The restaurant’s neighbor is doing major renovation and blocks one of the entrances. The only entrance left is through Rooms To Go, which to us, looks like a highway ramp than a private road to that subdivision.
Service was fine. Server was friendly, and the food arrived promptly with proper tools provided. No complaint there.
Food quality is only okay. The popcorn is interesting, but the spice (old bay?) was not mix properly so some popcorn is very salty, and others are bland.
I ordered steamed snow crab, crawfish, and flower clams with lemon garlic flavor, and made it a combo which added corn, sausage and red potato in the bag. The side items were delicious, the snow crab was good. But the crawfish and clams tasted frozen, very very far away from fresh, that the crawfish arrived with their shell soften, and some of their skull already crushed.
My wife ordered snow crab and head-​on shrimp combo in Cajan seasoning, and we were glad she did that. The head-​on shrimp tasted fresh, highly recommend that if you are going to visit here.
The bill total was $ 67, including tax, tips and one Pepsi. To me the price is alright, but I would rather they charge more for better and fresher seafood. We may go again if we are around that area.

My go-​to place for when I’m craving crablegs. I get the same thing each time: one pound of Alaskan Snow Crablegs with Old Bay seasoning and melted butter. Food is pretty good and the prices are reasonable, although try and catch the daily specials.
Staff has always been really nice and checked in on us frequently (one visit, however, it felt as if our waitress checked-​in about every five minutes, which got annoying).
Overall, a good place to go for reliable, consistent seafood.

A patient of my husbands recommended this place and I went in thinking it was going to be along the lines of Red Lobster but worse. A low country boil at these prices scream food poising but my heart went out to my husbands pleads of desperation and I took one for the team. The night started off on the right foot with a bucket of beer for $ 10 but I was sad to see their online menu didn’t match their restaurant menu and it was minus Blue Crabs. We ended up getting the Big Kahuna-​$ 60. It came with one lobster, 1 lb of shrimp, .5 lb of mussels, .5 lb of crab legs, sausage, corn, potatoes, coleslaw, french fries, sweet potato fries, and hush puppies. Pretty much everything but the kitchen sink. I wanted to hate this place just so I could be right but I was pleasantly surprised. The seafood was cooked perfectly and they did not skimp on the portion size. The coleslaw was exceptional and the crab legs were HUGE! My only two grips would be that the fried food was a little greasy and the corn was over cooked to the point I couldn’t eat it. Service was outstanding and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. If my husband asked to dine here again I would. This place is by no means classy or the best seafood ever but if you have a need for some cold beer and a low country boil this place is for you.

So where do I begin. I made a reservation for my 21 first birthday with my family and boyfriend. From the start we sat down and they put us in a ore private area for my birthday (I was not expecting) the server was wonderful (her name was Sarah) and the manger Justin I think is one of the best mangers that I have ever talked to, and I have worked in restaurants for around 5 years. Him and Sarah made my birthday special, it will not be easily forgotten. I had the mango peach fizz it was great, but I am more of a person to drink Jack, so next I got a jack and Dr. Pepper and it was amazing (Thank you bartender) The food was amazing and I ended up eating around 2lbs of snow crab :) they were the best. They even came and sang happy birthday to me. This is a great place to go all of the staff is very nice.

So what’s the best way to describe it here? I guess it’d be Wreck It Ralph. «I will never be good, and that’s not bad.» I think that as others have mentioned don’t come here expecting boiling crab quality and I guess don’t get the seasoning they’re supposedly known for. I think my food would’ve tasted much better with just old bay or no seasoning and a side of butter.
Price wise it’s not bad and the staff is nice. Just I went to Full Moon Oyster House another day and my king crab which you know has at some point been frozen was definitely fresher tasting and just as reasonably priced.
Come if you’re close and want seafood. It’s not a bad option really. Plus I did like the popcorn.

I been here twice. Both times were about the same.
Family friendly restaurant and decorated like something you would expect to see at a tourist restaurant on a coastline.
Food is pretty good, IMO slightly better than what can be expected from a seafood restaurant nowhere near water.
My wife and I have ordered the same thing both times: the Saucy Combo for 2. Comes with a pound each if Shrimp, crawfish, mussels (we substitute clams), 2 snow crab clusters, 2 pieces of corn and 4 pieces of sausage. Their combos come with a platter that consists of fried potatoes, fried sweet potatoes, hush puppies, and slaw. More food than three people can eat, but cheaper than picking specific items and adding sides.
All and all, they could season a little heaver and I would recommend they stop selling crawfish. When cooked, frozen crawfish shells become very soft and the meat will not hold flavor no matter how heavy the seasoning is.
The bad: Service is not up to par. Both times, two different servers; they were scatterbrained. Repeatedly had to ask for silverware, beverage refills, etc.
Overall, it’s a «fill the void» restaurant. If your craving low country boil seafood, it will satisfy you both with the food and prices. Management/​Owners might want to have a come to Jesus meeting with the servers.
If not for the service, I’d have given them 4stars. We will return.

I had the flounder and shrimp and fries
The flounder was greasy and had no flavor
The shrimp was good but average
The fries were hard

Real talk, I came here desperate for seafood and had no idea about what to expect. That being said, The Saucy Crab gives you what you want but meets you half way.
The atmosphere is very… nautical and feels superficial. But that doesn’t really bother me because with a name like the Saucy Crab I can’t expect high-​end ambiance. They also brown paper on your tables to prevent excess grease and scraps from getting everywhere and plastic silverware.
Despite the atmosphere, the food is what you would expect from a place that you can order seafood by pounds. They give you popcorn with old bay to start with and it’s just really basic honestly. It’s popcorn you could make at home.
They have a variety of options, but previously I’ve gotten the «specials» where you get a huge bag of steamed seafood that includes a variety of options served by lbs. When you get a combo steamed bag, you also get an appetizer platter. The platter is not very good. You have overcooked fries, bland hush puppies, and a slaw that doesn’t taste like anything.
The seafood is very straight forward. You can get a certain spice for your bag. In the past, I’ve used the Old Bay which is good and probably the simplest. In addition, you can get a variety of dipping sauces. In your bag, there isn’t just seafood but also some kielbasa and corn.
Overall, don’t expect much. If you’re desperate for a lot of seafood that isn’t exuberantly expensive then i say why not go to the Saucy Crab.

I came here today with my boyfriend for lunch and it was pretty empty. The restaurant is nicely sized so I can see how they can fit a lot of diners in the place at once, but there were only about 3 other groups dining when we came. The menu isn’t long but it has a lot of good options. I especially like the option of having combos for set prices (even though we didn’t order any of those because we didn’t like the things offered in the combos) and being able to order half pounds.
We wound up ordering a pound of snow crab with Old Bay and melted butter and a pound of crawfish in lemon garlic sauce, both with corn/​potatoes/​sausages. It took a little while for the food to come out, but it was definitely worth it when it did. The crab was absolutely delicious and they give you all the necessary tools to crack it. The lemon garlic sauce was a little too sweet and rich for my taste — I wanted it to be tangier and more lemony, but it was still tasty. If you order the combo with potatoes and corn and sausage, you get 2 pieces of corn, 4 potatoes (nicely sized ones) and 4 pieces of sausage which I thought was pretty darn good for $ 4.25. Really fills you up. There was one bad crawfish in my bag that looked less fresh, but for the most part, super tasty. The crab was really yummy as well.
Service was fine when we were there — our waitress was really nice and explained to us the slowness of the food coming out and everything. I did have to wait a little bit for a water refill. However, I can see how it would be more of a problem with more people in the restaurant because one waitress had like 6 – 7 tables when we were there. That’s a bit ridiculous, especially because you’re eating seafood and you’re going to be there a while.
All in all, would come again. Great prices — they have some specials that you should check out for weekday nights and such (on the bottom of the menu) and we paid 35 bucks (not including tip) for our food, which I thought was a pretty good deal.

Like a recent Californian reviewer, I was craving some Boiling Crab. I figured the «steamed seafood in a bag» concept was a west-​coast-​only experience so I was elated when I found this joint on Unilocal.
I went in with tamed expectations yet was still let down. I ordered a pound of peeled shrimp with a steamed corn cob, and shared a fried oyster platter.
The oysters were good, but the fries and hushpuppies that came with the platter were lackluster. The fries were thick-​cut, overcooked and tough — not even close to the crispy, well-​seasoned fries that Boiling Crab offers. The hushpuppies had a strange granular consistency and had absolutely no flavor. This platter was definitely not worth the price paid for the few oysters we received.
The shrimp was delicious in the cajun sauce I ordered it with. The pre-​peeled option was a strong plus in my book — something that Boiling Crab does not have but should seriously consider adding. I was never a big fan of peeling saucy seafood and having the inevitable stench that goes with it remain in my fingers for the next 10 hours. The corn was delicious as well.
The service was questionable. Our waitress came to our table numerous times to ask if everything was okay — but suspiciously too frequently — like she wanted us to leave. Well, I think she did. We had barely exited the restaurant when we saw her rush out the door to her ride home.
Will I be back? A shaky maybe, for the shrimp and corn, if I have to satiate some serious Boiling Crab cravings again.

Out-​of-​towner here. Came here in April after an interview for a nursing job at Duke, and although I didn’t get the job, this place totally made up for it (not really, but it was pretty dang good)! I got a bag of peeled and deveined shrimp with all the sauces combined. In California, we have a restaurant called «The Boiling Crab» with a similar saucy-​seafood-​in-​a-​bag concept, but unlike The Saucy Crab, you can’t order the shrimp already peeled. I loved not having to work to eat my food, and I was even provided a FORK so I didn’t have to get my hands messy. As someone accustomed to wearing bibs at these kinds of places, this amazed me to no end.
Also I thought I’d mention that this was my first time trying hush puppies, EVER, and I was not disappointed.

OK, so not so much. The concept is fine – you pick the seafood (crab, shrimp, mussels, clams, etc.) and one of the four sauces on offer and any add-​ins (potatoes, etc.) and they steam it in a bag for you. There’s also a selection of fried platters, but really people – have you heard of cholesterol? My choice of peeled and deveined shrimp with the teriyaki pineapple sauce actually was pretty good, but the tails were still on the shrimp – perhaps «peeled» means something more complete to me than to them. However, my companions selected the lemon butter sauce to go on mussels and clams and I just don’t understand at all what was placed on those mollusks. In all honesty, it looked and tasted like queso. It was just odd.
The service was quite scatterbrained too. Something went haywire in the computer and they had to take our order twice. They brought me the wrong beer once. We had to remind the servers of a couple of things. No one even asked if we wanted water until they were taking our orders for the second time. Friendly enough, just not very efficient.
Smaller notes: The décor is fine – casual and beachy. This is a messy eating experience, so the smaller brown paper napkins didn’t seem quite sufficient.
P. S.: Parking was ample («Simpsons» reference).

I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while, but we went and checked out Saucy Crab a few months back for dinner on a cold Saturday night. I didn’t really know what to expect other than a lot of seafood and, of course, crab (duh). We were clued into the place from a couple of friends and we were both really pleasantly surprised.
So yeah, it’s a pretty laid back atmosphere in here. Picnic table style, but still an actual full service restaurant with wait staff, drinks, and a normal dining room. You’re going to get messy eating here with all the sauces, breaking of shells, and so forth, so maybe don’t dress too nicely. All of the options are great. We had some shrimp, fried oysters (omg, awesome!), crab legs, and some hushpuppies, potatoes, etc. Everything was absolutely top notch, and especially great considering we’re eating Seafood like we’re in the Florida keys but we’re freezing our butts off in December in Durham. Pretty cool if you ask me.
In the end we had drinks, dinner for 4, and a lot of it, for a very reasonable price and everything was great. The service was super top notch as well. If you want a pretty casual night out with friends and some really nice crab-​boil type of seafood, take advantage of this place. It’s pretty unique, at least to me, and they pull it off well.

«Seafood galore!»
Tried this place with my son for dinner. There were many steamed options, but we opted for the fried platters. I had the oyster platter (fried oysters, french fries, hush puppies, cole slaw, ~$ 12) and my son had the kids shrimp platter (as above but shrimp, ~$ 5). (There were only two choices for kids meals: fried fish platter or fried shrimp platter.)
Positives:
+ Service– our server (Jen?) was super-​attentive. Checked on us several times, refilled water when low, provided helpful feedback, etc.
+ Quantity– BIG helpings. Neither of us finished our meals. Some of that wasn’t just the size but the «heaviness» (it was, aside from the cole slaw, «all» fried), but it was still a great size and good amounts of the seafood itself. Honestly, I would’ve been fine with the kids meal!
+ Quality– The shrimp and the oysters were both quite good. Sides were also tasty, though the cole slaw was «meh».
Negatives:
— Side options. I would have loved to have gotten a side salad (so I didn’t feel such extreme oil-​overload), but no option for one. I could’ve gotten rice or corn on the cob as added sides, but that was kind of it.
Synopsis:
Good but heavy. Price is reasonable, but it’s hardly a «cheap» dinner. I’d like to come back sometime to try some of their steamed options. I’d say overall this was «A-​OK.» 3 – 4 star border for me… fills some of the gap with the loss of Fish Shack.