The Kickin Crab

If your in the mood for sea food this is the place to go. It opens at 3pm but its worth the wait. The staff are friendly and seat you quick, my favorite is kickin style sauce, the prices are resonable. Its so delish! I went there 2 days in a row!!! Give this place a try you will go back.

Shrimp — very large and delicious, sauce is good and not too spicy
Garlic noodles — big portion, also very good and garlicky
Cajun fries — very yummy, the dipping sauce goes really well with it, but you have to pay for it, which stinks
Major downside — no gloves! I hate getting my fingers dirty
Compared to submarine crab, I like this slightly more in terms of sauce and fries. However I go to Submarine crab more often because they give us gloves and their soap bubble dry ice concoction is fun: p

holy shet! the cajun fries tho! hashtag amazing. the garlic noodles are freakin’ awesome as well. love this place.

Kickin style medium is my preference w/​a side of garlic butter. The shrimp & mussels I love. The clams are ok but small & they fall off shell. The mussels are a good size w/​the shrimp. Always will come back seating & service is quick at Westminster & Buena Park locations.

At last, holidays rush and shopping is over! Now it’s time to pamper myself with what I really love to do… eating and chatting with my buddies at the KICKIN Crab here at Goldenwest place! As usual we got the med Kickin style combo #2 Awww! The spicy flavor kicks out my cold! The fresh oysters 1 dozen is a must with beer. Hint: Make sure you eat it with horseradish, tabasco and a little squeezed of limes. The white guy was our server, I think his name is Mathew. Friendly guy:) We left with a happy stomach and content as always!

Went to Kickin’ Crab on a whim, on a Saturday evening. We were about to go to the Chipotle next door (we eat there frequently), but randomly tried this place instead.
The place was full, and once we signed in on the waiting list, we had to wait about 15 minutes. (I consider this a good sign.) The atmosphere was a combination of a family restaurant and sports bar. They had a bullpen of tables suitable for family dinner service in the center, with a very long bar with stools that covered an entire wall of the restaurant (with flat screen TVs showing sports overhead.)
The servers there were young males, and man, they were hustling. I only saw 5 different workers the whole time, which seemed to be a small crew for a restaurant at peak capacity. I had the crab with mild seasoning (they rank their seasoning on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the hottest).
The meal was very good and EXTREMELY FRESH. In this category, they put Red Lobster to shame! They must have a big tank of live crabs and lobsters in the back, because it was clear that the crab I ate had never been frozen. they brought the meal out in a big, clear, plastic bag, with two corn cob pieces inside the bag with the crab.
I enjoyed the meal, although I don’t like to have really hot food served inside of plastic bags. (The heat could possibly melt some of the plastic so it gets consumed with the food, or chemicals from the plastic might leech into the food itself, due to the heat.) The setup was a little bit more messy than I imagined, also.
All in all, a very good experience for seafood lovers who like large portions, and VERY FRESH food.

First time coming to a «seafood place». Servers were really great and informative. Ambiance was good, they had sports playing on some flat screens. The prices on the menu will state seasonal price… and the seasonal prices are posted on the blackboard by the door… Food was great I think. Ordered the 3 choice combo (choose a pound of mussels, clams, crawfish, or shrimp) for about 33.99 with additional sausage. By the time we finished the bag we were stuffed, my nephew and I.
Downside I didn’t like was the bathroom because there was no paper towels to dry hands… all the paper towels were on the tables. Overall it was a new experience.

This place is nice to take a group of friends or family. Best part about this place is that their non-​seafood dishes are really good! I’m a huge fan of their kickin style shrimp med. spice! Not to mention their garlic noodles are REALLY good! I go here often with a friend or two. Sucks that they do not open until 3pm everyday though.

this is the best kickin crab location by far!
my friend and i over ordered but it was really good. we ordered combo #1 with 2 lbs. shrimps with 1 lb. of crawfish. ½ dozen oysters with an order of cajun fries. we asked for minced garlic on the side for our fries and the servers gave a generous portion! we were very happy about that.
since crawfish season is over this year, the server gave us an extra ½ lb. for free! although the crawfish was frozen it was still good. i can’t wait til crawfish season comes back!
service was constantly good and the two kept refilling our drinks. this location isn’t as busy and the parking is more spacious than the other locations that i have been to.
i can never get enough of the fresh seafood and garlic cajun butter spicy flavors. i will definitely come back for more!

Ordered some clams to-​go and was horrified to find out that every single clam was practically raw, accidentally consumed one :/​I hope I don’t catch worms :’(

I’m a fan!
I live, literally, two minutes away but never found it in myself to stop by and give this place a try because I was hooked onto Boiling Crab. While still a favorite of mine (Boiling Crab), Kickin Crab has definitely made itself present in my restaurant options.
My boyfriend and I decided to come here at 8:45 PM, an hour before closing (10PM). Upon our arrival, we noticed that there were a few parties waiting outside and got a little discouraged because we were afraid we wouldn’t have that much time to enjoy our meal. Partially our fault for deciding to go eat so late — HOWEVER! After writing down our name on the waiting list and perusing through pictures from The Kickin Crab on Unilocal,the hostess called our name in 15 minutes and we were seated in the decked out restaurant.
We were given a few minutes to look over our options and soon ordered our food and were left twiddling our thumbs while anticipating our food’s arrival to our table. The ordering process is similar to Boiling Crab or any other establishment such as this, with their own take on the sauces and seasonings. There were a lot of tables, which were all packed with families and friends who all seemed to be happy as clams (hehe) while enjoying their dinner.
Our food came out in about 10 minutes, piping hot and ready to be devoured.
We got 2 lbs of shrimp, one for each of us, and an order of cajun fries.
— Shrimp (~$ 9.99/$ 10.99 per lb): We got Kickin Style seasoning with medium heat. The heat was just enough to wake up your taste buds but didn’t leave you feeling like your lips were on fire. The Kickin Style seasoning was flavorful and delicious! I love shrimp and I love even more shrimp that is bathed in cajun/​creole seasoning. Overall — delicious and juicy. Yum!
— Cajun fries ($ 3.99): I love fries!!! Needless to say, these cajun fries stole my heart. They came out perfectly crisp and hot. With a bit more cajun seasoning, I would’ve loved these little potatoes even more.
The staff was super friendly and welcoming. They were also really attentive if you needed your drinks to be refilled or if you needed anything else.

This is mine and my boyfriend’s favorite Kickin Crab location. There is a closer one to us (Magnolia and McFadden), but we aren’t fond of that location. And the one in Costa Mesa is not convenient of a drive for us. The wait here is never ever as long as Boiling Crab, which is great with me because I’m starting to like the Kickin style sauce better than the whole shabang at BC anyways. BC sauce is more on the saltier side. My boyfriend and I always get the Kickin style seasoning with extra garlic shrimp (medium for me, spicy for the boyfriend), cajun fries, garlic noodles, and depending on our mood, raw oysters and/​or rice. It’s rare that we ever get anything else, but that all depends on the occasion/​who we’re eating with. Everything here has always been consistent every time we go and really good. Best garlic noodles I ever had, and the cajun fries are always so crispy! It’s hard to not devour the basket of fries when it gets there before the actual meal lol. Clean restrooms. Great customer service and attentive to refills/​seeing what we need.

We are fans of Kicking Crab Costa Mesa location but were in neighborhood and couldn’t resist and loved it as much as we love KC in Costa Mesa.
The service was perfect. They customize everything for you — sauces, level of spice (I need very mild). The guy who served us was so nice and sweet…
I liked the crowd and music. But the most important is shrimps I love to pit out on! I crave KC shrimps!

This Kickin Crab location gives a LOT of food for the money. My boyfriend and I usually share the three pound bag of shrimp, crams, king crab legs, dungeness crab, lobster, or crawfish. KC gives free corn for every two pounds of crawfish. We like the corn. So, we usually get at least two pounds of crawfish.
I also really like the Cajun shrimp & fries and the cajun fried fish or shrimp tacos.

Better than boiling crab, and less of a wait!
Generous portions and good food overall.

I had the Combo which is 3 lb of your choice of Shrimp, Crawfish, or mussels I think.
I decided to go with all 3 shrimp, it comes with 4 cuts of sausage, 2 corn, and 2 potatoes.
I’ve tried other kicking crabs before, but this place is amazing, well kinda. But yea amazing.
The service is not very good tho, I mean I ordered some water, they give it in paper cups with a lid and straw, so it can never be refilled.
The amount of food they give you makes up for it tho. I had 3 lbs of shrimp, had to much it started to taste nasty if you know what I mean.
It went from mmmm this is amazing, so juicy and flavorful.
to, damn this taste like nail polish.
Over all, I’m happy. It was good.

Love this place & this location is the best in my opinion. Came here on a whim last Friday with 5 of us. Put my name in and said it’d be about an hour wait, which is typical and well worth it, and it took 7 minutes til we were seated. I was amazed and excited to be that much closer to a full belly!
I ordered shrimp, Cajun fries, sweet potatoes fries, corn and sausage. All was bomb as usual. I like that you get a bib and you can just eat with your hands! YOLO, am I right? I wouldn’t choose this place for people to go as a first date. Lol.
My wife and her family had a great time here! Service was pretty fast and food never fails to impress. I mean, it’s probably not very difficult but it makes me happy!
Definitely going to come back again, and again, and AGAIN!
Thanks guys! Amazing service & even more amazing food!

Very pleasantly satisfied! Friend and I grabbed dinner here before watching Pitch Perfect 2 at the Regency. There was no wait on a Monday night at 6pm, so it’s already got me smiling before I’ve even ordered (cue horror flashbacks to Boiling Crab’s 2 hour wait no matter what day or time it is). We ordred 1lb of shrimp (market price $ 9.99/lb) and 1lb of crawfish (market price $ 11.99/lb) with mild kickin style seasoning, which was just the right amount of heat, and cajun fries. Perfect amount of food for the 2 of us. The shrimp and crawfish stayed hot the whole meal and the fries were perfectly crispy and didn’t cool down too quickly.
An excellent alternative to Boiling Crab!

I love this place! I have to say hands down better than Boiling Crab! But that’s just my opinion.
What we order:
Shrimp kicking style extra mild (if you don’t like the spiciness I recommend this combo for you) you can also add potatoes and sausages if you like.
Cajun calamari — love this stuff! Good appetizer while waiting on your entrée. The calamari size always varies. But the portion is good enough to share with two people.
Cajun fries
(I recommend these all)
Parking is a lot but on the weekends it gets a little packed. This location is in a plaza shared with Jamba Juice, chipotle, bank or America & other small restaurants.
It does get packed on the weekends so come early.

I think it’s better than boiling crab. The sauce is not as salty as boiling crab. Compared they are about the same price. Four of us got the combo #1 for $ 33.99. It filled us up. It was really good, but felt that the corn and sausage they gave was only 2 pieces which is quite small though the food came out hot and juicy. The Cajun fries was good too. I would most likely come here again.
Place is pretty packed and there are drawings on the walls which is pretty neat.