Fiery Crab Seafood Restaurant And Bar - Alexandria — Restaurant in Alexandria

I stopped in for lunch while on the road to Bossier City just over a couple of weeks ago. I had checked online reviews & while some weren’t so good, there seemed to be more good reviews than bad. Upon arrival I noticed the front door had a handwritten sign that said No Crabs. Okay. Went in, waited for a couple of minutes at the podium & a lady came by, talking on her phone, said “picking up ?” I said no, I came to eat in. She called a young lady over who seated me & asked me what I wanted to drink. I asked for tea. She said ‘we don’t have any tea but can make some.’ It was a Thursday at approx. 1pm - who doesn’t have any tea during lunchtime ?!?! There was only two other tables occupied, but still… I said I would love the tea and she went away. I thought she might offer some water until the tea was made, but she didn’t. When she came to get my food order I asked for the cajun shrimp pasta. She said they didn’t have ANY pasta. In retrospect, I think now, that I should have left then. But, I was traveling & didn’t feel like looking up any other restaurants. So I ordered ½ doz. Chargrilled oysters for an appetizer and the shrimp po’boy. The sandwich came out before the oysters. The menu described the shrimp po’boy as having ‘mayo, honey mustard, house mayo, ranch, & ketchup’ . Unfortunately, as you can tell by my attached picture, that means that they just POURED about a bottle of each all over the sandwich, making it a glutinous sloppy mess that you certainly could NOT pick up & eat like a sandwich. And it was plain yellow mustard, not honey mustard. There is a distinct difference in taste ! I guess they were out of honey mustard as well. Since I could not eat the po’boy as a sandwich I picked the shrimp off by fork, ‘wiping’ a lot of the dressings off so I could taste them. They seemed okay, just typical previously frozen little shrimp. The oysters finally came out when I was almost finished with the po’boy. Usually chargrilled oysters have some sort of parmesan cheese or parsley or something on them but these just had a ton of butter melted over them and then tons of their spicy seasoning on them. The oysters were not properly shucked either – the muscle is supposed to be severed so that the oyster is detached from the shell. These were not, and you had to tear at them thru the butter to get them loose to eat. They were really spicy but seemed okay at the time. The server was very attentative & checked on me 3 or 4 times while I ate. When I finished I paid & left. I was not on the road but about 20 minutes when I started getting an upset stomach & burping. Within an hour I had stomach cramps and by the time I got to Bossier City a couple of hours later I was really sick. I was up sick until after 1am in my hotel room and unable to eat anything the next day except a banana & a piece of bread. Looking back, while I cannot prove anything, I am pretty sure that the oysters were bad. I had all the perfectly described symptoms of shellfish poisoning, and due to all the other issues at the restaurant I am sure they were not fresh, or not kept in a safe manner, and just fed to me anyway. The restaurant appeared clean, the server was nice, & the food was decently priced (if it had been prepared properly & safely) but I will not ever chance eating here again and can NOT...

An unworthy successor to the Copelands Alexandria location. Interaction with the manager was an affront.

I’ll preface this by saying that the Assistant Manager Jess—who was an amazing server—was the saving grace of this visit. She was prompt, understanding, and quite considerate.

My partner and I stopped in out of curiosity. For a start, we ordered 6 charbroiled oysters. They came out on the half shell, with a generous layer of topping. I can’t be sure of what all was in it, but it was very garlic-forward, cheesy, and with a nice chew. It was also pretty greasy. Not amazing, but pleasant nonetheless.

For our main courses, I ordered a basket of oysters, and my partner ordered a shrimp po boy. We both also both had margaritas.

My oysters had a ponderous layer of breading upon them, and I mean ponderous. The outside bread crumb was fine, but between the crust and the oyster itself was a layer of gooey, almost-translucent starch. None of it was seasoned. I did think the crab salad that came on the side was okay, though, so there’s that.

My partner’s po boy was a bit of a mess. The bread was untoasted and stale. Even if it hadn’t been stale, the lack of texture made it unable to stand up to the glut of sauces that had been poured on top of it. We could barely see the shrimp, lettuce, and tomatoes underneath for all the stripes of mayonnaise, ketchup, and whatever their pink house sauce is.

Again, really not sure what the pink sauce is. It seemed very out of place for a seafood joint. It was sweet, but I think fried seafood (especially served to people from Louisiana) would be better served with remoulade. But who am I to say? That’s a difference in taste.

Indeed, a difference in taste. We sent our food back and asked for a bill. Jess—god bless her soul—welcomed criticism and even acknowledged that she’d heard some of our feedback before from other patrons. The manager, Laura, was not so understanding. She came out to our table and we explained our dissatisfaction at her demand. She did not take it well, said she’d never heard these problems before, and asserted that her food was fine; it was just a difference in taste.

There is such a thing as a difference in taste. It’s preferring ketchup on your hotdog instead of mustard, or your steak rare over medium. In response, I have to say there’s no accounting for poor technique in cooking.

From there, we had the pleasure of listening to Laura go into the kitchen and loudly, sarcastically hash out everything we ‘said’ was wrong with our order, since clearly the food was fine. The curtain hanging in front of the kitchen was filthy anyways. That should’ve been my first hint.

Wonderful server. Poor food. Rude, condescending manager. I won’t return, and I wouldn’t encourage anyone else to go.

That second star is for you, Jess! Thanks...

I have visited this place two times and I have always had a great experience until today. I was with a group of friend 6 + 4 kids. When we came in and sat down we was immediately approached by one of the employers who came and told us we needed to pay 18% for the kids food. We asked why and they told us that is their policy. We asked if the kids eat off our food why do we still have to pay. The employer said we do not have to pay if they are eating from our food. The assistant manager (I believe her name was Kristi) approached us without introducing herself and very rudely told us again about the 18% gratuity even if the kids eat from out plate. We couldn't understand why the policy but we were okay with it. At this point we hear the assistant manager talking very loud about us to her employers. At this point the environment was very negative and we felt unwelcome. We asked for a bottle of apple juice for the kids and the waiter brought it as a beverage. We asked again if they had a bottle so we can pour the juice on our kids zippy cup. The assistant manager told the waiter that we could not have a bottle of apple juice. It had to be in a plastic cup with ice. We asked why and she responded that it’s an adult beverage that we were giving our kids. I couldn't understand why we couldn't order a bottle of apple juice for our kids. At this point we decided to leave and was approach yet again by the assistant manager who told us since we decided to not eat there anymore, the bottle of apple juice was going to cost 8 dollars. I have never in my life paid for an apple juice that expensive. We were paying separately and was told they couldn't process the payment because one of our friends left to go get her wallet at the car. At this point it seems ridiculous that the restaurant could not process our payment, even if we were paying separately, because our friend wasn't there. After having a discussion with the assistant manager, she told us it seems that we are upset about paying the 18% gratuity which we replied no, we are upset because of the poor customer service. We asked to speak with the manager and the assistant manager told us this was a private restaurant chain, she is the assistant manager in charge. We responded that even if it’s a private chain she still has someone over her and we would like to speak with that person. The assistant manager responded “well my manager won’t take your call”. I feel disgusted by the way we were treated and how the assistant manager is running that restaurant. I have never been at a place were you couldn't file a complaint for poor management. I will not be supporting this restaurant and I do not recommend...