We had dinner at Mad Boiler after hearing about it in the West Loop News; wow am I glad I did! Décor: The place isn't very large, but inside there are a bunch of tables and also there are a few seats/tables outside as well. The décor is fine but it is obvious that it is built for one reason: the business of eating good food. In fact, I love that they know the business they are in: there are two sinks OUTSIDE of the bathrooms for washing your hands - OUTSTANDING! There is a small bar where you can grab a drink and the kitchen in the back projects delicious smells throughout the dining area. I wouldn't describe the lighting as "bright" but it is certainly ample. Bathroom: clean and well maintained Staff: Given that they just opened it was no surprise there are still a few hiccups to be worked out. In particular, because we sat outside and never saw a waitress to begin with, we were not sure if you go in to place your order or not (you don't). Once we realized that the waitress was new, and was covering inside AND outside tables, we didn't worry; we were in no rush anyway. But overall, she was trying really hard and the other waiter and busboys were helping too. The HUGE help she provided was talking me down from "level 4" spicy to "level 3" haha. Food: The menu is pretty simple and offers a variety of options. I went with a pound of shrimp (they only do increments of a pound, so no halfsies) and the Cajun Dry Rub (I went with Level 3 heat and WOW was it spicy. I LOVE spicy stuff but I honestly think that I'd go Level 2 next time! It wasn't inedible but it was HOT). Along with the shrimp I added sausage and potatoes - both were great - and washed it down with a beer. The boil bag (it comes out in a clear plastic bag) came out and everything was very hot and tasted nice and fresh. Value: It's seafood, so it can quickly get pricey. However, the quality is there and the flavors are wonderful. I will say that the $2 price for each "add" is a bit steep (given how much of each is actually added to the boil) though. I'd like to see that come down a bit in price (I mean, $2 for bread??) I absolutely LOVE seafood boils and this place does a GREAT job. Already I cannot wait to come back and have been telling everyone that will listen about it. read more

Carry out only. Parking in front. Nice, clean set up. Delicious food. They gave me bibs and gloves for dinning at home.

Honestly this is the best seafood place out. I've been to other seafood spots and none of them compare. This was my first experience with seafood and honestly I'm glad it was. The food is perfectly seasoned and when you choose your spice level you get what you ask for. This place is byob which is also nice. I'm not even going to try any other seafood places at this point. Mad boiler is the best. read more

We arrived on a quiet Sunday evening and sat outside to enjoy one of the remaining days of summer. Our server, Angel, gave us a rundown of the menu and gave recommendations that we thought over. We ended up getting the shrimp with garlic butter and the spice rub which was so good! The blue crab with the coco curry and sweet chili was also really good-- we decided though that we'll try it with shrimp or crawfish next time. The shrimp noodle was our starter- we enjoyed it but felt it could have used a little salt. Overall we had a great meal and can't wait to return to try the crawfish! Oh and we really liked that they face is gloves to wear while we ate-- it made the experience a lot more enjoyable than having to wipe out hands off a ton. read more

Madison Crab House - Shrimp Cajun noodles - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Excellent food (ordered the first Combo with mad sauce & Mussels with coco curry sauce). Staff was wonderful - attentive and helpful! We'll definitely be back. read more

I'm glad I didn't let the negative reviews keep me away from this place. It was delicious and I'll be back for sure. I only tried the shrimp so I can't speak on how anything else taste on the menu. It's cheaper than Joe's Crab Shack AND you get more food. 1lb was more than enough. Don't let the negative reviews fool you. They're worth checking out. read more

Great food and the prices are on par for a boil restaurant. Got the shrimp po boy which was delicious also the Cajun pasta was fire. Lunch combo was worth the $15 also included fries. Head on shrimp in medium garlic butter and Louisiana rub is a must. Will go back great find read more

Madison Crab House - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I'm a pretty big shrimp fanatic. I've mastered how to cook and season shrimp perfectly, so you can imagine that I'm very critical of the shrimp other people make. That being said, this is the best shrimp I've had in my life. I'm beyond happy we stopped here. But let's back track to the beginning... My husband and I came in here around 4-5 pm on a Saturday and it was pretty slow, so were seated right away. We started off with drinks- a pomegranate margarita for me and a hurricane for him. They were very small for the price, but still delicious. For our next round of drinks, my husband had a purple haze and I had a blue martini, which was the best I've ever had. It was strong and delicious. I'd have had 3 more if I wasn't worried about being hungover by 10 pm lol. For dinner, I had a pound of head-off shrimp and potatoes in their mad sauce, which is a mix of their cajun dry rub and garlic butter sauce. You can pick your level of heat from mild, medium, spicy, and fire. I chose spicy and it was the perfect level of heat for me. The sauce was absolutely incredible and there was plenty of it, so I got to bring some home. The shrimp was cooked to perfection and deveined, which many places fail to do when they serve the unpeeled shrimp. And to top it all off, they give you a plastic bib and gloves with your meal for a mess-free experience. They also serve stir fry, which is what my husband chose. He LOVES beef and broccoli stir fry, so he selected that. He said it was the best he's ever had. I didn't try it, so I can't say how the flavor was, but I can say that I've never seen him so excited for leftovers before. All in all, we both loved this place and can't wait to come back. read more

This was a really fun place to come enjoy some good seafood and get messy. The second we walked in the door everyone there was really helpful and nice. We were seated immediately, as we came around 6:15-6:30 and it wasn't very crowded yet. Although, it did fill up by the time we left. Since we were celebrating, we decided to stick to the seafood boil exclusively. When you order, you pick the weight (go up by 1/2 lb), what sauces you want (can also mix), the spice level and whether or not you want to include sides. We ordered the shrimp with garlic butter and louisiana rub, the lobster tail with garlic butter, and the king crab legs with the coco curry sauce. Also got corn and potatoes mixed into two of those. The shrimp was delicious, and my boyfriend quickly devoured it (I got some too, no worries). The lobster tail was good, and I know it was measured by the pound but we somehow felt that we didn't get a good value for it. I loved the king crab legs in the coco curry, even though I needed a little help cracking it open. Everything seemed really fresh. We ended up spending more money than anticipated due to some expensive selections, but you can also definitely visit this place and spend less if you get the lobster, mussels, crawfish, etc. They also have fried seafood, po' boys, and noodles and rice, which I'd maybe try if I came back. All in all, a fun and delicious experience. read more

Madison Crab House - The feast pre-slaughter - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

AMAZING Food came at a very fast pace and great service. I enjoyed the decor and when the food came out it was overwhelming the smell. It was heavenly and then I tried it and OH MY GOD YES I traveled an hour and it was worth every minute waiting for it sooooo good and worth everything. Please keep the quality up read more

The Mad Boiler is crazy!!!! If you like seafood you'll love this place! The presentation when your meal is serve is pretty neat too. The potatoes to the corn and sausage were cooked to perfection. Bring a big appetite and don't wear white even tho your supplied with gloves and a bib (which I wore neither ) if your staving you might get some seasoning on you. Definitely a place I'm willing to revisit. read more

Madison Crab House - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The oyster po boy was delicious. Well seasoned fries as well. Most people come for the crawfish so will need to come back again to try those as well. Really awesome place. read more

The flavors are on point. The seafood boils are on the pricey end, but I like that they are on Grubhub and my order is always packed nicely. Eating there is also nice. The cajun mad fries are on point! The staff is also very welcoming. read more

I ate here yesterday and just wasn't blown away. We had the lobster roll and the fried shrimp. The lobster roll was great, but tiny! Close to half the size I've had anywhere else in the city or otherwise. For $18 I'd expect a bit more. The shrimp were just ok. Fried a bit too long as the corn meal breaded was rock hard and burnt on 2 of the 6 shrimp. Again, the lobster roll tasted excellent. Fresh, garnished and flavored perfectly. We probably won't be back. read more

Nice quiet location. But the food were AWAY too salty. And I don't think the crawfish were live.... read more

Madison Crab House - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Tasted great! Get the mad house sauce on your boil bag. Super great cajun and garlic flavor!

I was pleasantly surprised! I was initially concerned when the server explained to me that they didn't boil the seafood in seasoning. They put the seasoning on top. I'm from Alabama by way of Louisiana. Your boil packs the flavor. Or that's how I know to boil seafood. But y'all!! It was so good! Don't be too cool for the bib. It's messy. I got a lb of crab legs and corn with the mad seasoning. I will be going back soon, I want to try the shrimp in that seasoning. I still don't know about doing this for crawfish, but I will be trying it!! read more

Madison Crab House - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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- They didn't appear to be open even though I had reservation. Asked if I'd like to order food to go as if they weren't ready for customers. I the only diner here. - 10 minutes after being seated they turned on the lights for me. - Definitely not ready for service. They seemed to think that they weren't open until I told them about my reservation. - I am the only person here and they are blasting music. Too loud by most diners' standards. - Had to actually ask them to check me into open table after being seated for a while (made reservation via OpenTable app) Food: - The $18 Lobster Roll comes on a small hot dog bun (not the traditional brioche) and is on the small side. According to the restaurant, it is frozen lobster - not made from fresh lobster. In conclusion, it is borderline insulting to charge $18 for this sub-par version of the famous New England street food. I felt cheated. Service was good. read more

Love this place. The food is great. The vibe is great and it's never overly packed. You can get right in and enjoy your meal. The king crab is the thickest I have had at any broil seafood restaurant in the city so far. I was actually very impressed and it is now my go-to spot. read more

I cannot believe this place only has 3.5 stars! This is one of my favorite Cajun seafood places I've tried in Chicago. The sauce is on point and the food was fresh. Compared to the other seafood places there was no wait, and the food came out in a timely manner. My friends and I got shrimp and crabs. You can choose the flavor of sauce and the degree of spicy-ness you want. They also have sides that are delicious! Specifically their "mad fries" which are Cajun fries. read more

So the food is a 5 star no problem. Absolutely delicious. The service completely sucked. We were brought waters with no greeting other than 'are you ready?'. No one came to check on us and food/drinks. We were planning to order more food and drinks when we were greeted with our check and "whenever you're ready". Well, we weren't ready but that made us be. We closed out and got additional items elsewhere. Note to owner: find staff who wants to do their job and not spend time gossiping behind the bar and ignoring customers. read more

Food is great, but service is not so good. The waitress started off with one table and it eventually got up to 3 tables. She was so busy on her phone the entire time that she wasn't taking our order in a timely matter or paying attentions to our needs. The pict is what she was doing the entire time we were there. She said she was catching up on Game of Thrones that is why she was not attentive. If she wasn't at the bar on the phone she was in the back of the restaurant and I had to keep walking to get her off her phone. Food is good but hoping this post will be motivation to improve. read more

Madison Crab House - Inside- waitress stated on phone the entire time.... - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

If you like crab boils with zing this is the place! Seafood was spot in the combo A and spicy is just as it should be...(forehead sweat spicy)! Bring your own drinks for the best experience. read more

I have to be honest and admit that the madness can drop me off at the Mad Boiler on Madison any day of the week! I was a die hard fan of the infamous Angry Crab on Lincoln, but this is a hell of a lot closer and just as good! I also didn't need to wait until late afternoon to enjoy as MB was open for business at 1pm. read more

Madison Crab House - Bar area! - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Went here before a bulls game.....way too much food. Pretty tasty. The seasonings are definitely spicy. Loved the corn and potatoes the most! Server extremely attentive. I actually prefer low country over this place. Location was great. read more

Ordered a pound of shrimp with corn and potatoes with garlic and Cajun sauce mild which was very plentiful we had left over shrimp. Ordered a pound of snow crab legs with corn which was plentiful as well. The food was great. You will not be disappointing. 5 stars. read more

Madison Crab House - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My fiancé loves this place. We love that they have broccoli and it's always cooked perfectly. The seafood is pretty good quality. The seasoning is good too. We hit them up every time we are in the West Loop! read more

Came back for another try. The first time it was a bit salty so this time I asked for the sauce on the side. This was great. This way we get to eat different seafood with different sauce combos. My friend got spicy while i got medium. This way I got to enjoy all the variety of seafood without limiting my choice in sauce lol. Prices are reasonable. Would recommend. read more

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Mediocre gumbo, and they don't serve garlic bread, so why bother? Beer selection is decent, but sparing. Service was polite but unskilled. Cajun fries are decent. They sell seafood at market prices, but can't answer the very simple question "where did this seafood come from" other than to make a joke like "the sea!" There are better places doing this kind of thing, but for the west loop, this might be okay. Like. C- okay. read more

This place is a solid 4. The lobster roll was incredibly tasty but small and overpriced. My family literally lives in Maine so I have had the best of the best when it comes to lobster rolls, but what made this one special was how different and yet well delivered it was. It had no mayonnaise, just a perfectly toasted roll with butter and claw and tail lobster meat. It was simple but each component was perfectly executed.. the roll was perfect, the amount of butter was perfect, etc. My only complaint would have to be the price and portion size. It should also be noted that I came at an odd time so I was the only one in the place, but I still had to ask for a refill on my soda and had to ask for my check. Still, the waitress was friendly and polite. In that way the service was similar to the food: good (better than most) but not stellar. read more

Madison Crab House - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My friend and I were visiting Chicago and saw this place on Yelp. It said it was closing at 9pm on here, but when we got there at 8:30pm they were just about to close their kitchen. Nevertheless, they were really accommodating and invited us to sit at the bar and still served us. At 9pm, my friend and I asked for take-out boxes so we wouldn't keep them waiting, but they said to take our time, and didn't make us feel awkward about finishing our meals at all. I am really happy with their service!! I ordered the jumbo shrimp Cajun noodle, and it was on point! Highly recommend(: read more

AWFUL!!!! I would not recommend anyone go here. The cajun seafood boil is definitely the new craze with plenty of options through out the city. Mad boiler is mad if they think they are doing it right. For starters our service was horrible and slow! She got our order completely wrong and was oblivious to the fact. Took us multiple attempts to flag her down when we had questions and were ready to order. She wasn't able to provide any opinions on the heat level and the food was lack luster when it came out. We were missing corn on the cob with one of the boils and the other was made with the completely wrong sauces!!! The price point was a dissapointment since our crab legs had barely any crab!! Was so glad our fries were free since we had gotten a flyer in the mail to lure us in. I would rather make the hike to Wrigleyville for Lowcoutry Boil any day of the week before setting foot in here again! read more

Amazing crab legs!! Get the MAD sauce level 3! Crab fried rice...delish with a squeeze of lime. Great shrimp as well. Good cocktails as well. Can't wait to go back read more

Madison Crab House - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I had a craving for some spicy garlicky Cajun seafood for lunch. The best I've found in Chicago so far is Lowcountry in Lakeview, but I was feeling too lazy to make the trip. This place is close to my house so I decided to give it a shot after falling for the 5 star rating. Ragret. You know when you're craving something so bad and you feed it with a disappointing alternative and you're left with this angry beast at the end? No? Just me? Anyways, that's how it was with Mad Boiler. This place seems relatively new, so it was understandably empty when we stepped in on a Sunday afternoon. The space is really nice with its simple wooden tables and benches, and there's a cute little bar set-up as well. It seemed promising enough, but it all went downhill from there. First up was the Cajun shrimp noodles. Despite the empty restaurant, it took over 15 minutes for this first dish to arrive. I don't mind waiting for food, as long as the wait is worth it. Not particularly so in this case. The noodles were served in a brown paper tray reminiscent of elementary school lunches. I get that they're going for the casual down-n-dirty dining experience, but they could definitely go with a sturdier, more aesthetically pleasing bowl that isn't visibly soaking up grease, but I digress. This dish actually had some potential, as the noodles were cooked nicely with whole shrimp rubbed in Cajun spices and a good amount of diced bell peppers and onions that still maintained a bit of their crunch. However, what it was lacking in flavor, the dish overcompensated with salt. Lots of it. Cole slaw was pretty meh. Reminded me of KFC. Good or bad? Up to you. We also got a pound of head-on shrimp. Unlike Lowcountry and Boiling Crab, they don't have an option to combine all the flavors together "whole shabang" style so you have to choose one. We went with garlic butter, level 3 spice with corn, potatoes, and sausage. Where do I even start...The sauce seemed to have fallen prey to the same lack of flavor and heavy handed salt. It was bizarre actually. The heat was undoubtedly there, but without any Cajun spice or garlic flavor. Some of the potatoes were not cooked through and the sausages had been inexplicably sliced into these thin measly pieces, though the corn was fine. At this point, I knew this place was off my list for good. I retreated to the bowl of jasmine rice in a desperate attempt to find some comfort, but I was betrayed there as well. The rice was severely undercooked. I like dry rice but this rice was still hard. I waved my white flag in defeat. Overall a disappointing experience that left me with a monster craving for the real deal. My humble suggestion: Skip it and try a different place. read more

Upon entering this location, I was worried because there was zero customers in the restaurant. Everyone there worked there and I thought maybe this place was a dud. If my friends hadn't been here before, I probably would've asked to go somewhere else. This is a place that could use explaining if you're a first timer. Our server didn't take the time to ask if we had been there, nor attempt to explain. We were given plastic bibs and gloves before our food since it is a messy experience. You eat out of little paper containers and there's a bucket in the middle of the table for the shells and skins and garbage. The food was awesome. My friend and I shared a bag of shrimp and snow crab legs with corn and potatoes in garlic butter with medium spice (which you could barely taste). Our husbands each got the clam chowder and calamari and we all shared mad fries-liked them so much we ordered another order. The drinks we subpar, $10 for a tiny glass. No thanks. Next time I'm going to a BYOB restaurant. Upon receiving the check we put the MAX ALLOWED 2 credit cards to split the bill, but the server just took the bill without asking how to split it... a good experience, I don't know if I'll be back, but I want to try more seafood Boiler places. read more

I ordered King Crab Legs and added corn and sausage, as you can see in the bag, three heads of the corn. I am not happy with it. At least one or two bodies of corn, right? Besides that, I strongly recommended the sweet chili sauce, awesome. read more

Madison Crab House - King Crab Legs - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Yet another Cajun seafood boil place in Chicago has opened up. Mad boiler was delicious, but with so many more delicious options I probably won't be frequenting then as often. What I enjoyed about mad boiler was the array of flavors you can get. They had garlic butter, Thai chili, coconut curry, and Cajun dry rub. I went to mad boiler with a group of 6 so we had plenty to order in various flavors and spiciness. From past experiences ordering 1-2lbs for each person based on each person is fine. You also have to take into consideration the food you are ordering and how "heavy" the extra non edibles are. However the server at mad boiler suggested 1/2 lbs per person. I'm glad they went with my suggestion and not hers because we should have been hungry and angry at the end. We ordered shrimp and mussels in Cajun spice and garlic butter. Then we ordered clams in Thai chili, shrimp with head in in coconut curry and last but not least crawfish in Cajun spice and garlic butter. Crawfish are not really in season so you could tell this crawfish was definitely frozen. Coconut curry and Thai chili were good, but after a while you really just want the garlic butter and Cajun spice combo. We also got a plethora of sides. We ordered the fried catfish, which i would pass on next time. Crab fried rice was excellent. Chicken gumbo was thick and gravy like. Corn tasted frozen, sausage was not your typical andouille sausage but I think they said it was a polish sausage?? Last but not least we ordered something off of the kids menu because it sounded delicious. We got the fried chicken grilled cheese. It was literally breaded chicken tenders with some American cheese. Also that bad boy cost $12 which in my opinion is way too much for kids menu and not worth the price. Mad boiler also has a corkage fee of $5 per wine and $5for every 6 pack of beer. I'm not a fan of corkage fees. To me it's like paying cover to go to a bar. No thanks. read more

Since they switched, the service is terrible. The girl who works during the day answered the phone when I called and told me they closed at 3pm. I caught a Uber all the way here for her to tell me the kitchen is closed at 2:20pm.. Despite there being a few people already in the dining area, still placing orders. It does not say no where on their website or door that the kitchen closes earlier. The waitress was dismissive and would not even allow me to place a call in order. I definitely will not be returning. read more

The menu isn't the widest I've seen, but there are great options and the food is delicious. My friend and I each had Po' Boys; mine shrimp, his oysters. Both were generously sized sandwiches with flavorful flavor. We both really liked the garlic aoli sauce on the sandwiches. I had an order of the Mad Fries. They were great: crispy, zesty, addictive. And they weren't nearly as oily as I feared they'd be. read more

Madison Crab House - Shrimp Po' Boy - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Was here for the first time this past Tuesday w/ a few others. We ordered about 10lbs of seafood, and it definitely hit the spot. I highly recommend the sweet chili sauce, so good I had to ask for a side of the sauce. For sure going to bring more family & friends here. read more