The Shack

Not too keen on this seafood boil place.
The flavor was ok not as strong as its competitors like the stinking crawfish, but on a positive note it seems as if they have more options for seafood versus the boiling crab… this restaurant is definitely a low key spot in comparison to the very popular boiling crab. Still it gets busy. The price is competitive, but if I were to crave this again I would probably head to another seafood steam bag joint! Service was great! We got seated quickly!!!

Shrimps and mussels were superb, cooked just right, not overcooked, succulent. And their sauces tend to make one over-​eat!

The best shrimp and fries ever.
Service is awsome and the food even better.
The only little thing is that they don’t serve alcoholice beverages.
That’s cool because the food is great.
Would highly recommend this to all of the Boiling Crab fans.

Don’t get why this place doesn’t get more customers, considering I prefer them over the other alternatives in the area. The TV’s are well-​placed all around for excellent viewing without major head swiveling. And they have ridgeback shrimp, sometimes. Their ridgeback shrimp has gotten smaller in size, but they are still more delicious than the regular variety. And their shack sauce is a sweeter version of the boiling crab/​kickin’ crab sauce — but I like them both. It’s a good cajun place and the service has always ranged from acceptable to very good.

YOOOO! Boiling crab ain’t got nothing on this PLACE! I didn’t want to do a review on this place i’m not trying to make this place too cracking and then i’ll be forced to wait for a table. I’ve been here at like 4 – 5 times. I rather drive a little further to eat here then wait at boiling crab for 45 minutes. I think boiling crab is way too hype. Well i’m kind of a little bitch when it comes to ordering seafood because eating this stuff makes your hands DIRTY AS FUCK! and it gets all into your hands and under your nails. So I end up ordering wings and their bbq wings are BOMBBBBBBB! There fried shrimp basket ALSO BOMBBBB! Don’t even get me started on the curly fries. Man ohhhhh man. I’ve also had their oysters. Snow crab legs. Crawfish and shrimp. They are all GOOOOD. Oh lordy. Now I’m hungry. Phewwwwww. I need to calm down. Servers are really nice too. They play pandora and have sports on so it’s more enjoyable for my young self.

Beats waiting for Boiling Crab. It is kind of hidden in the plaza and the location is kind of small but there isn’t any wait on a Sunday night during dinner time! The food is definitely less greasy and garlicky than Boiling Crab, which I don’t mind at all. The OG sauce is pretty good. Overall, I would come back just because I hate waiting 2 hours + and the food is just as good. Oh and it’s not as spicy I usually eat Mild but I Medium was just the right amount of heat. Service was nice and bathroom was clean!

Came here after waiting an hour at boiling crab and still not getting a table. This place is hard to find at first being in between the walkway of the shopping plaza but I’m glad we found it.
Seafood was good and the menu contained almost everything boiling crab had plus more. Not crowded and the service was great. I’m usually not a fan of copycat boiling crab restaurants but this one is perfect.

Given the ridiculous lines at Boiling Crab, I’m tempted to start shacking up with this joint. I mean, the flavors are pretty close to BC’s – heavy on the garlic – and they have like no lines whatsoever, which means that your empty stomach will be instantly gratified.
Also, before this place, I had no ideas what an orange bang was, and man was I missing out! Come for the orange bang, people! It’s so good that I got full on the refills and could hardly eat any of the main dishes.

Very friendly and assertive service, food was very good I tried both sauces and really enjoyed the house og sauce. it was my first time here and definitely not the last..

Sister in law told me about this place we came and we LOVE this place, taste way better than the Boiling Crab more garlic and spicy yummm… and this was our new spot for every reunion.
⁰⁸⁄₁₉ was my birthday and came to celebrated with a big group of family and friends and will be our last time here after so many more chances :(
We had notice a different taste like probably 5 times before but we said ohhh not a good day for the Chef maybe next time, and we asked who was cooking… they told us who a young muscular (guy).
We were like ok next time would be better, next time same. and same we told the waitress that the food didn’t taste the same as before we have notice it but we though maybe was not a good day for the chef but is way to many times, and all times the cook is the same guy, we asked if they had change cooks and told us YES!!! That’s when we were no wonder… is not as good as before… before you wanted to kill whole pound of shrimp or crab but now we dont like the taste, before was fresher taste now is like old shrimp I don’t know how to describe it, may be the spices, don’t know. But one this I was right is Not as good as before. …please bring the older lady BACK! !!!
Now there is no difference between mild and medium OG sauce .
I am a loyal Customer bring the lady back!!!
Boiling crab here we go :)

Great place for seafood! A friend and I had planned on having dinner at Boiling Crab one Saturday night. We arrived around 7pm and there was a 3 hour wait — NO THANKS. So we Unilocaled a couple of places and found The Shack. We were seated right away. Staff was friendly and helpful.
We had spicy shrimp, mussels, crawfish, potatoes, corn… oh and the orange bang! So good.

You would think that boiling crab is the only Asian-​Cajun seafood restaurant you would need in this lifetime. Then you come here and order one or two pounds of ridgeback shrimp cooked in their version of the whole shabang. That’s when you throw in the towel and realize, like Jon Snow, YOU KNOW NOTHING.
Thanks to the hype of boiling crab and its incredulous long lines, there are many copycats popping up and down California. This copycat has the amazing ridgeback shrimp fresh from the coast of Santa Barbara. As opposed to the typical frozen shrimp (you read that right) you get here or boiling crab, the ridgeback is smoother, softer, and springier in texture. The meat is also incredibly sweet. Sweet holy mackerel, I never knew shrimp could be this good. What a fool I have been for eating frozen shrimp all these years when I could’ve been having this locally sourced goodness! Caveat: it is a seasonal offer. Whatever. I like chasing after what I can’t have. It’s part of the fun.

Love love love this place for shrimp!
The day we went, there were only 2 servers and the place was already filling up. We were a party of 13 so we had the biggest table in the restaurant. Got a lot of food! Ordered a bunch of onion rings, curly fries, wings, shrimp and musss. Everything was so good! Extremely happy wit his place.

This place is awesome! I loved that it was so flavorful and the best part, the wait was so short! We took a short trip to RiteAid next door and by the time we finished buying some travel amenities, we were already seated! Their menu is different than Boiling Crab in that they have a wide selection of appetizers. We had the curly fries (NOM NOM. so GOOD), the gumbo (absolutely delicious), the scallop sashimi (we could have skipped this one), one pound of shrimp with OG Sauce, 6 pieces of sausages, and a pound of alaskan king crab legs also in OG Sauce. This was quite a feast and for the two of us, we left very very very satisfied.
The waitresses came often to refill our waters and asked us if we needed anything else after clearing our table after each of our plates were devoured. The restaurant is kind of small, but so are a lot of the other Boiling Crab’s out there! They have about 3 or 4 tables that seat 6 customers, and about 7 or 8 tables that seat 4 customers.
Overall, the experience was great without having to wait in the 2 hour lines at Boiling Crab. This is my go-​to spot from now on!

Ok, I’m sold. Never going back to Boiling Crab ever again.
Slight wait, but we had a party of 12 so that was understandable.
Fiancé and I ordered: gumbo, seasoned fries, stole some curly fries from our friends, chili corn, 2 lbs of RIDGEBACK shrimp in OG medium, and 2 lbs clams in OG medium.
The gumbo was watery — not as thick as I’m used to having but the flavor was all there.
The seasoned fries were delicious as were the curly fries.
Chili corn was really good — cup of elote corn with mayo cheese and chili albeit a tad overpriced for a small cup at $ 2.50. I could find a street corner vendor in LA and buy the same for half the price.
The ridgeback shrimp was a great recommendation by Unilocalers and vendors. Easy to peel and tastier! They are smaller than regular shrimp but not a single one was soggy or soft.
The clams — also delicious, plump and good. Perfectly chewy, not gross.
The sauce OG was nice and thick and tasted like the garlic had been pureed into the sauce, not too oily either compared to boiling crab.
No beers yet so hopefully that happens soon! The only complaint is… for a busy Saturday night the restaurant only staffed 2 very sweet but insanely overwhelmed waitresses. They need way more help to accommodate because the service suffered hugely due to lack of staff.

First time here thanks to Unilocal.We called in to get an estimate on wait time and they said there wasn’t any. We arrive and are promptly seated. Friendly staff. very attentive.
We ordered the following:
2 lbs ridge back shrimp with sausage
Oysters (I needed tapatio. they only had Tabasco :()
Calamari (it was ok)
Rice for son (buttery.flavorful)
Jennifer was our
waitress…very nice girl!
Food was pretty good. Service was great. No waiting… Our total was about $ 60.
Thumbs up!

Went here for the first time tonight and the wait was supposed to be an hour but got in after about 25 – 30 minutes.
The inside is small with only about 12 tables so it does get pretty squished and it’d be obvious that the wait would be long. Ordered a pound of shrimp with 12 pieces of sausages with the OG shack sauce. It tastes more like soy sauce and it was sweet versus the garlic sauces I’m used to.
It did take awhile for the shrimp to come out and even longer for the fries to come out but our server comped the fries cause she knew we waited almost an hour for them. Overall the shrimp was nice and plump just takes a little getting used to for the sauce. Sausages were salty but Tabasco sauce helped minimize the saltiness.
3.5 STARS OVERALL***
Service was excellent and the host was extremely nice too!

First off I wanna say, I love this place!!!
Great food and amazing service! I would give them more stars if I could. :) The sauces that they use are very flavorful and way better than boiling crab!!!
We came on a Wednesday night and there were about 3 other groups in the restaurant. (These other people complaining about the long wait time probably went during busy lunch or dinner hours. The restaurant itself is not that big so it’s easy to get filled up quick.) duh! Anywho, we ordered pretty much everything on the menu because we were starving.
A dozen of crispy wings — super crispy & good!
1 pound of crawfish in garlic butter sauce — delicious
1 pound of clams also in garlic butter sauce — yum!
1 pound of snow crab in OG sauce — sooo good
6 pcs of the sausages w/​garlic butter sauce — yum!
chili corn in a bowl — OMG so good! Orgasmic!
Overall amazing food and great service!
Will definitely come back here again.
Highly recommend.

I’m in disbelief of all these positive reviews. BC had a 1.5 hours wait so I Unilocaled to see other cajun seafood restaurants around. I came here after reading the reviews.
The greatest disappointment was the sauce. For me, the sauce either makes it or breaks it. The Shack’s sauce lacked flavor and is incomparable to Boiling Crab’s. One pro is the shrimp is plump and meaty.
Also, ordered the catfish basket. My friend said the catfish basket at BC is also better. Their fries were good though! But that doesn’t say much about a restaurant.
I was craving BC and after my meal at the Shack, I left unsatisfied and still craving BC. If you don’t have the patience to wait you can come here. But beware the sauce isn’t as good.

The food is really a 3 for me, but since our server was great and there’s no line compared to Boiling Crab, ill round our overall experience to 4 stars.
The restaurant is pretty small and the sign is not that visible while driving on the plaza. It’s easier to spot the barber shop right across.
Since I don’t eat spicy at all, I had to order mine with the garlic sauce since this was supposed to be non spicy and the OG sauce started as mild. My sauce still had a kick (even for my friend who eats spicy) and lacked a bit of… something. Maybe they should add salt and less pepper.
Fries and chicken wings were also just ok. Scallop ceviche, on the other hand, tasted and looked great.
No alcohol license now but they do have unlimited horchata which was yummy.
Our server was very accommodating even though she was by herself. She was also great at bringing a little cake out we brought for a bday, taking pics, etc
Like most people say, it’s great if you don’t want to wait at BC, but I still prefer the other sauce.