It's little sentimental mood during writing this review. Mahalo for your not only good food but also great service, hospitality with aloha. I and my family have been Karai Crab since they were old location inside the Willows. We were always gather with friends and had a great time. After Covid, they moved current location but sadly they close their door. (Old location was old Hawaiian feeling and new place is bright and modern) I think Karai Crab is the almost first restaurant to serve steamed crab, shrimp, shellfish, with corn, potato, and with sauce (is it called Louisiana style? I don't know,,,) on island. It's fun and yum! Our family and friends decided to go dinner last minutes before they are closed. And had a great last dinner here! Mahalo for 13years!!!! We gonna miss you... read more

Karai Crab - Big Mahalo for all Karai Crab staff!! - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Let's meet at Karai Crab. Law of the Claw #3, Be Your Crabulous Self. No Imitations. Love this! ;) We got the Colossal Sampler. It's their seafood boil with 1 cluster of snow crab, 1 cluster of king crab leg, 1 cluster of Dungeness crab, 6 shrimps, 4 mussels, 2 red potatoes, 2 corns halves of corn, 6 clams, 1 boiled egg, 3 pineapple-Portuguese sausage and 2 bowls of steamed rice. For the sauce, we got it on the side, the Karai Special Sauce. It's a mixed of garlic butter with Cajun seasoning. I also ordered a side of the cayenne sauce to add the extra sizzle in my mouth. I like it hot but my friend can only handle level one of hotness! Our server is Gigi. She's the perfect server! She was attentive, friendly and you could see her eyes smiling with the mask on. She's totally crabulous!!! I hope her management shellebrate her!!! The restaurant got lots of nice wallpaper covers of the 3 Laws of the Claws. - Law of the Claw #1 Crack A Smile - Law of the Claw #2 Let's Shellebrate - Law of the Claw #3 Be Your Crabulous Self. No Imitations The atmosphere is nice and quiet but can totally feel a peaceful dinning. The patrons kept to themselves, like we did, as we indulged ourselves with our crabulous seafoods!!! Parking, currently getting fix so we got out for FREE. It's a bit confusing so be careful when you drive in. You will need to drive down, not drive up. There's lot of space. The bathroom is ok. It can use a little TLC. I'm giving them a 5-stars BECAUSE of GIGI!!! Thank you for reading my review. Have a great night! read more

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DELICIOUS seafood!!!! I finally got to have King crab and it was so good. Everything was fresh, good flavor & seasoning, and excellent attentive service. read more

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Absolutely delicious--Karai Crab exceeded expectations! We ordered The Kraken, and it fed our group of 4 perfectly (honestly, it could stretch to 6 depending on how hungry you are). The Karai Special seasoning with cayenne spice was pure perfection--flavorful, bold, and not too overpowering. Every bite was juicy and packed with flavor. The service? Top-tier. Friendly, fast, and made sure everything was just right. With 4 people, the Kraken, and a few drinks, our total came to about $360--well worth it for the quality and experience. Definitely recommend for seafood lovers or anyone looking for a fun, flavorful dining night in Honolulu! read more

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My daughter goes to Oahu often and this is her favorite place to eat so when we went together, she HAD to bring me here. Her favorite is the snow crab and we were lucky enough that they had all you can eat snow crab on the menu. You have 90 minutes to eat it, and if you waste any, you get fined (which is more than fair.) You get to choose your pick of different flavored butters. My favorite was the garlic butter. But we recommend you get the butter on the side or else it becomes super messy. I like to squeeze some lemon juice in the warm butter and then dip the crab in. You get a bib and (ginormous) gloves plus a variety of tools to get out the crab meat. The crab was very fresh and flavorful. The girls working there are very sweet and attentive. My daughter told me she was friendly with the manager who always remembers her and is extremely sweet but unfortunately she wasn't there that night. It's a bit chilly in the restaurant so bring your jacket! Please support this wonderful restaurant. read more

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Great service and friendly staff Made experience really great. First time here got the garlic noodles! High recommend, I think I could eat two haha. Got snow crab and king crab level one spicy do not go over. You can get side samples and try the hotter ones. They give lots so might want to order one order at a time. I did double order and was stuffed! read more

Karai Crab - Garlic Noodles - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Saw the reviews and wanted to try this place out. It didn't disappoint! The sauces were great and seafood a hit. Each person gets a bib with gloves...good thing as it's messy. We tried the karai, garlic butter and lemongrass garlic butter sauces. All great with lots of it. If we had anything to do over, it's to order a side of bread to soak up all the sauce goodness. The garlic noodles were chewy with a great garlic butter sauce. The shrimp, colossal combo and lobster were delicious! Such a great find. read more

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We have tons of Vietnamese cajun crab boil places in the Bay Area. So we were excited to try a place in Hawaii. We ordered Dungeness crab and clams in karai special sauce. We also got garlic noodles and cajun spiced popcorn shrimp. Our least favorite was the garlic noodles. I've had a lot of garlic noodles in my lifetime and this had no flavor. The cajun spiced popcorn shrimp was delicious. The crab and clam was good as well. The sauce for the crab and clam was okay to me. It's missing an umami flavor to it. read more

Karai Crab - crab, clams, bread - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Staff was super helpful. Seafood was delicious. A little pricey, but worth it to me because it would be way too much work to prep & clean up at home. Heard there's a kamaaina, we forgot to ask, so it's still a rumor to me ... They even have a nice sauce sampler, winners if you're like me and wanna try all the sauces. They'll also do the spicy sauces separately, if you've got a mix of hot/spice tolerances ... only thing is it's an extra charge. The ghost pepper sauce was super tasty, but too hot for me. read more

Karai Crab - Love that they give bibs, gloves & all the instruments you need to get to the meat! - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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My son wanted to eat crab for his birthday, so we decided to go Karai crab again and made reservations on yelp. We last ate at the restaurant 9 years ago before they moved, and they were so good, Trying them again, their service is an excellent 5 stars, but their food is a mix to average to a 3 star: House salad - 3 stars - when we first were served the house salad, the cucumber was waterlogged and tasted spoiled, like it was left in the freezer for a few days then thawed out. The dressing also tasted a bit spoiled, thus a 0 star, but when we asked the waiter if it was supposed to be like this, he immediately replaced it with a new one and apologized. The second salad was a 3 star, but the first salad left a bad taste in our mouths and stomach, and luckily didn't get sick from it. Chicken wings - 5 stars - my son said these chicken wings were better than other chicken wings he tried. Although a little salty, it had a great bold flavor, and cooked just right, crispy skin and tender inside. Colossal sampler - 3 stars - the shrimp and mussles were great, but the crab had little or no meat in it, and inside was also cold. One of the crab legs was super thorny, so it was hard to handle. The Karai sauce was the bomb. I would give the sauce 5 stars. It's half of their full colossal special and came with corn and potato. Seafood pasta - 3 stars - the seafood was ok with the noodles, but maybe it just wasn't my taste, but I did't really care for the sauce because it tasted a little sour to me. My son got a free dessert for his birthday. He said it was really good. Service - 5 stars - they constantly checked if we were ok and replaced the salad with no problem. Very friendly and personable. They also gave 15% off kamaaina discount, so it was less than what I projected, plus a free birthday dessert. Would have been a better deal if we could have gone during Happy Hour, between 5-6p, since certain items were half off, and it's not so dark, but we couldn't make it in time. Parking - they validate if you park in the interstate building in the back, or there are free metered parking right in the front after 6pm. However, the outside is has a homeless walking around and it's barren, so we had to be vigilent of our surroundings both in the parking lot because they could walk in and no guard watching the cars, and no one outside on the street. read more

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Best seafood boil, friendly staff, easy parking, wish we could've gone one last time, will be missed

Got take out here for 5ppl worth. spent about $180 got some combos, fries, and chicken wings. sauce on the combos were not really compatible with my families palate which is okay, everyone has there own opinion. The biggest thing that really ruined the whole experience is the corn in the combo bags. THEY WERE ROTTEN. took a bite of the corn, it was slimey, smelly, and just plain disgusting. for a place that serves corn daily, you'd think the chef would know when the corn was bad or not. Service was pretty good, and that's the only reason I gave this review a 2 star. would not come back for the food read more

Feeling a bit crabby? Then this place is perfect for you. This restaurant is located in the Interstate Building off of King Street. You can either park on the street (depending on the time of day) or elect to pay for parking in the parking structure with validation. If you parked in the structure, you can enter the restaurant in the back area but will need to walk through the restaurant to see the host for a table. Once you are seated, you'll have a hard decision on what to eat because everything just sounds amazing. Here are some of the items I ordered in the past: APPETIZERS: Oyster Shooters: Fresh. Opted for the chili pepper water and ponzu mix which gave that perfect umami spicy flavor. Popcorn Shrimp: crispy on the outside and juicy shrimp on the inside. Though relatively small, this appetizer is evenly coated with the seasoned batter and packs a lot of flavor when paired with freshly squeezed lemon juice and marinara sauce. Clam Dip: Freshly made by the kitchen, this dip also packed a lot of savory flavor. The homemade shrimp chips definitely elevates the dish with the added texture No Mess Shrimp: Extra juicy with extra flavoring without catching any PEELings (get it PEELings?). ENTREES: Seafood Pasta: Creamy and filling! The seafood itself tasted fresh and was cooked perfectly giving that right amount of crunch. It's a good alternative to select if you're not looking to get your hands dirty. Dungeness crab cluster with Karai special at medium (cayenne): Not for the clean eaters. You might want to take up on the offer for a bib, gloves, and those scissors. The end result is some perfectly cooked sweet juicy crab meat dipped with the perfect sauce. Pairs well with either a glass of white wine or a beer. Snow crab cluster with Karai special at medium (cayenne): Same as above, not for the clean eaters. Though it is not as hard as cracking open the Dungeness crab, this also is cooked perfectly and provides a very savory crab meat pairing quite well with the sauces. I still would take up on the offer for a bib, gloves, and scissors. Service is here is pretty great too! From the beginning to the very end, the staff here are very accommodating and friendly. They were always checking on us to see how we were doing and if we needed anything. Which makes this place worth checking out. Side note though: the last time we came, it was hella packed. According to staff, it has been much busier than pre-covid. Therefore, might want to ask for a reservation or ask to sit at the bar if you can't wait for a table. They do offer happy hour too which is always a plus! read more

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Took our gf there for her bday. 3 of us girls with eyes bigger than our stomachs. Menu is a little overwhelming...so much and everything sounds good. I'm on a diet, so I'll go back to try the rest when I'm really able to overindulge. We started with the Prime Rib pupu, Karai chicken wings, clam linguini. I didn't try the linguini, but the prime rib was good and the chicken wings were really good. So nice and crispy. I'd go back just for the wings. Then we got the Colossel Kracken...which we were warned was generally for 4-6 peeps. They had to move us to a bigger table to accommodate all our food and wine bucket. We wanted to sub clams for muscles but guess they forgot. No biggie. You know what I loved the most other than the chicken? Pesto broccoli. I never thought to pesto my broccoli, but dang it was delish. We each went home with a bagful of kracken, and I ended up with some broc and prime also. Way too much food. The workers were all super nice and helpful. I like the new location on King St. I'd go back in a heartbeat. read more

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WOW! We had a great time here celebrating my bday 3 months later. Mahalo to the crew at Karai Crab for putting up with us and helping us make memories here. Mahalo to Aunty Nadine C for organizing this event and to all the Yeeps who came to celebrate my belated bday! What an honor, just sorry this thank you is nearly 3 yrs later LOL. If you're just hungry and mainly want seafood, this is da joint. Located in the Interstate Building on King with street parking and structure parking from both King and Young St. The place is the well lit, creatively decorated, and with ample seating. We ate a spread of items off their menu but know that nothing tasted bad and everything was exceptional... even after 3yrs I can attest to that much. I remember the non-seafood stuff was ono too... the garlic bread (I love bread) and the fried chicken were very ono! The sauce that was on my crab was seasoned well and not salty at all. I've had places where they apply their sauce and comes out supa salty, but not here. Service was on point and kept up with our demands and questions. Made us feel like we were at someone's home and didn't try to rush us out. Again, we thoroughly enjoyed our time. So, if you're just hungry for seafood or need to plan an outing, check out Karai Crab fo' da grindz. Til my next visit, Grind On! Pau! read more

My first time here and I enjoyed the food for the most part! The sauces were good and the seafood was decent as well. They also had some other food selections of non seafood appetizers. If you haven't been to a Cajun seafood restaurant before, it might surprise you a bit that it might not be run by creole or Cajun people, but operated by Asian people including those in California. I don't know about you, but i thought this would be a Louisiana thing and I would expect to see a sassy and nice black lady coming to greet me but she's nowhere to be found lol. Anyway, the food was good and I think the highlights were the popcorn shrimp and the wings. They're both crispy and very flavorful. I liked the seafood boil too, but I feel like the sauce was good but it was lacking some punch to it, like it didn't make me wanna lick the sauce or finish the sauce with rice. Can't tell what's missing, of course I'm comparing it with the shebang sauce from boiling crab. I liked the garlic noodles too but I also feel like something was lacking but I couldn't say what exactly. I actually prefer having the seafood served in a plastic bag, which might be weird to some, because the sauces will just pool to the bottom and it's easy to access it even before the seafood was finished. The price was a bit steep too for what it was, and so I feel like if it wasn't finger licking good, it's kinda hard to justify coming back. But if you haven't been here, definitely give it a try, especially if you're in the mood for some seafood boil!!! The environment was comfortable to dine in. Their high chairs weren't as messed up as some other restaurants too! Also I wish they had actual seafood crackers instead of the shears with the small part for seafood cracking, it's just more satisfying to use as cracker for me. Overall it's a great experience! Stop thinking about it and just go try it already haha And happy lunar new year! read more

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I found this spot on social media. I was so excited that they had chicken skins! I was terribly disappointed when I got there to find they no longer had them. We enjoyed our meal. The sauce was delicious. The drink was alright. But the food was good. read more

Karai Crab - Colossal Sampler - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Such a medium sized and quaint restaurant with friendly servers. We came early when it first opened and it was pretty empty but really picked up in business near dinner hour. Didn't see much of a wait though. Still plenty of seating bc the restaurant is deep. Had a full sized wall decoration with really cute and funny crab puns. We ordered the kraken meal which EASILY fed 5 of us and we had a bit leftover. We got the karai special sauce and cayenne spice level. The snow crab legs were amazingly seasoned and had plenty of meat on them. Some of the best snow crab I've had. Definitely set the standard. read more

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We have been going to Karai Crab ever since it was back at Willows. We LOVE them! When Covid shut downs ended, Karai Crab was one of the first places we went (as they started to open back up). When they moved from Willows, they had to shut down for a while, we were crushed!! ;0) since we didn't know if the would reopen, when they did, we came as soon as we could!! We love the Snow Crab, No Mess Shrimp (both with Karai Special flavoring with Cayenne!), Garlic Noodles and our son adds on the Catfish Plate! I'll get the hotter flavor butter sauce on the side! Nice selection of drinks. Service is excellent and very attentive. And, they keep the restaurant very clean! (Even though things can go flying as you eat the crab legs!! Karai Crab was my choice for Father's Day (I had ALL restaurants to choose from!!) They may be a tad more than other crab family style restaurants, but they are 100% worth it!!! read more

Karai Crab - Karai Special Snow Crab... soooo good! - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Karai Crab is closing down 1/31/2025. Garlic noodle had a lot of garlic! Pairs well with the cajun seafood boils. Unfortunately they were out of king crab so ordered dungeness crab combo. Sauce was cajun garlic butter good. Corn is a must. Service was good. Also nice vibes with parking. read more

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This is a 3.5 stars Immediately greeted and seated upon arrival. Server gave great suggestions as far as food tips, how much to order, sauces, and spice level. Given bibs, napkins, crab crackers, and scissors, chopstickers, and a large empty metal bowl for shells. Honey chicken wings. Piping hot. Delicious taste. Nice crunch on batter. Garlic noodles. Flavor was good. Noodles itself a bit dry from being reheated. Since this was a crab place and I love love crab, I skipped the Dungeness and Snow Crab legs and went for the Big Kahuna of crabs---King Crab legs. (Note: I've only had fresh King Crab legs--living and swimming in a tank 30 minutes before it's served 3 ways from a Chinese restaurant. The meat is sweet, juicy, and succulent). These were frozen. No juices were popping, but the flavor of the sauce "made up" for it. Honestly my favorite were the fatty clams in sake miso broth. Wow! I was so excited for these shells, using my gloves hands to scoop some of the soup into the shell before taking a bite to bite into the meat. Juices flowing everywhere. They were so fresh and cooked just right where NOT a taste of the yucky aftertaste that slightly undercooked clams bring was present. Every chew was tasty thru and thru. I HIGHLY recommend the clams here! Yummmm! Be sure to also soak some bread into the broth. So worth it! To finish off, we had an interesting twist on the warm chocolate chip cookies. There were crushed potato chips inside giving it a salt sweet taste. Bog Wave beer was good as well as the Maui Brewing Compant rootbeer. Helpful Tips: Made a reso for the same night thru Yelp. Google brought up to a different address down the street). Karai is located in the Easy Music Center building. There is street parking, or behind the restaurant ( clearance is 6'2", so not all SUV/ trucks fit). read more

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Another salty meal in Hawaii for me. The salt and pepper shrimp wasn't very flavorful, but it was crispy. Loved the sweet potato fries - they were very crispy. The chicken skin chips were flavorful but I wish it was a light crisp. It was a very hard crunch. The honey garlic shrimp was sweet and nicely flavored but very salty. Karai combo was lacking in the cajun crab boil flavors I was looking for. We got the Karai Special - cayenne. This was also a very salty dish. The shrimp didn't taste fresh and was over cooked. The clam and muscles tasted quite fishy. A clam in our dish was extremely sandy. read more

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My husband liked this place so much we came here twice in our trip! The Service here was great, the waiter and waitress were consistently checking on us and refilled our waters whenever empty. What we didn't like about this place was that it was 8pm and this couple tried to sit and eat but they said it was to go only at that point. We didn't feel like that was right to turn those customers away, especially after hearing that they took an uber all the way here. It doesn't make sense to be open for literally from 5-9 and only have dine in from 5-8 but what do I know. It does state that last seating is an hour before closing on their website. They have a decent happy hour where I think it's like $30 off their "The Kraken" and $10 off for snow crab. I think the only issue I had with this place was that their shrimp were so small and I genuinely didn't feel like you got the whole amount. The places in the bay have fat shrimp & it seems like they give way more in a pound. Their garlic noodles were also different than what we're used to getting at these seafood spots too. We would probably come back when we're back in town or try a diff seafood boil place! read more

Waitress and servers were friendly and the food was delightful. Inside was small and clean. Wasn't a fan of the fried chicken skins lacked seasoning. read more

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Came here with the family to take a break from holiday cooking marathon. They loved it! We like the karai special sauce level 2. We also like their garlic noodles and garlic wings and miso sake clams. read more

Karai Crab - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Everything here is pretty tasty, but just needs a little more salt. Cajun usually has a good amount of spices and typically leans on the salty side. The food came out so fast on our visit. It also seems like you need to make reservations ahead of time because I saw some people getting turned away. The cornbread was delicious, but I think the butter needs to be less cold or the bread warmer because the butter was not melting. We enjoyed the pan roast. It's not a large portion, but with other dishes ordered it was enough for everyone. The Cajun shrimp we ordered mild and it was still pretty spicy. Garlic noodles were recommended by the server, but it was needing a little more garlic flavor, though I did appreciate the large chunks of garlic. Service was very attentive and welcoming. I'll come here again for more Cajun cravings and to try some of their other offerings. read more

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Made reservations through the Yelp app, very handy. Ordered the Snow Combo for the 2 kids, and the cioppino for me. We also got the kimchee garlic shrimp fried rice, which came a little crispy-burnt, which was awesome! Got a side of miso sake clams. The miso sake sauce from the clams was sooo good we dipped everything in it! The cioppino was okay, but of course the star of the show was the Combo in the big bowl. My kids attacked it, but I reached in every once in a while to steal a sausage or corn. Their sausage is great, as is the seafood. The yuzumon drink was a little small for $7, but it had a great taste. We ended up finishing all the food, mostly thanks to my son the human-vacuum-cleaner. Would we return? Definitely...maybe next time we'll splurge & try the King Combo. We were too full for dessert but they looked good. $130 for 3 of us, & we left $26 tip so $156 total which included 1 alcoholic beverage. Not too bad for a messy, great dinner! read more

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This place is pretty good... I have been a couple times. The meal that I ordered - one of the crab boils was plentiful and fairly priced (honestly I thought pricey before I received meal- it was enough to share) ... friendly staff - would recommend based off experience. read more

We really enjoyed our food! It was tasty, messy, everything you want in a seafood boil! We ordered snow crab plus the add on of the other stuff, and could barely finish - mussels, clams, shrimp, potatoes, corn. We got garlic butter with cayenne spice & the seasoning was just perfect! Plus it was happy hour, so the price was low! read more

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This. Place. Is. LEGIT. Came here on a Friday during Happy Hour and ordered the Kraken, garlic noodles, mushrooms, and a bottle of Chardonnay, which was chilling in a bucket of ice - very nice touch. If you're like me and a little extra about having your hands smell like garlic, then I recommend forgoing the plastic kimchi gloves, and bring your own latex free nitrile gloves. I promise you, it will hold and won't compromise the dining experience as you devour this seafood feast. Staff was friendly, restaurant was clean, and there is a parking garage connected to the restaurant (but prepare to pay $3 w/ validation). I was in a party of 4, there was more than enough food for us so no one was being shellfish (pun intended). By the time we were done, there was a lonely potato none of us had room for. Can't wait to come back again! read more

Karai Crab - Kraken - 4lbs Snow Crab, 2lbs Shrimp, 1lbs Mussels/ clams, 6 pc potatoes, corn, & pineapple Portuguese sausage with Garlic Butter sauce - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

So sad this place is closed. If the owners ever get a chance to read this. Your food was amazing. You made my daughter 10th birthday so very special and memorable with chocolate chip potatoes chip cookies and lovely kind attentive service. Thank you. read more

I spent eight days in Honolulu and was sad I only managed to eat at Karai Crab on two nights! I'm sure all of their food is great, but the snow crab with Karai Special sauce is what keeps me coming back for more. Wait staff are very attentive and pleasant. Reservations are highly encouraged, and a necessity for parties of four or more. read more

Karai Crab - Bib and shelling utensils. - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Food and service are over the top. But it's not cheap. Casual accepting atmosphere

This was our first time dining in at this location, we use to go to the old location then during the pandemic we only did take out. We got there and only 3 parties were dining. It got busier as the night went on. Parking is in the Interstate Building and the restaurant partially validates the cost. Park on the street if possible. We ordered Cioppino, and Seafood Pasta, both were very tasty and full of seafood. I had to order the bread sop up the broth. The staff is very attentive and keep dropping by to make sure your experience is going well. Great time and good food. Definitely a place to eat! read more

Karai Crab - Cioppino - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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If you love crab, this is the place to go. The Sampler is enough for 2 people, and garlic shrimp is very tasty read more

Karai Crab - Crab Sampler - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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I love the new location. The service is always great- very attentive servers. Always friendly and they really take care. I come here for one reason--- the SPICE! They got habanero or ghost pepper spicy! It's in the name - Karai! If the spice isn't up to your expected spice levels- TELL THEM. They will bring out spice on the side for you. I ordered ghost pepper shrimp and it came out very mild (previously was FIRE) and they brought me extra spice to remediate the discrepancy. The beer was 10 bucks a pitcher for Maui blonde. Happy hour is from 4-6pm. I will be back! read more

My sister was in town and wanted to take her to some place special and different. I decided on Karai Crab since I haven't been back since Covid . I'm glad I did and was not disappointed. All the staff who waited on us were super nice and even suggested that they have a kamaaina discount which I was not aware of. Since there were 9 of us ... we ordered the Kraken which should feed 4-6 people. But we had more than enough and even had left overs. So maybe should also say for seniors ... feed 8-10 people. The Kraken had everything... 4lbs Snow crabs.. clams ... mussels... shrimps ... sausages..potato.. corn cobs in their delicious house sauce! We also ordered side Miso clams ... famous garlic noodles ... delicious calamari and chicken wings . So maybe we did order too much but everything looked good on the menu .. we wanted to try everything. It was definitely a feast!! Lol!! read more

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Sooo yummy! Would go a hundred more times if we could!! It was the perfect late night date on our honeymoon read more

Karai Crab - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

We walked in on a Friday night without reservations at approx 6:00pm and was seated promptly. It seems the seats/tables are geared toward groups more than couples. It was our first time here and at any crab/seafood bake type eatery but I've seen enough pictures to expect to get messy. It was an ok experience for us both, but not likely to return. What we ordered for two adults: The chicken skin chips ($6) were crispy. They're sizeable breast/thigh skin pieces too. Some bits were super salty. The sauce was interesting though, I'm not sure it complements well imo. The Karai combo ($35) was a decent portion, possibly could feed three people. It came with maybe 7-8 shrimp with heads, 4 mussels, clams, two 1/3 ears of corn, a couple of sausage chunks, and maybe 3 potatoes. The Karai special sauce was super salty and garlicky. Pan roast ($19) was so-so. Ordered on a whim. I think it's tomato-based. Supposed to have crab but I barely found any, maybe the meat is so shredded and blended in the sauce? Kinda salty but also bland. Pros: Our food was served relatively fast and they were hot. For the most part, there was sufficient attention from the waitstaff and our water glasses were constantly refilled. In the hour or so we were there, servers checked on us two or three times. Cons: We entered through the parking garage entrance. I didn't see any sign to wait to be seated or check in at hostess stand at the front entrance, and none of the wait staff made eye contact. But so we made our way to the hostess station. I barely heard the server tell us to scan the QR code for the menu, which I find out also doubles as online/takeout ordering platform. Were we supposed to enter the order that way? Anyway, he showed up a few minutes later to take our order. So the part that irks me is I overheard another server, Kaylie/Kaylee, explain the process and difference in sauces etc to another table. Which we did not get from our server. Sure he asked if we had any questions but we didn't know we could customize different levels of spice etc. Spacious interior. Nice wall murals! Looks like they have a decent selection of beverages but we stuck to water to wash down the saltiness. Garage parking is validated, $3 flat rate. We didn't use our bibs and were told they have to dump them anyway so we took them home (maybe for when we make our own seafood combo.) read more

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If you are a seafood fan this is the place to go! Be prepared to use your hands and not play with your phone to take Yelp photos! We did a family pan with original dry rub. They were also nice enough to give me a sample of the butter garlic sauce. I liked both but the original had a bit of a kick so I liked it better. I didn't waste my time with the plastic food service gloves. Just washed my hands and started digging in. The family pan we chose came with shrimp, clam, mussels, snow, king and Dungeness crab. The sidekicks were also tasty; sausage, sweet corn, and potato's. This is a great place to enjoy with family and friends for a casual seafood meal! read more

Karai Crab - Original seasoning - Seafood Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii