The Boiling Crab

Came here on a Sunday evening. We expected the wait to be long. Wait time to eat was about 1 hour so we decided to take out food. The host said that the wait for take out will be only 20 minutes. So we went over to the to-​go counter. The chick was rude and impatient. She told us that the wait will be 45 minutes. We told her that the host said it will only be 20 minutes. She replied, «He doesn’t know anything!» Wow! These people work together but don’t seem to be too friendly with each other.
The food is super yummy so I keep coming back. I always order the 1 lb of shrimp, with mild whole shabang sauce.
If you dine in, they will provide you with bibs. It gets messy! If you order the super spicy XXX sauce, don’t touch your eyes!!! It really burns!

I love shrimp and corns in the same bag, but be careful, there was one time I ordered one pound shrimp they one serve me half pound instead as my corns were in it. I also like deep fried oysters, fries with chicken tender. I don’t like crawfish, not because they don’t cook well. I just feel wired when l eat them.

Boiling crab is a fun and messy seafood restaurant for all ages. Decent prices for pound per bag menu items makes for a cheap alternative to get your Joe’s Crab Shack fix (there’s no dancing). Definitely a special occasion kind of meal; bibs and messy fingerfood included.
Friendly service, beach themed environment, and most importantly TASTY FOOD make BC an enjoyable experience…
…except for the 2 hour wait and no reservations.

Went there with my sister for her birthday. The wait time was very long, but that’s what you get when you can’t make reservations I suppose. Reason for 3 stars is very poor customer service, but decent food I asked the waitress for some garlic dipping sauce, and 20+ mins later we asked about it and she said its being made. Also noted she walked passed our table a few times without even acknowledging that we needed somethimg. Also toward the end we still didn’t get the sauce we ordered in the beginning! Needless to say I most likely not return or recommend!

Boiling crab is alright. I like taking people here for the experience. You can tell a lot about a person’s personality on how they eat their food. This is the go to spot for people who are from out of town and want to try something new. I like the atmosphere and the décor. You can write on the walls as well, personalized the experience. It amazes me to come to a restaurant where it is socially acceptable to eat with your hands. I love it!
I highly recommend coming here early or for lunch because it can be a wait for dinner especially during the weekend. Also, be aware of the market price because it can get pricey. This place is definitely an experience.

Visited: Many, a many, a many a times!
Service: 3 stars.
Food: 4 stars, love the whole sha-​bang!
The Good: Food, especially the seasonings, and the fact you can get messy!
The Not As Good: Long wait, crappy napkins, no scrap bins, sometimes run out of items.
This is a hard review to write, because as much as I LOVE Boiling Crab I realize that there are some issues with the place. BUT THE SHRIMP. Oh, the shrimp!
Basically what I like about The Boiling Crab is the food, even though I always get the same thing — a pound of shrimp, whole sha-​bang, mild with a ½ pound sausage to share and a corn on the cob without all the seasoning. (Eat the corn on the cob last to end your meal without AS much of seafood breath). Because of the cajun flavors even the mild has a little kick to it, but if you’re bold and your tongue can handle it then it gets WAY hotter. The flavors are Rajun Cajun, Lemon Pepper, and Garlic Butter — or plop them all in there, which is THE WHOLE SHAAA_​BANG. Basically the reason I am a fan of this place is purely because of that seasoning!
Besides that, everything else is alright. The servers are nice but really have little to do, yet still I often find myself waiting a little too long for water when my cups are empty (which you need with all this food flying (er, swimming) around the table. Speaking of that, their napkins are SUPER thin and tiny. With the amount of mess on the tables, they could definitely use napkins that actually can clean your hands! They do give you wet wipes at the very end, but it would be nice to have good napkins on the table when you need to grab something you don’t want covered in sauce. There is really no solid place to throw the shells so they end up all over the table, and I really don’t understand why they can’t give a metal bucket to each table to dump the extras like most seafood places do. Usually the wait here is way too long, and they don’t accept call-​ins. Fair enough, but it just sucks. The lobby is way too small for the amount of people waiting so it ends up being super over crowded and people can barely walk by. It’d be nice to have some sort of outdoor seating or something, because the 5 tiny log seats almost never fit the crowd of people waiting.
There have also been numerous times here where I have ran into some sort of problem with service or other things. We came here once, waited an HOUR AND A HALF (she told us an hour & fifteen or less), then once we got to the table and ordered, our waitress came BACK to the table to tell us — THEY WERE OUT OF THE MAIN CRAB. You’re The Boiling CRAB, how do you run out of crab? So ridiculous, especially since they actually had us order and the waitress did not even know they were out of their main item. My friend only wanted crab, so she was definitely disappointed and we would have liked to know that BEFORE they sat us down. Not only that, but after the waitress came back to have her RE-​order, the waitress left again only to come back because they ran out of that other item too (which by now, the waitress should have known about). My friend had to re-​order a second time, and by now was extremely upset. THEN once we got our food her things took forever, including the fact that they waited to bring out her rice until all our food was half-​way gone. The excuse? That she had put the order in later. The waitress probably should have figured out that when her FIRST order included rice, it should have been added in with all our orders instead of making her wait. The whole thing was just really disappointing and unprofessional, especially since there was no real apology or attempt to fix/​better the situation. Problem solve? Offer better options? A tea while she waits? If you come expecting crab at a crab place and they have NO crab, there probably needs to be something done.
Basically besides the food, this place could use a few improvements: bins for scrap, better napkins, more waiting space, and better service. The other seafood place down the street, Firehouse Crawfish, has those things — way better service, a better layout, bins for scrap, better drinks, but I like the seasoning and the smaller cut sausages from The Boiling Crab more, so that’s why I end up here.

We were a little reluctant to try this place based on the variable reviews.
It is busy… we got there at 4pm and there was already a 45 min wait.
There were some open tables (that were left open for at least 30 – 45 mins) but they could not seat customers due to lack of serve staff (minus 1 star). This prolongs the wait time.
Wide open space, Casual. Great spot for the kids. They don’t take reservations.
The food is easy to order and came quickly.
It was delicious!
We ordered shrimp and crawfish, corn and fries. All tasty and spicy! Just how we like it.
It was messy but completely worth it. I was literally up to my elbows is Cajun juice. Bring wet wipes for the kids.
Bathrooms were easily accessible though for a good hand wash.
Highly recommend. We’ll be back.

Plus: there is plenty of parking here AND it is bigger than the SanJose/​Milpitas location.
Staff is great. They attend to your needs quickly & if there is a mistake they correct it with no attitude. Food takes about 30 mins to get to you but is worth it.

I have only tried the shrimp, but it’s delicious! My favorite flavor is the Whole Sha’Bang! It’s a mixture of all three flavors. You can choose your level of spiciness, so it meets your needs ;) I recommend adding a corn in your bag! Super tasty & only 75 cents!
Overall, good service. Once they forgot to give me a bib & I had to ask for one. :(
I recommend going in around 4 – 5 when it’s not too busy!

The food is amazing. Always is.
Had a to-​go incident where the spiciness was too spicy than what we expected. Ended up talking to the manager who told us to bring it in along with the receipt. Remade it on the spot. Was in and out within 10 minutes. No hassle. Now that’s good customer service.

Came here since this place has the cheapest frozen crawfish. $ 6.00/lb, can’t beat that. I’m not a big fan of frozen crawfish, but my friend didn’t mind. I ordered 1lb of shrimp medium spice whole sha bang, 1lb of clans and 1lb of mussel with the same spice level and flavor. My friend ordered the crawfish. We also ordered a basket of catfish with seasoned fries. I would assume the basket of fries along with catfish came out first, but nope, it came out last which I thought was kind of odd. The shrimp and clam was good! The mussel was a bit chewy, maybe it was just me. I enjoyed the catfish and fries, very fresh. I tried the crawfish, it was chewy and you can definitely tell it was frozen which is what I expected. The sauce was a bit salty, I would try another flavor sauce if I come back.
I wouldn’t try frozen crawfish again. Ill probably come back for some shrimps and clams.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to The Boiling Crab and boy have I missed that Shabaaaaang! I really like the new expansion to the right of the restaurant which means more people can be accommodated! Service is great as usual, the servers were always do attentive, always checking up and grabbing refills.
1 lb. crawfish shabang medium, 1 lb. clams shabang medium, ½ lb. sausages lemon pepper medium, steam rice, Cajun chowder, and Cajun fries to fill our tummies for 2. Delicious, tasty, and filling with a kick to it! For first timer’s, I recommend trying mild spicy first before you decide to kick it up a notch. Remember, they can make it spicier, but you can’t reverse the spice! Their Cajun fries with ketchup-​mayo sauce to dip in is to-​diiiiie-​for!
As usual, expect a full house towards the evening. Good food requires a wait, so if you can’t spare 40min-1.5hrs, then might as well go to a different spot. ;)

I love The Boiling Crab!
My typical order: 1lb shrimp in the medium whole shabang sauce and Cajun fries
I subtracted 1 star because of the wait. Right at 3 when the doors are open, there is already a line! But it’s well well worth it.
The environment is pretty chill, you can either sit at the booths or tables and they even have slings where you can put your child’s car seat in (big plus for me since my child can’t fit in a stool yet). You can also tag on the walls and you must wear the bibs because it’ll get messy!

FOOD — GOOD
SERVICE — BAD
I was expecting more out of this place because I’ve been to the San Jose location and SoCal locations and it was phenomenal. The wait was literally a whopping hour and a half. I just felt like the hostesses were trying their hardest to accommodate to everyone but they did it was a huge attitude. There needs to be training done with these girls on how to handle with customers especially when it deals with customers who wait for hours.
We got:
1.) The whole shabang med SHRIMP
2.) The whole shabang med Sausage
3.) Oysters
4.) White Rice
My Advice:
— I wouldn’t recommend the Oysters for it is only 10 small pieces for 10 bucks…
— I would recommend the SHRIMP and sausage. 1 lbs each can feed 2 people.
— The shrimp and sausage can be ordered by ½ lbs too. Nothing else.
— I would get 1 sauce for each order. so like the whole shabang for shrimp and garlic for the sausage. This way its not all in one baggy. It ensures that they really took the time to weigh everything. If you have it all at the same time it might not be even.
Probably won’t go here again because we came all the way from Oakland to eat here and received bad service.

Boiling Crab is definitely the go-​to for those who don’t mind to get down and dirty. I love spicy food and I get medium but I wish there was a level of spiciness between medium and xxx because xxx is too much for me. Otherwise, get ready to smell like seafood seasoning way after you leave the restaurant!
& The Cajun fries are really good and it’s a great size to share!

I LOVE BOILING CRAB so of course I’m going to give it 5 stars! Lol.
My sister and I waited for about 30 min for a table for 2. It was kinda busy on a Friday evening and like any BC restaurant there’s going to be a wait.
When we got seated, we each ordered 1lb of shrimp with 1 corn. Both 1lb bags were flavored with whole sha-​bang seasoning and medium spice along with one order of cajun fries with medium spice. Our food came out reasonably fast.
I remember shrimp used to be $ 10/​lb but I guess it went up to $ 11/​lb. Oh wellz I devoured my bag and even ate some of my sister’s shrimps LOL Ughhh soo good!
We smelled like BC still after we got back into our car and went to get shaved snow but you can easily shower that out :) And you know you see the same people from BC at the next shaved snow spot lol

If you’re wondering if it’s worth the wait, it is!
This location had recently remodeled and bought the extra space next door so it is now bigger with more tables! This only means one thing, shorter wait times! Ever since they got the extra space I’ve never had to wait more than hour again.
The food here is great. Depending on how you like your spice, it can vary. Some days medium can taste like no spicy at all and mild got you tearing up after a couple bites. The oysters is definitely a must! The oysters are cleaned up really well so you won’t get a piece of shell leftover from the shucking when you eat it. You’re getting your bang for your buck too cause they’re so big and plump. I’ve had oysters at other restaurants but it just doesn’t compare to Boiling Crab.
The staff is really friendly here but during busier hours it’s harder to flag down your waiter or any worker in general. They always check up on you a couple times for water.

My 100^th review — whoohoo!
I’ve been to this location several times now and every time the food is consistently good. My go-​to order is a pound of shrimp the wholeshebang mild with corn inside the bag. My boyfriend orders the same but medium spice, and we share an order of cajun fries with medium spice. We like how the corn soaks up the flavor, but you can get it in a separate bag with butter. I always line up the shrimp heads as I eat, so a pound of shrimp is about 20 – 23 shrimp.
I used to order potatoes in my bag, but that was too much potato with the fries. If you’re not a fan of fries, I would suggest trying that. You get about three mini red potatoes. Mild might be a little spicier than what people expect. I probably wouldn’t suggest it for children unless you know for sure they can handle spice. My boyfriend’s mom thought it was too spicy, even though she was eating it with rice, so next time she’ll get no spice.
I’ve tried the crab, but I don’t feel like it’s as worth it because you don’t get as much «meat.» Pound of shrimp is $ 11, and crab costs more than double that, plus it’s more work for less. The chicken strips are standard and come with honey mustard.
The wait can be long if you show up around dinner time, so plan to go a little early. They’ve recently extended the restaurant to the suite next door, but I’m not sure how much that cuts down on waiting. When we arrived at 5:30 yesterday all the tables were already full. I’d say it’s worth the wait, however.
The restaurant is always clean as they throw away the paper table covering when you’re finished. There’s a napkin dispenser at each table as well. They play current music and there are tvs with sports playing.
I’m the kind of person who tries to stay clean while eating here. I wear the bib and only use my thumb and index finger of each hand. My boyfriend, however, uses all his fingers and sauce will drip down his arms. To each their own! It’s an experience. Probably wouldn’t recommend for a first date because it’s messy though haha. Definitely don’t wear white either. Juice and sauce always flies everywhere (including your eyes if you’re not careful). Also, I wouldn’t recommend eating here if you have a paper cut. It’ll BURN!
I’d suggest it if you’ve never tried and I’ll return. I can’t have it too often though because I’ll get sick of it haha.
I haven’t tried any of the other wannabe boiling crab places in Sacramento. Why try imposters when you can have the real thing?
Note: they do not accept American Express.

Staff at my work: Were you at Boiling Crab over the weekend?
Me: Yea. Why were you?!
Staff at my work: Aw I thought that was you! You walked in on someone while they were in the bathroom
Beside that true statement, wow – probably a late pass, but hey girl hey they expanded the place! Yay! Good job, BC.
So after many, MANY months of hiatus, the food here is still on point! Put on our cute bibs and we all went hammer time. Ordered like a bauce, didn’t even need to look at their menu cus I know what I like! Raw, fresh oysters took me to Nirvana. Shabang sauce X Medium spicy got yo girl sniffling, didn’t need «The Notebook» for that to happen. Chicken wangs, Cajun fries – on fleek!
Long story short, come here if you wanna get crabs! Ok that don’t sound right, but you know what I mean…

What a treat, a huge fan of HnJ in Las Vegas so when I learned a similar place existed in Sacramento I had to try it out.
Next trip I’ll try the other guy across the street just for comparison.
I won’t share how much we ordered… but I will say we had clams, mussels, shrimp, and sausage. Oh and we started with the fried calamari.
Service was great, our order arrived promptly. Kudos to the servers for checking in with us and replacing a bib… brought a newbie and he put it on backwards. No pocket to gather what fell lol.
We ordered the whole shabang for the sauce, then mild and med for the heat.
Med was very spicy. Definitely a notch up the heat scale from HnJ’s med.
mild was too mild. So med it will be!
Monday evening a 5pm we had about a 10 minute wait to be seated. When we left there was quite the crowd waiting.
Yum!

Ordené los camarones y estaban buenos. También las papas de cajon, calimari y papas dulces. ¡Riquísimos!