The Crab Shack

Atmosphere– cool urban vibe! The food and flavor — outstanding!!! King crab legs. amazing! Order a side of garlic bread and dip in butter/​garlic sauce! Omg!!! Yum!!!

Love this place and is a great alternative to driving down to OC for Boiling Crab. Prices are also comparable. I usually get unpeeled shrimp and crawfish which is around $ 10.99-$ 11.99 per lbs. They also have combos which basically give you free corn and sausage with 3lbs of your choice of seafood.
I would warn you that the «Medium» spicy level packs a punch and is spicier than the boiling crab version of «medium» so if you’re a wimp like me, go for «mild» and maybe ask for medium sauce on the side…

I absolutely love this place. The food is soooo good. We usually get a combo #2 which is more than enough for two people. The seasoning is outstanding. I also love their garlic bread to dunk in the leftover sauce.
My only gripe is that the prices have gone up on the combos by almost $ 10. No bueno! Makes me sad.

Ambiance: spacious and bright inside, typical Cajun style decoration
Service: very patient and friendly
Food: in general ok
Shrimp — *** average taste
Clam — **** soft and juicy, recommend
Crawfish — ** so so very light taste
Sausage — **** recommend
Corn — *** average taste
Potatoes — *** average taste
Sauce — *** Cajun mix
Price: reasonably priced, expect $ 20 each

Go to the place next door quite a bit and this one always looks busy, but we made a special trip and arrived on a Friday night and walked right in. The location is noisy so not recommend if you want to have an intimate dinner and or lots of conversation but the food is very good, the prices are reasonable and the staff is super attentive.
Started off with ½ dozen oysters and they came quickly and were very fresh and tasty, a bowl of clam chowder followed and it too was good, not the best we have had but good none the less. We had a pound of shrimp each and there was more than enough, flavor was good and the shrimp was fresh.
Staff was excellent, we were seated by the manager who introduced himself and welcomed us to the restaurant, our waiter was on top of everything during the entire visit.
Prices are reasonable for what you get and we will be back, to try some of the other menu items.

This is a great alternative to Boiling Crab and other Cajun/​Creole competitors, I am not a fan of food with eyes and whiskers so I opted for peeled shrimp (no shell and deveined) which was drenched in their Cajun sauce and garlic, served with potatoes and corn. it was so so good! The waiters are very kind and patient, the portions are large and the prices are fair. I went on a Tuesday night and it wasn’t crowded at all. I will definitely be returning again!
P. S. check in and they will give you 5% off your entire bill.

I recently moved to the South Bay and was craving some Boiling Crab. Unfortunately the closest one was in Garden Grove. I wasn’t willing to drive that far to fulfill my craving so I settled with The Crab Shack. I’ve Unilocaled The Crab Shack a couple times and I saw some interesting items on the menu, but the pictures ARE deceiving.
My boyfriend and I went on a Friday Night around 7pm. There is a huge parking lot, but on a Friday night it was packed. Once we arrived, there was no wait and were seated right away. We knew what we wanted and ordered right away. FYI… they only take orders by the pound, which doesn’t make sense. Since that was the case we ordered a pound of shrimp, pound of crawfish in the crab shack style and cajun fries. Out of what we ordered the cajun fries were better than the seafood. Once the shrimp and crawfish came out I had a feeling that something wasn’t right. At the many times I have been to Boiling Crab, the seafood was covered with the seasoning. That wasn’t the case at The Crab Shack. The seasoning slid right off the shrimp and it took a bit of work to remove the shell. I understand that the seafood is frozen and not fresh, but c’mon!
Thankfully there was a discount that I found on Unilocal when I checked in and the employees were friendly. Lesson learned, I will drive to Garden Grove the next time I’m craving Boiling Crab. Don’t waste your time and money

Because they have a lot of seats, Waiting time is really short. Staff were really friendly and available to help. I love the calamari and sweet potato fries. I had 1lb of shrimp and 1lb of crawfish. With crab shack seasoning and medium level of spicy. Very tasty! Not too buttery.
I had to park at the end corner of the parking lot. But Parking lot is spacious.

shoutout to trap shack.
if you arent looking to waste 5 hours at boiling crab, this place is def a great alternative. crab shack has some great seafood surprisingly, and i recommend that you get the everything shrimp. everything is relatively cheap (only 23 $ for one person!) and fairly good to eat. i will be coming here a bit more often, because screw the boiling crab lines.

Very similar to the boiling crab, without the long wait! Very cute and clean place in a busy strip mall. I didn’t know there wouldn’t be a wait so I got mine togo… Not my smartest idea lol. So messy!!! But good!

I think the South Bay has been waiting for a decent substitute for the Boiling Crab, and we are lucky to have our wishes finally granted. The Crab Shack, decently sized, in the popular strip of restaurants in Gardena, is an awesome place to meet up with friends and family. Unlike the Boiling Crab though, the wait at the Crab Shack is not actually terrible. The service is fantastic, I actually came with a group of 5 on a Friday night at 6PM, and we ended up waiting for the last person in our party for 45 minutes. We weren’t rushed into ordering and they refilled our waters until the last in our party arrived, to which they gave her a hard time about being late haha.
I ordered a pound of shrimp with the «everything» option. My friend called it the «whole schebang», which is a Boiling Crab option and the waiter poked fun at her. I also shared a basket of cajun fries with my friends.
The food came out really fast, and we all got a pound of shrimp and fries. It was very delicious, as messy as I remembered it, and there was a little kick of fire in the «everything» mix. My friend counted her shrimp heads and ended up with 19! Which is a lot of food actually for $ 11.99. We were stuffed by the end of it, and had to wash our hands before leaving.
The Crab Shack is pretty awesome. I wouldn’t be surprised if it started getting more crowded on the weekends and weeknights.

BEST crab legs in LA! Their house sauce is so good just a tad spicy.
I wish the menu selections was a little bigger. Nevertheless the shrimp poboy and crab legs are wonderful
Can’t wait to go back

I’m really happy that there is a good Boiling Crab substitute in the South Bay that actually tastes good. I’ve never had to wait longer than around 15 – 20 minutes for a table and the service is pretty good too. The parmesan garlic fries are yum yum in the tum tum as well.
That being said, they lose a star for the shrimp. There are times when I’m not sure if the shrimp is not fresh or if they overcooked it because it can be hard to peel the shell off. I don’t have this problem at other restaurants. Also, the shrimp here can sometimes be pretty «dirty» because they often have a black «vein» running through it (which is the shrimp’s digestive track). I find myself digging my nails into the shrimp to take that black vein out, which is not that pleasant.

I came on a Saturday night and the entire strip mall was super packed! Boiling Point and Bowl Thai both had long waits, so my friend and I decided to try this place out. We did have to wait a little bit, but it was only about 10 min for a party of 2.
I got crawfish, my friend got shrimp, and we shared Cajun fries. The Cajun fries were perfect — fresh, crispy, and hot, and perfectly seasoned without being too salty.
However, we both got overcooked food. My crawfish was difficult to eat since the shells were stuck to the meat. When I got a little bit of shell off so I could pull the meat out, it would tear because it was so soft and overcooked. My friend had the same complaint, that her shrimp were difficult to peel because the shell was stubbornly stuck to the meat.
The sauce itself was good; I got medium and it was actually pretty spicy. I was pleasantly surprised, because the medium at other Cajun seafood restaurants usually isn’t very spicy to me.
The service here was outstanding! I believe our server’s name was Joshua? He was always quick to check up on us and get us anything we needed. Big ups to him!

This was my first at going through this experience. I hate getting my hands dirty but this was worth it. Took my mother and she got a kick out of and love it. The service was a lot to be desire. From the being the hostess was not nice. Too serious and not even a hello or a have a nice day. Plain rude. The waitress that attended us was nice but not too informative. Didn’t know we could ask for all to be peeled.

I don’t like this place. I can’t believe I spent $ 30 on 2 lbs of crawfish that weren’t even FRESH… usually places will offer you fresh crawfish even if it’s not in season; you’re typically given the option for frozen or fresh. Moreover, my crawfish bag was filled with tiny crawfish claws that probably took a bulk of the 2 lbs I ordered. Not cool. Their house style sauce is subpar. Claws and Boiling Crab does a lot better. Their garlic noodles was good though. Didn’t look appealing but it tasted WAY better than it looks. The garlic fries was topped with SO much garlic which is a plus for me.
In terms of customer service, they’re very mediocre. It’s because I compare them to the service I get at the Boiling Crab in Garden Grove. They seemed to be in such a rush to get our order when they still had a couple of hours left until close and no one smiles.

so many little restaurants in the plaza, so little parking…
(The Crab Shack) gets busy pretty fast!
The ambiance of the place is really chill-​very beach/​boat feeling.
I opted for the 1lb peeled shrimp instead of unpeeled-(being lazy is okay from time to time lol). It was seasoned and spiced to perfection, if you don’t enjoy spicy don’t even think of getting medium spice, even for an experienced mexican like myself it had a kick to it haha Cajun fries were fair and they charge for condiments.
The shrimp was so good I had to order another round before leaving I was stuffed-​no regrets though!
Service is fair for the amount of clients that they get-​very busy!

Finally tried this place! Glad I don’t have to venture to GG for some Boiling Crab-​esque eats.
Their prices are pretty standard. My boyfriend and I (don’t judge) got the $ 40 combo with one pound crawfish (fresh, not frozen!), one pound shrimp, and one pound clams. Also got the Dungeness crab for $ 20/​pound. Crab was two pounds, so came out to $ 40 for just the crab. We also got the Cajun calamari and the garlic bread. Bill came out to over $ 100. We got there around 5pm Sunday– no wait. But thankfully we got there when we did bc it got packed shortly after.
Food: Soooo good. Crab takes 20 mins longer than rest of food. Flavors were on point. Their garlic bread is super garlicky with little chunks of garlic (I’m used to Texas toast– which I love, but their bread was good, too). Calamari was piping hot and well flavored. We got medium spicy with all the flavors– wasn’t spicy, I would’ve gotten very spicy, but we were sharing.
Service: So torn. Our server was awesome– when he was around. I needed a spoon and it took forever to get someone’s attention. I get they have their own tables, but perhaps less tunnel vision so I don’t have to wait forever to get someone’s attention. They also never asked if we needed refills, so it took a while to flag someone down for that, too. Other than not being checked up on and the fact that it’s nearly impossible to flag someone down, the service we did receive was top notch and friendly.
Will be back! Perhaps sparingly bc we really stuffed ourselves.
P. S. Also like that they have a sink station for those of us that don’t need to use the restroom and just need to wash our hands.

Delicious Cajun seafood in a bag! It’s very similar to Boiling Crab and it’s also run by Asians in an Asian area. You order whatever seafood you like, pick a sauce and the seafood will come out in a plastic bag with your sauce in it, hot and full of flavor!
There were 3 of us and we got the Combo #2 that includes the Dungeness crab, clams, shrimp, potato, sausages, 2 corn for $ 60+. The crab was about 2 lbs and the was full of savory and succulent meat! The clams and shrimp were of decent size and they soaked up the sauce pretty well, giving them plenty of flavor. The sausages and corn were delicious too and we didn’t care for the potatoes.
We also tried their clam chowder. The flavor was pretty decent but it was a bit too watery for our taste. Not an item that we recommend unless you really crave clam chowder.
Make sure you try their garlic noodles which was recommended by a bunch of Unilocalers. The noodles were full of flavor and very garlicky but they needed some hot sauce. Sriracha it up!
Great service and nice hand washing station. All in all a great experience!

With my cracker (my hubby) with me, I was all set for this dining experience. I do not like to get my hands dirty and I certainly do not crack, spear, or dig for the delicious meat in crab legs.
We were greeted and seated pretty promptly and there was no waiting on a Sunday afternoon. All throughout our lunch, our waiter (I wished I got his name!) was right on top of every want & need we had. He brought out a paper to cover our table, paper towel roll, our tools, bibs, and a metal bucket to toss all our scraps into. (
) We shared and so basically, there wasn’t much trash when we were done.
At first I asked for just a sweet tea, then I looked at the menu and decided on getting a Deuces, which is black tea with mango and peach. I don’t think I got the right tea because it had strawberry pieces in it which would make it a Frooty Booty, but never-​the-​less, it was still great! The presentation for this is awesome! They put a piece of dry ice in the bottom and it makes the fruit pieces bubble up. It’s worth getting one of these Fresh Brewed Teas just to watch the carafe contents do their dance! (
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TIP 1: This is a place you definitely want to check in to on Unilocal!You will be rewarded with a coupon for 10% off your entire bill. Very generous because it even includes alcohol! (
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You eat right on the waxy paper they put down after you are seated, so it is fresh and clean… right off the roller. You will not get plates, they have those little carton box thingies similar to what fries are usually put in… and that is what I used as my «plate». It had our garlic bread in it and we took them out and put those on a paper towel.
We ordered:
Gumbo — I highly recommended it! It is full of okra, andouille sausage, and shrimp. We got ours without rice. For an additional cost, you can add shrimp or crab. (
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Garlic Bread — VERY Garlic-​y
Step#1 is to Pick your seafood — we chose KING CRAB LEGS. According to my cracker AKA meat picker AKA hubby… the meat was fairly easy to retrieve. They cut the crab legs lengthwise making it easier for the diner.
Sides — corn cobs and potatoes, they came in the same bag along with the crab legs.
Step#2 is to pick your seasoning & spice level — we chose «The Crab Shack Style» and «Spicy». My husband asked for «as spicy as you can make it». For me, it packed enough heat, but it didn’t really have the same effect on hubby because he is accustomed to super hot stuff.
TIP 2: If you prefer not to get your hands messy, you can request plastic gloves from your waiter/​server.
To the right of the service area, there is a neon blackboard, there is a listing with all the seafood market prices for the day, be sure to take a look. Also, if you look further left, there is a lighting with beer bottles, those are the brands of beers which they have on sale. (
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Finally, about the dining experience… when you are finished, there are sinks at the back of the restaurant (on your way to the restrooms, where you can wash up your messy hands & give your face a little wipe down. (
) Can you imagine how dirty the restroom door handles would be if everyone had to open the door with dirty hands? Someone did some genius thinking there!
I must not be very Asian because I was wondering how the rice would be eaten with the seafood! The table next to us had ordered rice and spread out a pile in front of each of them on the paper and put their seafood right on top. I didn’t see any forks or chopsticks, so I don’t know if there were any. I was facing the wall and my hubby and didn’t really notice much else. I ate my potato with my spoon from the gumbo. Have you seen how people «get down to business» with their food at the seafood places on the pier? It amazes me!
This place is pretty cool! It is all decorated with a nautical theme, of course! (
) It’s interesting that they use pallets as décor for their wall. (
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IF you happen to bring along a non-​seafood lover, they do serve a Cajun Burger with fries. If we should happen to visit here again, that might be a good option for my husband! They also have Crab Shack (chicken) Wings in their Starters section.
I would really come back here again as a treat! Seafood isn’t inexpensive, so we will be back every now and then. All in all, this was a wonderful lunch experience! Thank you!