Captain Crab

Crap. They closed. Too bad…

Raw oysters are like the crack of the sea. I dump a bunch of tabasco, squeeze a bit of lemon, shake a bit of pepper, then slurp them up like a beast. SO GOOD. I’ll just go ahead and ignore the warning listed on the menu that raw oysters could be bad for me. The only downside is that this stuff can get pretty expensive, but not at Cajun Symphony/​Captain Crab, where you can come during Happy Hour and get them for about $ 1 each.
Here’s the gist of it, only come here during happy hour. It is so frickin cheap. 50% off on Wednesdays all day (but cash only), or from 3−6pm on the other days of the week. The 50% off only applies to the seafood if you order 2 lbs. Oysters don’t really qualify either, consider it maybe 30−40% off. But the appetizers (fries, wings, sausages) all come half off, and I think the beer does too.
The taste is alright. It’s definitely not as good as Boiling Crab, but if you just want some cajun unhealthy goodness with garlic forever stuck in your breath, this place isn’t bad. And I love my oysters. Other than that, if you have to pay an amount similar to what you would pay at Boiling Crab, go there instead. The quality here isn’t really worth the full price.
Service is no problem either. Usually it’s only one girl manning the floor during happy hour, but she’s really friendly and doesn’t make us wait long for our requests to be fulfilled.
Parking is easy to find, especially underground. It’s a max of 2 or 3 hours, but you won’t need to be here for that long anyways.
Craving oysters again!

The BF and I used our free Groupon bucks for the Groupon Now deal $ 12 for $ 25. Parking is plentiful since there’s an underground parking lot. We came on a Thursday night and it was 25% full.
We asked the waitress for recommendations and ended up getting a house cajun pot for $ 34, with…
–1 lb mussels –1 lb clams –1 lb shrimp –1 lb crawfish
–1 small potato –1 small corn –1 small sausage
It was alllrightttt. Not fantastic. Not super fresh. The Groupon deal made it acceptable. Would come here again if I didn’t want to wait at Boiling Crab.

Okay, you’re probably wondering why I’m giving them 4 stars. Well, here’s my opinion. I know the taste is nothing compared to Boiling Crab, so get over it. I think the reason why I’m okay with the taste is because I use to come here SO much with my coworkers for their 50% off Wednesdays before. What won me over more, is their FRIED OYSTERS! I LOVE it soooo much! I love dipping it into the sauce! I think that is probably the main reason why I love going there. The sauce isn’t GREAT, but it’s not BAD either. It’s just okay.
If you go from 3−6pm, it’s 50% off your bill. If you go after 6pm, it’s buy one get the second pound half off. If you go on groupon, you can find it for $ 12 for $ 25. So many deals! I know they changed management… so i don’t know why no one has started a new Unilocal for their new name, CAJUN SYMPHONY.

Bought a certificate off a
for this place. I made a mistake. I bought the certificate before checking Unilocal.Never, ever will I let myself make that mistake again! Even though I received a discount on my certificate, I only paid $ 2.50 for a $ 50 certificate, it was still $ 2.50 down the toilet. The food at Cajun Symphony looked similar to what you’d find in a toilet.
We went on a Friday night, party of 5 around 5:30 pm. The place was empty. There was just a woman and a boy sitting in a corner table — not sure if they were just lounging, waiting for food, or just posing in there to make it look like there were customers. Anyway, we were seated and then helped by our waitress. The service overall was OK. Our waitress was nice and when we asked for items she would bring them over promptly. I think because it was so slow in there, it definitely allowed the waitress/​waiter to be attentive.
The food here lacks flavor and freshness. The food also looks a bit scary. We ordered A LOT of different items — crawfish, shrimp, mussels, clams, corn on the cob, fried oysters, fried fish, cajun fries and soft shell crab. Oh and we ordered cajun fried wings. Out of all those items, I would say the fried wings were the tastiest. Funny how chicken ends up being the tastiest thing at a place that is supposed to be good for their seafood.
The crawfish was basically a pile of mushy crawfish bodies with all of their big claws fallen off in the bag. Each time my sister grabbed something out, it was a claw only. Finally when she grabbed an actual crawfish and ate it, huge disappointment. I tried one. The crawfish tasted old, definitely came from their freezer and had no taste. Although I could taste a bit of freezer burn or something — not appetizing. We pretty much left the whole crawfish bucket untouched. The other times we had were edible. There really isn’t much flavor to their sauce which means no flavor gets into the meat of the seafood you’re eating.
I wouldn’t recommend this place even if they have a happy hour or 50% off special. It’s not worth it. Just stick to The Boiling Crab or better yet, just make a sandwich at home. You won’t feel gipped or afraid that you’ll have diarrhea within the next several hours after eating at Cajun Symphony.

CAJUN SYMPHONY is the business’ new name.
We arrived just shy of 6pm on a Friday night. The place smelled like stale air + Chinese incense. Their sound system is horrific, but at least there are tv’s you can occupy yourself with.
The waitress was friendly, efficient and quick.
Food arrived and I was non-​plussed. Open bags of seafood in buckets. The colour turned me off. A mustardy yellow that didn’t have much of an aroma. I expected a garlic steam facial as soon as our food arrived, but no such luck.
I don’t know how traditional Cajun boils are done, but the food seemed overcooked and then tossed into a bag of seasoned broth. The crawfish were rubbery, tasted strongly of freezer burn and were quite gamey. The shrimp were fine, but the seasoning had not penetrated, so they were severely lacking in taste.
Despite the fact that the food wasn’t the greatest, the worst part was sitting next to the incorrigible loud mouthed woman who was refusing to pay her bill.
Cajun Symphony has to try harder to make their food unforgettable.

First and last time I ever visit Cajun Symphony. What a waste of money, even with the livingsocial voucher. Perhaps if you go during happy hour or Wednesday, it’s ok, but meh — I prolly wouldnt.
Our order:
1. Pitcher of Kirin — beer is always acceptable
2. Sweet Potato Fries — this is good
3. Onion Rings — blah, strange breading
4. 1 pound of clams, garlic butter sauce, mild — blah, I thought it was suppose to be good from the reviews! it was not… there was sand in the clams, obviously they don’t care to rinse it
5. Fried soft shell crab — blah, it was ok… not bad, but way overpriced
Just wait in the line for BC if you want to eat this stuff, its way better there.

THE CAJUN SAUCE IS SO GOOD I WANNA DRINK IT. Had a pound of shrimp, sweet potato fries, and crab fried rice. They definitely don’t skip on the garlic because the sauce had garlic chunks all over. The shrimp was just like any other seafood place. I constantly dipped the sweet potato fries in the cajun sauce because it’s so damn good. My god, I want that cajun sauce in everything I eat now. I even poured sauce over my crab fried rice. The fried rice was sorta bland. I didn’t taste enough crab meat in it and the rice wasn’t well seasoned. Seemed like just steamed rice mixed with veggies and crab meat. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave enough sauce left for my girlfriend. But in my defense: A man needs his sauce. Sorry babe. She’s gonna kill me when she reads this.
The staff there is friendly. We came in with a group of 10 so our waitress had to handle all our orders. The wait was around 15−20mins for our food, but that’s understandable given our large party.
FYI: They changed the name to Cajun Symphony so don’t go trying to find ‘Captain Crab’. Also, contrary to the listed hours, they open at 3pm on Fridays. So don’t go telling your friends to meet you at 2pm there because they’ll be waiting on the sidewalk for an hour and won’t let you forget it for a whole year: p

Whoever posted the time on this page got it wrong BADLY! My friends and I came here today at 2pm and the place doesn’t open til 3 even though it says 12pm here. It was mad traffic time so we were bit stuck there so we just ended up waiting outside for an hour. Lame! I’m going to update this so it doesn’t happen again to another poor hungry person looking for some Cajun seafood.
But an update from my former review. Crab fried rice is BACK and just as delicious! They use real bits of crab. I also ordered a lb of shrimp cajun house flavor, non-​spicy. The sauce is really good! My boyfriend was addicted to it and dipped our fries in it. Before I knew it we were out of sauce.

I used to think that Boiling Crab was grossly overrated, but I have a newfound appreciation for it now. Even without a point of comparison, Cajun Symphony is one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a long time.
I shared mussels, shrimp, and oysters with my party, and none of it was anything resembling enjoyable. The house sauce, the equivalent of the whole shebang at BC, is a confused mess that just didn’t work with anything it touched. What’s worse, the seafood was clearly far from fresh. It’s pretty bad, as in Chinese buffet seafood bad. There’s a reason it’s 50% off on Wednesdays.
If you’re considering an alternative for the overcrowded Boiling Crab, please stay in line if you’re thinking of eating at Cajun Symphony.

One of the few places that serve MUSSELS yum! Came for happy hour…
Clams, original cajun: I loved the original cajun at boiling crab, so I figured this would be good too… oops. Clams were fine, though definitely not quite mixed into the sauce. The orignal cajun itself wasn’t that great and was even a bit plain.
Mussels, garlic butter: Now the garlic butter at boiling crab is too garlicky for me, but this one was just right! Perfect and delicious!
Sausage: Boiling crab’s is better by far. This is more like a glorified polish link.
Fried fish with fries: Fried fish was not too bad. A bit on the firm side and overly crunchy on the sides. Seemed a bit oily too, but I still liked it. The fries on the other hand, were slightly undercooked and had a powdery taste. There also was not enough seasoning. I wouldn’t get this again.
Overall, I’d come back for the mussels, but Boiling Crab is still better…

*sigh… Disappointed to the max!
Came here awhile ago with some friends cause we didn’t want to wait in the long ass Boiling Crab line. All the food was flavorless.
Service: The waitress was cool. Maybe cause we were the only ones inside the place.
Sorry. Next time I’ll pass.

Captain Crab is now named The Cajun Symphony. We really like the funny name and were a little turned off with the new name, but the place is the same. In my opion, this place is a gem. We do not ever go too late in the evening but right around 5pm the place is very enjoyable. The food is solid and the service is good.
We always get 2 lbs of Crawfish and 2 lbs of Clams with the Original Spicy Hot. We like spicy food and you can kill the heat with the Kirin on tap. This last time we had an extra friend so we also got 2lbs of Shrimp and they were huge. The Crab Fried Rice was also very good.
Why the name change? I don’t know and I don’t care. It will always be Captain Crab to us.

I’ve never actually been to Boiling Crab so I don’t know what to compare this place with. But, after reading much of the Unilocal reviews, I’d rather not wait in line at BC.
Captain Crab changed their name to The Cajun Symphony. I like the fact that there was no one waiting in line and we got our food really quickly. I love the shrimp and clams in their house special sauce and the fresh garlic in the sauces. It was delicious. Their sweet potato fries are also good.
The one thing I am not a fan of is probably their service.

2.5 stars, Captain.
I wanted to like this place but I have to agree with most of my fellow Unilocalers. this place is definitely no Boiling Crab.
A group of us decided to give this place a shot since we wanted to take advantage of the 50% off special. We all ordered mild and spicy lbs. of shrimp doused in garlic butter and captain’s choice flavorings. Unfortunately, I couldn’t taste a big difference between the two. In addition, their Cajun hot wings were too salty and not spicy and they ran out of the calamari I wanted to try. I only enjoyed their SWEET POTATO FRIES! But hey, let’s be realistic. you don’t go to a seafood spot just to get the sweet potato fries…

So the wait at BC was 2+hrs, and we said forget that! I opted for my usual backup plan, Crabulous (which is awesome, by the way). My friend suggested Captain Crab since it was closer. Showed up here, ZERO wait. We got the usual suspects, king crab, shrimp, fries, beer, etc. The food came out quickly, the waitress was nice and very helpful. The food was fantastic! I really don’t see what all the hype about BC is. There are so many other places that are just as good, with no wait and better parking, such as Captain Crab.
Overall, everything was yummy. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone, and I WILL be coming back. The last Wednesday of every month is 50% off if you pay cash. I’ll see you here on Wednesday.

Now this place is not as good as Boiling Crab but it’s not too bad.
Pros:
1. Parking — has a pretty big parking lot but it is located in a pretty big plaza.
2. Restaurant is pretty big… fits a lot more people then Boiling Crab but then again this restaurant is not very busy.
3. Service is alright.
Neutral /​Cons:
1. Food — — the shrimp and seasoning is good but the crab is kind of small and doesn’t seem very fresh. the fried fish is too crispy and dry =/​the fries are alright =/​
2. Pricing seems not as fair because I believe the quality wasn’t as fresh and the flavor wasn’t really great =/​
Overall if I was really really dying for some spicy garlic lemon seafood, I would probably only come here if Boiling Crab is going to make me wait 2 hours or more.

Came here on a Friday night at 7:30pm after being told there was a 1.5 hour wait at Boiling Crab. We were not disappointed. There was no wait for our grop of 5 here and the atmosphere was alive!
The service was a bit slow but they do come around eventually. We got all 3 sauces with medium heat on the following items:
Mussels — the best, they were large and perfectly seasoned
Dungeness Crab — decent, but next time, I would get the King Crab legs, meat was difficult to access (they don’t give you crab crackers, but the girls will help you do it if you ask.)
Lobster tails — nice pices of tail!
Crawfish — next time, we’ll get shrimp instead, these were hard to eat and gross looking, the heads were still on
The sauce at medium was spicy and I consider myself a person that can handle spices! Basically, this is a perfectly fine alternative to The Boiling Crab and the minus stars are for the service.

I’ve never been to Boiling Crab, but according to my brothers, they’re all the same thing. So, really, I still don’t understand all the hype… but whatever.
I went here with 10 other people and the service the girls provided were excellent. They were at our table refilling drinks as they walked by, offering ranch ’cause they could tell we really liked it with the fries, etc. The place was full, although no one was waiting in line, but you can tell that the people were enjoying the food here. We ordered about $ 400 worth of food and every single person came out satisfied.
We had the shrimp, dungeness crab, crawfish, corn, fries, and other items that never reached my side of the table. But the ones that did were very tasty and the spicyness didn’t overwhelm the taste of the seafood itself. The fries were ridiculously good too, not greasy or oily at all. Overall, I was satisfied.
Apparently it’s also 50% off every last Wednesday of the month or something, with certain orders I believe. Sounds like a deal to me =)

First of all, this was the second time i came to captain crab from having such a great first experience. BUT after experiencing my first at boiling crab in Westminster i have got to say there is no comparison anymore.
After my experience with captain crab last night i felt the need to write this review to let y’all know what to expect if y’all come to this restaurant.
PROS:
— no wait
— good atmosphere
— very spacious
— polite waitresses
— decent food
— wide variety on the menu
As for the con’s i will explain in as for detail why this place bugs me.
The con’s of this place is one the service is just terrible! we had to continuously ask the waitresses to give us refills of water or give us our orders or side sauces or more lime. and NO this wasn’t just one or two times. We had to wait 20 minutes for the waitress to come refill our waters, after asking MULTIPLE ones. We ordered extra ranch sauce on the side that we have PAY for, and it took another 20 minutes for them to bring it to the table. Seriously? How long does it take to pour ranch into a sauce container? CERTAINLY NOT 20 minutes that’s for sure! you might think im over exaggerating about the service, but trust me i’m NOT. I literally sat there with my friend flagging down every waitress atleast ONCE to give us our refills or sauces, but no one delivered.
SECONDLY, i don’t know why but they ran out of almost EVERYTHING that night. My friend decided to take me here regardless of being a vegetarian, he was fine with eating the fried okra, corn or other vegetarian items. But after ordering the waitress told us that they have ran out of almost everything vegetarian! i sat there flabbergasted and embarrassed that i was going to be devouring shrimp while my friend is going to be eating plain rice and cajun fries, when he doesn’t even like fries!
THIRDLY, the sauce! i got the captains choice, with the the mixture of all three sauces and honestly, it sucked arse. The kick of the spiciness level was awesome as it satisfied my spicy craving, but when it came down to the real flavor of the sauce it tasted gritty and sandy, just not delicious!
OVERALL, i had to give this place a two because 1 star for the warm greetings and politeness of the waitresses and the fact that there was no wait. All i got to say is if you’re craving flavorful cajun boil seafood then make your way down to Boiling crab cause this place just doesn’t cut it. Bön appettite!~ (: