The Happy Crab

Happy Crab is an interesting place — it’s fresh seafood with an Asian twist. Everything from oysters to soft shell crab to chili chicken or chili fish. The ambiance is casual and divey. But not divey in a hipster cool way, divey in a «used to be a fast food restaurant and they just didn’t care about updating it» sort of way. It’s owned by the same owners who own Chinese Yum Yum across the street. Yum Yum gets a bad Unilocal rep but I used to live in that area, and I still find it to be pretty delicious Chinese takout compared to other places in Chicago.
I think it also caters to the college crowd, despite being a bit on the pricey side (pricey for that area, but not pricey for the seafood they are serving — dungeness crab ain’t cheap anywhere). So later at night it becomes more of a bar and less of a restaurant perhaps.
Service was friendly and nonchalant. I ended up ordering the steamed garlic shrimp over clear glass noodles based on its popularity on Unilocal.Overall it was pretty good, but I kind of wished I’d ordered something slightly different. The flavor of the garlic and the sauce on the noodles was excellent — pure garlic in liquid form basically. But I had hoped there’d be a little something more to the overall flavor. The shrimp was of respectable size but I was a bit disappointed in the quality and freshness. There were still veins in a couple of them that I had to pull out and the overall taste just left a little bit more to be desired in quality. Definitely tasty and edible and the first few bites are amazingly full of garlicky deliciousness. But about a quarter of the way through the dish it was kind of bland and got boring overall so I wish there was a little something more to keep me interested. I might be back to try a couple other items sometime but only if I’m in the neighborhood with nothing to do. And quite honestly, I might go to Yum Yum across the street then for some fantastic Chinese takeout.

Sad because the bartender was nice but this was one of the worst meals I’ve ever had.

Service was a little slow the night we went, but the staff were kind and able to answer all of our questions. The seafood was good. I ordered the garlic noodles. They were plain rice noodles with minced garlic on top – not what I expected, but surprisingly good and went well with my crab legs. I got 1 lbs of garlic crab legs and that was plenty with the noodles (which I shared with 2 other people).

Beware they were about and probably did for other people package food for a customer and serve. Food that was touched and spat on by workers. As they filmed and took pictures of the food for their menu.

Absolutely loved it went with friends had some drinks, crab legs had a blast. just the right size. loved the atmosphere.

My girlfriend and I have eaten here twice and have only good things to say. I have tried the crab cakes and tomato cream seafood pasta, both were fresh, delicious and priced appropriately.
Happy Crab is also open late, which is great considering how late I work sometimes. They do a fair amount of carry out and also operate as a club on weekends. Great place for fresh, simple, yet tasting seafood fare.

Food drinks and service was AMAZING!!! Workers had amazing style. Owner or manager (Asian man) was extremely friendly and welcoming. And he made us delicious drinks.

Small place with loads of favors… It’s really a diamond in the rough. Good service, great food and a atmosphere that’s incredible… When you leave out of this place your really are a happy camper… lol If you love a good cocktail!!! Make sure you try the fry calamari and the king snow crab it awesome and loaded with favor baby….

I was craving shellfish & my hubby and I found this gem! It was voted in the top 10 seafood restaurants in the city and they did NOT disappoint! We had the salt and pepper smelt, garlic noddles and ginger and onion Dungeness crab! It was nothing short of amazing! The crab is flash fried and flavorful, garlic noodles yummy and the smelt was so good! I loved the sauce. Good prices and the staff I can’t rave about enough! Laura our bartender and sever would bring over delicious concoctions she was trying out. We saw the 2lb crab we devoured beforehand and they let us take pics. The service was wonderful from the great servers and busers. It’s such a laid back, wonderful place that just ultimately serves delicious food! Please try Happy Crab and you will be happy too!

After reading the other reviews I knew this place was either going to be a hit or miss. My girlfriend and I came to Chicago for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. I let her pick which resturant we went to and out of the millions of establishments she chose The Happy Crab. Located in Greek Town on a Saturday night I did expected to see more people however it was just us and one other customer in the building. The bartender/​server/​manager/​everything else was very polite and attentive. However the only reason this place did not get five stars from me is because he came back from his «smoke break» reeking of marijuana. I don’t care what you do in your personal life but I expect a certain amount of professionalism and getting high at work is not acceptable. Moving on to the food. The portions were large and the food itself was very tasty. I got the garlic steamed shrimp and my lady got the potatoe bowl. The atmosphere is clean and tasteful but a very odd fit for the neighborhood it is in. I highly suggest you give it a try!

Man that happy sandwich sure made me happy. I like this place. Decent size, interesting menu, and the service was pleasant (yeah, it was 4pm on a Monday but who cares?)
Curious to see how this place is like in the evening since it’s advertised as a sports bar too. Definitely wanna try some crab legs one day.

I love this place. I hesitate to write a good review because I don’t want it to get spoiled.
If you want really good seafood, and are ok dining like a local, come here. Sit at the bar with the other locals, cheer on the Bulls or Bears, get served a few shots, make a few new friends, gobble down awesome fresh seafood.
If you like fancy restaurants and expect white tablecloths and expensive dinnerware and a romantic atmosphere, go over to Michigan Ave with all the snooty tourists. Conversely, if you want great food in a simple and unpretentious atmosphere, and you are ok with rubbing elbows with locals, then Happy Crab is your spot.

Delicious seafood without the crazy wait that comes with Louisiana-​Chinese style crab feeds?! Sign me up.
I love The Happy Crab! It’s such a hidden gem in Greek Town especially when it is surrounded by establishments that entertain college students thanks to their affordability. I am a huge sucker for seafood and calamari, so when my friend and I dropped by one late evening after a show, we were extremely satisfied.
From reading up on the past reviews, it seems like they’ve really worked to improve their selection. Both times I’ve been here have been fantastic– none of the food I had felt overly salty minus the fries that came with my friend’s crab cake meal.
If you only order one item from here– definitely make it the Spicy Fish Fillet ($ 15). It was delicious and our order came in huge portions. I was extremely satisfied even after just taking one bite out of the fish! Their «happy crab» sauce is killer and should be on everything.
The salt & pepper calamari here is another winner. Lightly battered without the grease, and actually has the salt and pepper taste that other restaurants often lack. Ask for a lemon to squeeze over to make it perfect.
Don’t forget to take advantage of the daily specials. You can get $ 3 Blue Moons on Wednesdays and cheaper shots on Fridays and Saturdays. The real winner is Sunday where calamari, smelt, and the squid fries are just $ 4 a piece. Amazing!
Thanks Happy Crab. I’m looking forward to coming back soon for more seafood goodness.

It’s an odd place… feels like a Chicago sports bar, but they must have a Chinese chef in the kitchen. Why not, right? We go to plenty of sports bar with Irish or Greek food, so this is a good alternative if you are in the neighborhood, stop by for a quick dinner or take out.
The place was pretty empty when we went on a week night. Service was quick and nice.

What an interesting culinary experience. The salt and pepper calimari were perfect — lightly battered, not greasy at all, tasty. The breading on the crab cakes was heavier than I like, but inside the crab was sweet and delicious. The side salad was huge and very good. The sauce on the basil shrimp linguini was really good, but the linguini itself was really overcooked.
Somebody put some real thought into the soundtrack — mostly late 50’s/early 60’s music from Dion and the Belmonts to Jerry Butler to Ray Charles and Nina Simone, with a liberal spicing of modern artists with roots in that era, i.e. Amy Winehouse and Adele. It all flowed really nicely. Nice place for a long hangout to catch up with a friend to great music over tasty food.

I sat at bar on a Tuesday, the place was dead
I ordered the crab cake sandwich w/​fries
All hit the spot and was exactly what I was looking for only suggestion would be to maybe make the cake a little larger or use smaller buns.
I hate it when I eat something with a bun and the protein is half the size of the bun
They had some Chinese beer on special for $ 3, I am sure it is the Chinese equivalent of miller high life?

I cannot speak highly enough of this place. Happy Crab makes Happy Customers
Price– Not bad at all. We had a party of 10 and got SOOOO much food. Total bill came out to about $ 20 per person.
Quality– Fantastic! We got crab cakes, fries, shrimp cocktail, ginger and onion dungeness crab, garlic whole lobster with vermicelli noodles, salmon and spicy fish fillet. The lobster was fantastic and the crab cakes were so good too.
Quantity– Look above… it’s like you’re on the deadliest catch
Atmosphere– Very open and welcoming. Lots of Chicago sports memorabilia.
Staff– FANTASTIC! I originally wanted to got Angry Crab, but they don’t take reservations and this place did. They were able to get a seat for 10 of us and the staff was sooo attentive and kind. I definitely will be going back. Also this a great place for kids. The staff showed off live lobsters and crabs and split plates for the kids to share.
For those of you that don’t have crabs… you might as well get them from here.

My $ 65 delivery order was extremely disappointing.
It took 2 hours 5 minutes to deliver. Its 1.9 miles away, or a 9 minute drive.
Granted, there was a Blackhawks hockey game tonight, but after I called the 2^nd time to follow up on my order, 50 minutes after I called the 1^st time and told the driver was out to deliver, I still didn’t have my food.
The lobster was 70% shell and 30% meat. This lobster had to be the least expensive lobster they could buy from their seafood distribtor
I will not ever order from here again.

This place is amazing! We received amazing service at like 1 AM. He even gave us recommendations. Seriously the guy there takes really good care of everyone and looks like he loves his job.
The seafood tasted fresh. The spicy fish fillet was amazing. Everything is also reasonably priced.
I mean if you’re out past midnight and want seafood come here or anytime for that matter.

The owner of Happy Crabs contacted me and asked me to give them another chance and to come back and try their food (he offered a 30% discount). We ordered $ 36.00 and received a $ 10.80 discount [Fish Fillet (me), Chili Chicken (friend), Calamari & Smoothie (both of us).
I wish to thank the owner for handling the situation in a professional manner and reaching out to me and address the issue ASAP, and I really liked the service I received when I came inside (the bartender brought us water even though we said we were going to carry-​out). He made sure to take care of us while we were waiting for our order. He was VERY VERY polite, good guy (long ponytail, Asian, older looking good guy). Professionalism and accommodation is why I gave 3 stars, I would normally just give 1 star and leave it at that.
I really hate pointing out the negatives after the Owner and the Bartender were so accommodating but I just want to be and honest reviewer —– The food we got was VERY VERY SALTY. My friend and I stopped eating it after 3 – 4 pieces because the SALT just made it really really hard to eat. I tried to fight through it because $ 27 is still expensive for a college student and I just couldn’t… I was very very sad because I hate wasting my money because I work so hard to save every dollar.
We also ordered calamari and that was good. Very good, my friend said we should have just ordered three of those,. We also got a smoothie and that was delicious as well.
I just don’t know how our main meals turned out to be so salty! I noted another 2 star review posted a couple weeks ago with the same complaint. $ 15 for a Fish Filet meal you can’t even eat… it would make anyone sad. However, the overall 4 stars mean something, they obviously are doing something right and maybe it’s just these two meals that are like that.
Anyways! The ambiance is cool (check out the pictures), laid back like a sports hang out place. There are 4 TVS hanging around (2 big ones). I can see this place getting packed with UIC students when the Bears are playing OR during the Bulls playoffs. They have everything set up well. If our food was eatable today, I would have definitely came here multiple times in the future with a bunch of friends to watch the games because most of us love seafood.
I wish this business success because they are making an all out effort to make their customers happy. I’m sure they will fix it as they are new. But here is my review and for them to build on it!
(Please refer to my pictures to see how this place looks like, menu, and a $ 5 discount the offer)