The Family Crab — Restaurant in London

Was optimistic about this venue as I’m quite a seafood connoisseur and it doesn’t take too long for me to get here, had I enjoyed anything about it, I would have returned, but after what I can only describe as a “miserable” experience, I definitely won’t be.

Walking in and not seeing the plush interior I’m used to, I told myself that maybe the food will make up for the dingy decor…. How wrong was I…

We placed our order, drinks included, and was near enough verbally assaulted for payment… shame our drinks and food weren’t delivered at such a speedy pace…. When our beverages finally arrived after about 15 minutes, they were actually incorrect and were served in cans, no glasses whatsoever….and a straw?! Ridiculous… however we were so thirsty by this point we just drank them.

Then our food came…it was the saddest looking seafood boil I’ve ever set my eyes on… it was actually depressing. Everything is overcooked…and the so called butter sauce it came in was literally water with the tiniest bit of butter, the seafood was just sitting in it looking very pathetic…it was giving seafood boil from wish, truly underwhelming, had I know it was going to look like that, I literally wouldn’t even pay £1 for it (it made perfect sense by this point why payments are taken up front) also, the crab was coming out in itty bitty pieces as opposed to a nice intact piece, and the prawns were bland and rubbery…. I must also mention the Mac and cheese….now…. This had a decent flavor, but was dryyy, that’s all I have to say about that. The only mildly pleasant thing was the lemon pepper sauce…just a shame that there was nothing to dip in it.

Last but not least, their cutlery was vile… it literally had old food stuck to it…🤮

In a nutshell I would not come back here if someone dragged me! The whole experience was abysmal.

Seafood boil ❌ Seafood spoil ✅

2nd part of my review after the threatening nature of a “response” from the owner…

The fact that your guests need to feel “brave” to share feedback about your venue just says it all to be honest. As for having too much time, I believed a review was in desperate need, so people don’t willingly go and throw their hard earned money away, plus, it didn’t take much time at all.

After the experience we had at The Family Crab, I wasn’t expecting anything different to be fair. A response that reflects the venue perfectly. Unprofessional, negative and...

Booked a visit, travelled over two hours to sit outside and it was closed, called and sat outside for a while with no answer to have to instagram them to find out it was closed and not open for another few hours without letting us know. 50% off was advertised on all social media (With a booking on the Fork) no terms and conditions for weeks until i’d bought this up with her then it all of a sudden appeared on social media with terms and condition’s and exclusions, nowhere to say it’s only for dinner also and nowhere to say it’s on their app and has selected dates and times which didn’t come up for me was then called stupid to my face because others understood how to do it and I didn’t, all I thought it meant is if you make a booking with them which I did and didn’t realise there was more too it. The waitress was then sent back and fourth which she was lovely but to be made uncomfortable by the owner for the whole visit was not nice at all. Bought these issues up face to face and not once was given an apology, a simple sorry for not letting us know they wasn’t open and we had to wait around an area we didn’t know for three hours until open then the false adveritising regarding the discount. We reluctantly ordered after not wanting to stay after that encounter with whom I believe is the owner, ordered sides which come when we had nearly finished the food, drinks were forgotten about we had to remind the waitress. Bibs were given to other customers and not us, buckets for the shells were given to others and not us also. I know the girl has no customer service skills nor can’t accept any critism or accept when she’s wrong as you can see from other reviews but would just like to let others know.

As below you can see she has now got friends to make fake reviews including her name due to all the bad reviews regarding herself. She doesn’t leave the kitchen as you can see from other reviews. You can’t make orders via the phone as they don’t have their own drivers so how somebody has spoken to her to order everytime I do not know. All the reviews point at her bad management except the four reviews which were all put up at the same time including her and the other waitresses name!! Faking...

The reviews for this place are very mixed but my experience with the food was excellent! Now, it's not the most aesthetic place but it's clean. It does get quite cold inside though.

The drinks menu is extensive and they have a good range of cocktails, which don't just taste like juice.

The seafood boil was so delicious. They have loads of sauce options and allow you to try. There is a long wait for food but this did not bother me as You know it's being freshly cooked The food was so tasty!

My main issue with this place is their payment policy. We were a large table of mostly adults and after ordering food and drinks, we were presented with a receipt. When we queried this, we were told they have a "pay first policy". Staff need to ensure they explain this when you're first seated and they should also add signs. It was very bizarre, especially as we ordered more drinks and desert so we were presented with multiple bills throughout the night, all to be paid separately. We did enquire about leaving a card behind to open a tab but were told we could not.

They should rethink this policy as it makes no sense as it's a sit down restaurant, not a Nandos style ordering system.

Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed the food, I suspect the policy could be due to profiling the demographic who frequent the restaurant.

If they are have issues with dashers due to food wait times, they again need to set the expectations straight away and not just keep people waiting with no explanation.

However it was a 10/10 seafood boil, best non-homecooked boil I've...