The Boiling Pot

Went here in 2008 for my anniversary it was delicious nom nom nom came back from Germany 2013 to find out that its closed oh how that broke my heart

This place is awesome!!! great people great food great everything!
The seafood is so fresh and juicy! also its leaves a steam trail on the way to the table its just plain AMAZING!!!

THIS BUSINESS IS CLOSED. Unfortunately, due to the area that’s overrun with homeless people this business didn’t survive.

Go there if you want to experience something different. The ambience sucks though! A little pricey too, I would say!

We were walking down 6^th St and the smell of the boil got to us, so we ducked in for a snack. Ordered a platter of chilled shrimp. Plate came out and at that time I realized this was not my type of place. Head and shells still in tact. It was messy, frustrating and kind of expensive for the amount of work I had to put into it (I think more work than the kitchen did, for sure!) Hands smelled like the boil and shrimp the rest of the night. Funny thing is, the shrimp themselves had little flavor at all, let alone the seasoning. The most interesting/​entertaining part of this meal was sitting on the patio and getting a small side-​show from a man washing out his clothes in the creek that ran by the place.

I have been to the «Crawfish Shack & Oyster Bar» many times and always wanted to try the Boiling Pot on 6^th street. I tried and was very disappointed.
First of all, there were flies around us during the meal and the staff does not have a fly swatter. I was really about to quit and leave at that moment.
Next, the food is not fresh, especially the potato looked being sitting out for a few days. The shrimp was very mediocre and did not have any flavor. The red bean and rice tasted horrible.
Third, the food is over priced. The shrimp at «Crawfish Shack & Oyster Bar» was less than 9 dollars a pound but this place charges double the price.
In short, I will never visit this place again.

I might be bias cause I lived in Louisiana but they didn’t do a completely terrible job. I’m a sucker for crawfish so as I walked by the smell brought me in. I didn’t even know the place was down there. Wait staff was decent loved the feel of how we have real boils. No utensils just fingers and a hammer if needed. Shrimp was overcooked and gumbo… let’s just say after one bite I was done. I’d go back strictly for crawfish though.

I LOVE CAJUN! I wish they would bring a place like this to the north east! Austin may have won my heart with this place. While the service is a bit on the slow side (there were only 2 waitresses for the entire restaurant during dinner time) I felt like they were running around like chickens with their head cut off. But they were very nice.
This is the type of place where they lay down butcher paper for you and you order seafood by the pound. They will boil it in their special cajun spices and then dump the food right onto the table for you. No utensils necessary. So armed with your lobster bib, lots of napkins, and your own bare hands, you chow down on the seafood.
We had the cajun combo and also ordered ½ pound of snow crabs. The snow crab was delicious. The shrimps were a bit over cooked but still tasty. The sausage was tasty and they give you a ton of potatoes and corn to go along with your meal too.
All in all I was a happy camper with my smelly seafood hands. They give you lemon water to clean your hands with but I would prefer wet naps.

Well, this was an experience. I’m a pesca-​vegetarian. I was in Austin for SXSW.
We got bibbed. We got mallets. We got the sausage separate from the fishy things. In a party of 14, I still have precious needs.
I still could not deal with some of the fishy things. Crawfish look like little aliens. I can’t eat that. I can’t TOUCH that. Are they related to spiders?
The shrimp… had work to be done on it. There was still some kinda guts inside it, and when I smacked it with my mallet, it… I… I’m squeamish, OK? I’m sorry.
BUT THE LOBSTER. OH THE LOBSTER. Let me at that, all day, every day.
Uh, listen. I’m happy for the experience AND THE LOBTSA but mostly when I go to a restaurant I want the unpleasant bits to be done before I see the dish.
AND NOW I KNOW.
Also I hate butter. Esp in little dishes.

Really, what you pay for here is convenience and not so much the quality. Yes, we can make better gumbo at home but we had never tried this place so why not? Walked out of there feeling gypped. Don’t come here if you’re looking for something flavorful.

It’s okay, not great.

I can’t give them more than one star due to the fact that this place needs to close. Shrimp was unseasoned and served warm. Crab legs were greasy and bendable, which made them impossible to eat. Rice and beans were so dense with spices that it was not edible. Cocktail sauce was something straight out of a Sysco truck. Wait staff was very polite and happy, but improperly trained. And the menus, oh my god the menus, were unreadable – hard to order from and did not have a drink menu. Bathrooms were in need if a fire to clean that filth. This place needs a major overhaul. Please shut down.

I was reluctant to try out this place because of the bad reviews on here but my love for crawfish and all thing seafood won me over. I got to go see for myself and it turned out to be a pretty pleasant experience.
We went there during the Pecan St Festival on 6^th St so it was pretty crowded but the service was reasonably fast. The menu made my mouth water: crawfish, all sort of crabs, shrimp, oysters… We ordered a combo of stuff. Waitress came out with a bowl of crawfish and dumped it on the table. We asked if the rest of our stuff would come later. She had a blank look on her face and then realized «Oops! Wrong order!» Went to talk to her manager, came back and told us we could keep the crawfish on top of our order. Nice! A bit later our real order came out and we ended up with a huge pile of crawfish, shrimp, sausage and corn on our table.
My b/​f was a bit put off with the pile. What? Do you expect table cloth and fine china, my stud? I love the pile!!! It fit well with my ravenous appetite for all thing seafood. I was ready to get down and dirty.
Okay, here’s my verdict on the food:
— Blue crab — A little disappointed ‘cuz they were out of it (substituted by crawfish)
— Crawfish — Very good! Small but juicy, tasty, spicy, NOT buttery (which is a plus in my book)
— Shrimp boil — Very good! Heads on with all the good yellow stuff (mustard/​tamale — whatever they call it). Most American think it gross but I love it!
— Sausage — Disappointing, kinda bland with a strange pink color
— Corn — Pretty good! Sweet and spicy.
After the meal, waitress came out with a shot glass of clear pale yellow liquid. Wow! Shots before 2 pm? Turned out it was lemon juice to clean our hands. How cool is that?
I’ll definitely come back.

Killer red beans and rice, gumbo… and claims … need to bring this place to Dallas… Highly recommend. Great atmosphere and off 6^th street.

Every time we park near here I can smell the butter. I love butter. But we weren’t sure if it was kid friendly so we hadn’t been in. Until our last date night.
I am so glad we went. The food was nom. Oysters with their horseradish cream sauce were fantastic. I want to take their horseradish sauce home and just eat it straight. So freaking good. Our food took a really long time, so the waitress gave us some free crab legs to make up for it. We never got bibs, so I ended up with food all over my dress. But it was totally worth it.
Our waitress was super great. She was funny and chatted us up. But she didn’t hang out so long that we were uncomfortable. I wish I knew her name. It was late and not very full so the atmosphere was very casual, with the staff laughing and chilling with the customers. I
I will go back. And it is kid friendly. They have a small kids menu and our kids would love to smash things with mallets any day.

I love, love, love the Rockport location!
And I’ve given this location too many chances to count. With that said, it never holds a candle to the original location.
I like to order the same thing nearly every time. The Cajun Combo with an extra ½ lb of shrimp, 1lb of crawfish, and six male blue crab to start with extra ramekins of the Old Bay-​type seasoning for dipping. In Rockport, this order never fails me, and is always super delicious. For whatever reason, at the Austin location, it is never quite the same, but usually not bad.
Having grown up on steamed Maryland Blue crab, this restaurant is as close as I can get to childhood memories in the south.
The last time I dined here, the crab had died a prior to being cooked, and the meat wouldn’t firm up. In fairness, I don’t really know how the crab was even in season, so that may have had something to do with it. But the chef should know that if the crab isn’t moving, then it shouldn’t be served. I would recommend that the owners try and hire people who at the minimum know fresh shellfish that has died in their presence should never be cooked or served.
Our server was very gracious about the incident, never got snippy, or anything like that. She instantly told us she would comp the crab, and asked if there was anything else that we would like. To her credit, she handled the situation exceptionally well.
I will return to feed my need for blue crab (when actually in season), but I would recommend venturing to the Rockport location instead if you can. Stay tuned for an update ;-)

Just ate here last night. It was horrible. We watched three tables get up and walk out… that should have been our clue to leave as well. The service was an absolute disaster, and the seafood is WAY overpriced. $ 27 for two king crab legs (yes only 2), $ 17 for 3 small stone crab claws, and you have to pay EXTRA if you want potatoes and corn… all the while it’s just dumped in front of you on some paper. Lastly, the place is dirty! Just bad. They only had one working toliet in the woman’s bathroom… and the lock wouldn’t even work! Never again! Save your $$!
One more thing: We watched helpless patrons wait upwards of 45 minutes for their credit card bill because they couldn’t get their machine to work.

DO NOT EAT HERE! One word. WORMS. We ordered some crawfish tonight (Oct 22, 2010) and the crawfish are FULL of some type of nematode probably a roundworm. What’s worse is several of them were still moving, they had not been cooked hot or long enough to kill them. Yes, it gets worse. We took them back and informed them, told them they were not safe and that they were still active and then called back an hour later. THEY ARE STILL SELLING THEM! The manager informed us that the restaurant owner had assured him that they were safe and keep selling them. They don’t care!
We have called the health department and saved several in our freezer.
I have been here multiple times and love their seasoning but what they are doing is DANGEROUS. I will not be going back.
CRAWFISH DO NOT HAVE WHITE WORMLIKE GUTS. THOSE ARE WORMS. DO NOT EAT.
Will try to link to a Flickr Pic:
Update they just called back and said they would stop selling them tonight but will resume tomorrow if their supplier says they are ok. Of course their supplier will say they are ok! Hope the health dept is open on saturday!

The place was empty (should have been our first clue???) and we must have had our invisible capes on since nobody said a word while we stood there, waiting to be seated.
Finally seated we get something that I think was supposed to be bread… but it tasted like it had been in a freezer for about 5 or 6 years before being brought out to our table.
We told the server, a giddy college girl, that this was our first trip and did she have any suggestions… she just giggled and said it’s all good. Great. Don’t strain yourself, honey.
We order the crawfish and blue crab.
It arrives… without any flavor. How does SEAFOOD not have flavor?
I think that this was possibly the worst meal of my entire life.
Not only that, but it was WAYYYY overpriced. I didn’t realize making and serving really bad food could be so expensive.
Don’t go.
Enough said.

The Good:
: the location. it’s downtown off of 6^th street
: their fried food. however, it is hard to screw up fried food. stick with the fried shrimp
The Bad:
: their food. weak, flavorless, non-​spicy crawfish. bland bland bland. this is a violation of all that is cajun. had it many times here and at their now-​closed north location. every time i had their crawfish boiled, it was no good
: their fixins. they are also bland and taste like they’ve been boiled in water with no spices whatsoever. potatoes and corn are a soggy, ruined mess. shameful.
: their sausage. flavorless. also tastes like it was boiled in just plain old water. this is no good, people.
: the butter sauce. it’s just butter. not a sauce but just plain old cheap melted butter. gross. FYI butter is only necessary to drown the taste of cheap and/​or not-​fresh seafood. if it’s fresh, all you literally need is lemon juice, salt, and pepper. the end.
: service is hit or miss.
The Ugly:
: the food.
Would I go back? Definitely not. There are better options in town for your cajun and creole cravings, and sadly this isn’t one of them. I’d rather go to Red Lobster than here. Good lord, what does that say about the food???
This place is OUT.