Crafty Crab Brandon — Restaurant in Brandon

We went about 4 pm on a sunday, we were seated right away. Jalissa was our server , very pleasant, didnt hover yet checked on us often enough we had what we needed.

This is a get dirty with your food place! The tables are paper covered with a roll of paper towels on the table and a bucket for your shells like ANY GOOD Boil shack! Some boil places Ive been to dump the food right on the table, this place serves them on nice metal trays in a bag ... both ways are fun ways to get happy with a boil.

They have bibs and EVEN have gloves if you dont want to get to dirty with your food... I opted for the bib to save my shirt but got stuck in barehanded right up to my elbows with their Boom sauce as you should. 😂

The Boom sauce is Bangin!! I chose the mild and it was perfect for me. Towards the bottom you get more heat but the spices were blended so well the heat wasnt really an issue.

The crab cracked beautifully, the shrimp was perfect the potatoes were cooked to perfection , the clams were sweet, the rice side was goood and the hush puppies omg the hush puppies!! so crunchy on the outside and light fluffy on the inside!

The decor is cute, the room a little loud but that all melts away when your food hits the table.

They were serving beer while we were there but we opted for sweet tea which was really good.

We were a little hesitant to come here due to mixed reviews, but I think this place was just ironing out the wrinkles when they first opened.

Today all the servers were busy, there were no empty tables, but they took time with their tables when needed and answered questions and gave suggestions about calling ahead to see how long the wait times were before coming. We even added to our order after our initial order an Jalissa handled it without skipping a beat.

Our food seemed like it took a little while to come but we expected that as its cooked to order.

If your looking for a fine dining experience with plates and glasses this place is probably not for you... though beer was served in glass glasses lol

If you want a really good, youll need a wet nap or a shower when your done with your seafood boil THIS is your shack!! I cant wait...

Went there last night to try it for the first time. It was 630, and there was still a few booths and a few tables left open. We started off in the back, and it was so incredibly noisy our ears were literally hurting, so we went for a table upfront. Only slightly better, but nowhere else to go and we really wanted to try the food. The tables all had paper over them as is common when you’re doing boils or seafood, and there was a plastic lined bucket on each table for the shells. I got the catfish basket- very good, although it was in a Panko breading which is a little harder and crunchier than I care for. But the cat fish was Excellent. The other party got the crawfish boil and they bring it out to you in a plate with a plastic bag over it so it holds the steam in. Also kept the juices from being messy all over the table. crawfish was supposed to be fresh, but seemed old. It was overcooked and was hard getting out of the shell. Really had to work at it. The flavor was good, and the Cajun seasonings were very good on both meals. Kayla was our waitress and was very attentive, - checked with us several times. They have beer and wine, so I ordered two beers which were served in paper cups Making it not very tasty, plus adding to the creation of trash. My hugest complaint about this restaurant, is that it produces the amount of waste of three restaurants! Plastic fork and spoon, you have to request a knife, paper plates, and all the plastic bags along with the paper on top of each table is an absolute waste and bad for the earth! I realize this makes it incredibly easy for them with very little cleanup to do, but I feel like they should be thinking about the entire population as a whole and not just their restaurant and how easy it might be for them. Wayyyy too much waste! If the restaurant we’re not so incredibly noisy, we might have considered going back, as the food did have good flavor, and maybe it was just unusual that the crawfish were over done. I always like to give a restaurant a second chance. Hope they do something with...

Crafty Crab was the very first seafood boil restaurant to open in Brandon. I've tried all the other restaurants with the same concept in this area. Yep, there are three other places. So, why not save the first one that opened in Brandon for last? That makes no sense at all, but I'm glad that I did.

There were only a few patrons dining the whole time I was there between noon and 1pm. Fortunately, I had my choice of seating. The restaurant is clean, cool, and comfortable. The menu varies in price range from just under $10 for a half pound of your choice of seafood to a little over $70 for a pound of king crab legs. There are four sauces that you can get at different heat levels. The last of the four is a combination of Cajun, garlic butter, and lemon pepper, and it's called "The Boom" sauce. Sounds familiar, right?

I decided to go with what I love. I usually get a half dozen steamed oysters as an appetizer along with a half pound of green mussels in the combo sauce. What I think is unique is that you can also add ramen noodles to your boil bag for an additional charge. In fact, this is the only restaurant of its type in the area that does this. It seriously is the best way to soak up that yummy sauce (besides a side of steamed rice). I wish all the seafood boil restaurants had ramen as an add on.

Anyway, all was good with the exception of the sauce. The Boom sauce was extremely salty in the bag. I didn't notice it being that way on the steamed oysters, so I'm not sure why it tasted so salty in the bag. I do want to go back and try the garlic butter next time just to compare the two sauces. I think that was the only issue I had. The mussels were a good size and tasty. The potatoes were a generous size as well. The service was fantastic! Charli made sure I had everything that I needed, and she checked in on me often to make sure I was happy. She was super sweet & helpful, and I hope I get her again next time.

There will be more lunch time visits. Especially since they offer...