Cray Kitchen & Bar

Miss this place a ton. Please reopen somewhere else in the city. I need me my crawfish fix!

HEADS UP to those wanting to go there/​who have a Social Shopper– the waitress today told me they are closing down at the end of the month so be sure to use it soon!
I bought a Social Shopper for this restaurant to try it out — $ 25 for a $ 50 Cray-​ving platter for two. The food was OK, the restaurant itself is fun and playful and the service was really good. A bummer that (per the waitress today) it’s closing down at the end of the month — I don’t know too many restaurants that exist in Vancouver like this.
Atmosphere: super casual but a fun experience. There nautical themed things all around with small Vancouver details.
Service: The waitress was really nice and helpful — I heard her asking the table next to us if they know how to eat the crawfish and was very attentive with us and making sure we were happy.
Food: Messy! The waitress put down a large piece of paper over our table for easy clean up and even gave us bibs/​gloves if we needed them — the bibs was a great call! The platter was served in a large metal bowl with shrip, crawfish, muscle and clams, potatoes, corn and sausage. The sauce everything was mixed in had a cajun taste with a lemony background flavour — there were different flavour options and spice options to choose from. The flavour of the food was ok but I wish the cajun flavour seeped through the crawfish/​shrimp more.
It’s a good place for the experience but if I wasn’t using the Social Shopper, I would find it a bit pricey for what you get. Not sure if they’ll open up elsewhere once they close down but it was a fun experience!

The title of this review: What a Mess!
I was craving a great tasting of crawfish for a while and my girlfriend and I were excited about having a great Louisiana meal in this place. We were disappointed. When we were there, we were thankful to be seated by the window and we were happy that our waitress kindly introduces their meal (First timer for us). We ordered the crab combo and 2 drinks and that when everything goes down. First, our drinks were served 15 minutes after we ordered. A beer and mojito, how difficult can they be served? I was not impress, but not a big deal. Secondly, we have to wait 45 minutes for our 1 dish of food. I was watching the whole time, dishes served to the large crown table and nothing much to the other smaller tables. Our waitress was upset and the bartender did not help her either. I was sorry that she had to deal with this and politely told us our order got lost in the kitchen. When our finally came, it was not impressive either. First, the crawfish is small and chewy, nothing like in the review photos. The crab, mussels and the shrimps did not tastes fresh at all. It’s like they precooked the seafood and freeze them and when its time for the order, they just place the sauce on top. I was also terrify, on my way home, my stomach started to ache. (Luckly, it was the spice not food poisoning). If you like paying a $ 58 with this quality, they better get me drunk before I hand over my cash.

A fun place place to go, but the kitchen was very slow, taking over an hour to get our food out. The base prices are probably a bit higher than expected, but there is ample food in a serving.
Overall, a fun place to go every once in a while.

Anyone who has never tried a restaurant like this would probably be super impressed by the mediocre food and experience. But thank goodness we had a special from social shopper when we decided to try this spot tonight! Considering the Cray kitchen speciality SHOULD be their crayfish, it most definitely is not something to write home about. We have frequented quite a few restaurants like this and this was definitely far from being
one.
One thing I wondered was if they were live upon boiling? The shells were soft and the meat not like what I have had in the past. We used to get live crayfish shipped from LA for 4 th of July parties and those did not taste like these at all! You can definitely taste the quality of these ones tonight… not impressed.
Thank goodness we did add on the lobster or I would have been super disappointed.
Ehhh…would I return? Only if I caught another deal online.
Worth a try for those who have never. experienced this before but, I, myself, not a huge fan.
Ohhhh, and I was also disappointed that they didn’t even supply wet naps!

Tried their shrimp po boy sandwich special. It actually tasted pretty good, but was pricey at $ 10. It does include a non-​alcoholic drink though. Unfortunately, there is no credit given if you decide to have an alcoholic drink instead of a pop. You’re now looking at $ 16.
The sandwich is pretty well done, with a generous portion of battered shrimp, and decent toppings. However, the sandwich was honestly a bit on the small side for the price. Also, it was pretty tricky to eat as the shrimp kept falling out. The bread is a bit too stiff to hold everything in. The presentation is nice though.

Popped in here for a quick bite with a coworker at the end of our shift. I had been meaning to try it out for a while.
With the special that night we had 2lbs of crawfish, potatoes and corn for like $ 30.
While the corn and potatoes were fricken delicious, theyre just sort of chucked in the bag. I dunno, the whole served in a plastic bag thing threw me off.
These were my first crawdads and while tasty, seemed a lot more work than the spotted prawns Im used to up here. If I was from the south I think I would have appreciated the flavour of home a lot more than I did being a Vancouverite.
I personally think the prawns should be served in a simple bowl, the potatoes sliced/​cubed/​anything? And served up that way. The slaw was awesome.
I also figured out half way through my meal that this place would be better suited in Yaletown than Main+Broadway if they want the customers they seem to be after.
I’d have to agree with some of the other reviewers and say, try it once at least.

Highly Recommend this place.
I first looked up this place after going to Las Vegas and trying «Hot & Juicy» (yes, the restaurant seen on the t. v show Man VS Food).
Cray Kitchen does that place justice. The Crawfish are a bit smaller, but they are just as flavourful. They have a few different options depending on how spicey you like yours. Same set-​up, wear a bib, use the entire table as your plate, and toss all the shells in the bucket. If you’re too much of a pansy and don’t like eating your food without using a fork and spoon, then this place is not for you. If you simply don’t care and want to taste some of the most delicious food available in Vancouver, then by all means, eat at Cray Kitchen.
I’ve tried some of the other menu items as well, the Crab is good, but you definitely need to share it with someone else, and same with the Shrimp. The Shrimp is well done, but they are HUGE, so be sure to have an empty stomach, and also watch your portions, as you will be full in no time at all. Biggest shrimp i’ve seen here.
The absolute pinnacle is the Sausage. When you order your Crawfish, make SURE you get it bagged with the sausage, because when it’s all cooked up and prepared, the sausage essentially drinks up all of the flavourful juices from the Crawfish and seasonings. When you finally have it all served and eat it, it’s like a freaking orgasm in your mouth.
Seriously, it’s something you have to try though. They have some drink specials that are worth trying as well, but the draw is mostly just the food. The only bad part about this place is the location. I wish there was an easier way to find parking around here, as the only parking available seems to be street parking. There’s a lot nearby on Broadway but it’s very shady. Aside from the pain-​in-​the-​ass parking, Cray Kitchen is well worth the visit and re-​visit.

Crawfish in Vancouver sounds awesome, right?!
Unfortunately, Cray Kitchen & Bar did a very poor job with convincing me that it’s worth returning for more.
I ate here with three friends and we each ordered the $ 25 «Cray-​ving Crawfish» seafood combo which includes «Crawfish, Shrimp in the shell, Clams, Mussels, Andouille Sausage, Corn on the cob and Potatoes».
If you order any of these combos, don’t expect photo perfect presentation. The concept is very similar to the Crab Pot (in Seattle) where you have cooked seafood in sauce, dumped into a bowl and served. Contents are ready for you to pick apart and «enjoy». Personally, it reminded me of the food you’d find at the bottom of a pot when cooking soup or gravy.
For a combined total of $ 100 (excluding the cost of our two pitchers of beer, tax, and tip), we weren’t impressed with the food. I would say majority of the crawfish we received were meatless, hollow shells (no idea how it could happen, but the contents had a blackish/​white residue), the potatoes were halved and undercooked, and the only flavour I was able to really taste was the cajun spice/​cayenne pepper the seafood was bathed in. What bugged me most was when the waitress suggested that the sauce in our bowl made a great dip for bread we can order. For $ 25 per person, I’d expect bread to be complimentary at least?
All-​in-​all, I wasn’t full from my meal. The servers were nice, but I can tell why on a Saturday night this restaurant was virtually empty. There’s nothing unique about the food other than the Louisiana feel. Good luck to Cray Kitchen & Bar, but there are many more places along Main Street that can fill me up for much less than what I paid here.

My fiancé and I had a good dinner here the other night. Unfortunately, my fiancé is boring and doesn’t like the idea of pulling heads off his food before he eats it, so we didn’t order a Seafood Boil.
Instead I ordered their Shrimp Po’ Boy & he had chicken strips. The po’ boy was VERY good and a really nice alternative to what this place probably does best– the Crawfish Boil. The chicken strips, I have to admit, were a bit bland and flavorless. The cajun fries that they came with packed more punch than the chicken itself.
The atmosphere was casual and fun. I loved the paper on the table, the over-​sized adult bibs, the whole ‘sharing & getting sloppy with your friends’ idea. This would be a really great place to go with friends for a birthday, stag, etc. Or maybe just a place to bring your uptight midwestern in-​laws to shake them up a bit.
Over all, this place does Southern Seafood and seems to do it well. Come here with a group of people who like seafood and aren’t afraid to get their fingers dirty though… otherwise you just aren’t doing the whole experience justice.

I got a coupon from VanEats, and I took my boyfriend out for dinner there. I really enjoyed my experience, but my boyfriend, not so much.
The waitress was really nice, explaining everything about the food and the deal we’d be receiving. She even took our two coupons as two separate people, which was awesome. I think my favourite was the cod-​fish nuggets. Mmmmm!!!
The bags of shrimp & crawfish were ALSO delicious… although, it was harder to open up those crawfish. We got all 3 sauces to be blended in together (which is what our waitress suggested), and it was this mixture of sweet and spicy. YUM!!!
I might come back for another bag! HEHE!

Pros: Good place to try crayfish. The Seafood combo was soaked in delicious garlic butter. The sausage and clussels were the best part. They really should provide buns for soaking up the sauce. We asked for some buns, but all they had were some pieces of sandwich bread. Better than nothing I guess.
Cons: tables not wiped down between seatings. Server just threw a sheet of brown packaging paper over the table when we sat down. Grease from previous customers immediately soaked through. No individual plates — you eat directly on the table, and other people’s grease. Gross. Hard not to stare at the splotches while waiting for drinks.
Medium sized potatoes were only half-​cooked. They should use nugget-​size, but clearly use larger potatoes to make the dish look bigger. Crunchy taters is just wrong. 4 out of 5 of the potatoes were 50% raw.
Good place to try Louisiana style once, but I don’t think I’ll be a regular.

This is one of those fine to try once places, but I’d never go back.
4 of us went, 2 shared a mixed seafood boil, one opted for the clam chowder and cod nuggets, and I opted for a pound of shrimp with corn and free cajun fries for checking in on Unilocal.
My shrimp were actually pretty good. I opted for the «spicy» juicy cajun sauce, which was tasty but not actually that spicy — if you actually like it hot you should order the xxx-​hot option. I was surprised at how many shrimp you got for $ 12 — It was definitely filling enough for me and seemed like a pretty good value for the money. The corn was tasty but the free cajun fries were limp and pretty meh.
My friends who ordered the seafood boil were less satisfied. They agreed that the shrimp were the best tasting item in the pot, but thought the crawfish were bland. There were lots of shells (clams, mussels) in the pot so you didn’t get that much seafood for $ 25/​pp. My other friend thought the clam chowder was quite good, but the cod nuggets were a miss.
We also tried a few cocktails. I opted for the raspberry martini, which was too sweet for my liking. My friend’s mango mojito was pretty decent though.
Atmosphere wise, this felt on par with a Red Robin’s or a Bubba Gump’s but with more garbage. There’s paper tablecloths, disposable plastic bibs and gloves, and your meal is served in a plastic bag. I felt guilty generating so much waste in one meal — it was totally unnecessary. Normally I would have given this place 3 stars, but for the unnecessary waste I’m knocking them down to a 2.
Not the hippest or most environmentally friendly place to be. Next time I’m hungry I’ll stroll farther up Main Street.

The Boy and I were looking for eats (preferably cheap eats) and we saw the sign for Cray.
«Hey, we like Southern cooking!» we thought. So we thought.
For the uninitiated, crawfish/​crayfish look like little lobsters and produce about as much meat as medium sized prawns. However, they taste like neither. They kind of actually have a sort of muddy flavour :(
That being said (as we had quickly concluded crawfish were not our preferred seafood), the sauce is quite tasty, the service friendly, and the napkins generous!
I would return but perhaps for the mussels or shrimp.

So I was walking down Main Street, had a hankering for oysters and beer, and my trusty Unilocal app led me straight to Cray. Unfortunately raw oysters were not available due to the time of year, but a bit of a spicy seafood boil should fit the bill just fine.
The menu is a little confusing, but was explained to the three of us by our friendly server. Still though, I can’t imagine how arduous it might be to have to always explain to every new table the combinations, ordering by weight, and the fact that the boil items are a minimum of two orders x the menu price. After a but of deliberation we ordered crawfish, mussels, corn and cajun fries.
The dining experience is definitely different. Cooked, sauced seafood is served in plastic bags directly onto your freshly-​papered table. An eat-​kit bucket is distributed to each table, containing plastic gloves, plastic bibs, and a roll of paper towel. No plates. Get sloppy. The flavour of the sauces were good. Quite good. The spicy cajun fries were a good accompaniment to a cold beer, and we tucked in. Our inexperience quickly became apparent when we tackled the crawfish. Whether I was doing it wrong or not, I was surprised at how little edible meat there was on these buggers. The sauce was the star and I found myself constantly licking my fingers. The corn was a bit overcooked. The mussels, a lot overcooked. They were tiny and some of the most shriveled I’ve had in a while. Not the juicy, plump ones that we were used to. Some of them barely contained meat.
Overall, the meal was ok. I wasn’t super-​hungry when I arrived and and it was fun getting messy. Now, I’m no tree-​hugger, but will make a point of refusing plastic shopping bags, saying no to bottled water, using a travel coffee cup, and will carry a recyclable item all the way home if there are no proper disposal options along the way, so it pained me to see a full bucket of waste being returned to them from our little snack. Minus one star for that, and I hope to see this trend go in the other direction.

That –Ish Cray! First we had Jay-​Z and Kanye West to play on words and boggle our minds. Now we have Cray Kitchen & Bar to intrigue your tastebuds and bring you back to your childhood when you ate with your hands. This place is meant to be messy. Please do not come in your Sunday’s best or anything white for that matter. Paper towels, bibs and gloves are provided. We didn’t even both with gloves because it’s only gonna get in your way. It’s not that hard to pop in the washroom to wash my hands afterwards.
Before I start… Just get the garlic butter shrimps and corn!
So what are these weird looking, miniature lobsters? These Louisiana Crawfish have a head to tail ratio 3:1 where really have a lot of meat. It was really fun to destroy and break the heads and peel and tear them apart. The meat in the tiny claws were also a battle to dig out. In the end, most of the weight you’re paying for comes from the shell. Was it worth it? It was certainly a fun experience! But the Crawfish was just meh.
As much as I enjoy sucking the brains out of shrimps and eating the glops from crab shells, the heads of these crawfish were really fishy! The roe were hard and not very pleasant. The meat wasn’t very bouncy as I would imagine a baby lobster to be. I’m sure it was fresh. It’s just the type of species their texture is different.
Cray offers various flavours in cajun, garlic butter, lemon butter, or cray mix (which is a mix of all the seasonings) with different levels of heat. We of course got Cray mix in spicy because it’s a great way to try everything but after a while, it’s hard to tell which is which aside from the garlic butter (much to do with lil garlic bits).
All the seafood came in plastic bags. It’s interesting, perhaps this helped better seal in the heat and juices. But what happened to BPA and don’t leave your bottles in direct sunlight /​heat? Would some chemist help explain this?
The stars of this meal was the added corn (half cob) for 50 cents. Delicious as it soaks up all the sauce and juicy essence.
Now back to the garlic butter shrimps.
The shrimps were of a fair size. They were juicy, moist and bouncy. Soaking in all the garlic butter were delicious. The shrimps were much more enjoyable than the cray crawfish.
Remember Unilocalers, if it’s your first check-​in, there is a free Cajun Fries with min $ 5 purchase. The fries were crispy, crunchy and golden seasoned with Cajun pepper. A great deal for a full size grab!
Cray Kitchen and Bar is located on Main Street, diagonally from Foundations and a few steps away from Gene Café. Cray serves up Louisiana style cuisine. Crawfish, shirmps, crab, lobster and oysters are served by the pound in plastic baggies. Since all the weight comes from the shells, I beg to argue the bang for your buck. For 10.99/pound I much rather order a Atlantic lobster at any Chinese restaurant. Pound for a pound, I would be more satisfied…

When I was in New Orleands, I had an oyster po boy, and it was full of these yummy deep-​fried, breaded oysters. When I ordered the oysters here, they were nothing like the ones I had down south. Take a look at the picture and you’ll see why. It was $ 10 for 5 small bites.
The crayfish were not over cooked like how you can get them sometimes. There is nothing wrong with flash frozen seafood. For us on the west coast, it’s «fresher» than fresh seafood. You don’t want to get 3 day old, dead seafood. Or pay dearly for Fresh.
The day we went, the market price was $ 15 for 1 pound (about 14 small cray fish). It’s a fair price, I think but you don’t get much meat, so don’t come hungry, or make sure you load up the bag with potato to fill you up.
If I was to come back, I would go for the shrimp over the crayfish.
I’ve had some seafood boils before and glad to see a place come to Vancouver. Most places will dump the stuff on the table, but this place can’t cause of the saucy nature of their boil. So it’s served in a bag.
I would bring friends and family for the experience, but i’m not craving to come back for a signature dish.

I’ve been to Louisiana twice and while the restaurant’s crayfish is not as good (understandably so, it is flown in froz. –er,“fresh” according to their menu), I loved their shrimp in garlic butter sauce with corn & andouille sausages. Also had fried oysters (overcooked –see photo) and the crayfish in the cray mix sauce (which is a mixture of all their sauces)…
The seafood (ordered per lb) is placed & served inside plastic bags with the sauce of your choice. Minimum of 2 lbs per order for crabs/​lobsters. If you’ve experienced Boiling Crab in the States, Cray Kitchen and Bar would be just okay. It’s more of going there for the «Cajun» experience of eating crayfish with the plastic bibs. That said, they still have room for improvement with regards to the food.
Service was awesome though! Hence, I’m giving my experience there 4 instead of 3 stars… Our server, Danielle was really friendly and knowledgeable. She really went out of her way and even played tic-​tac-​toe with my daughter. In a perfect world, all servers should be like her! :)
Ambience is a bit loud since the place is small. I like the casual lay-​out/​interior. They also have a full bar. Had a Long Island and it wasn’t watered down… Will definitely be back.

First of all, I am happy to see smart restauranteurs like Simon are checking out feedbacks and not afraid to «face» the public. However, I have to say if the food style/​concept comes from LA or Vegas or whatever, don’t categorize yourself as a Louisiana Cajun/​Creole restaurant. Here is my reply to Simon’s Comments:
Hello Simon.
Thank you for educating me on your restaurant concept. I think it will be confusing to anyone who has been to New Orleans and/​or has had the real Cajun Seafood boil. Best of luck with your new restaurant and hopefully there aren’t too many of me in Vancouver who are easily confused by the name/​banner of your restaurant.
P. S. Food served in a plastic bag and paper plates are a fun idea. You just need to take it up with many of the hard core tree huggers in the city (unlike Vegas who probably don’t give two shits about the environment).

So here is my revised review as of Feb. 4, 2013:
If you’re going for seafood, I’ve never found a cheap place for it. It’s typically expensive where ever you go. This place is fair priced for it, but I guess for the neighborhood it can be considered a little more than some would want to spend. But then, on Main st., I’m sorta used to spending about $ 16 – 18 for a burger and beer (or $ 15 for Nachos a few doors down and beer on top is usually $ 6 – 8), so in comparison, for something different on Main it’s not that expensive. But, coming as a regular now, I’m going to share some «hints» for those that read Unilocal for this place and want to eat here more «inexpensively.»
Come on the weekdays! No seriously, the weekend is awesome, especially now that they are doing specials on Canucks game nights ($ 13/​pitcher last time I was around. But then, I randomly walked in, stopped watching NHL after a few weeks of the strike.) However.,.
If you ever wanted to try and come here for the food and experience seafood more often, try on a Sunday, Monday, Wednesday. Those are the current Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab days. You usually get it for about $ 12/​lb. instead of the normal $ 14−16ish.
The beer pitchers here are cheaper than THE Cambie on Sundays @ $ 12/​pitcher. That’s for ALL their pitchers according to their new daily menu. And they have 9 premium beers ON TAP! Plus you don’t have that scratchy feeling in your throat the day after drinking beer from lines were installed probably 100 years ago. (I love the Cambie, I’m just sayin!) The Short Stop wheat ale is something I’ve only had at this bar.
And you don’t always have seafood when you’re here. Tuesday is their wing night (try it with their Cray sauce for something different) @ $ 7. Or, I think I saw this when I was there last time (Feb. 1), their Po’boy special. I believe it was a Po’boy sandwhich, fries and pop for $ 10. (I need to double check that as I saw the sign after eating crawfish over the weekend)
Their burger is pretty good and you can’t complain about their cajun fries at all. (If you’re reading this on your Unilocal app, claim the offer!) It’s also competitively priced for this neighborhood. (And in my opinion one of the better burgers on Main.) Of course, it’s always good to pair their non seafood stuff with beer! But even their pop is really cheap. $ 2.75 and unlimited refills.
The clam chowder is delicious and so are the cod nuggets (it’s definitely something different than the usual chicken fingers and fries I would get.)
(Also, if you’re bothered by the waste, you usually don’t need the paper table cloth if you are NOT eating seafood. But as any sea lover will tell you, shelling shrimp or crab, clams or any shell fish is just plain messy. Either you shuck the shells, or someone has done it for you and put it in a can for your convenience.) At the least they used recycled paper that decomposes as I’ve been to crab fundraisers and they use plastic table clothes that do not decompose which are even worst for the environment! And even eating crab at a chinese restaurant, you look at the pile of shells around you and either you put it in a bowl or on the cloth table and it’s still a big mess. The waitress told me that they keep the seafood in the bag as it helps the food absorb the flavor from the sauce so, well, if it adds to flavor, so be it. Otherwise, give this place a chance for their non-​seafood fare as well as seafood.
But if you’re going to come on the weekend, or just want to try seafood, I always recommend the prawns with Potatoes and Corn. Usually, between a friend and I, a pound of prawns, potatoes, corn, some sausage or fries and a pitcher of beer makes coming here for the experience reasonable. Although sometimes we do splurge on the Crawfish Combo (which includes just about everything!) But I still stand by my original write up below:
This place is an experience! It’s like on the food network. The waitress comes and puts a sheet of paper on your table (you’ll have an experience eating your food), and you pick your dish. Pick your sauce and spice level and your fish. My favorite is cray sauce medium spice. The sausage is actually really good with the cray fish and I would recommend adding it to your order. I’m not sure why people complained that they got paper plates and glasses as I actually received beer glasses and noticed that with my neighbors tables. As for the experience of eating here… my friend and I received a bucket full of gloves, paper towels and salt and pepper. The instruction sheet says to put the gloves on, grab the cray, twist the tail and peel back a few pieces of the tail. Then suck the meat from the tail. It was delicious! I’ll definitely be back and it is really something you’re got to try. Tip. Take your glove off before grabbing a sip of beer. They have a good variety of beer available and the pitchers are reasonable. Beer+Seafood=Yay