SJ Crawfish

Rice Valley Mooncakes is a popup that’s taken over this retail space. the header of this storefront had a chinese sign hanging over the sj crawfish name. pictures of mooncakes are posted on the window and samples of lotus bean mooncakes were being distributed.
sample was so-​so. passed on buying one.. saw stacks of mooncakes ($ 14ish, minis maybe) inside.
sign on window indicated mooncakes u.s. made.

I just have to say this place is just OK. The bag of crawfish, shrimp, corn and sausages were flavorful, but the corn and sausages was a bit expensive. It sure beats having to drive to Mountain view and waiting in line to get Boiling Crab (especially on a weekday).
I went during the time they were still trying to renovate to add the phở menu. I haven’t gone back since. When I went it was hard to communicate with the waiter as they didn’t speak english all that well, but they were really nice and patient. Being that there were only two tables with customers (us being the 2^nd one) the food came really slow. REALLY SLOW. I even asked for rice after we received our crawfish and still took a long time.
I will come back here again when I do have a random craving for cajun crawfish.

Positive:
— Seated immediately. The place was pretty empty, there was like 2 other small groups.
Hmm I thought I would have more positives to add to the list.
Negative:
— Verrryyyy slow service
— The server didn’t look so happy in serving us, like if we just ruin his day by showing up.
— I had to walk up to the counter to order because, it was that slow in service.
— Had to ask 3 times for some ice water.
Ordered 1lb of shrimp in medium spice, 1lb of crawfish in mild spice and small rice dish with spare rib, bbq pork and shrimp pancake.
Overall, I wouldn’t go back here again. The sauce was VERY runny like it’s just liquid and didn’t stick to the shrimp/​crawfish. The crawfish was teeny tiny though I guess you can’t help that since it’s whatever is in season. Lastly, the rice plate was. well, just like any other rice plate.
The place looked clean, definitely had better food elsewhere and the slow service was definitely a killer.

I accidentally landed inside SJ Crawfish driving on Irving and it doesn’t hurt that Durty Nelly’s is right across the street.
I have been to the Boiling Crab in SoCal, Crab Hut in San Diego, Cracked Crab in SLO, but SJ Crawfish is currently my favorite, I crave it at least once a week. :)
I have had the creole flavor in the clams, prawns, and the crawfish in medium and mild. My favorite is crawfish mild w/​fries, a corn, a sausage, and an orange soda. (They each just perfectly match!) SJ has a better tasting broth compared to Boiling Crab, unless you like that gritty sandy taste, but if I wanted to eat the crab boil mix, I’d take out the bouillon cubes from the foil and eat it whole at home.
Anyways I would give them 5 stars but SJ is still getting it together by opening on a regular basis, and now that they have offer viet dishes and take cards, I hope this place sticks around so I can get my crawfish fix. :)

Big disappointment, and not comparable to Boiling Crab. The place was so empty, that should have been a warning that the place isn’t all that great.
Some of the entrée items from the menu was unavailable, so we only could order seafood. We had a pound of shrimp and clams. The sauce itself doesn’t have enough of a kick to it. And we had so much trouble peeling the shrimp cause the shell just stuck with the meat.

MMM seafood. :)
Came here a couple of weeks ago with my buddies with a hankering for seafood. This place is kind of like PPQ meets Boiling Crab. Cute decorations all around the store, nets, starfish, crab. Wonder why it was so empty inside the restaurant…
I ordered the dungeness crab, while my friends ordered phở or rice plates. Pussies… –_​– Enjoyed my crab with the garlic and butter sauce and lime. Y SO YUMMEH. Definitely willing to come back to try the cajun sauce.
The name of this place still confuses me… o_​O lol

Worst meal of 2011
I should have known when the owner (?) asked, with a mischievous gleam in his eye, whether it was our first visit.
I ordered rice noodles and grilled pork. Their interpretation of grilled pork was, I kid you not, spam. Meat in a can.
The other dish we ordered was egg noodles and seafood. It came out with a gelatinous mess and another unknown substance that I can only guess to be another canned meat.
Not to mention that it all tasted as gross as could be while trying to qualify as human food.
Oh and they brought straws instead of glasses for beer.
AVOID this place. Though I can’t imagine that you’d have to worry about it for long. I foresee a ‘for lease’ sign within the month.

I’ve been here before.
Hmmmmm
This place looks really familiar…,
«No, you are thinking of Red Crawfish on Larkin. This place just opened»
No, really, I know I’ve been here!
It’s took me a bit, but after some quizzing of the staff I finally figured it out. «SJ» stands for «San Jose», as in San Jose Crawfish in San Jose!
On a field trip with a coworker, we made our way here. The weather was beautiful and wanted to sit outside. But our options were limited and walked in here. I sampled my coworkers crawfish and thought it was good, but not great. I went with the raw oyster platter and loved it. Served with a few wedges of lime, I actually prefer lemon. But in the end it was fine and was still quite tasty.
My coworker passed on the cajun fries. For some reason she thinks she’s fat and thought that the extra calories would add 12 inches to her waistline. ummm ok whatever, but her doing that prevented me from sampling them.
A super causal atmosphere and no pretense at all.

We came here because I was too lazy to drive all the way to San Jose for Boiling Crab. BUT NEVER AGAIN!!! I will sit in traffic if I had to.
The sauce, or what they call their sauce was watery, no taste at all, even with the lime, salt and pepper. Seemed like they just put the shrimp in a pot of water and dumped salt, pepper and cajun seasoning and that’s it. No wonder there’s no wait.
*cash only*

I miss you SJ Crawfish! I still don’t know why this place is not packed whenever I pass by. I went to The Red Craw yesterday in socal, and you would think that this being a crawfish restaurant in Westminister, it would surpass SJ Crawfish, but I was thoroughly disappointed.
SJ Crawfish’s shrimp, crawfish, sausages, etc were seasoned so well that even when I bit into the meat, I could taste the sauce. They must have slow cooked the meat so that the sauce and seasonings would seep well deep into the meat YUM. The place I went to yesterday had shrimp whose seasoning stopped when I bit into the meat :(Also, SJ Crawfish provides you with the cute bibs and hand wipes for before and after the meal that most crawfish places provide, but The Red Craw did not boooo.
Honestly, SJ Crawfish is LEGIT… go and check it out!

Went here last night bc I was craving for crawfish and since it is in season we decided to go here instead of driving all the way to San Jose.
It was early on a Saturday evening so there were only 2 eat in customers while there were a lot of takeouts.
–Ordered 2lbs of crawfish, 2 corns, 2 sausages, plus cajun fries (around $ 40 including tip).
–very good size crawfish, some were huge! a few were small.
–good garlic sauce or «cajun style» as they call it on the menu.
–not enough sauce to cover half of the crawfish. I wished they would have given more sauce because I like dipping my crawfish into the sauce.
–very generous with the lime and salt and pepper.
Overall my crawfish craving was satisfied. Not the best, but good enough for me. I would go back again if I don’t want to drive to San Jose.

I just went here for the first time today and it was great! In fact, I definitely think it is the best crawfish place in San Francisco (much better than craw station IMHO.) The crawfish and shrimp were HUGE and very fresh. The sausage was great and the fries were perfect!
What really was great about this place though was the sauce! I actually feel like I like this sauce better than another other crawfish place I have been to (and I have been to A LOT around the bay area and in socal.) There was also no line which is a big plus and the service was great!
The only thing I noticed about all the crawfish places in norcal is that it is more expensive than in socal (but I suppose it isn’t a fair comparison because the markets are different.) Also, there could be a variety of sauces (but maybe it isn’t necessary if the one you make already is the best!)
I definitely recommend this place though! Next time I want to try the crab!

Not a meal for the squeamish or fancy. You begin by selecting from a very limited list of shellfish and specifying how spicy you’d like it. If you choose crab, be prepared to decide which of them will be meeting its maker and to make eye to eye contact with it right before its demise. The crab and shrimp are served whole and uncleaned (much like the bathroom) in a fancy plastic bag. Plates are 1 ply paper. The king crab legs were NOT good — they’d been frozen for much too long and were rubbery. The staff was kind enough to recommend against the soup of the day. The spicy crab was served with about 10 –20 cloves of raw garlic. Hand washing facilities were abysmal — a pittance of watered down soap.
Clean the floors, bathrooms, crack the crab for me, give me some soap and stay away from the king crab and you’ve easily got 3.5 stars.

This place is a treat. It has a really easy-​going staff and great food. As many people have mentioned before, this restaurant’s only competition is The Boiling Crab out in San Jose. Big difference between the two is that the wait here is significantly shorter by an hour or more, it’s cash only, and a tad more expensive. If you don’t have cash in hand, there are a few banks throughout Irving street including Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The shrimp is about $ 2 more than Boiling Crab but if you think about the gas you have to waste to get yourself down there, it’s not a big deal (assuming you are in San Francisco).
I tried the shrimp and the crawfish in the medium-​spicy sauce. When we ordered, the waiter notified us that the crawfish were smaller than usual which was extremely considerate of him. Irregardless, it was still delicious and the shrimps were plenty big. We also got some sausages to add to our meal — they were good, but not $.60 worth. The sweet potato fries were really good and you get a lot! Now, don’t get sweet potato fries just because I said it was good because it’s somewhat of an acquired taste so if you don’t like sweet potatoes, don’t order it. Two pounds of food is more than enough even if you’re hungry. I ate with one other person and we shared three pounds of seafood, some sausages, and the fries and we were full by the end. I would definitely recommend this place, oh and this place is hands-​on eating so make sure to wash your hands!

I had passed by this place several times and finally had a lazy afternoon to check it out.
We were the only table in there so we got all the attention (which I love!). The hanging fishnets and general décor of the place is a bit cheesy but fits the theme of the place.
I had never actually had a crawfish before so this was a first for me. Found that it’s not my favorite seafood but it’s not bad either. I tended to stick to the shrimp. I’m glad we started with the raw oysters because they were good! =P
Glad I was able to try…

I find myself constantly coming back to this place!
There’s a new manager and he’s super nice! Came here with the boyfriend and the he took our order and came back out to let us know that the crawfish they got in were really small. So, he told us that we could either have free drinks or buy another pound of crawfish and he’ll give us a free pound. Being the pig I am, I told him that we would buy another pound. =)
4 lbs of crawfish and a order of cajun fries later, me and the boyfriend were stuffed! The manager then came over and asked us how every thing was and apologized again for the small crawfish, super nice guy! =) I don’t think I’ll ever stop coming back to this place because for one it’s never packed and two the service has always been good!

*Note: If you are looking for a Boiling C taste-​a-​like then you really shouldn’t come here.
Back when I lived in Irvine, my roomie and I were crazy about Claws and Boiling C. We went through a month where we went to Boiling C every week! We’ve tried several other places but nothing compared to our beloved.
Last week, my boyfriend and I decided to give SJ Crawfish a try. We were the only customers for a good 15 minutes but then slowly few other groups came in. We both got a pound of shrimp (cajun style), a corn, sausage and split a cajun fries. I was impressed with the fat and juicy shrimp and LOVED the sauce. I’m not sure what it was– it was quite as thick as BC’s but it had a sweet kick to it. I usually can’t even finish a pound but that night, I ate my pound plus I finished my boyfriends!
I could’ve done without the corn and sausage. The corn certainly wasn’t as good as BC’s and I was not very satisfied with the one piece of sausage! The cajun fries were a bit on the spicy side but still yummy!
I left full and happy. I’ll be back with the ultimate cajun carwfish lover (my roomie) to judge, but I have a feeling she’ll be a fan too!
*Only ding is that the place is toooooo dark!

I came here against my intuition, which I have learned that I should always follow because it’s pretty good.
The spicy Cajun broth that came with the bag of shrimp was great, but everything else besides that sucked. This place is bad news.
First of all, who ever heard of a Cajun seafood place that accepts cash only? The server was rude and slow. I had to eat off of a paper plate, drink out of a much detested Styrofoam cup, and use plastic utensils. This is supposed to be a restaurant, not an outdoor picnic. The gumbo tasted like Campbell’s soup with a cursory clam added in it. The fish & chips were suspiciously Van De Kamp’s. The shrimp was obviously not fresh and was overcooked.
Never again.

Astros — HOLLER! (yeah, I said it…)
NOTE: CASH ONLY!
After a failed attempt to eat crawfish at the Crawfish Boil & Ho-​Down last Saturday, my friend and I ended up at SJ Crawfish. Hot, grumpy, and starving, we arrived at around 4pm and were seated immediately.
FOOD:
*Crawfish (Market Price $ 11.99/lb) — To satisfy our craving, we ordered 2 lbs of mild crawfish. I expected it to be at least a bit spicy, however it wasn’t flavorful and I found myself dipping the crawfish in the Cajun style crab sauce. The crawfish were decent in size, tasted fresh, and served in a plastic bag.
*Crab (Market Price $ 13.99/lb) — Delicious! We decided to order a steamed crab with a side of garlic butter, but the waiter (and possibly owner?) suggested we order the crab Cajun style since a lot of customers seem to like that. We decided to try that and I’m glad we did. The sauce was like a tamarind, miso garlic sauce with a slight kick. The crab was a difficult to get though. Unlike other restaurants that separate the legs from each other, the legs were left together and only disconnected from the head of the crab.
*Sweet Potato Fries — I’m usually a big fan of sweet potato fries, but SJ Crawfish’s fries had little flavor.
Water served in paper cups? Paper plates instead of glass or porcelain plates? Yup, I find that odd. Halfway through eating, the sauces were soaking through my paper plate and easily lost its shape. We ordered a bowl of rice to split between the two of us to eat with the Cajun crab sauce. Thinking I would end up with a plastic fork, I just ate my rice with the tiny metal fork which was given with the crab.
SERVICE:
Even though the waiter (possibly owner?) seemed nice, friendly, and like a one man show, service lacked. Food was served and then we rarely saw him again. As two groups left and we were left as the only two customers, he disappeared and the other two tables had yet to be cleaned until another worker came in. Even with that additional worker there, service did not get any better.

Not on par with Boiling Crab, nor Red Crawfish, but the service does make up for it…
On Saturday, 6.12.10, we happen to stumble upon SJ Crawfish (replaced CoCo’s) after our disappointment at the SF Crawfish Boil and Ho-​down in the Marina (paid $ 25 and came out w/​none) and finding out that Red Crawfish didn’t open until 5 PM on weekends.
We arrived at 4:00 PM and the place was near empty w/​the exception of two groups from the SF Crawfish Boil and Ho-​down, so we were seated promptly.
FOOD:
*Crawfish ($ 11.99/pound): It was ok. The crawfish was sizeable, fresh and tender, but there was definitely a lack of «kick» from the sauce. With the amount and type of ingredients in Cajun seasoning, even mild, there should be a slight kick esp from both the cayenne and chili powder. Unfortunately, SJC fell short on this one.
*Crab ($ 13.99/pound): It was YUMMY, however, the crab was served whole and you had to break off your own pieces which made it even more challenging to eat. We requested the crab steamed w/​a side of garlic butter, but the owner said he had a «special» way of making it that all his customers like. The crab was steamed and then was slathered with a garlic, miso, tamarind mixture; it was sweet, salty, garlicky, and slightly tangy.
*Sweet Potato Fries ($ 4.99): It was ok. It was cut to thin rectangle strips and it was a bit over fried so you couldn’t really taste the «sweet potato» flavor.
*Corn and Sausage ($.60/​each): The yellow corn was a bit mushy, but you need to get fiber into you somehow right? The sausage, a kielbasa was smoky and spicy – yum!
CASH ONLY; there’s a Wells Fargo across the street, a Chase next door, and a B of A three blocks down.
SERVICE:
The owner is sweet, friendly, and a super hard worker. He warmly greeted us on upon arrival and had a gracious demeanor when taking our order and waiting on us. SJC is NOT a small restaurant; capacity is about 70, yet he managed to be the host/​chef/​waiter/​food runner. Not sure if this is such a smart idea especially if a mad rush comes in.
I did notice that two employees did come in at 5 PM and that’s when the owner disappeared into the back. An extra pair of hands does no good when they seem to lack training. One of the male employees just stood there for a good 15 minutes while the two tables that have left were not cleaned. We had to call him to order a drink and go up to him to ask for the bill.
It would be sad to see ratings take a beating in customer service b/​c of his poorly trained employees. So, I think some effort should be made towards knowledge sharing and training on «customer service».
AMBAINCE/​DÉCOR:
SJC is a bit scant in the décor department; it’s paint entirely sea blue with hanging fishnets throughout. There’s a crab tank w/​no crabs which I found a bit odd. There’s a wide variety of music played that gives an upbeat vibe to SJC; Top 40s, Hip Hop, Trance, House, and Freestyle which brought back a lot of old memories from the late 1990s.
PARKING:
Metered parking, but I highly suggest finding 2-​hour residential parking. The DPT in that area are precise in making their hourly rounds, so if you forget to run back to the meter in time, don’t be surprise to find a ticket waiting for you.
SJC does have potential since it’s only competition in SF is Red Crawfish. Based on the other reviews, it seems like the owner is adamant about revamping the negative image that its predecessor left, so my suggestions for improvement are as follows:
1. Train the staff to ensure they share the same vision as you in terms of customer service.
2. Make sure you’re properly staff at all times; there’s nothing worse than having a mad rush and not being able to cater to everyone.
3. It’s difficult to be the jack of all trades in a larger establishment, so the owner should really focus on cooking OR running the front of the house. I say, the latter and he can just check in from time to time for quality assurance.
4. Use glass plates and metal utensils. Eating crawfish can get messy, and not even halfway through our meal, the paper plates were wilted and sauce was leaking through onto the table. It also reduces a lot of unnecessary waste.
5. CASH ONLY can really steer away customers esp when each person will be dropping at least $ 20−30/person, so they need to start accepting CC’s.
I can tell the owner takes pride in what he does, so I hope he sees this and takes my suggestions to heart. With some improvements, I think he has potential to thrive in this arena.