Fatty Crab

Decidedly meh. As many others have noted, way too expensive for the quality (and quantity) you get. The pepper lobster noodle dish was the best but not good enough to bring me back. The fried duck was dry as all get-​out. The tea sandwiches were tiny and frankly gross; they tasted like something a schoolkid would try to trade for something else at lunch. Service and ambiance were fine, but honestly I expected better. At least we had a Groupon…

My wife and I had dinner here on Thursday night about 6pm. The weather was nice so we decided to eat outside. The wait staff was very attentive, refilling our waters and checking on us every so often.
We started off with the quail egg shooters. They were nicely presented on a wooden rack. Each was soft boiled with a different topping. It’s best stir it with a chop stick before consuming, otherwise you leave most of the egg white clinging to the shell. Our second appetizer was the shrimp and belly. Honestly, it wasn’t very inspiring; more like something that I could get at any TGIF type chain restaurants.
For our entrée we split the Malay Fish fry. It’s served as a rice bowl with a very heavy coconut curry at the bottom. The tasteless batter on the fish fry was a too thick and took away from the taste of the fish which was fresh. Unfortunately, the curry too overpowering.
After the check was presented, a batch of coconut flavored mini mocha cakes, similar to a Malaysian kuih, was given as a nice ending. Overall there are better and cheaper choices for Asian cuisine in the city.

I’m from out of town and just stopped in for a quick bite due to a recommendation from a friend. I got the steamed pork bun and it was delicious. The salad it came with was way too spicy for my taste (my lips are burning while I’m writing this after just one bite). I are looking checked in which the offer was for a pickle pack shot. At first they gave me a hard time and said it was a $ 20 minimum (even though on the offer it says «with purchase of food») after telling me that the manager said they couldn’t do it I didn’t give them any fuss. The server returned a minute later with the shot for me so that kept me happy. I definitely recommend the pork buns!

Fatty crab has given an excellent meal with great service (even while completely packed) every time I have been there. The dungeonous crab, pork buns, and pepper lobster are delicious.

So good! I had the watermelon juice, very refreshing and the thia ice tea which was good a little too milky for me but tasty.
Then we had the soft shell crab, spicy but full of flavor. The Japanese eggplant super spicy but so many flavors. The pork belly steam buns were my favorite meat was perfect melted in your mouth with cilantro to top and a soy like sauce the perfect amount of sweet and salty and then the chick curry dish, very differs with pickeled carrot rice with a sunny side up egg mixed together very good. They had extremely spicy anchovies on the side but we stayed away. They don’t have dessert options, which i was a little bummed. Above all the atmosphere was really cool. It wasn’t stuffy or snobby like a lot of Nyc restaurant. The staff was very friendly and laid back it felt like a mom and pop restaurant. They made great recommendations and had a cute tiny kitchen. We loved it and the spices and dishes are so unique to anything I ever had!

Two stars cause food was great. But service sucked. Ordered the papaya salad, which reminded me of the southeast Asian style you get at Khmer or Laos restaurants back in Philly. My fave was the pork belly with watermelon dish. The skin was cooked to perfection– chewy yet very crispy. The amount of fat in each bite was heaven me. I LOVE pork belly.
I also ordered their signature crab dish which had a great sauce with it. It was thick, creamy, and very flavorful with their secret spices. Now, the reason I came was to use the groupon I purchased. The waitor would not honor it because it was a party of 2 rather than 4… Ok I give it that but we still ordered well over $ 150 worth of food. He was very sassy and was miserable the whole night. Checked up on my table once and was in such a hurry to clear our plates. Terrible.
Would I come back? Maybe cause their food is great but honestly i don’t care how amazing the good is. If your service suck, you suck.

Everything was pretty good here, minus one star because of high prices.
Shrimp & Belly — delicious fair sized shrimp. The only thing is that the title of the dish is a bit misleading when we only found 3 pieces of lardon in our dish.
Fatty Duck — it was also delicious, crispy, meaty. I would have preferred the rice to be hot rather than room temp.
Chili Crab — $ 62. Our crab was meaty. The sauce was flavorful.
Service was friendly and attentive late in the afternoon.

Rated 3 stars because of two reasons — expensive and service. When we ordered our brunch and asked for the free whiskey shots (by checking in Unilocal or showing Instagram pic), the server gave us attitude and said that it’s only available for dinner, even though the limitation wasn’t stated anywhere. Anyway, he ended up giving us the whiskey shots.
We ordered watermelon with pork belly and fatty duck for 2 of us. Both costs about $ 50 before tax and tips but it’s not too filling.
Food wise, they are both fried and a tad over salted. Both are not bad. I preferred the pork belly as it was fatty and the watermelon helped to balance the saltiness. The duck has good seasoning but was a little dry in some areas. I am not a big fan of the picked veg but the rice was good accompaniment. It reminds me of hainanese chicken rice.
Overall, I would come back if the price is lower. I used $ 30 for $ 50 Groupon so i was satisfied for my recent meal.

Came here with a $ 30 for $ 50 groupon for brunch. I got the watermelon and crispy pork belly and fatty duck, which totals to $ 49. Fatty duck is okay. The duck is fried and served with pickled vegetables over rice. Most of the duck is crispy but dry. The highlight is the pork belly. It packs a punch of umami. The outside is crunchy and salty and inside is fatty and tender. The watermelon adds freshness to balance the friedness. A plate comes with 5 cubes of pork belly over 5 cubes of watermelons, which are all topped with a generous bed of scallions. Portions are not generous. Without some kind of deal, this would have been a very expensive meal.

Please check «Groupon» before the visit.
Food was very over-​price. Chili Crab was $ 42 from its website menu but it was $ 62 at the restaurant («Market Price»). Waiters tried to make you order at least four dishes. The portion of each food was very tiny and they were pricy.
Most people came to this place because of Groupon deal.
Never come back to this place again.
Wasting of my money.

Overpriced for the food and atmosphere. Waiter kept trying to sell the crab entrée as a special to everyone that came in, that was funny.
But nothing else to add.

Two words I thought I’d never say: Thank Groupon.
No, really. Thank Groupon. I think if I paid full price for a meal here, I would’ve been bothered the entire night about dropping $ 50 for a meal.
I made a reservation for 9 p.m. but was not seated until about 15 minutes later because there were only about 15 tables and all of them were taken. You’d think for a restaurant with locations in Hong Kong and the Virgin Islands, the location was much bigger and there’d be more seats.
Fatty Crab reminds me a lot of Mooncake Foods: the Americanized-​Asian décor, Asian-​American fusion, and most of all, the large amounts of sodium in their food. We wanted the Chili Crab but thought it’d be too much food for just the two of us (suggested serving is 3 – 4 people), so we got smaller bites instead.
Fatty Sliders: Nothing special. It felt like I was eating a slider from a bbq… just very spicy. If anything, there was more beef than pork but it was the least of our likings.
Shrimp & Belly: Tasted like the Honey-​Orange Shrimp you can get at a fast-​food Chinese restaurant, only there was a small piece of pork stuck in the curve of each shrimp (which was odd) and priced expensively.
Fatty Duck: This was the better dish of all three and great to share with another person, but it is ridiculously overpriced at $ 26. I liked this dish more than the others, but it was forgettable. Meaty duck but peppered down.
Our waiter was great and the staff is wonderful, but the food is just expensive as hell for the subpar quality. Having been to my fair share of Malaysian restaurants, I know my review is biased but one should not expect authentic Malaysian cuisine here. If you truly want to enjoy an authentic Malaysian meal for a fraction of the prices, you are much better off taking your pick at any Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown.

Unfortunately Fatty Crab just gets an A-​OK from this Unilocaler. I had high hopes for this place, as it came recommend by a friend who comes everytime he’s in New York, and there was some hits (ambiance, service, flavors) and misses (portion sizes, price, menu clarity).
First the good: takes reservations! Doesn’t make you wait when you have a reservation! The space is also super cool and laid back. It’s a tiny spot, and tables are cramped (as every place in NY is…), but the décor and lighting really give you a good feeling when walking in. Our waiter was great, super attentive, always refilling water and leaving a bottle on the table (clutch when the spicy food hit us).
The waiter recommend 2 – 3 dishes per person to share. Besides generally being over this whole sharing concept, I actually think this menu suites individual ordering better. The portions are small, so when you share with a party of 4 you barely get a bite.
The Shishito peppers and steam buns were good, if not sorta laughably expensive for what you are getting. I wanted to drink the sauce from the pork buns! The best think we got was the Malay Fish Fry. The breaded and fried tempura style fish were so good, if not small in portion, and the sauce it came it was delicious. We had a lobster dish that was not that good, very little meat for what you are paying for. The eggplant was a little dull, wouldn’t order it again. Cant remember what else we had…
There was nothing per se WRONG with this dinner, but when you walk out spending $ 65+ per person, one would hope to not be hungry and need to go get pizza in 2 hours… I wish we had just all ordered our own ‘entrée’ and shared some apps, I think that would have been a better way to approach this spot.

This might be my new favorite restaurant — I’ve already been recommending it to everyone. My boyfriend took me here for Valentine’s Day and made reservations in advance, along with the Groupon deal $ 30 for $ 50. We didn’t really spare any expense, since it was a nice night out. Our table was ready for us as soon as we got there (it’s small inside, so if you make a reservation, you probably should) and someone took our coats for us, which was nice. The tables are extremely close together, so we ended up making friends with the couple sitting next to us, not quite what I had in mind for a romantic dinner, but they were nice.
The cocktails are expensive, but incredible. I had the Chupacabra which was probably the most delicious cocktail I’ve ever had. My boyfriend and I split a bunch of things: Chinese broccoli, Malai curry crab, and beef rendang. They were all just incredible. We both couldn’t stop eating. Even though the portions aren’t huge for the prices, it is to be expected in that area and for that cuisine, especially since it is remarkably delicious and high quality ingredients. The service was nice too. We didn’t get an attitude for having a Groupon or swooning over each other across the table in front of everyone.
Absolutely come here if you are looking for a good place to take a date or just to get some great food.

2.5 stars — rounding down because there are much better options in this area. Let’s just get this out of the way. This place is way overpriced for what you get. I’m talking like 30 — 50% overpriced (they’ve lost their minds). For that reason alone we would never return.
We actually had a Groupon deal here and went for brunch and we STILL thought it was overpriced. The food was actually decent, though no real Malaysian taste profile that I could perceive– maybe 3.5 stars. But the portion sizes and quality were off– again based on the price of the food.
The service and ambiance– another miss. If you’re paying those prices you’d expect better service. Don’t tell me I can’t sit at the «good» table because you’re expecting another group and then bunch me up with other people in a much worse table in a half empty restaurant (and of course that phantom group never showed). Maybe use all that extra cash to go tidy up your restrooms and perhaps buy some glass plates.
The drinks– also not good. The couple next to us left theirs virtually untouched.
So yeah– no…

best. crab curry. ever. Please do it justice and lick the bowl. Also, do yourself a favour and get the coconut rum
Oh .and those tea sandwiches…(* drools)

This place is not what it used to be, misleading labels (crab is actually fish), turndown décor, nothing is really amazing or outstanding, just average, wouldnt recommend it anymore.

We got the duck and beef rendang. The rice was very sweet with the duck, which I guess is the fusion taste they’re going for – it was fine to me, though my companion didn’t like it. The duck meat itself was cooked well.
The beef rendang was ok but not that interesting to me. I prefer traditional beef rendang. The $ 28 for one dish seemed pretty steep.
Had a cocktail which was good.
Overall a good dining experience – but the price was pretty steep for what it was. We came out to over $ 100 for two dishes, a cocktail, and a beer.

Ridiculous. We went there today and they don’t have their signature dish — no duck no crab. Seriously Fatty Crab? This is what you are known for. Anyway we ordered some food and it took us 30 mins to get it. The next table came later then us and they got the same food that we ordered. It was very disappointed brunch that I have. The sliders were so bad. Overlooked and also it tasted bitter. Tea sandwich was also bad because it was too much sauce.
Don’t go there guys

The menu doesn’t offer many choices, and the dishes are way overpriced. I ordered a ‘crispy pork and watermelon’ after hearing rave reviews about it, and was disappointed with the extremely small portion served. Come on! For that expensive a food item in a just-​ok ambience setting I would have expected at least larger portions that what is served in liliput!
However, their drinks, though overpriced were delicious. My girlfriend tried a Malaysian version of some cocktail, while I had a Bloody Mary and they were both awesome

Always delicious, Texas toast goes well with chili crab. The only concern was with the level of spicyness, as I understand it the chef/​kitchen cannot increase the level of heat. This is kinda counter intuitive to a dish called chili crab, however I understand that their curry is probably made in advance and stored hence they are unable to increase the level of spicy. Will def return, a solid meal appropriately priced!

I will now recommend this place to everyone, i loved it !! Its designed to share so it was a really fun experience. The staff are really knowledgeable about the food and give good recommendations.
We spent about $ 150 and got the Steamed Buns, Chicken Wings, Watermelon Pickle and Crispy Pork, Fatty Duck and i think maybe one more small dish AND a bottle of wine. There was three of us there and we left really satisfied!

Get the pickle-​back shot! The pickle juice was insane – could have had that all by itself (but the whiskey was nice too.)
Going with past reviews, ordered the pork steamed buns and watermelon pickle and crispy pork; both were absolutely delicious. We also got the chicken curry which was super tender and flavorful.
The staff was really sweet (even though they messed up our bill) and the food came out fast and hot.
Would recommend!

Stopped in after work to grab a quick dinner.
The menu was fairly disappointing (and a bit overpriced) and I ended up only getting the duck wings, which were fine but unremarkable.
It’s good if you’re in the area, but it’s definitely not a destination dinner.

Awesome spot, it gets supper crowded so come in early!
We had the papaya salad, it was waaaaaayyy too spicy, ate it cause paid for it but not very good at all. Also had the pork belly with watermelon, delicious! And the coconut rice was amazing (I know it’s a lame thing to love but I can appreciate the simplicity and the deliciousness of it!)
Don’t need to go back, it has become a little victim of its success and had a pretentious feel to it. Staff wasn’t too kind and it was overpriced for what you get. Good food but not fan of the spirit.

Super expensive but the food is bangin!!! Fatty Crab is a tiny Malaysian restaurant that has great service and an unique menu.
We would have loved to splurge on the fatty crab signature dish but it’s a little too pricey. Instead we had the fried duck wings and the lemon grass short ribs. I still remember the delicious taste of the short ribs with coconut rice. The short ribs were tender and smothered in this amazing sauce. I would def get those again and again.
I would love to try everything on the menu because everything tasted great. Would def recommend this spot but warn about the high prices.

The Fatty Crab in the West Village is probably the only Malaysian restaurant that serves the Dungeness Crab in Manhattan area. The irresistible smell of crab greeted us as soon as we walked in. The entire dining area was cramped but they still squeezed in a bar that served various cocktails. The table for two that was allotted for us was too close to other tables, making the entire dinner experience a bit uncomfortable.
We started with a free Whiskey Pickle Buck shot upon checking in on Unilocal,plus 1 star for that. Our appetizers were Watermelon Pickle and Crispy Pork, Pork Steam Buns and Crab Fritter served with spicy mayonnaise dip. It all paired beautifully well with a nice glass of Rioja.
We shared a Nasi Lemak for the main entrée, which is a fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk and Pandan leaf. It was delicious and freshly done. I was a bit disappointed with the Chicken Clay Pot, however because it was a bit bland. I had a better version of the dish some place else.
All in all, the appetizers were pretty solid. As alway, the Unilocal check-​in freebie adds excitement to the night. I will definitely come back to try some other items on the menu, but this place is probably not ideal for a date night.

Really disappointed by Fatty Crab after hearing so many good things about it. Stopped by for lunch when we were in the area, and, $ 90 later, felt underwhelmed and extremely ripped off.
The sambal paste is spicy without any nuance — just bitterly spicy. The chicken was pretty bland and overcooked, and the duck was OK flavor-​wise but impossibly tough when it should have been crispy on top and tender inside. Think about the most overdone steak you’ve ever eaten… the duck was tougher, and didn’t even come with a knife!
For a few very mediocre dishes, I would have been disappointed even at half the cost. Maybe the Dungeness crab redeems everything else, but given the quality of what we’ve had so far, we won’t be back.