Crawfish Shack Seafood — Restaurant in Chamblee

Most will wonder why such a bad review is being posted, but trust and believe it is justified. I cannot and have not had the ability to partake in cuisine from the restaurant and I have gotten to the point wherein the public should be aware of my and possibly one day your frustration. About one month ago I was driving and attempted to visit and try this restaurant, I just so happen to be driving by around 745 p.m. on a weekday and when I pulled into the parking lot I noticed the employees were walking out of the building and leaving. In my mind I jumped to the conclusion that this business closed at 7 p.m. and I arrived too late. Yesterday I decided to look up the hours of operation to make sure that when I traveled there I would not be disappointed again due to my own tardiness. I was appalled to find that their closing hours were 8 p.m., In a moment of ease I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, and consider all uncontrolalbles and eventually came to the conclusion that, my experience was a rare occurrence and something unknown might have been going on wherein they needed to leave early, such as a emergency. So I decided to try to go there again, considering the fact that I am travelling form work, I made sure I would get there before closing, I arrived at 745 p.m. once again. As I walked to the door I noticed the open sign was off. I was like "unbelieveable", but I was still unfazed, I just knew that any reputable business would adhere to their OWN hours of operation. As I attempted to pull the door open I discovered it was locked. I was able to get someones attention and the gentleman mouthed to me that they were closed, viewing the look of frustration on my face, he proceeded to approach the door to dialog with me in person lol. I asked him how could they be closed he stated they close the kitchen 15 minutes before closing like any other restaurant, he then told me he worked at Longhorn Steakhouse and they shut the kitchen down 15 Min early as well, I told him all things considered that is not true and even if at the one hodge podge Longhorn that might employ that asinine philosophy, the comparison is foolish. Longhorn closes at midnight, this business closes at 8 p.m. He then proceeded to try to validate his asinine logic by stating they have not had a customer in 30 minutes, I was unsure how this was of any relevance to me, but he insisted it meant something. My expectation is that a business adhere to their own hours, if you want to close at 745 then publish that as a public closing time. Any reputable business or business owner understands that this is the cost of doing business, its a part of being a small business owner, you have to take the good with the bad, but that should never trickle down to the needs of the customer. Food should be prepared until closing, yes there will be overhead from operations and staffing but so what, if you do not want that burden DON'T OPEN A BUSINESS!!!!! It peed me off even more to see at least 7 employees walking around chit-chatting and the fact that no one with any decision-making power decided to take on the task of addressing an upset customer, and they sent some lacky that handled the situation very poorly. MAKE BETTER BUSINESS DECISIONS, and maybe the next person will submit a review that is contributory to the business, rather than...

I've been hit with "Yellow Fever." It started out with Tom, my previous nail tech, whose foot massages were so good I was convinced I needed to learn Vietnamese to "spit game." How do you say marry me in Vietnamese?

Now I've been bitten again. The Vietnamese/Chinese owner and counter boy at Crawfish Shack are easy on the eyes, provide excellent service, and serve up some mean seafood. Pretty much all the qualities any woman needs.

The hubby and I hit up the Crawfish Shack after reading many rave reviews and snagging a free gift certificate for the restaurant. At first I'm not gonna lie I thought, "What will Vietnamese people know about hush puppies, catfish, and crawfish?!" Honey when I say the devil is a liar, believe me! He's a mutha "shut yo mouth" lie! In the words of my momma, "That food was on hit!"

Our gift certificate required we spend a minimum of $35 to get $25 off of our bill so we ordered quite a bit of food. I ordered the 2 piece catfish & 4 jumbo shrimp meal, with hush puppies and potato salad for the sides. The hubby ordered the tilapia & 4 jumbo shrimp meal, with potato salad and a ear of corn for his sides. That in itself was more than enough, but it didn't add up to the $35 minimum so we ordered 2 sweet teas and 2.75 pounds of crawfish.

We had the choice of lightly battered in corn flour or crispy battered in cornmeal for our fish and I, a sucker for a cute face and a smile, got boggled up and ordered my catfish fried in corn flour rather than cornmeal. We also had a choice of boiled, steamed, or fried shrimp, but after finding out the boiled shrimp had a kick to it we both decided on boiled shrimp. The preparation option for the crawfish was similar, boiled or steamed, and being a spicy lover I choice for us the boiled option.

Let me just say the word spicy does not describe the fire in the hole sensation you get when you tear into a boiled crawfish. I was literally coughing. It was a beautiful thing. As far as the fish, it was excellent. I prefer my fish fried harder than what I ordered but otherwise it was seasoned, fresh, and cooked to order. Now the hush puppies?! Good lawd, it was heaven in my mouth. I've never had hush puppies so damn good. Usually they are either too hard or dry, but those 3 little balls of heaven were just right. When it comes to the potato salad I literally kept saying, "this is good, oh my goodness, this is made from scratch," over and over. Like seriously I've never had potato salad taste like that in my life.

Needless to say I will be back! And the good thing is the owner is a Grady Baby so I don't even have to learn Vietnamese to say "what yo name...

I have been here several times over the last year or so, the food is inconsistent ... I love fried shrimp, and can't ever count on them being just right....sometimes golden brown, and big ...other times over cooked balls of dough....chew chew chew. What I can say is consistent is the poor treatment by the staff....Customers are clearly an annoyance here, no one welcomes you, smiles at you or even says Thanks after you have just spent on the average $30 + dollars for dinner for two? Really Crawfish Shack? The customers pay your bills....the young people running the front end are absolutely some of the rudest people in food service in Atlanta.... So tonight was my last visit ever...we stopped by for dinner, it was a little after 8:30....only to be told by the young arrogant man at the register that we would be given our food in carry out boxes because they close at 9pm. So not only are you taking my 31.00 dollars you are telling me I can only get my food in styrofoam carry outs because your staff is too lazy to clean the place up after closing .....ok let's be clear I'm no Diva...you have read some of my other reviews...at this place, you place your order at the register, are given a number for your table so another one of the rude staff members can "drop off" your food at the table....cups are shoved your direction so you can get your own beverages ...be careful of the community ice chest ...where hundreds of hands have used the same ice scoop and left it laying in the ice ...just FYI....so all in all to be told tonight that carry out was my only option because they were closing in 30 mins, and basically give us your money and get out was how I was left to feel.....so after a few minutes of thinking about this....I got my money back and left....tonight was the last visit ! I can't recommend this place, the sticky floors, the dirty communal tables, and the community ice...