The Fat Crab Harrow — Restaurant in London

Visited yesterday. Never again. Used to be a regular at the Harrow establishment before they “upgraded”. Im still a regular, i just visit other locations. Firstly they upgraded the shop but downgraded with service. I was shocked to say the least. They don’t acknowledge you, I had to continually wave them down to get noticed also had to repeated,ask and remind them of things to bring. I’ll try to explain my frustration briefly. They took forever to take our order. Once our order came (king crab) we had no cutlery (scissors, poker) asked for it, they said they don’t have any. I notice on all the other tables they do. I also notice none of them have ordered a king crab. A king crab is damn near impossible to eat without the necessary equipment (I STRUGGLED). I let it go although I was really annoyed that they hadn’t mentioned this before we placed our order. I would have gotten my regular snow crab as that’s easier to manage without utensils. As I started eating I noticed this VERY potent fishy smell and taste.. and as a foodie I know fish is only supposed to taste and smell like fish before it’s cooked. This was clear to me that the crab was not cleaned well. I understand it can happen but I didn’t want to waste soo much money on food I’m not enjoying. It was sickening! I was trying to wave the workers down again and whilst not being noticed I went up to the desk where one of the workers was hiding under the counter. I kindly explained about the crab having a strong fishy Oder and taste when one of the ladies. (Very sweet black woman, lovely girl) agreed and said that she’s had this experience herself. The other lady asked what I wanted to do. I asked if we could change it for something else. She said ok I asked for the snow crab instead. She said sure, went back to my seat. She later came back to me and said she’s not able to change it and that I have to pay for the original order expect she could take off the sides from the tab. This made no sense to me because I wasn’t going to be full off just the sides as it wasn’t a lot. I needed a main and I didn’t want to have to pay for 2 mains especially with the king crab already being super pricey. I was trying to come to a middle ground that made sense so I ordered another side and a starter that wasn’t going to be put on the tab along with the sides. Once that arrives it wasn’t what we expected and wasn’t how I’ve usually received it but I kept silent because I started to feel like I was being one of “those” customers. A few seconds later she comes back to me and tells me we have to pay for our original meal order and that they won’t include the side and the starter I just received. I felt as if I’ve been cheated because she told me she’d take off the sides of the original order along with not paying for the new side and starter. At this point I was very frustrated because I knew I wasn’t going to eat what had just arrived on the table anyway. I’ve never had such a horrible experience in any restaurant I’ve ever gone too let alone any of the fat crab establishments and I kid you not I’ve probably been to the fat crab about 40x. It was extremely embarrassing to have to stick up for myself in a way that seemed argumentative as we kept going back and forth. Before paying I wanted to speak to the manager because it was clear the girls were getting instructions from him but he was no where to be found. The whole thing was extremely unprofessional and I felt very uncomfortable. I almost felt forced to eat the king crab as there wasn’t much of an alternative as they had nothing else they could accommodate me with without charging me and I swear on everything once I left that shop after walking for just 10 seconds ! I vomited. I actually vomited. And no I’m not pregnant or have anything medically wrong for me. It was honestly just disgusting, humiliating and just an overall crappy experience. It’s a shame, the Harrow branch is closest to me and used to be amazing with only the availability as their downfall but now they’ve absolutely ruined it, especially after...

So I came here hungry. Took a taxi to get here from central London. I'd always wanted to eat here. I was planning on traveling from Paris JUST to come and eat here with my best friend. If it was good, I would have brought my mother over too. So on a medical visit to London, I decided I might as well try this place out before traveling back to Paris. I reserved by phone like 1 hour before. The guy told me there was a free table and it would be fine. Great. I showed up perfectly on time. Ordered over £100 worth of food that I planned on eating and finishing alone. I naturally took a long time to eat. About 1h35 minutes into my meal. One of the guys comes to me to tell me "I'm afraid we have a booking just after you at 7pm so you'll have to finish quite soon." I was UTTERLY SHOCKED. I told him that with all the restaurants I've visited etc, I've never been told to finish my meal quickly to make way for the next booking and that if me eating a lot and taking time to eat was a problem, then they should have warned me about that when I booked. There was no mention of that at all. I even listened to the phonecall again to make sure I wasn't wrong (my phone records calls automatically because of my line of work). Anyway he told me "🤷🏽‍♂️ Yeah but your time is up Madame, I'm sorry." Lol what kind of service is that ? I'm greatly disappointed. The food was lovely but you really ruined my trip. Especially as a hungry and emotional woman. After having spent all that money, I feel like I wasted it. I shall not be returning. I've informed my Londonian friends of the treatment and they shall not be visiting your restaurant either. Judging by the way you treated me, I'm pretty sure you...

Amazing place to visit for seafood

The service was amazing, staff were friendly and attentive (thanks Umme). The facility was good they had a sink out with hand wash in the open for people to use to clean their hands. The cleaning standard of the toilet and the restaurant was good.

The fat lobster feast for two: (came with two side and two drinks) The actual size of lobsters was slightly smaller than average, but the protion served to me was ok (for two I think you may need to add something else from the menu). The lobsters were fresh and tasty. I do like they have the right tools for you to use to break the shells and to pick the meat out. Not to mention, they have an apron to keep your clothes clean, so you can dismantle the lobsters without the worry of getting your clothes dirty.

Pound of clams: The size of the clams itself were small and they are fresh. They came in the same bag with the lobsters if you ordered it with the same sauce (mine were garlic butter) which is good as the clams and the lobsters juices mixed together along with the garlic butter was very tasty.

The garlic butter sauce were really nice, and it goes with the fresh seafood nicely. Even better, you can adjust the spicy level of the butter sauce to your liking. Adding this sauce to the rice is a must, you will know once you tried it especially after they cooked with few types of seafood.

Overall, I would come back again, as I would like to try and review other dishes. Just beware it is a bit risky to go to this restaurant without a reservation, as the restaurant almost fully booked daily. I was luck to have a table when...