First off, I was pretty excited that they converted flying chicken into crab bucket.It's a little restaurant that holds a capacity of about 80-90 ppl. However, i do have to admit that this place is pretty adequate for salinas.The service was good,the ladies were attentive and nice. Now, let me get down to the food. I ordered 1lb of shrimp for the price of 11$ as well as 1lb of clams medium, Kawa-bunga. The sauce or seasoning was lacking flavor; It was more oil based and hardly any garlic . So, I wasn't to fond about there sauce or seasoning which plays a huge part. I also got 1lb of clams . Now, let me tell you, be aware that if you do get clams you'll probably get 3/4 shells and the rest meat. Which is completely not worth it. Overall, great service and vibe,just needs to work on their seasoning and proportions . I'll definitely be coming back. read more

The Crab Bucket - 1/2 dozen oysters and Cajun fries. - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Salinas, California

The food was good but the music was way too loud. You'd better like hip hop because that's all they play in this club like setting. It gets really crowded really fast. It can take forever to get your food when it gets busy. The service isn't the greatest either. But now you know where to go to get your shoes cleaned lol! read more

For my family this is our favorite place everytime we go we get 2 bags of shrimp and bag crab legs kawa panga the wild is very delicious! I would recommend this place. read more

It's the only place of it's kind I've found around here. Close to the cajun places in Hawaii, but it's lacking in flavor. The shrimp are whole, head and vein, but they are sizable - close to prawns. read more

Best sea food ever!!!!!!!! The sauce is flavorful and spicy (or mild if that's what you like) the potato's are so good when put in sauce with some sausage and the corn is fresh definitely should try the whole shrimp and crawfish. read more

This place is good, but they need to inform their waiters about the food. Our waiter didn't know anything about the crab or where the oysters came from. They should probably have the waiters try their own food too. Lemon pepper fries & sweet potatoe fries were good. The king crab & dungenous crab were also good. I didn't really care too much for their kawa-banga sauce. I liked how much rice they give. One weird thing is the chicken statue in the front. Doesn't really belong. read more

See all

This place is great if you love sloppy seafood and want to eat Cajun style. This place has a big business feel with a small business vibe. It will get crowded but the service is decent. The price is medium level for the amount of food you get. You get a healthy amount with sides. read more

I was so happy when I heard about this place because I love crawfish. Came here recently and I was greatly disappointed. Crawfish here are not fresh so expect frozen cooked ones. You'd think that even with the frozen crawfish cooked canjun style it would still bring flavor but definitely not. I can tell that the restaurant do not cook the crawfish with the canjun spice together but rather it was sprinkled on. The same can be said with my corn on the cob. Another disappointment was how much oil and butter I had in my one pound crawfish and 2 corn in the cob clear plastic bag... I've never been to a place with so much oil in my cooked crawfish. Definitely not worth for me. Never returning. I didn't even finished my one pound of crawfish and regretted getting even one pound. My friend got the shrimp and she was satisfied. But being that she's from Texas, she highly do not recommend the crawfish either. read more

The Crab Bucket - So much oil. This was my friend's order of shrimp. She finished it all I got the crawfish I highly donot recommend - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Salinas, California

See all

Compared to The Kicking Crab in San Jose, this is the Salinas version. Exact same concept, you buy the seafood by the pound and then pick a flavor and spice level and they give you a bag with all of it. Came here with the boyfriend and ordered the snow crab, mussels, and shrimp along with sides of corn and potatoes and fried calamari. We ordered the mild lemon pepper and it was pretty good, although not as spicy as we had liked. It's a decent meal for the price (came out to about 60 total but the snow crab was a little pricey for the amount that we got). The fried calamari came out really hot which made it THAT much better. The service was pretty good, they always came around to check how we were doing and even switched one of the TV channels for me so I could watch the game. This is definitely one of the better food options in Salinas and I would recommend it. Side note: the parking lot is a little sketchy and is horrible to get out of (blind spot galore!) read more

AMAZING GREAT SERVICE GREAT FOOD !! First tine there and we loved it! Shrimp was perfectly cooked pasta too! We will be back !! read more

I have been craving for some Cajun crab so bad this place come up to me and first time going in was horrible the cashier or whatever she was those not have a friendly attitude or have experience in costumer serves and the food was terrible no flavor corn in the cob was pricey for one piece 1.50 I bought 3 pieces for $3.00 it was not even worth everything was not worth I spend $113.00 was not worth I don't mind paying money when the food is good I will never go back I think they should hiring people with more hospitality experience I wouldn't recommend this place read more

Love this place! So far their king crab has been better than Red Lobster, Phils in Half Moon Bay, Santa Barbara Shellfish Company, Malibu Seafood Market and Boiling Crab in Sacramento. Due to the weird building and no full bar, I sometimes worry that they'll disappear soon. read more

See all

Excellent location and EXCELLENT Customer Service! Kayla is extremely nice and ready to take care of all your food needs! All of the staff is very welcoming. I'm not going to lie , I was pretty skeptical of trying seafood from this area. But it turns out to be the best seafood I've had in here living in the Monterey Peninsula. I would definitely recommend family and friends to come in and try them out! read more

This place makes my mouth water... shrimp, oysters, crab, crawfish... omg I can go on for days when it comes to seafood. Well what's te you waiting for come and get some, one thing though stick to the seafood Menu because the pastas and anything else is not worth it. Just a heads up. read more

Its a hit and miss. Sometimes they're food is good and some times its off. My MNL did not like their crab.

Service: Food was good but the service was garbage! Got here around 8:15pm. Didn't get acknowledged until 8:36! Finally was taken to a table at 8:45!! There were two other families waiting and one family left because the lack of customer service! I understand it's busy, but it would take no more than 1 minute to acknowledge your customers and let them know you will be with them shortly! The employees looked like they didn't even want to be there!! Finally someone took our order at 9:15!! That's after 30 mins of waiting! We were the last to leave because we got crab, which takes time to eat! Around 10, one of the girls comes to the table, gives us our check and says "you need to pay now because we have to close our system down!" Hmmmm, I don't mind paying NOW, but damn, mind your attitude! It's not my fault you guys are hella slow at your job and can't even tend to your customers in time! Bad, bad service! Food: food was good. We got the Dungeness crab kawa-bunga style, rice and clam chowder. I had to ask for the clam chowder to be reheated since it wasn't even warm! Otherwise food was good. I did feel however that we couldn't really enjoy our food because of feeling rushed. I doubt that I'll be back here. read more

The Crab Bucket - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Salinas, California

I do not leave poor reviews or believe in being keyboard terrorist but this place should just be a to go place or a food truck the food deserves 4 stars. I have not had worse service in my life. I moved to the peninsula 3 years ago and consider myself a local as I believe in promoting local business as I am a local business person who does multiple transactions a day from $5000-$50000 daily. I take myself out every Sunday for lunch. I found this place on yelp as I wanted crab and didn't want to fight the tourists on the wharf. So I found this place read the first review and said I'll give it a shot maybe somebody just had a bad day. I walked and was greeted and seated by a very nice young lady. Then the nightmare begins. I sit down. Sit patiently. Another family is seated. Standard drink order. Another family is seated. Place is getting busy. My waitress walks by like I'm a ghost. I will tell you I'm wearing a hoodie from a local business. I'm wearing a baseball cap. I do have a few tattoos but I'm not intimidating. I keep to myself. I order an Arnold Palmer. "We don't have that". I can see the tea machine and lemonade. No problem. 15 minutes later and my waitress not only takes other orders but brings out food to people that I was seated before. Place my order. One pound king crab. So knowing I'm in for the wait and poor service I order another pound to come out when I'm done with this one. Food is great. I ask for a refill. I waited long enough to be able to walk out to my car and get a bottle of water. I ask nicely "you have my glass?" Now she is treating me like I'm putting her out and she has the glass. I smile kindly say "thank you". She asks "are you ready?" I respond yes and she brings out my food in a to-go bag and my bill slapped down. I asked "is it ok if I eat here? I didn't want it to go." I apologize. May I remind you I have my own iPad that I'm watching and I asked to be seated in the back which the place was full of families. My waitress is staring watching me eat and looking at her watch. Oh I get it you think I'm squatting your table and you are losing money and your racially profiling me as well. GAME ON. I order a 3rd order of crab. And ask for a refill my 3rd I will admit. "We can't do that" very snotty. "Okay I will gladly pay for it". I continue to eat and keep to myself in shock I have spent more as 1 person than most families did I get it. I'm not welcome. I gladly pay. I even tip because I am the bigger person. But before you use a racial slur with your coworker on the guest sitting with his headphones on you might wanna find out that guest grew up in San Pedro CA in a Project that was Hispanic and Filipino. I would doubt you will reach out. After reading most of your poor reviews they have a common theme. I get it we aren't welcome. Well some of us grew up in places more diverse than Salinas. Shame on you. I am a community leader and established on the peninsula to San Jose. I highly doubt you will do anything about this. Reach out at your discretion. I will tell you this you will see me again and I will eat at your business just to remind you I'm here. I have posted my receipt as proof that no only did I pay. I tipped well for "what" I am. Waitress got really nice when I was signing my check in front of her. Once again I would suggest not using slang about another race or who you think isn't listening because they have in headphones watching an iPad. read more

The Crab Bucket - Receipt - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Salinas, California

lb. of shrimp kawa banga style... A little whole in the wall restaurant but with big flavor. Will be a returning customer for sures. read more

I would give them like 2.5 stars, the shrimp was good but a little overcooked. We got cajun flavor with lemon pepper fries. What i didn't like is that the fries were soooo salty we could only eat 2 or 3 before getting grossed out. They really over seasoned them. read more

Awesome! Kowabunga sauce and king crab are a match made in heaven Definitely suggest to all. read more

So the other day i got 2 orders of the Kawa-banga flavor and some king crab legs i seen people say its just a little of shrimp that is not a pound etc but to me its worth it their huge ! And those two bags of shrimp and crab legs fed my husband, mom, dad and me and we were full m. They were on the salty side but other than that totally worth it. read more

The Food is really good it taste exactly like the boiling crab in San Jose. 5 stars for the food. My only problem was the customer service. Once the food arrived they complete forgot about my table. I had to get up and ask for a refill. Also had to get up and get my bill. Service 1 star read more

The Crab Bucket - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Salinas, California

Grabbed some shrimp for takeout and it was delicious. I had a pound of shrimp medium spice and I did their Kawa Banga sauce. Very delicious!

We came in 30mins after opening and it took them 10 mins for us to be seated! Ridiculous! When there was three workers standing doing nothing. Then once seated they took any other 15 mins to even say "hi" or send a server till I had to ask for one. Whoever the manager is you need to check on your employees for they are lacking on their job description of service. Especially when you guys are dead! read more

The Crab Bucket - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Salinas, California

It was good, a little pricey but it was good don't think I would go back as it wasn't worth what I paid

Worst place to go ever. People working here are immature and unprofessional. Maria the so called manager doesn't give a rats ass about you. They don't care if you come by and write your name down there is no place to waitt or stand. It's like a third world country. Don't ever go. read more

Overpriced, tasteless, bad customer service and the place looks dirty in general. The shrimp has wait to much grease/butter it in. Not enough juice/flavor... read more

Ridiculous expensive, when I got home this was my Crab missing a bunch of legs . And don't badder complaining because their managers don't care about your complaints they just want your money , we would never go back that's for sure . read more

The Crab Bucket - Dungenes Crab in garlic butter - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Salinas, California

See all

Was quoted a 20 minute wait on a busy Saturday night, only to find out after Inquiring "what was taking so long?" that the "Boss" had decided to seat himself and his family. Very unprofessional, will not be visiting this establishment again. The boss should learn how to run a business read more

Used to think if is pricey but good it make sense but now quality mm....nope, 2x in row of over cook crab n shrimp

This place is fire!!! I have driven down from San Jose many times just to have their very salty thick flavorings on the king crab and shrimp! It's a nice change from places like boiling crab with their water down sauces that don't stick much to your food. this place is great they give you lots of lemons and their Cajun fries are very good as well. The garlic noodles are pretty on point to but some days they will be overly greasy. So be careful if you have a long drive back it will put you to sleep! Be prepared to wash down the salty goodness with lots of water or better yet beer!! Sometimes the line is long but it goes by quickly and absolutely is worth the wait! read more

This review is based on the Customer Service, the manager name and cashier was Maria. I was in this past weekend and it was disappointing. I asked for fresh lemons because the ones they put in my bags had been sitting in the refrigerator who knows how long. I was very nice and ask would you please change my lemons to fresh one's. She simply said "NO" there is nothing wrong with those so I said they are old and turning brown. She looks straight in my face and said No I am not changing them. So I said ok that's fine keep them. This was in front of two of her employees and some customers behind me. Embarrassing and Humiliating for something so pity. As I am leaving she is laughing and talking to the customers behind me about me. Wow, where did the customer service go, even if she thought the lemons were ok, as a manager you are the example to your employees. How hard was it to change them, right. So my husband was in the car and I get in the car I tell him how embarrassed I felt and humiliated, so he said call and ask for the owners name. So we call together and the employee would not pass the call to Maria, so I asked her to tell her that I did not appreciate the treatment and that we need the owners name, at first she did not want to give me the name but at the end she does. I told her that I would be writing a review about the experience and she said go ahead I don't care. So we just decided to hang up. Never again will we be going to this place. Even though the food has always been ok. read more

For my first time there and after hearing all the great reviews about this place, I was left a little disappointed. We tried a pound of the Cajun shrimp and Dungeness crab and half pound of the sausage with lemon pepper fries. The shrimp was over cooked, the crab was pretty small for the $30 price tag, and the fries were barely seasoned. Don't get me wrong the atmosphere was pretty cool and I liked their set up. The seasoning was good and so were the sausages. I will definitely give this place another try and maybe go for the garlic butter with snow crab legs. read more

See all

My boyfriend and I paid close to $80 for two cheap crab plus fries and corn on the cob. This place was not only expensive, it was not good. The fries were under done and cold. The corn on the cob was previously frozen and fell apart. The waitress was busy and without personality. Don't bother. read more

Food is good, hands down I'd say it's better than the boiling crab. I'm a regular at the boiling crab for years and they changed as of late so the crab bucket is the new spot and closer!!!! THE ONLY THING IS THE CRAB BUCKET'S CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS ASS. LITERALLY!! read more

i went to crab bucket with my friend after about a year of not going because i've been going to bag o crab i order cajun fries and the seasoning was just on the top the bottom fires didn't have an seasoning and the cajun seasoning was not that good and when we got our food the waitress gave us the wrong bag and we didn't notice until we were already eating and she didn't even offer to give us new bags since our fingers were in each others bags and on top of that i got a mild spice and it was soo sweet and salty so if your craving seafood boil just go to bag o crab. read more

When crab bucket first opened it was really good. Over the time I've been going and the kawa bunga sauce has lost its touch. It's always over salted and has has a strong flavor. The shrimp is always good to me and so is the crawfish. I accidentally ordered lemon pepper fries and I almost always get them. read more

I am so glad I gave this place a chance! I have driven by so many times but the location looked sketchy and parking looked spotty so I have always just filled my desire for this type of seafood in San Jose. Last night my husband and I decided to buy food for the whole fam and what a surprise! It was so delicious!!! I can't believe I wasted so much gas going to SJ when we have this amazing place right here in Salinas! I will be recommending this place to all my friends and family! read more

Overpriced bags of slop, in a dimly lit and loud establishment. What else could one ask for? read more

From San Jose and was in town today for July 4th and since the beach was closed. And we were craving for seafood... looked up on yelp and see the crab bucket was around the area. We brought oysters, pasta with shrimp and Clam chowder. Delicious food and thank you! Service was great! read more