Meh, the theme here is great, but the actual food is lacking. The crab ball started were really good — fresh crab and lightly fried. The rum and crab soup was a disappointment. It’s a basic tomato soup with barely any crab in it. The soup was quite bland as well. For mains had the crab salad, which was really light and refreshing and had a lot of crab on it. The crab shack burger was quite impressive to look at, however was lacking in flavor as well. The rum cocktails were excellent as was the view. Would stop into other places before coming here again.
Luke H.
Place rating: 3 Nunhead, London, United Kingdom
Not too bad a place. We went for lunch & had the prawn gumbo & the shack burger, a beer & glass of wine. All in all not to bad for £20 all up.
Thomas G.
Place rating: 4 Nauvoo, AL
one of the few places we got a table without reservation. we enjoyed a very casual dinner for a very reasonable price with great quality(and quantity). the atmosphere is quirky busy and lively but we loved it and the view across the Barbour was very beautiful. the crab sandwich was very delicious, the sweet potato fries were a wonderful treat and the mussle pot was awesome. sadly it was too much for desert, but we will come again for sure.
Marina L.
Place rating: 5 Norwood, Australia
We were just walking past looking for somewhere for dinner and came across this option. Lucky that we did as we all had a great meal. The staff were all very friendly and food came out quickly. The steak was cooked to perfection. Highly recommend this spot!
Anya T.
Place rating: 2 London, United Kingdom
Ok, so i think this one was somehow overhyped. It sure does look enticing — the menu sounds good and every night we tried to get in there for dinner, we were told we had to wait for at least an hour for a table. The place was rammed! Intrigued and thinking we are missing out on the best crab in St Ives, we went there for lunch, and hey presto! — free table. The food is VERYVERY average, i left hungry and unsatisfied. Sorry, would not really recommend of rave about it. There are so many other good fish places to eat in St Ives — go explore, don’t wait for an hour for sure
Frederic L.
Place rating: 4 Bristol, United Kingdom
Good restaurant, with a nice view over the port. While booking ask for a table next to the window. We ordered crab claws and a Shack Burger. All was very good and tasty. Staff was very friendly. I recommend this place. Even if we only ate there, there is a nice bar with lounge and coaches.
Becky H.
Place rating: 3 Vancouver, Canada
As a tourist canvassing around Cornwall, I can’t say I know where the«best» seafood places are, so we just stopped by this fun restaurant by the St Ives shore. The Crab Shack has been around for about 2 months, and it definitely has potential. The atmosphere was nice and cozy: one half of the restaurant was set close to the fireplace, with big leather couches and chairs, and small wooden tables(and I think I saw a trunk box as well). The other half was standard wooden tables and chairs, with a nice view. we opted to sit by the window. The menu prices for seafood were very reasonable, and there was a good variety of food there. I should have taken a pic of the menu, but I forgot… and since there isn’t a website up yet, I“ll try to run off a few items that I can remember: Calamari(£5), clam and Smoked haddock chowder(£6/£10), rum and crab soup(£5), Crab sandwiches, crab cakes, soft shell crab burger with fries(£13). For the mains, you could order a whole crab for £12, and from what I read on Tripadvisor, its a fun + messy meal :) In the end, we decided on: Jambalaya with Crab, Ling Cod and Shrimp — £13: Of all the items, this was the favorite, flavor-wise. There were little chunks of crab, and baby shrimp, but the cod was mashed up — couldn’t tell it was even there. Rum Shack Gumbo with tomato based okra stew with tiger prawns and crab, side of rice — £13: This was a bit spicy, and had large prawns, though the crab and okra was largely undetected. The crab was shredded up, and I’m a big fan of Okra — unless it was blended up, I couldn’t find this in the dish at all. Maybe they didn’t have any in? Mac n Cheese — £2.50: my least favorite dish. It tasted like a standard flour-based cheddar cheese sauce, but I think it needed to use a sharper cheese, as the flavor was quite weak. A big improvement would be to stick the mac n cheese into the oven for a bit, topped off with some cheese and breadcrumbs for a nice crispy crust. Clam and smoked haddock chowder — £6: a standard«small» size bowl came with 3 clams in a creamy potato chowder. While the flavor was good, I think it lacked any smokey taste of the haddock. it tasted more like just a potato and leek soup. I also think it could have used more clam juice /nectar. The haddock was also crumbled into little bits, almost nonexistent. Again, this restaurant has only been open for 2 months, there are a few things they could work on, but the food was decent. The big thing I would say that needs improvement is not to «mash» up the seafood into little bits. I would have liked to enjoy eating pieces of seafood, not searching for it in the soup/sauce. The server was very nice, gave us some suggestions, very accommodating. To be fair, this is called the Rum and Crab shack, so maybe I should have ordered a whole crab instead? Will come back to try :)
