Crackin’ Crab Claw

This has to be our favorite go to place when we want some spicy Cajun seafood I love how the waitress recognize us when we walk in and she immediately ask if we want our usual, which is the big easy combo with Spicy Cajun sauce and the Cajun fries everything is delicious and I was afraid the seafood would be to dry but it was actually very juicy and extremely spicy. Definitely have to go there again. I need to try the Deep fried oysters and maybe the jambalaya.

Edible, though will not return. My sis and I ordered to go, 2lbs shrimp and 2lbs combo, with different sauces and unfortunately they got our order all wrong. I couldn’t tell the difference between the sauces because they were both bland. The mussels were not fresh… I had to add my own spices at home. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone — sorry.

Pricey but good. We ordered half of the big easy combo with a side of the garlic rice and were satisfied with our order. I was worried the crab would taste dry but it was actually very moist. The entire dining experience can get somewhat messy so be warned. I’ll most likely be back to pick up some mussels with creole sauce.

Really loved this place! Our server was really polite and had a very positive attitude. I enjoyed the unique experience (not using a plate and fork) definitely will come again :)

Waited too long fo damn water. Almost choked to death by salty ness of seasoning and seafood. All cause I didn’t have anything to wash it down with

Best crab shack I’ve ever eaten at! It offers a cozy environment and a unique way to eat! The whole table is your plate! No need for utensils for this delicious meal! Don’t worry about the mess! :) the seasonings were fantastic and the food cooked to perfection! Well recommended!

This place is great! Went here with group of friends — food was delish and service was fast and friendly! We will absolutely be back! We had the #9 and split between 4 people and it was plenty of food!!! Waitress was great too!

As soon as we walked in we were greeted and seated immediately. Our server was very nice and was a great help picking out what to order. Ordered their Cajun fries and it was delicious. The sauce they had with it was amazing. We ordered the «Big Easy» combo and it was definitely worth the $ 75 price. I don’t understand the negative reviews because I had a great experience. Overall my dinning experience was great and I will definitely be coming back soon!

My rating is 2 stars based solely upon the cleanliness of the restaurant and the customer service. Without that I wouldn’t be able to give them any stars. The food here fell way below my expectations. Very bland greasy and just not good. Will not be returning.

To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about this place. We can here to try Angry Asian, but we didn’t know it was a linked restaurant? Cajun plus Filipino food doesn’t sound like it mixes well, but to each it’s own, I guess?
We came in confused and the waitress didn’t quite help that much. She was nice and sweet, but was clueless of the menu, portions, and the Filipino food that was available for the place. (Minus one star).
We ended up ordering fried calamari for $ 10.00. All it had was no more than 15 pcs of calamari and the rest was just a biiiig bed of fries. I felt kind of ripped off. (Minus one star).
We also ordered kare-​kare, rice, and BBQ sticks. No disappointments on those dishes! They were good and pretty authentic. The food took about 20 mins to come out, but we were satisfied with the Filipino dishes we ordered.
What I didn’t like at all though, was when the server said she will be back to get our PLATES since we were sharing… What she came back with were STAINLESS BOWLS. I don’t know… It just wasn’t right. We felt like dogs that were eating off doggie bowls. It kind of killed our appetite somehow. As we’re trying to eat, the bowls would move. My mom and I were cracking up so bad because it reminded us of how our dog eats from his bowl, so yeah, it was funny. But it’s weird to have food served in look-​alike doggie bowls, yet alone eat in them. (Minus one star).
Overall, it was a weird but decent experience… I guess.

I’m at the Crackin’ Crab and it scares me when I see an empty restaurant. But at the same time I do enjoy the quiet surrounding. The host was very nice. We ordered the #8 half order crab with shrimp and crawfish.
I was expecting Canjun flavor sauce with spice. But our order was plain. Perhaps it’s because I’m comparing this place to The Boiling Crab down in Alhambra CA.
Oh well. It was a pleasant experience. But not one to scream about and come back any time soon.

First time customers and we will definitely be back! There was a large group in the restaurant and the staff was still wonderful at making sure we were well taken care of. Big Easy plate was DELICIOUS!

One star for food quality, one star for food quantity. Party of 2 and we had one of their boiled pots with crab, shrimp, muscles, crawfish, potatoes, hot links, and corn. Seasoning and sauces were good, nothing amazing though. Plenty of food so we didn’t leave hungry. Service was barely satisfactory. Place was clean, except for the restroom. We were were given one crab cracker, and that’s it. No other tools for picking through the seafood. The price did not justify the quality, so bad value in my opinion. Then we were charged an automatic gratuity of 18%!!! I have never been to casual restaurant with an automatic gratuity for a party of 2! Ridiculous in my opinion. Anyway, we won’t be going back unless they drop their prices by ¼ and ditch the gratuity.

To be honest I had read negative Unilocal reviews and they kept me away. However, the sister and I were craving boiling crab and in this area this is the only place like it. So we decided to give it a try and we definitely were not disappointed. I read a lot of reviews that service is slow, and although food doesn’t arrive instantaneously the service has never been slow in my experience. I have eaten at Crackin Claw three times now and on various days/​times. I have been there when it was empty, when there were a couple other tables and I have been there when it was really full. Even when there were huge tables ordering 2 – 3 of their huge platters we still got our food in less than 30 minutes. On top of that the staff is nice, and I have never sat there wanting something for long.
So for the food: I have tried their mixed seafood which comes with crawfish, mussels and shrimp and I have tried all three of their sauces. Cajun boil has to be my favorite, lemon pepper is good if you aren’t into much spice and want something simple and the gumbo flavor is actually pretty good as well. You can order mild or spicy and the spicy is actually spicy without being overly so. I have also tried their gumbo which is OK and it is served in a bread bowl which I like. Lastly I have tried their po boy sandwich, shrimp of course, and it was really good… and huge. I’ve had their sides like fries and various rice styles all are pretty regular. For dessert they serve halo halo and since I am part Filipino this makes me really happy. Their halo halo is good too, not skimped out at all.
Overall this place is good and I find myself craving it more than I should. Definitely go and check it out for yourself before you write this spot off, I know that I am glad I did.

My review is based on one dine in and three pick up experiences. At the time this restaurant had a better score and the reviews were a bit bias and not fair. New to the neighborhood and a lover of sea food I gave it a shot, I invited our Phillipino friends as well. The ambience was nice, seafood décor very well placed. We dined on a Friday night btw, we were the second occupied table, total of 18 – 20 customers in the restaurant or less. Omg taking our order took a while and even worse the time to prepare it was the worse. Not a big deal, fresh seafood takes precedence in this case. Our dishes were big and mixed with Cajun vegetables. I didn’t care for shells on my shrimp but I dealt with it. The rest of my party thought dinner was gonna be less work. Be prepared to remove all shells from your seafood. That’s ok the flavor was great! Since then I’ve ordered take out and it always takes longer than they say over the phone. I’d prefer they just say the real wait time so I don’t go too early and have to sit in my car. This place has so much potential but needs to be run better, I’ll go back and recommend but I’ll add this info to that recommendation. Would give 3.5 stars but 4 will do to compensate for the unfair reviews.

Borderline fraud is what they doing. We ask if the crawfish they serve here was live or frozen. They told us live and anyone can tell they were definitely frozen.
Don’t mean to sound so harsh about it but at least tell us the truth. We could of chose other items such crab, clams, shrimp, lobster etc. The money I spent eating here would of had a chance for justice.
Overall very disappointed in my experience, first and last time here.

Gave this place a second shot since we live so close. The customer service was shitty the first time. This time we got our order to go. Ordered 2 lbs of shrimp, got probably a lb if less. Shrimp was kind of soft and fell apart easy, wasnt the fresh shrimp you’d expect from a seafood place. (But then again, we ARE in Fresno). Kind of disintegrated in my mouth. I know shrimp is not suppose to do that but for $ 12.50/lb (or in our case $ 12.50/half a lb) you would think the shrimp would be atleast decent.
Not even an hour after dinner and I cant stop using the toilet and i feel like shit. Probably not coming back here again.

There’s a reason why we were the only people in the restaurant. The novelty has worn off. Food was mediocre. We asked for mild seasoning and I think they dumped an entire bottle of hot sauce on it. I’m sick to my stomach today. Hope it’s just me.
Décor was cute and place looked clean. Server was friendly but sat doing paperwork while we waited endlessly for food.
I don’t recommend, sorry.

Walking into this place, I had very high hopes. The environment was nice and the restaurant was clean and decorated just right. I loved everything about the way it looked…
After we got our food, just by smelling the pound of shrimp I ordered, it smelled really plain… And it was! All it was, was spicy and garlic (y) and buttery, no flavor whatsoever. I had to ask her for lime and that didn’t help, I even asked for SALT. The shrimp was cooked perfectly but it was just the flavor man… Very bland. The 2 stars was for the friendly service and beautiful restaurant.

Let me break it down:
Service:
It was slow, but polite. I’m starting to think that the service is slow because it’s a cultural thing. Don’t worry, I’m Filipino and I’m not trying to be racist or anything. Pretty sure this place is Filipino owned; if not all their servers and cooks are. But I’ve never been to a Filipino restaurant where the service was fast and efficient. Even when I was in Philippines, the waiters and waitresses would take their sweet time. I thought it was because the USA is the only country that tips so they weren’t used to the hustle. That day it was just my husband and I and a family of 6 in the entire restaurant. The wait time to order took a while and then waters and our beers took forever! I get the poor reviews that this place gets on a busy day.
Restaurant:
The décor was cute. The place looked clean. I liked that they had sinks that you can wash your hands before you ate. I mean you’re eating seafood with your hands so of course you need to wash before and after. The had large booths and table options throughout the restaurant.
Drinks:
I liked how this place not only offers the regular beers, but Filipino Beers as well. I haven’t had a San Miguel Lite in a while and it was definitely a nice pairing with our meal.
Food:
We ordered the ½ Seafood Platter ($ 55) that came with 1 whole Dungeness crab, 1lb of shrimp,½lb of clams, corn, and sausage. The platter actually comes with ½lb of crawfish, but my husband and I don’t really like craw fish so we asked to substitute the crawfish for another ½lb of shrimp instead. I appreciated that they were able to accommodate the menu switch. It was definitely a lot of food for two people. The price was not bad at all for the quantity of food that was presented to us. We also ordered one white rice and one garlic fried rice to accompany our entrée.
Taste:
This place is supposed to be a «Cajun» spot. When compared to Boiling Crab or any other Cajun Seafood Spot, this place just doesn’t cut it. It’s not really «Cajun». Come here for the seafood but don’t have high expectations with the gumbo. The «Cajun» sauce that my seafood platter was smothered in tasted more like a Filipino caldaretta dish than anything remotely Cajun. Or it tasted like it was sauce from a can that they just added Cajun spices too? IDK! I wish they just had a butter/​garlic option that you can smoother your seafood in. I think that would have tasted way better! Since I’m Filipino, the «Cajun» flavor or whatever it was wasn’t so bad, but it wasn’t anything that blew my mind or my taste buds. It was bland. If you’re going to order rice, I recommend the garlic fried rice. The white rice tasted old and hard.
Would I come back again? YES, I’m excited that there is something Filipino in Fresno despite my mediocre experience. Plus I still want to taste their grilled tilapia and grilled pompano. And maybe, just maybe I can convince them to douse my crab, shrimp, and clams in Garlic Butter sauce!