First time eating at any Captain's Boil restaurant- Elgin St. Ottawa. The place needs to be cleaned, it is dirty. Stayed because this was #1 on my daughter's bucket list. The men working were nice but very slow and not attentive at all. They appeared to be out of their element. Wait times were longer than needed to be as the restaurant is very small. Food was decent. A fun experience. My husband never received his food, even after telling them 3 times, we were given an apology and that was it. We will try another Captain's Boil at another location. read more

See all

Well seasoned food, thoroughly enjoyed this seafood boil experience! Restaurant is in a very lively part of town and we enjoyed biking to/from it. read more

The Captain's Boil - Market price, July 2022. Mix and max - shrimp and clams, and snow crab - Seafood Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

STAY AWAY. Made a reservation for 7 people the day before. Arrive at the restaurant at the reserved time. Table is not ready. No big deal. Wait for the table. Sit down. I could go on and on about a multitude of things but I will just tell you, we sat, with 4 children, and waited to eat for an hour and a half. After an hour and a half, the kitchen basically said the food was not coming. So we walked out and went next door to the Elgin street diner with 4 very hungry and cranky children. JUST AVOID. side note- I don't want to sound like a karen but they also played rap with expletives the whole time we sat. only two guys working, both looked baked out of their heads. like i said, i could go on but i wont. long story short, we waited for 1.5 hours and we didnt eat. the end. One more thing - there was vomit in the bathroom sink in the woman's washroom. Now the end. read more

To start, this place is really really dirty... When we got seated we had to turn around and make an excuse to leave the place. This place STINKS! And it is very dirty... There's no way I would've eaten there read more

We get to the place having reserved a table for 12 people, and our tables weren't ready. The servers then proceed to set our tables up and one of them messes up causing the utensils to fall, causing the two to argue. The service from one of the two servers eventually got better as we waited to order our food, however, the other server continued to side eye our family and not to mention, have horrible body language. Maybe we caught the server in a bad day but still, it was quite unprofessional. The food itself turned out really great as expected and It was given to us with minimal waiting time. The place is not spacious and could be a little cleaner, but the interior design is nice. I would not recommend this specific The Captain's Boil if planning on eating with a huge group, say 6 or more. Lastly, other than the food, the best thing about this place was the fantastic choice of songs playing. The songs were enough to make me forget how humid it is in the eatery. read more

I went to Capitain's Boil for the first time in person on Elgin, Ottawa. It had been years since I had ordered from that restaurant, and it was really disgusting. The food was awful, and the place was dirty. There wasn't much variety; there was no lobster, no crab. The shrimp, tiny miniature shrimp like Nordic shrimp, were disgusting. They were heavily spiced and salty--it was really something. There was no 7-Up, no corn, and it was truly gross. The so-called fried sausages were extremely dry. The service was terrible--absolutely terrible. read more

I'm not usually much of a seafood person but when its drenched in butter and spices, y'all can count me in. Captain's Boil has been our go-to spot as of late for some seafood craving fixes as they provide those aforementioned things for a reasonable price (for Ottawa standards, anyway). From my understanding, the Elgin Street branch is the first franchise (?) in Ottawa and is smaller than the one on Hunt Club. Still, the restaurant carries the same pirate theme as its sister branch. Not much to say about the food except you can never go wrong with butter and spices. We usually go for the "Captain's Boil" flavour with medium heat and it's delicious. Somehow the snow crab legs seemed more flavorful here compared to its sister branch but perhaps, it's just a different batch. Either way, we really enjoyed it. Yes, the food comes in a bag but I feel like it helps keep the food warm and I really don't mind it much. Not sure it's super environmentally friendly but they say it's bio-degradable, etc. Not a huge concern for me; I'm just here for the food. Service was a bit on the slow side but to be fair, it was one person serving a good 20+ people. He was doing his best - coming to check on us once in a while and getting what we needed quickly - and I appreciated it. Elgin Street's currently a mess due to construction but if you don't mind a little bit of trekking, I would recommend trying this place out. read more

The Captain's Boil - Clams and lotus root, Captain's Boil flavour, medium heat - Seafood Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

So delicious but so expensive. Very understandable considering the price of seafood these days !

I feel like the people around here haven't been exposed to this style of seafood and eating? It's crazy to me how low the ratings are. I am from California, where we have an abundance of different Cajun seafood boil restaurants. They all have the same thing in common, it's meant to be served out of bags. Right out on the table, eaten with your hands. Utensils are not required. Plates? What are those. You're going to get down and dirty, probably not the best place for your first date. Unless you're like me and you're not afraid to get messy lol. I've been here only twice. It would be a ton more if It were closer to my home. This is THE ONLY place I can find with this style seafood in my area. And it's not even in my area really. It requires crossing the border and driving 2hours to get into Ottawa. I'm currently living in upstate New York. Nothing comes between me and my food though. So any chance I get to come into Ottawa for something. Captain's boil is definitely going to be one of my favorite stops. Captains boil sauce is so good. I can't even explain how It is. If you like seafood & it's your first time here. I definitely recommend doing the captains boil sauce to get the full experience. I looove crab legs so we always do that and either shrimp or crawfish for my husband. The spice level is not your normal mild, medium, hot. It actually has some good kick to It! I love spicy foods but i actually prefer mild with this sauce so It doesn't take away from all the flavors. Medium kind of took away from everything else and was more of the just "hot" flavor. Still delicious but again just my preference. Both visits, I noticed It doesn't get too busy really. There's always just a few occupied tables. The wait for food wasn't too crazy. Pretty average, on the quicker side actually. They give you gloves, my husband doesn't use them. He says It just gets in the way. I use them because I don't want to stain my hands lol. But It still soaks through a bit, not a problem though because they do have a hand washing sink available! Service was average, we got everything we asked for. Didn't have any problems. Wasn't extra friendly, but still paid attention lol. No bad attitudes and anything we needed they were pretty prompt about doing their jobs. I really don't understand why the ratings are so bad lol. Maybe it's just not a popular cuisine out here. But it's coming up! I was surprised to see one in Ottawa actually! read more

This was our first restaurant outing since COVID-19 shut down indoor dining. We've been to the Hunt Club location multiple times and have had great experiences there too. I was very impressed with how the restaurant handled the COVID-19 situation. Masks are mandatory, except for when you're eating obviously. The opened tables are staggered and well separated. I came with a party of 4 and all open tables but one was filled and it did not feel crowded. There was one staff member working the floor and he handled the tables and the takeout orders. Although he was extremely busy, he checked up on us often and filled our water cups often. Our food order was filled quickly and the food was cooked and seasoned well, just like how I remembered it to be. I got the mild, Captain's Boil clam and mussel combination with rice and corn. It was just what I was craving. The mild was just the right amount of spice and that will be my go to standard now. I've tried the top spice level and the medium and they both were too hot for me (and I have a pretty high heat tolerance). The medium wasn't so bad but I much prefer the mild. I was very impressed being back during Phase 3 of the pandemic. read more

Food is alright but the waiting time is crazy. when asked how long I was told about 15 minutes , but after 25 minutes of waiting. when I asked how much more time, they kept increasing the time. just say the TIME REQUIRED UFRONT!!! read more

One of my favourite place for seafood! The foods are tasty and the prices are reasonable. Recommend to order the lobster with captain's sauce. read more

See all

My husband and I ordered 1 of each item from the list of "Step 1", plus the fried shrimp basket - minus the chicken slices. Overall, the quality of the food was pretty good. Prices were fair when we went, as price per pound varies during different times of the year. Unfortunately, this place won't be getting a 5 star rating due to the quality of service from majority of the servers working there. Not the most pleasant to order from as they make you feel as if you're bothering them for gloves, napkins, utensils (all of which should be common sense to bring to customers as they wait for their food). I also didn't understand why it took over 30 minutes for a glass of water during their not so busy hours - especially when 3 servers were just standing by the bar chit chatting with one another. read more

See all

This place has simplified seafood service. They seat you, take your order and bring your food back to you in a bag that you open and use your fingers (clad in disposable plastic food grade gloves) to eat. The customer service is fine and décor is fun. When you sit down, there are your gloves and a plastic seafood bib already nicely laid out on the table. While this was fun to try and we did enjoy checking it out, I doubt we'll be back. I don't think either of us felt like we got fantastic value for the cost. For the same or less cost, we can get great food elsewhere. The food was fine but not blow-me-away good. Both of our meals where slightly overcooked and since the sauce you choose is on everything in the bag, you miss out on some flavour variation in your meal. (When I say your food comes in a bag - I mean everything - veggies, seafood - all come in the one bag.) So - go try it, it's fun. You decide for yourself if you'll go back. Would I return: Unlikely - unless someone else really wanted to go there Would I recommend: Worth trying once, just for the experience. It's a neat concept! read more

Disappointed, decided to give this place a try however it was an awful experience. To start, there was no one else in the restaurant which should have been our first clue that it was no good, it felt like an episode of kitchen nightmares. We had the lobster and snow crab which had very little meat and it came with half a corn cob and some minute made rice. It tasted like it was cooked in the plastic bag it came in. The sides were terrible... the half corn cob was rubbery and literally inedible. The taste and value of everything was overall just plain disappointing. Our bill was about $120 and ultimately left starving. We ended up going to another restaurant. Plus there was a fly flying around us the entire time. I would have told the server how bad it was but they never asked, likely because they know that it sucks. They only good thing I'll say is that the server seemed like a nice guy trying their best but ultimately it's not their fault the food sucks and is overpriced. I'll never go there again and will recommend to everyone I know to avoid it. read more

Very nice and delicious. Shrimp and clams are very cheap However, i think the lobsters and crabs are a bit overpriced read more

The Captain's Boil - Shrimp with corn - Seafood Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

See all

don't bother: service is awful, there out of half the items on the menu and would come to us every 5 minutes to tell us they were out, kept bringing us the wrong items, no drinks other than corona and Coca Cola, after two hours of waiting we're still missing on food read more

Snow crab legs with garlic butter sauce is amazing! And the price is reasonable. Unfortunately, the crayfish was sold out today. We would like to come here for crayfish next time! read more

The Captain's Boil - Snow crab legs with garlic butter sauce and seafood fried rice - Seafood Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

Great food with a twist.. get ready to use your hands..this is not for everyone but if you can get back to basics your certainly enjoy this.

Best seafood I've had! Calamari three way- all three were great, not rubbery, great breading. Had snow crab legs in Captain's Boil, mild, with corn and lotus root. The lotus root was great, soaked up the blend of spice, had a perfect crunch. Corn was heavenly, also soaking up the great blend of seasonings. Snow crab legs were fresh, perfectly cooked, and I really appreciated the disposable gloves and bib! I've only had this bag-style once before in the San Francisco Bay Area (but with a super spicy seasoning!) and I like this place even better. Had a sweetheart of a waitress - I think she was very new, but very attentive and helpful. Boneshaker from Amsterdam Brewing on tap was a great IPA to go with seafood, Just Hoppy/bitter enough, but didn't upstage the food. Would definitely come back next trip to Ottawa! read more

This place is a rip off. I ordered the crablegs, crab cake, corn & my mom ordered the shrimp basket. The crablegs were the best thing but they only give you ONE cluster for $22. RIPOFF. The crab cake was disgusting.. took one bite, it was over cooked & rubbery. It didn't even taste like real crab. The shrimp weren't fresh.. looked like prefrozen breaded shrimp you can buy from Costco that they just threw in the fryer. To top it all off the service was terrible. The waitress took forever to come take our order & you could honestly tell she didn't want to be there. Never coming here again. I love seafood I've been to many great seafood restaurants. This is at the bottom of my totem pole. Anybody giving this place 5 stars must be astronomically easy to please. read more

Disappointing service- went with my elderly parents. Must have caught the waitress on a bad day - seemed to trouble her when asked if we could have the table by the window which required her to clear it, didn't offer us drinks while we read the menu (which we grabbed ourselves), helped another table after us, forgot one of our orders and barely an apology "Don't worry i didn't even punch it in", given a plastic cup when asked for a glass for a bottled beer. Food was good, but with a bill that came to $300, expected better service. read more

Not sure if people are joking when they say they've never tasted better seafood? I have been to the Captain's Boil in Toronto and the one in Montreal, and many similar seafood boil places, and this one is just so utterly bland. The portion sizes are fair, and their sauces are okay, but none of the seafood gets fully saturated in the sauce. It just tastes like someone boiled some shrimp and threw it in a bag for a quick second before bringing it out to serve. Or maybe that's what it is. Either way, I personally enjoy seafood that isn't bland, so it would be nice if they kept the seafood in the sauce for a while longer for it to take on the flavour. As for the people who claim to be from the Bay Area and from New York who drive all the way here for this: call me, and I can easily suggest a few better restaurants from your area. read more

This place was awesome! Great food! Nice easy going atmosphere. Will definitely be back next time I'm in Ottawa.

Ate here Thursday night, there was only 2 other tables when we were there. We wanted to get crawfish..and they were out. The website said they had lobster rolls and soup-but when we were there the server told us there was none at this time, but they usually have it. Ordered the shrimp with their mixture of sauces and some potato and some calamari. The portion of calamari was good, but was quite overcooked and rubbery. It seemed to be mostly breading. Also there was no dipping sauce for the calamari and I had to ask if they had anything. The waitress told me "we have red sauce", so that is what I got in a tiny to go container that held barely an ounce. The shrimp in a bag came quite quickly and was brought to our table in a bucket, but then the server took back the bucket and we were left with a bag of shrimp in sauce on out table. My sister saw the shrimp and told the waitress she could not eat the shrimp with the head and legs on them and it was not made clear that you had to take the heads off yourself. The server did not offer to get a different dish- like chicken or rice and should have taken the dish back after my sister said she couldn't eat this at all. Sister ended up getting a side order of plain brocolli and that was almost $8 for steamed broccoli?? We were not given any plastic gloves to peel the food either, so this was a huge mess. After peeling one shrimp I mentioned to the server that I HATE, HATE, HATE SHRIMP THAT ARE NOT CLEANED AND HAVE THE GUTS INSIDE. (usually most decent places serve deveined shrimp). _I used to clean seafood in a restaurant,so know seafood quite well. Also, they do not really have actual plates here-unless you order a rice dish and that comes on a real ceramic plate. everything else we are, we got some flimsy paper plates. There is also nothing to clean your hands with at the end of your meal. The shrimp were quite big and fresh, so that was a plus. Will I eat there again? not sure, they were out of half the menu items. read more

My boyfriend and I came in Sunday night. It was not super busy, we only had to wait 10 mins in line. For the 2 of us we got the clams in garlic sauce, shrimp in captains boil sauce and the Cajun seafood fried riceZ The clams weren't that good, but the shrimp with the captains boil sauce was amazing!! Pair it with the Cajun seafood fried rice. It's honestly the perfect combo, and it'll fill you up, and for a decent price. read more

Went there on a sunday for dinner with the kids. They sat all of us, 7, right away. The decor and ambiance is nice and relax. We tryed crab legs, shrimps and calimari. Our food was served within 10 mins. The kids enjoyed eating crab legs for the first time. So we just ask to have it plain, with butter. It was cooked perfectly, great texture. The kids asked for a second serving. My husband got the shrimps with the capitain mix. Again, cooked perfectly and they got the seasoning right. The calimari was not rubbery and I realy enjoyed the spicy one. One of our friend got the fish and chip. Great breading, not too much, just enought to add texture to the fish. Overall a great first experience with seafood for our kids. I would say the price was better than other places we could have gone to. The only down was the service. We had to ask for gloves. And once seved they dint come back to check if we needed anything else. read more

The food itself is very tasty, but the service was lacking. Probably because they only opened 2 weeks ago. Mussels, Lobster, shrimp and king crab was delicious, with the garlic and cajun sauce. Experience was fun as they put the seafood in plastic bags, no forks or plates, unless you ordered fried rice. They give you a plastic bib and plastic gloves to eat, very fun experience. You'll need to ask for napkins and a cracker for your shells. and call ahead if they have oysters available. Line up was insane by 6:30pm weekend, so get there early. For the price and the amount of food, lets just say we won't be going there quite often. Great for Birthdays, or group gatherings. They also have a few highchairs and there's a 2nd level for seating. read more

See all

I have now been to the Captains Boil at both Ottawa locations. The one on Hunt Club is great. It has good food and service. So we went yesterday to the one on Elgin thinking it would be the same. What a nightmare. The staff are horrible, you had to get them to come over to take order or we would never of eat'n. They messed up orders putting wrong spices on food. EmptyTables were not cleared . You had to go get them for the bucket and seafood cutlery and to top it off messed up the bills. If you want to see how a restaurant should not be run go there. If you want a good experience go to Hunt Club location. Oh and almost forgot, we were one of 2 tables in the restaurant at the time. If the owner does not want to go out of business, he needs to turn over his staff. read more

Yes please. Flavour flavour flavour. Make sure you get the captains boil sauce. Delicious!

Horrible service. Cannot even say horrible because there really is no service at all. My husband and I went in around 8PM on a Friday night, restaurant was half full. We took a seat and waited close to 20 minutes for someone to acknowledge us and take our order. No one bothered so we left. read more

Very disappointed, waitress turned music down to answer the phone,and turned it back up again. Orders for our party of 6 arrived in 5 seperate deliveries over about 20 minutes, and after 10 minutes of ordering. The food itself was neither good value nor of expected quality. read more

I had the crawfish and found it over cooked and tasteless. I had the garlic sauce on the side and found it very distasteful. I had just returned from New Orleans where the crawfish is sweet and tasty so it might not be right to compare the crawfish. I'd like to see more paper and less plastic used. It's ironic that a restaurant would use plastic for everything when we're in a crisis with plastic in the oceans. read more

This place ruined captains boil for me. I've been to several captains boils in Toronto but the service and the food quality just does not cut it. I came here once when they first opened the food was bomb and the recipe tasted exactly like Toronto. Recently I had a craving for shrimp so we decided to come here again. Big mistake. The waitresses were all standing around watching 30 day fiance or something on TLC and did not want to be bothered with serving us. All three or four of them just crowded there watching TV. Nobody wanted to acknowledge us. When the food came they just dropped it on our table and were never to be seen again. Two guys arrived in the table beside us and asked if they could which the channel to football. The waitress said hmm I'm not sure if that's possible (of course they didn't want to they wanted to finish their episode lol). Finally they changed it but I'm sure they weren't happy about that. Anyway service aside we were still there for the food, which unfortunately had way too little sauce, tasted bland (I usually have to order plain rice cuz it's really flavorful but I didn't need rice that day lol) and also it was not as spicy as usual. Anyways best wishes to this restaurant it was a shame I really loved captains boil. read more

Usually used to be nice, last visit was a terrible experience. The taste was not good at all.

Wanted to try their Cajun wings . thought it said it was coming with fries . but once served no fries ? asked to see the menu , o sir you didnt notice the no star beside it ? ah no ,, WE'll no fries . Yes lots of other customers have said the same thing . I'll let the manager know , .The bill comes with no apoligy or credit . not to mention the wings are all very salty tiny battered pieces of bone . Will never go back . read more

June 19, 2018 around 4PM. Female minding the counter was texting. She never saw three of us, 2 adults and 1 child walk in. I had to caugh to get her attention. She was startled and managed an embarassed "Hi" while rummaging through the menus. She told us we could sit anywhere. It was our first time there. My wife wanted a tea but was told they ran out of hot water (!?), okay, Nestea instead. We chose an apple juice for the child and while they went to the washroom, the waitress told me they ran out of apple juice (!?) and she diluted it with water and I won't be charged for it. The food was horrible. She pointed out a fried rice, no idea why. It was spicy, greasy and yellow and the taste was bland. Man walked in asking if they hire dishware. She tells him they don't because "it's a seafood restaurant", then added, the boss isn't there and she can't make a decision but if he leaves his resume...The man says when is the boss there, she says, they open at 11am. Her English was not good, the man's neither, in the end, she tells him he can come back the following day around 2pm. I spoke French to my child, upon hearing that she switched too. Adult food was fried rice and shrimps, but we didn't know they sauce would be mixed in already. I told her that I cannot eat the Cajun being too hot, so she took the shrimps back. Then she brought us another bag, the shrimps were in a clear plastic bag, the rice was on I believe a plastic platter and we were given paper cups and tiny plastic spoons to eat with. The second time she came with the sauce, again, she said it's mixed in. I also ordered a seafood stew. I dipped my tongue and it was extremely hot. I just couldn't eat it. My wife didn't want it either, she disliked the taste. We parked at Nature Museum. The child food was chiken fingers and fries, perhaps the only edible thing on the menu. Washrooms downstairs, I thought there was no toilet in the men's because I couldn't see a door; the urinal flushed twice on its own while I was there. Washroom cleanliness was fine. Bill was 59 dollars, parking was 14 dollars. Terrible food, location so so, but entrance door had a broken glass, also a broken window where we sat. There were leftovers under our table all the while the waitress was wiping the tables. I guess she forgot about the floor. She told the man looking for work that the place doesn't have a dishwasher but has 3 cooks(!) and she's never seen one. There were other customers there, but left and the place was deserted. Read similar comments about being told they ran out of certain things. The place is deserted and they ran out? What kind of excuse is that? I paid 59 dollars for excuses and terrible food. My wife said she doesn't want to go back. Well, we tried and learned our lesson. We actually went because a friend of my wife posted pics on facebook, but we are unsure of the location. One last thing, there was house music playing, extremely loud. We went there to eat not to dance and not to able to hear each other. read more

Just went to the Captain's Boil for a friend's birthday and felt compelled to write a review. In a nutshell, the service is pretty bad and the food is just okay. We sat down at 7:05 and were only greeted by our waitress at 7:45 to place our order. We ordered the King crab legs, with steamed rice, Shrimp with yam fries, and Crawfish with corn. We were not asked if we were going to share our food, which thankfully we did, as the shrimp came to our table first and then 30 minutes later the crawfish. The shrimp were not deveined, so it was messy doing this ourselves. We waited another 40 minutes for the King crab legs, at which point I became annoyed and flagged down the waitress. She informed us that they ran out of King crab legs earlier. I was disappointed that they didn't bother to inform us sooner, as we were under the impression that the kitchen was just slow. I spoke to the manager who did not offer any form of compensation. I left still feeling hungry. Unfortunately, the food itself was unable to make up for what the service was lacking. read more

TERRIBLE service. We went last night and, after being seated on the patio by the host and told our server would be right with us, sat for 25 minutes without even being acknowledged. It wasn't even busy. A server visited the tables right beside us and behind us several times to bring cutlery, food, etc. Each time we tried to make eye contact or flag her down she would scuttle away. I also kept sticking my head inside to try and get her attention. Once, we actually made eye contact and I thought "yes, finally!" but nope, totally ignored us and went to do something behind the bar. To give the benefit of the doubt, we figured maybe the restaurant was divided down the middle, and perhaps we had a different server and she didn't want to encroach on their territory, but even if that was the case she could have at least thrown a "hey, I'll grab your server for you" our way. Eventually we just gave up and left. On the way out we said we had been waiting for 25 minutes and hadn't even been able to order a drink, and the host and server standing behind the bar (literally doing nothing) just shrugged halfheartedly at us as we left. I hate complaining about this stuff, and I'm not looking for supreme service or anything out of the ordinary. We would have been totally fine if the staff had just shown a thread of civility or common decency. I wouldn't even have minded waiting if we were at least acknowledged in some way. I started to think that perhaps we had somehow died of hunger and turned into ghosts and they couldn't actually see us. Anyway, the food looked and smelled delicious, but I won't bother going back. If I owned this joint, I'd be pretty disappointed to know that this is how my customers were being treated. read more