I use to love this place. Now I'm paying 85 dollars for a terrible stomachache. I ate here yesterday and in less than 24 hours I've already used the restroom 7 times no lie . I think this is it I highly doubt I'll ever come back to eat here again. My stomach is killing me. read more

Fast service but our shrimp sha-bang was over cooked along with our corn. I still like The Boiling Crab on Valley!

I used to LOVE coming to this place. Not anymore! I guess they are under new management and now everything is going to sh*t. Prices are way too high now and the flavors aren't the same. I asked why have they hiked the prices up so much and the waiter took it personal talking about because minimum wage went up. Ummm okay. That means your tip is included in this price now! I won't be returning. I'll make my own damn boiling crab! News flash people. If it ain't broke DON'T fix it! I'm willing to bet they are going to lose alot of business overtime. read more

how i love seafood, especially when you get your hands dirty. peel, eat and drink. this place was all the hype and still is. we came to eat in 2010 and was like so, what is all the hype and the long lines? we waited and waited and had a drink next door and waited till we got seated 1 hour later. we ordered 1 pound of shrimp with the spicy cajun spices, and the cajun fries and lots of beer please. it was all worth the wait and then some. make sure you come early because it gets busy around dinner time. read more

I used to really like this place until it got popular and big. You can tell that the owners do not value quality food. I went from I could eat this every weekend to I never wanna go back and give this establishment business. Service is also pretty bad, which tells me that management doesn't know what they're doing. Restroom smells down the hall. Absolutely filthy inside. Did you know that the boiling crab on valley got shut down because of health codes? I can only imagine how clean this place is... read more

Good enough. If you ever have the opportunity try shrimps or any seafood from the gulf either from Houston of Louisiana... completely different caliber. Anyways, enjoying my scavz meeting. read more

Ever since I was introduced to the place by a friend that ordered from Alhambra(Main st.) location I fell in love. Sometimes the wait or the un-attentiveness of the waiters/waitresses can be a downer, but overall the food is great & l've never had a bad experience. read more

I love the whole shabang medium! It's the best. I always get shrimp, mussels, and crawfish! Great staff as well .

Came today with my boyfriend and it wasn't a satisfying meal . My boyfriend use to LOVE this place and wanted to bring me here since I've never visited a boiling crab location . Well the Cajun fries are Amazing .! I love the seasoning on it and he told me the shrimp was going to taste about the same as the fries. Welll .... I love shrimp.! But the shrimp tasted bland and flavor less .!! I had to put lemon in order for there to be any flavor . I was so disappointed and my boyfriend was too. He was disappointed the price went up and the quality of food went down . Definitely a waist of money here and time . read more

I'll be actually filing this complaint with BBB and LA County Public Health about the incident tonight. We ordered a take-out tonight (6/28) at around 8pm and took it back home for small family celebration. The order included 2lb of shrimp, some side-orders and a 1.6# lobster at $16/pd. The bill came out at around $60. We started with the shrimp, which tasted soft and aged. Well, we thought we could deal with it. Then we tried the lobster. It tasted like rotten chicken meat, not only in the claws, but also in the tail. I called the Boiling Crab at 33 W Main Street in Alhambra, CA, 91801 and asked for the manager. The waiter on the phone first said it's already past 10pm, there's nothing he could do. I asked for the manager and was placed on hold. At this time, I was getting pretty irritated that not only I was given a rotten lobster which completely ruined our evening diner, but also by the simple fact that the waiter had no slightest sense of courtesy and not a bit of apology. So I waited on the phone. The same waiter came back and repeated that there's nothing he could do unless I would come back in and bring the lobster. I asked to talk to his manager again. It's already 10:30pm on Sunday evening. Needless to say I was getting very upset. No manager to address the complaint, and "there was nothing he could do". I asked the waiter's name. His answer was, "I don't have to give out my name". So at around 10:40pm on Sunday night, I was forced to drive back to their restaurant because they didn't want to deal with a rotten lobster they sold to their customer 2 hours earlier. When I arrived at the restaurant on main street, the door was still open. I asked for the manager and was directed to a guy standing RIGHT AT THE CASHIER COUNTER. Despite the fact he had no courtesy to address the issue over the phone, I thought he might be at least understanding and apologetic in person when I was actually forced to drive back in at almost 11pm. Well, he was understanding in a sense that there was NO BIG DEAL with a rotten lobster. But there was no courteous apology. No apology at all. In fact, the guy didn't even bother to look me in the eyes when I told him the situation. Sure, he already knew what happened from my phone call relayed to him by the waiter. But no, absolutely NOT A TOUCH OF APOLOGY. BTW, the manager's name was Thommy. If the story ended here, I would simply leave a bad review on yelp and file a complaint with BBB for what a terrible customer service experience I had to deal with. Here's what really got my attention: The moment I left the bag of rotten lobster on the cashier counter, a waiter came by and literally grabbed the bag immediately and disappeared into the kitchen. I actually wanted to take some photos of the rotten lobster, but didn't have the chance while I was trying to get the attention from the manager. It reminded me a similar incidence took place about a year ago at the Boiling Crab on Valley Blvd. in Alhambra, CA. I was given a rotten dungeness crab on a take-out order. I brought it back in and we never order dungeness crab again. We first ate at the Boiling Crab in Westminster three years ago. Subsequently, we had dined in different Boiling Crab franchises on average 2-3 times a year. I have to say there was never any issues with rotten seafood when we dined INSIDE the restaurant. On the other hand, since we moved up to Alhambra area, about 6 times when we ordered take-out in 1 to 1-1/2 year time period, we were given rotten seafood, not once, but twice (dungeness crab and now a rotten lobster). It's obviously much easier to sell rotten seafood and expect to get away with it because the restaurant would force you to bring the food back in for resolution. The fact that the waiters and the management level in the franchised restaurant are so INDIFFERENT to these incidence of rotten seafood sold at their restaurants suggested the culture of the restaurants, if not all, but at least a few franchised ones. Put aside these are relatively pricey items, the health risks associated with rotten seafood could cause not only foot poisoning, development of seafood allergy, etc. If eaten by pregnant diners, the rotten seafood could cause catastrophic health consequences. It's understandable that these restaurants are franchises and they seek to maximize their profit margin any way possible. However, It's not tolerable to jeopardize the health of their customers by selling rotten seafood. Nor is it acceptable to bully their customers in attempt to sweep these incidence under the rug. read more

The boiling crab is one of my favorite restaurants. But this location is really disappointing, three of us enjoyed the first order and we ordered one more pound of clam. But the clam doesn't taste good I felt that it was not cooked well. And unfortunately I am right, I have to drive off the free way on my way home to find a restroom for my suffering stomach . It's the food poisoning, and now I am writing this review on my my toilet. Be careful with their food at this location. Really disappointed. read more

Two friends treated me here for my birthday! Well that was fun. Instead of plates, they lay out large wax paper over the table and give you food in either a clear plastic bag or basket for the sides. You also get to eat with your hands, so I felt so Filipino! Be sure to wash your hands first. They have plenty of paper towels. The day we went was good because there wasn't a big wait. There was three of us and we shared everything. We enjoyed the catfish basket for $8.99 and it came with cajun fries. We ordered 2 pounds of shrimp at $8.99 per pound. They include corn when you order 2+ pounds. We chose "the whole sha-bang!" seasoning--rajun cajun, lemon pepper, garlic butter. We asked for mild but I'm pretty sure we got medium, which I don't mind because I love spicy food. I'm sure their XXX for "I can't feel my mouth" isn't as spicy as other things I have tried and nearly died at (felt like I ate lava!). We had two sides of steamed rice, which is good because it gives you something filling and helps with the spice. We also tried the potatoes, 3 for $1.50. At first I didn't want anything to drink, but I decided to go with green tea with lemonade. You get free refills. I mean, we had to pay $0.25 for cups of water, so you might as well get a drink! Clean-up is really nice. They wrap up the wax paper with everything in it--everything is disposable--and throw it out. That was fun to watch. Service was generally good. I'm definitely going to go back! read more

Seafood wasn't fresh. The food wasn't good and it wasn't cheap. 3 crabs cost us $109. We waited 45 mins for this. Not worth waiting for. No gloves either. What crab place doesn't have gloves?! This one. You are physically a mess afterward because their food is over-sauced to cover up the stale seafood. read more

3 hour wait is a little ridiculous no matter what. There is one retarded and rude waiter that is very disorganized. Getting seated was hell, because they do not give anyone numbers and they do not ever tell you how many tables are ahead of you. There is only one mentally challenged person that writes down every one's name in a scratch pad that looks like a toddler scribbled in pen with. you don't receive any type of number... They make up some random time that they wrote down your name. They told me and my friends 1 hour 30 minute wait and it DOUBLED. Not only were they not apologetic, they were rude when we asked how much longer we have to wait. The service was worse than terrible. They can not even take down a simple order correctly and there is never any server available to refill our drinks. The service was definitely not affected by how busy it was because by the time we had a table, it was closing time, so their service just has major problems. The food came to us cold and we basically had ice as drinks because they can't do refills for shit. I am NEVER coming back to this nightmare of a restaurant again. I normally don't write reviews but I feel the need to warn everyone about ridiculous wait time and the terrible and rude service in this place. The staff here does not want customers. Fuck this place so much, not worth the money at all!!! read more

ONE 1/2 Stars: At one point my wife and I were regulars at this BC, we knew staff, they knew our order and even brought out the ice tea before we ordered it because they knew what we ordered every time we were here. As fans of BC, we have visited every location in the West: BC was the epitome of Cajun boil in So. Cal. I would rave about it and recommend it to everyone that was looking for good seafood or "something new". That was until someone in your corporate office decided to change the recipe... Bad choice to cut expenses on the recipe. When we were told that this was happening to ALL BC's we decided this was our last visit to your establishment(s). Based on other people's reviews, you ALSO increased the cost per pound by 45%!?! Heres where you went wrong: - Different Recipe (for the worse) - Not enough sauce (almost dry rub) - Higher Cost per pound on orders (45% increase?!) The positive: - Got rid of the Graffiti walls - The waiting period that takes over an Hour will decline once people find an alternative. - based on the over-head cost reductions, I assume someone in Corporate is now an owner of a new sports car based on this poor decision. Fans of Boiling Crab that have been patrons for years have noticed and I hope you address this before Boiling Crab becomes a thing of the past. For a Better alternative worth checking out: STINKING CRAWFISH (Delicious, No lines, FREE deep fried Oreo Cookie, Low Prices) THE CRAWFISH SPOT (not as good as Stinking Crawfish, but better than today's BC) read more

Location makes a big difference! Typically I visit a location closer to me but I went a little further to check this location out and it was worth it. From fast, friendly service to the quality of our order I was completely satisfied and looking forward for my next visit. read more

I'm a huge fan of Boiling Crab but this place is a little slow. Last time I went my food was cold, like if it were sitting there for awhile.

if you like eating with your hands, this is the place for you. a totally messy yet satisfying experience. we followed other yelpers' recommendations and had a half-order appetizer of raw oysters and a large plastic bag full of a couple pounds of shrimp, a couple cobs of corn, and a half-order of sausage, all drenched in a medium-spicy whole sha-bang sauce. really love the flavor of butter, cajun spices, garlic, lemon pepper, and celery salt coating the food. that's what inevitably sets 'the boiling crab' apart from other seafood joints. well, that and the exceptionally efficient, friendly, and swift service (read: cute waitresses running around in tight shorts). let's just say my eyes were kept busy watching them and the tv's scattered around the restaurant, playing the laker game. it gets busy especially on game night, so plan accordingly.... read more

No fresh crawfish during my visit. The shrimp was overcooked. Won't come back.

I always love coming here but today was disappointing. First, they "ran out" of clams for the second week in a row. Then we were attended to. The lemon pepper fries, which usually are so good, were stale and clearly not fresh. The fried catfish was aweful the wings were burnt! Overall disappointed. read more

Whack. This location on Main St. is always way too packed. There is a place called The Boat on Valley that does THE EXACT SAME THING as this place, their food tastes exactly the same without 1 - 1.5 hour on average wait. And for what? Steamed seafood tossed in a bag of butter and spice mix? Really? You all are crazy for waiting that long for this stuff. Kind of like people wating 1-2 hours for a greasy hot dog at Pinks in Hollywood. It's good, but not THAT big of a deal. read more

The whole sha bang and the corn are too good! There's always a wait so be prepared. They won't seat you until your whole party arrives. The food is great and it's messy!! So leave the white top at home and get ready to feast! read more

Obviously the hype for this place is inescapable. The idea of pounds and pounds of crawfish, shrimp, oysters, and crabs soaked in various seasonings sounds delicious, but the wait is seriously a little ridiculous for a mediocre cajun-style crawfish boil experience. PROS +The service was attentive. +The atmosphere was sports bar-like (not a pro or con, more of a neutral statement). +The sausage and corn was really delicious. +The fried oysters and fries were baskets of fried goodness. CONS -The food was good while I was eating it, but afterwards the oily, saltiness of the seasoning kicks in. Seriously, must the seafood be soaking in a bag of oil - er - "seasoning"? I've had plenty of crawfish boils growing up and there's typically a fresh component that allows you to taste the seafood. It's called a boil b/c the seafood is boiled in water with seasoning, not soaked in flavored oil. - The crawfish are very tiny. - Minimum of 45 min wait (on a random weekday) and up to 2 hours for a weekend. Basically, the wait is way too long just for a bag of seafood floating in sodium and oil. read more

As everyone mentioned in their reviews, staff sucks. My boyfriend and i were literally sitting by the seat next to the register. We were asked for our order, given and were never asked how we were doing. Its fine unless you wanted to get more food. We actually waiting 30 mins to get our check because we couldnt flag down any servers since theyre all running all around. Someone were even fooling around further back in the register. Sucks fo suck. Food was the only thing that was great. read more

Don't let the name Boiling Crab scare you away from thinking you have to be pounding and prying meat out of crabs the entire time--they have a variety of seafood for you to choose from! I drove nearly an hour and a half in rush hour traffic to reach Boiling Crab...and it was still worth it! I have been to almost all the Boiling Crab locations and the one on Main Street is consistent with their solid food and service. For a party of three, we ordered 3lbs shrimp w/ the whole shabang, 2lbs clams w/ the whole shabang, medium cajun fries, sausage, and corn! A couple of beers and unlimited soda to wash it all down yum :) Boiling Crab has big screen tvs showing sports all around the restaurant so you might catch some cheers and boos all around the restaurant. The staff is pretty good about coming to your table as soon as you sit down to place your order as well as bringing extra things you need fast like limes and salt&pepper to dip your shrimp and clam into. They dump the limes on the table too so it's fun to just dig in and get messy. Even with bibs, you WILL splash and squirt boiling crab sauce so try not to wear white haha. The one thing I wish Boiling Crab could change is their bathroom.!! Every location I've been to is a one-person bathroom when a lot of people just want to wash their hands before and after digging into their meal. Maybe their future locations will have bigger bathrooms :( Oh, and minus one star for the noticeably SMALLER shrimp this time T_T What happened?! Maybe it was the same weight-wise as before, but I do love the giant shrimp that they usually serve so bring those back! Tip: Park in the lot behind the restaurant--one side of the lot was valet and the other side was free when I went :P Strange... Tip 2: There's a new Boiling Crab opening in Koreatown on 6th Street in the Brown Derby Plaza whoohoo!! Keep an eye out for that one too :) Such a small location with an already small parking lot for a Boiling Crab though :P read more

This was my second visit to this location. The first visit the food was good...I don't know what was going on with the king crab but the crab was not fresh. read more

First off I will say this review is based on customer service and restaurant policy. WE NEVER ENDED UP EATING HERE, WE WALKED OUT. So I had family from out of town who all wanted seafood, so I thought...the boiling crab! I called the place to make a reservation, and they don't except them... Understandable. Anyways, I asked the girl (being that we have 3 kids in our group, 2 of which don't even eat adult food yet) how long on average is the wait, she said never more then 1.5 hrs. Wowza! Must be popular. So we drove the 30 min to try it out. When I got there to check in I told the hostess we are 4 adults and 1 child (for menu and chair purposes). They asked about the babies and said because they take up space in there restaurant they count too, WHY? BECAUSE THEY WANT TO COUNT THEM FOR GRATUITY PURPOSES (parties of 6 or more)!!!! That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!!! They are babies they don't eat their food! Wtf?!! Not to mention our waiting time according to her was at least 2 hrs as well and she wouldn't call us when our table was ready, I told her with the kids we can't just sit and we'll be walking around and come back, she told me we will loose our table that way... At this point I thought this was ridiculous so we just left. read more

Always been my favorite place to eat, I really love their whole sha-bang shrimp! We do to go order most of the time but we always tip them even though we get take out. We just ordered to go after 5 months break from boiling crab yesterday. They raised the price to $10/lbs for shrimp, I'm ok with that because I think they are always generous with their portion anyway. I'm always happy when I asked them to put extra juicy on my order. After we bring our food home and open the plastic bag to see the shrimp: 1. The portion is getting smaller.... Did you guys use that price raise to just upgrade on the plastic bag quality? 2. When we asked for extra Juicy and it says there on the receipt for extra JUICY!! That means we love your sauce and you guys should put more of the sauce inside!! Instead of extra juicy, this time my order just looked like steam shrimp with no sauce at all. I never ate BOILING CRAB and get angry at the same time. This is my first time feeling really disappointed with my favorite place to eat in Alhambra. read more

Very bad customer service! First she got my order wrong giving me 3 pounds of shrimp instead of crawfish. When the crawfish came it was a bad batch of live crawfish. The corn was mushy.. Sorry to say I will not be going to this location anymore. Poor service! read more

So its true. After reading the previous reviews they have skipped out on the sauce and everyone noticed how different the shrimp was prepared. When we first recieved our 3 half pound bags of shrimp. The server heistated on the last bag and said " hang on let me check the sauce it seems they didnt add enough". She took it back and brought it back with more sauce. After I ate one shrimp from my bag i noticed it wasnt the same and with a spoon moved the shrimp around and felt my bag had little sauce in it. it wasnt my first time here, i usally get alot more sauce. I asked a server for a bit more sauce because i wasnt satisifed. She said she couldnt do that, she would have to charge us $2.50 for a cup of sauce and argued that the sauce was weighed out. I totally understand that. I myself have work in restuarants for 6 years and know all about portioning dressing and sauces. We told her when they first brought out the bags they had returned it for more sauce because the server felt it wasnt enough. So they already had messed up one bag. I just wanted a bit more sauce I still got the cup of sauce for $2.50 which is a big ass cup of sauce. I wouldnt of cared if the dam sauce cost $10 . I didnt need that amount of sauce. I left the whole cup full. I only put like 4 little spoonful inside my bag. Thats all i need. A bit more sauce. The reason I got upset was because they didnt care i wasnt satsified. They both argued they needed to charge me $2.50 for the 3 cups of sauce. In this industry you never argue with a customer who is asking for a bit more sauce because he or she isnt satsified with there food and feels it isnt up to par. I guess boiling crab has changed the preparation and sauce amount. They feel they need to charge the 2.50 rather than satsify there upset customers. read more

I love this place! The best spot to get a seafood bag. The sauce is amazing. I usually LOVE spicy food, but I can only handle medium here. I would highly recommend read more

I love eating at this place. I come here at least once a week and will continue to come here. I usually take my order to go on the weekends as the lines are super long. They have updated their phone system and it now works a lot better than before. I would recommend to come here early if you want to dine in, otherwise take it to go. read more

Tonight, we went to The Boiling Crab for the first time. We waited in line for a while, but the meal was worth every minute's wait. Even better, it was worth more than every dollar paid. Twenty-something for seriously excellent seafood and quick service?! That's my kind of food fantasy. I don't know if I will ever find another restaurant that can give me the same pure satisfaction that The Boiling Crab does. I was seriously on cloud nine while de-shelling the saucy shrimp, dipping the crisp catfish in sauce, sipping the ice-cold water... And I might sound so fat right now, but the great thing is that I don't feel fat. Unlike when I finish eating McDonald's or something. The one pound of shrimp with the whole sha-bang seasoning was amazing. Typically, I don't like using sauce very much, but this sauce was exceptional. And when they say "mildly spicy", they MEAN mildly spicy. It was just right. No strong aftertaste, no extreme saltiness, nothing but the seductive succulence of fresh shrimp. The fried catfish basket with Cajun fries was not as amazing as the shrimp, but amazing nonetheless. Six pieces of catfish, fried to perfection. And mind you, they were not small pieces. The tartar sauce they provided in the basket went perfectly hand in hand with the fish as well as the fries. In the beginning, I was worried that the fries wouldn't be good anymore after they cooled, but when we finally got to the bottom of the basket--where they are--they still tasted fresh. I have no idea how this place cooks the food so wonderfully, but I sure am glad they're here to do so. Delicious. Unless you're allergic to seafood, I highly recommend The Boiling Crab. read more

Boiling Crab would be so much better if the wait isn't always over 2 hours. Luckily the last couple times I went, there was no wait. Even if there was a wait, boyfriend is smart enough to just get to go. There's a parking structure right behind BC so don't gotta worry about parking at least. Normally get shrimp, clams, fries, oysters and whatever else the boyfriend is feeling that day. I hate getting my hands dirty so boyfriend is always nice enough to peel everything for me to make sure I don't get my hands dirty. Staff is friendly and very attentive considering how busy they can get. read more

I am a business owner. And I know how prescious a person's time is. And how important customer service is to have a successful business. So I went here yesterday with my wife and my baby. We waited about an hour which I didn't mind. But then after we got seated, we waited, without being greeted, for about another 15 minutes and nothing. As we saw other parties being promptly served. We decided to leave and we are yet to try the food. Very disappointed!!! read more

YUM!!!!! I love spicy food of all kinds especially seafood ! i usually get the one pound shrimp with spicy seasoning and corn and i always adore it! I love how you can write on the walls and i totally have in the girls bathroom haha! The waiters are pretty good with coming when you need them and everything:) The only part is the longgggggggg wait on a friday or Saturday thats easily an hour and a half but hey....it's darn good food so I'm not surprised at all ! read more

I am putting three stars solely because of their service but other than that the quality of the food now compared to hear ago has went down tremendously. From their sauce to their French fries, I was quite disappointed. I do not think I'll be back for a while :( read more

Hadn't been here for some time.. Went back today, it's still the best ever. Oooooh my gosh, it's soooo delish!!

Sunday 11:55am - waitress was told by several groups of customers on how the line was formed. Customers were told that she did not care about the line. She will take down the name of the customers in the order that walks up to her first. Then it became a free-for-all. The food gets the 5 stars. The untrained lazy staff got you the 2 stars this time. read more

I love the boiling crab in Westwood and have always been a huge fan of the restaurant and atmosphere. I tried to call this number for 1 hour and it keeps ringing and ringing and then says " the memory is full" This is ridiculous for calling for over one hour and not able to get the a reach of the restaurant . This is unacceptable and the worst service I ever got. read more