The Kickin’ Crab

I’ve come here a few times and there is always a wait. But this Saturday we got pretty lucky and got sat right away.
Sadly, the boil was a little saltier than usual but not too bad. Glad that they had fresh crawfish. Also, their garlic noodles were pretty tasty, actually really ‘garlic-​y’ with whole and diced garlic.
The server was great. He always checked on our table and gave us everything we asked for right away.
Just a quick note, the parking for this place is a little small.

I love this place! I’d highly recommend it rather than boiling crab. I think kickin is a bit cheaper and it’s def a lot more tasty! I tried the garlic noodle for the first time. It was pretty good! But a bit pricy $ 10. Id recommend saving the food overnight cause then the sauce sinks in and ugh so bomb the next day that you eat it!
Customer service was also a thumbs up!

Came here on a not so busy weeknight. Yet my girlfriends and I still had to wait a good 20 minutes for someone to even acknowledge & seat us. There were at least 5 tables open, I don’t get it. We could have just seated ourselves if that made life easier. Service was definitely lacking that night. Maybe hire more workers?! Our server forgot our bibs & barely checked up on us.
Aside from the service, the food’s great. I like how this location has fresh crawfish. They also have frozen crawfish available & you get free half a lb for every lb you order. Great deal!

Came here because it’s has no line of people waiting in front. I’ve tried their shrimp, sausage, clam, corn with lemon pepper, medium spice level. The food is above average. The cajun fries are yummy ! Can’t get enough, have to order one to go to bring home. Overall a 3.5 for food.
Service is good, since we came when there are few tables occupied.
Not the best, but good enough for a return visit

Ok so yeah not gonna lie this was our second choice, first one being boiling crab (wait was over 2.5 hours). So we made our way over to kicking crab, it was good but nothing out of this world. With the exception of the garlic noodles, OMG they are delicious. Good enough to make me come back just for them.
Fast and friendly service with a not so long wait.

You’re not going to get the freshest seafood, period. That’s probably why it’s seasoned like crazy, to cover up whatever odd taste might be present. I’m fairly certain most of the seafood is frozen and shipped from overseas.
With that being said, I do enjoy eating here. My favorite is a the bag with 1 lb crawfish, 1 lb shrimp, sausage, potato, 1 lb clams, kickin’ sauce with medium spice. Of course, all of it is topped off with a nice frosty beer or four.
The sauce is just hot enough to make my nose run, but not too hot to be inedible. I love mashing the potatoes in the kickin’ sauce at the end and capturing all that juicy flavor.
Service can be kind of slow sometimes and there is usually a wait if you go at a busy time. Bathrooms are usually clean, but the last time I went the whole floor was flooded with what I hope was water.

First review of 2016!
On New Year’s Day, Stephen’s niece said she had never been to one of those places where they «toss seafood on the table». It was the last Saturday before heading back to school and work, so what better way to kick off the New Year than with garlicky seafood?
I debated over Boiling Crab and Kickin’ Crab, and chose Kickin’ Crab for 2 reasons:
— They serve garlic noodles (BC does not) and
— They typically have a shorter wait, and I wasn’t in the mood to wait 2 hours for seafood at BC
I did call ahead to see how long the wait was. Kickin’ Crab in Westminster answered their phone, and said there was no wait. Boiling Crab off Brookhurst never answered their phone… and I called 3 times. That alone made it an easy choice to go to TKC. I know the BC is busy but what the heck if they can’t pick up the phone!
The Magnolia location is rather tiny, and relatively dark inside, even with the glow of the TV’s inside. There is plenty of parking, if you are up to walking to the adjacent lot.
We decided on Combo 3, and added an order of the garlic noodles ($ 8.99).
For the combo, we chose to go all shrimp since crawfish were not in season, and clams/​mussels weigh more in their shells, so you’re paying for shell, not food. We had it in the mild Kickin’ sauce, and chose the King Crab legs, so we wouldn’t have to deal with the head of the crab or lobster. We also added an extra pound of shrimp in the lemon pepper mild sauce, which we later found out was a pound of shrimp too much for us.
The niece enjoyed the food, and it wasn’t too spicy for her. It was extremely messy and we reeked of garlic inside and out. It has been 2 days and I can still smell garlic, and I’m not sure if its from my purse, my shoes, my hair, or my pores. but that stuff is potent!
As yummy as this dinner was, it wasn’t cheap. Seafood goodness for 3 was about $ 115 with tax and tip, but it was sure worth the splurge.

Good place, good price, quick service.
Will come again.
Nice staff. Smiley crew faces, delicious foods,
Good for family & friends

Very shady place and scandalous! This place does not even deserve a 1 star review and should not even have customers. I sent my husband here because boiling crab was closed (bad mistake!) he ordered 8 pounds of the frozen half off crawfish and got only 4!!! It didn’t look like 8 pounds so my husband questioned the guy who was helping him. He told him it was 8 and that he weighed it himself. He also ordered extra corn and sausages and paid $ 20. We got only 4 pieces of corn and 5 pieces of sausage! Yes I counted them! I weighed it myself just for this review! I am so furious! Oh and the crawfish was supposed to include sausages and corn on top of the extra that we had purchase which it had none! How does a business stay open with such shady people! I will never ever ever ever return and suggest that no one eats here either.

I came here on a Saturday night for dinner with a large group probably 12 – 15 strong so the wait would take long but the servers accommodated us nicely. The vibe here is very similar to a Boiling Crab minus the horde of people waiting to get served. I only got fish tacos and a side of cajun fries. Fish tacos tasted pretty boring and would most likely not get it again but the Cajun fries were on point and a bit on the spicy side. I was able to taste their seafood and even that was spicy but the flavors were very much there. Tons of TV’s around to watch the games but there’s a section by the windowed doors where the emergency exit is and that spot is ice cold. It’s probably my only complaint about the environment. Good spot and I would recommend the Cajun fries!

Just had my crawfish fix since being prego and what a disappointment. Though a good deal $ 11.99 for 1.5 lb because the crawfish is frozen. Order came out piping hot.
Ordered:
2 lbs and got 3 lbs of crawfish —, kicking flavor is ok, bit oily. However my complaint is that there were lots of dead crawfish in the batch and they were dry and small sizes. Medium favor is spicy enough
Garlic noodles — great flavor and size
Gumbo — kinda of bland
Fountain drinks — free refills
If I was to come back it would definitely be during crawfish season.

Always enjoy the service. Great vibe. Love your garlic noodles and wings. Everyone is friendly!

The place itself isn’t amazing, nothing too fancy, but it’s a seafood restaurant. You get your basic needs, and this is what important.
The service isn’t the best (this is why four stars not five). The waiters aren’t fast, we went as a big part of 12 people and weren’t attended properly. If suggest more waiters on holidays maybe.
The food though! We got shrimp, crab legs, clams, oysters, fries, rice, noodles and fish and chips. Oh my goodness! Seafood heaven. Everyone enjoyed their food, A LOT. The size (or I don’t know how they measure a shrimp or crab leg) was great. Bigger and better than a lot of other restaurants with the same concept. The meat is cooked really well and marinated perfectly. Be careful though, mild isn’t so mild. It’s actually more towards spicy, if you don’t like string spicy taste.
I suggest you wear nothing fancy, put your hair away from face and enjoy!

Waaaaaah! Totally in love with this place, everything is just so good and flavorful! Every time I crave crawfish, I always go here or the Irvine location.
Pros: garlic noodles are really good, but after a while it can start getting salty. It comes in a huge portion so I suggest you share it. The sauce that they use for the crawfish, shrimp, mussels, etc is a tiny bit on the sweet side. I personally like anyways it since I like sweet food in general! In general the food is AMAZING. Service is great too. The atmosphere and everything is more for the younger crowd, but I see families eat here all the time. Personally, I like this place way more than boiling crav… sorry! Lol
Cons: none!
Just try everything on their menu, you will not regret it!

It’s definitely different from BC down the street. I went as a party of 4 (including my son and his stroller).
We ordered:
1 lb shrimp, Kickin’ Style Medium.
1 lb crawfish, Kickin’ Style Medium.
(the crawfish was frozen so we got ½ lb for free).
1 lb shrimp, Lemon Pepper, Medium.
Garlic Noodles.
Pros:
— A lot more flavorful compared to BC.
— The oysters are fresher.
— Waiter and Waitress were very helpful and always came around to see if we were doing good and if we needed any more condiments or not.
— Absolutely no wait.
Cons:
— I couldn’t give my free ½ lb crawfish to my sister, so that was a bummer since she didn’t eat the same flavor as us.
–Garlic Noodles were a little sour ¿?
— Oysters on the half shell weren’t carved completely so I had to carve the oysters off the bottom shell myself. I was a little bummed since I didn’t get everything off.
All in all, I liked it a lot better at Kickin’ Crab versus Boiling Crab. I can’t believe I said it, but it sure is true!

I dined here with my boyfriend on a Friday night around 5:30pm. Not too many people but a decent crowd for that hour. We ordered the pound of shrimp in the spicy sauce and a cup of the clam chowder soup which we BOTH didn’t care for. Our waitress was super sweet and accommodating and removed it from the bill.
We then ordered their wing appetizer as well but they tasted slightly over cooked and weren’t very good either:/ we didn’t say anything about those but to our surprise they removed that item as well. Any restaurant that accommodates you and doesn’t make you pay for an item that was less then desirable is A-​Okay in my book:) All and all a great experience, we will definitely back when crabs are in season! Can’t wait.

With so many Cajun crawfish places around, KC is still my preferred spot. The wait is always reasonable and the service is always good. The sauce itself is very flavorful with a good amount of garlic, score! Their spiciness levels are always very consistent as well. We usually get the shrimp and clams. Both are always nice, medium-​sized, and very sweet. The Cajun fries are always fried to a perfect crisp, with a nice kick. The fried fish and shrimp were a little dry. If I’m craving a fried dish, I’ll stick to the calamari. They’re small bite size pieces that are crispy and flavorful, and go nicely with the cocktail sauce. The one thing I’ve always been curious about is their pan roast. It’s on the menu at all their locations, but every time we try to order it they’re either out, or say they don’t serve it at this location.

One’s bound to get down and dirty at the Kickin’ Crab, so get your bibs ready and forget that manicure you got a couple hours or days ago. This is a full hands on experience.
My friends and I split a bag of seafood amongst 3 people for $ 33.99. We had the shrimps, clams, sausage, corn, and potatoes at a medium spice with kickin style sauce. Also ordered a dozen oysters for $ 14.99. Not a bad deal. They weren’t as flavorful as I had hoped they would be, but hey, I’m always down for the raw oysters. Also, if you’re a garlic lover, order the garlic noodles.
Also, love how they have the sinks outside of the bathroom (it just makes too much sense). Overall, a great price for a decent amount of seafood to satiate my seafood cravings.

I love crawfish and shrimp! Service here is a bit slow but everyone is very nice, so I cannot complain much there. For what the service lacks in attentiveness at time, they make it up for always having a smile on their face and trying to always accommodate their customers.
This location is clean and it does get busy, but I’ve never waited for more than 20 – 30 minutes around dinner time.

I prefer this place over Boiling Crab because they all taste the same to me and because this location never has a wait! It was an hour and half wait at the BC on Brookhurst, and a forty-​five min wait at the BC on Euclid. This one, no wait at all.
–Oysters: They’re actually pretty huge and fresh, you’d be surprised! 1 dozen for $ 14, I’m sold.
–Cajun fries: Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and very well seasoned. so hard not to get full off of these.
I usually get a pound of shrimp with the kickin style sauce, medium. The only thing eh about this place is that sometimes the sauce will come out a bit tooooo oily but it’s not that big of a deal because I dip my shrimp in lime juice, which probably rinses off the oil. lol! The oily and spicy sauce is probably the main cause of my heartburns since I get them every damn time after eating at these kinda places but it’s so good. I always get medium because I don’t think it’s spicy at all but I guess my body says otherwise. You can also ask for sauce on the side if you want to moderate how much sauce your food is soaked in.
Service here has always been great. Our recent server, Kathy was very attentive and friendly. She would always come by to refill our waters and make sure we had everything we needed. :) I will be back!