The prospect of receiving a free pound of shrimp and a cluster of Dungeness crab caught our attention. Grab A Crab is a seafood boil restaurant located at 2020 S Hacienda Blvd F, Hacienda Heights with a unique twist in its claw machine.
The claw machine stationed at the back of the restaurant offers crab and shrimp in the form of plushies. These plushies can be traded back to the restaurant for either one pound of shrimp boil or one cluster of Dungeness crab. You need tokens to attempt the claw machine and they are given to you free of charge by the restaurant depending on the size of your party. This unique gimmick solidified our decision to dine at the restaurant as we were excited to try the claw machine and potentially win a $49.99 Dungeness crab for free, but unfortunately we weren’t able to win any free food.
We ordered the “Combo for 2” which let us choose two boils, two sides and one fried dish. For the boils we ordered the shrimp and clam in the Grab A Crab House Sauce, which is made of New Orleans cajun, lemon pepper and garlic butter, with mild spice. As for the sides and fried dish we ordered the sweet potato fries, onion rings and fried calamari. Extremely generous servings were given, and it could’ve easily fed three people with large appetites as we both were able to bring a fair amount of food back home for our families. This all totaled to $51.06, excluding tax and tip, which we feel is a great deal for the quality and quantity of food served.
The shrimp was buttery and paired perfectly with the Grab A Crab House Sauce. Although you have to peel the shell and head of the shrimp yourself, those came off effortlessly. The clam was tender and was drenched in a sauce that gave it a spicy and salty kick. To us, the amount of sauce in the dish made the seafood boil extremely greasy. The sweet potato fries had a great golden and orange color, and we were met with a perfect crunch. Neither of us were fans of fried calamari before, but we both realized how delicious the dish was after eating it here. The batter was crispy and the calamari was fresh and soft, so you get the best of both worlds. Lastly, the onion rings were mediocre, as it lacked seasoning but still was nicely fried.
The ambiance of the restaurant represented a seafood boil restaurant perfectly with barrels and seafood figures on the wall. Right when we were seated, we noticed that there was a box of plastic gloves on the table. Most seafood boil restaurants fail to provide gloves for such a messy meal, and this establishment saved us from leaving with greasy hands. Additionally, we arrived at 12:00 pm and had the restaurant to ourselves. After we arrived more people started to pour in but we believe you don’t need a reservation for small groups, though we don’t know the situation for the dinner rush. The service was satisfactory as it took about 5 minutes for us to take our order. Even though we were the only people there, the waiter was nowhere in sight throughout our meal unless it was to sit the other people that arrived after us.
We definitely feel that we will be taking our families and friends back here, as there are a variety of items that we didn’t have the chance to try. The garlic noodles and fried rice were both items that we missed out on and look forward to trying the next time we visit. Overall, we would rate Grab A Crab 4 out of 5 stars as we were satisfied with both the environment and taste. We would recommend this to any seafood boil enjoyers that are looking to try a new restaurant.
