The Boiling Crab

Muy rica la comida, pero los precios an subido demasiado y las porciones las hisiero más chicas y el servicio estuvo muy malo y tardado demasiado esperar para en los fines de semana !

Wow! What a huge disappointment, been craving it for weeks, finally had a chance to go tonight, and the first thing our waitress told us the menu had change, ok? and prices went up! Ok?
Our food took forever, and when we got our food, well the whole Sha-​bang sauce had change:-((.
Less of everything, less garlic, less spices, the sauce is just blah!
I go here because it’s different, the sauce is special! Now, idk! If the sauce will be like when they were open.
Just FYI, been going since they open, most all the locations in OC!
This is a sad day!

I absolutely love this place! I recently started going about 3 months ago and I can’t get enough of it. I swear they put some addictive ingredient in their sauce. The whole Shabang non spicy one pound of shrimp with half pound sausage, corn, sometimes red potatoes is my usual. Just writing this review makes my mouth salivate. I would eat it every day if I could. This is by far my favorite place to go out to eat. The atmosphere is laid back and you get down and dirty messy by eating with your hands but I love it. It’s all a part of the experience. My husband and I try to make time to go as much as we can. Service is great! People are friendly! Food is amazing!

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Boiling Crab. However, on my past visit this Sunday, everyone in my party who ate the oysters we ordered ended up with food poisoning.
In the end, it wasn’t worth going to the hospital and getting an IV/​numerous blood tests for.
I’ve had BC’s oysters in the past and ended up fine. I guess this time, I just got unlucky and it’s a good reminder to be careful when consuming seafood.

What the Eff BC? This is my first time being so angry at Boiling Crab! I’ve been to BC for years (Both GG locations) and never had a bad experience enough to go home right away to write about. I’ve had BC last week at the GG location and it was great! Today, I was craving it again so asked the husband to take me to the Costa Mesa one since its a bit closer to home. What a big mistake!!!
We got there at 5:40pm, we got seated within 10 minutes. We ordered 2 lbs of crawfish, 1 lbs of clams and shrimps and half lbs of sausage, potatoes and sweet potatoes fries. Our food literally took over 20 minutes to arrive. The table next to us who came 10 minutes after us got their fries way before us. Once we started digging into our food, I realized the whole SaBang did not have one bit of garlic in it… I thought maybe it could be there but at the bottom? Not even close! No garlic to be found! Wth??? At this point we already had our hands in the food so it wasn’t worth the complain. I did not want to wait another 30 minutes for them to fix it. Half way through our meal, we still did not get our fries. Asked them about it and they said «well, fries take longer» okay, fine. We will wait some more. More time goes by and we are done with our meal… Still no fries! Turns out they never put our order in. Finally, I’ve had it so I complained and was given a «20% off coupon» on our next visit. Seriously, and why the hek would I come back? That coupon was useless to me. To top things off, husband and I both had a stomach ache once we got home. I will never come back to this location again. I’ll drive the extra distance for better food and service. See you never, BC Costa Mesa!

I have gotten sick three times coming here after the past year… All of the times I’ve gotten different menu items to see if it’s a certain ingredient but the issue continues. Unfortunately I will not be coming back.

Came here with my friend since we were craving for some bomb Cajun fries and shrimp. There wasn’t a wait since we came before the dinner rush.
Our server was Deanna, she was nice. The only time we saw her was when she took our order, and the place wasn’t even busy. Never came back to check on us or anything, such a great service .
I ordered a pound of shrimp (whole shabang medium), and Cajun fries (medium as well). When the food came there were barely any sauce in the bag. The fries were more on the non-​spicy side. The food runner walked away before I can say anything about my order.
We had to flag down another server to get our bill because our server was nowhere insight (the place still wasn’t busy).
However, I’m giving 3 stars because I love the boiling crab, and I’ll forget about the unattentive server, Deanna, and the almost sauce less shrimp + fries. :)

This is definitely the place to go if you want delicious but still reasonably priced crab!
The snow crab legs and fries with medium whole sha-​bang seasoning are my favorite. I wouldn’t suggest getting the XXX seasoning, especially since they won’t let you return it if it’s too spicy. Medium was perfect for me and keep in mind that I am Indian and therefore LOVE spicy food!
The only issue I run into is the wait… especially if you want dinner over the weekend. They don’t take reservations so I strongly suggest going in around 6 to put your name down and then heading over to South Coast for about an hour. This guarantees that you will get your food by 7:30/7:45 latest.
P. S. If you have a sweet tooth like me and are still hungry after, head over to Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream & Deli. It’s 2 minutes away and they have the creamiest Oreo Cheesecake ice-​cream over there!

Do you like BOILING? Do you like CRABS? If so, you’ll LOVE Boiling Crab!
‘ERMAH GERD BERLING CROOB’. That’s what I imagine my woman thinks when she eats here, as it’s her favorite place to eat.
There’s not a whole lot to add review wise that hasnt already been said: its full of spicy n salty various seafood fare, and your fingers will smell like burnt sandpaper when you leave.
Yummy!

Crawfish review
Service was great crawfish was okay i wouldn’t come here again. All my life I’ve had Louisiana style crawfish
My 1^st pound i got cajun flavor it tasted like oil so if u suck head and eat butt than this was awful
My 2^nd pound i got the whole shabam mix was really good the but spiciness is a joke
Each bag had babys and a few big ones theres no way my average bag was a pound unless there use to eyeballing the bag size. it wasnt worth $ 12 a pound

This is my all time favorite Boiling Crab because the wait is considerably shorter than its Garden Grove and Koreatown counterparts! Though the wait can get up to an hour and a half on busy weekends!
My review will be based on what I always order at any Cajun seafood restaurant. So at these restraints they deliver their seafood in bags that you order by the pound (or half pound). You can get either lemon pepper, cajun, garlic butter, or all of the above (whole shabang)! I always order a pound of shrimp, whole shabang mild. I’ve had friends order as spicy as XXX, but you won’t find me even trying that haha. I also throw in an order of potatoes and corn to add something special to it! Usually I’ll also order an order of Cajun Fries, which you can never go wrong with. The food here I give 5 stars!
When I come to this Boiling Crab, the employees are always super friendly and always making sure my table has what we need! You won’t be disappointed!
Also! There’s no plates, you eat all of your food on wax paper set out on the table so it can get really messy! But the food is worth the mess!

The wait took forever, the bathroom only has two stalls. That’s insane!
The food was delish :)

Very delicious meal and the staff was great.
If you love seafood this is the place to be.

I think this is by far the largest Boiling crab I have ever been to. We assumed like all Boiling Crab locations there would be a long wait but it was empty shortly after opening. Food quality was the same and service was good. If only all locations were like this!

Every single time I have been to this location, I have had issues with service. Once the waitress completely forgot to enter our order in. We waited over an hour for our food. Another time, our friend didn’t get her food until 20 – 30 minutes after the rest of the group. This is unfortunate because their food is delicious.
When the servers drop the plastic bag filled with shrimp and corn on the cob soaked in «shebang» sauce, my mouth immediately begins to water. I can’t wait to dig in and get my hands covered in sauce. Since the shrimp comes with the shell on, your hands get even saucier from unpeeling the shrimp. The corn on the cob is just as delicious as the shrimp since it’s also been soaked in «shebang» sauce. I don’t know what ingredients go into the «whole shebang», but I imagine that there has to be a bit of magic and a ton of sodium.
My mind and my stomach can’t seem to come to an agreement when it comes to Boiling Crab. My mind tells me not to come back because there is guaranteed to be a long wait to be seated and unacceptable service. My stomach urges me to come back because the shrimp is so tasty. Putting up with the service and wait is similar to the struggle of peeling the shrimp: it’s a pain to deal with, but it’s worth it in the end because you get to enjoy delicious shrimp.

Love Boiling Crab! Never actually had «the» Boiling Crab, since I always had the copy cats which were actually pretty good.
I feel like all the places like these are pretty similar, and main difference is the sauce which sometimes tastes pretty much the same. Anyway, I’m a sucker for crab, and this place is perfect for those crab or seafood cravings.
I haven’t tried anything besides the crab, fried calamari, and fries; but that’s enough to keep me happy for each visit. I mainly go for the crab anyway! I like that they give u that box cutter looking thing, so it’s easy to get to the crab meat ^~^ And of course a bib to keep all that stuff off your clothes. Tip: wear clothes you don’t care about smelling, and be sure to tie your hair up, so you can get down (that’s how I prepare).
I think I’m due for another visit to Boiling Crab! Hi Tommy with the dimples!

Let me first thank the man (or woman) who first pulled a crab from the sea and thought «there might be delicious meat in this there ugly, spiny, oceanic spider… let’s cook one and eat it!»
To you, sir (or ma’am) I’m grateful. Crab of any species, shape or form are my culinary holy grail. I LOVE.
Boyfriend gave me a choice between Kickin’ Crab or Boiling Crab last Friday night. I based my decision on the ratings (Obviously, duh).
So upon arriving to BC we were quoted an expected 30 – 45 minute wait by the bobble-​headed, blank-​eyed hostess with fake eyelashes who makes you immediately question if you’re at a casual restaurant or the Playboy Mansion. You don’t need to try that hard, girlfriend. People here EAT OFF THE PAPER TABLECLOTH with their HANDS.
*tick toc tick toc*
We were seated over an hour later and I felt awful for the couple who’d joined our waiting area (she pregnant) who had been quoted an hour and a half. Um, more like two, guys.
With all of that said, the server was immediately attentive and we were able to order a couple pounds of snow crab «whole shebang», heat level 7. We were teetering between two pounds and three, however she didn’t try to upsell the three, only saying that we could «order another pound if we finished the first two and wanted another».
While that may have been the «nice» thing to do, we killed the first two pounds and upon ordering the extra pound waited about fifteen more minutes for it. Ugh, no wonder their wait times are ridiculous. Don’t you think they’d have this stuff sitting hot in steamers already? Hm.
Either way, it’s a crab preparation that was totally new to me and delish! Just gotta remember not to attempt putting contact lenses in the next morning without making completely sure that fingers have no traceable evidence of tearing apart cajun spiced crab.
If you see me out and about with what appears to be pinkeye, don’t worry. My eye just has crabs ;)

I would assume that all boiling crabs would be created equal, but I guess I was wrong! Came here for dinner after work on a Wednesday and there was a wait, but wasn’t too long compared the the original Brookhurst & Westminster location I normally go to. This location is big in terms of space, but I don’t think they seat as many people as the Brookhurst one. Parking was a bit hard to find ’cause it shares the same lot as LA fitness and everyone was at the gym around that time.
First off, customer service was just all over the place that night. The person in charge of refilling our drinks did a fantastic job, but the server didn’t. She forgot our order of cajun fries and took a while to come take our order after we sat down. After she gave us our food she didn’t really come back to check on us either.
We got whole shabang clams, crawfish, and shrimp. Added sides of sweet potato fries, cajun fries, sausages, and calamari.
The sauce here is NOTHING like the other boiling crab locations. It seemed more watery here and not as flavorful. Not that many pieces of garlic either… Only the fries and sausage were good. The calamari was just ok, I wouldn’t order it again.
Looks like I will stick w/​the tried and true original location! Or maybe even go to kickin crab down the street

I’ve tried elsewhere but there is none that can do it like you!!!
Shrimp is shrimp anywhere… and if you want quality over quantity you should order:
–Clams (garlic + butter)
–Fresh crawfish (triple x + the whole shabang)
–King crab legs (triple x+the whole shabang)
The last two items can be triple x due to less meat being exposed initially: P
Something in the seasoning makes my stomach hurt… so I usually can have you at most 2 times a year :*(

It hurts putting 3 stars. This was my favorite restaurant (well, the one in garden grove anyway) :(. BUT THEY ALL SUCK NOW. WHY?! They’re changing the recipe. Stop it. Too watery, too spicy, not enough garlic, this is all crap. Bye felicia.
Place is nice, service is koo tho. Ya’ll should try Nine Seafood in Cerritos or Big Catch Seafood in Long Beach. The sauces there are on point.

This Boiling Crab is waaay better than the one in Westminster. They have a bigger waiting room and the inside looks waay bigger too!
Anyways, I always order the usual which is 1 lb. of shrimp (whole shabang) with cajun fries on the side. Both medium. This place makes the spice level spicier than the ones in Westminster! Eeep so be careful how spicy you get it. My nose was running but I just love spicy food. It was yummy. I love how they make their food over here. Haha wish I could come here more often!