The Crab Pot Bellevue — Restaurant in Bellevue

I have worked guest services, housekeeping management, restaurants and such for most of my working life. And if any of the places I was responsible over looked like this place looked while we were there I would be written up at best and most likely fired due to them assuming I had given up any passion or care into making sure that it was guest friendly and welcome environment.

We were looking forward to having a fun experience dining here for a friend's birthday party. I had high hopes since Crab Pot is pretty much a household name in the Puget Sound area.

First impressions upon arriving here were the spiderwebs, all over the entryway. I'm not talking about a couple cobwebs and maybe a spider, but literally dozens of large spiders and dozens of large spiderweb throughout the long deck entryway, like it had been abandoned completely for months or someone had prepared it for a Halloween event. The lights above our table didn't work, just made it feel a lot dingier. Not a big deal I guess. But the bathrooms were atrocious. Not like a customer destroyed it recently, but clearly hadn't been tended to in at least a week due to thick layers of dust and the desperate need for a toilet scrub brush. The dining areas weren't any better.

I will say the bartender that served me was terrific. She was polite, prompt, and had great recommendations that I enjoyed. But when our party arrived and we got a couple vodka drinks there was a dispute over whether or not it was tequila or vodka, which was bizarre. So we asked them to check and their response was "ya we get that complaint a lot, our house vodka tastes like tequila." Well...ok then...get a new house vodka, why keep serving if it you are regularly getting that complaint from your customers? Then the actual crab boils we all ordered were viciously overcooked. Potatoes were mush, the shrimp mush, crab overcooked, even the order of chicken strips and fries someone got was actually undercooked and the fries were cold.

I feel like looking at all these reviews that are good means that at one point, this place was thriving and well loved by staff and customers alike. But from the spider infested entrance, to the blatantly, ignored restrooms, to the dingy and unkempt dining room, the lack of care put into the food prep and the obviously ignored customers input on their well drinks, it's clear that whoever is in charge just gave up. I really hope that someone there can turn things around. I would love to enjoy this place the way everyone that wrote great reviews did...

First time visiting Seattle last week and we were super excited to have FRESH seafood after moving away from the east coast and living in the Inland Northwest. Bummed we missed the Pike Place Fish Market but after googling other options and reading reviews, a pot of boiled crab and seafood dumped on a table in front of us sounded like the next best experience. Words cannot even describe how seriously disappointed and disgusted we were once our food arrived at the table. We ordered the biggest and second biggest “feast” they have on their menu which consists of ALL things crab, shrimp, mussels, clams, potatoes and corn. When I tell you we have traveled all over the country and had better crab from an all you can eat sushi restaurant in the middle of nowhere, I mean it. I’ve never left crab sitting on a table to have the waitstaff discard because it was that horrible. Definitely wasn’t fresh. The crab clusters were missing legs, the meat was browned and old. No better way to describe it other than it tasted like they ordered too much from their wholesaler a month prior and we got the last of the leftovers that needed to be used. The only thing we actually finished was the corn on the cob. They have five locations total, covering WA and CA and I will never eat here again, no matter where we head next and I certainly don’t recommend it to anyone else. The worst part is the dining area was full of people who didn’t seem to know the difference in actual FRESH crab and seafood but I can only imagine the bathroom disasters that occurred the next day. This says nothing about our server who was a true sweetheart with a great personality. It was truly just gross food and overpriced for what they actually dumped...

My partner and I visited The Crab Pot in Bellevue for a special celebration, drawn by glowing recommendations from friends who meet here weekly. Expectations were high for a memorable dining experience.

The food was solid, earning a 4/5. The halibut and shrimp linguine, priced at nearly $30, featured above-average protein quality with well-balanced flavors. The portion included eight half-inch cubes of halibut and six quarter-sized shrimp—decent for the price compared to other Puget Sound restaurants. Our server, JD, was professional and friendly, though delivering the bill before we could consider dessert or coffee felt rushed, especially in a nearly empty restaurant at noon.

Unfortunately, the experience was overshadowed by poor seating management. The hostess placed a family of nine, including five children (ages ~6-10), inches from our table despite ample empty seating. The children’s roughhousing repeatedly jostled my partner’s chair, disrupting our meal. When we politely requested they stop, the situation escalated into a confrontational exchange with an older sibling, which staff did not address. We asked to be reseated, but the incident dampened our enjoyment, leaving my partner unable to finish her clam chowder. Notably, staff didn’t offer to pack leftovers, so request this early if desired.

Suggestion: When the restaurant is mostly empty, seat large families with young children away from couples seeking a quiet meal to avoid such conflicts.

While The Crab Pot offers quality seafood, the lack of management intervention during this disruptive incident left a lasting negative impression. We won’t return and will share this experience with...