Red Crab - Juicy Seafood — Restaurant in Fredericksburg

This location in particular opened in the middle of covid being full swing, which admittedly takes some gusto now a days. Went here with a party of 5 for dine-in on a Sunday evening. Hostess was pleasant and got us seated within 5 minutes. Dine in was not very busy, the seating was spaced out appropriately for social distancing.

Our waiter was prompt to get our drink orders, explain their menu and how it works if you'd like to order a "create your own combo". Basically if you've ever had a steam bucket or been to a Joe's crab shack imagine that but with very poor pricing.

Example: Blue Crab 1lb for $16 dollars, now for someone that's been well versed with pricing of blue crab ESPECIALLY in VA, I know that this is highway robbery. You're talking maybe 3-4 crabs at best, and you're not going to be satisfied from that at all. There are many places around this restaurant that offer a dozen or even all you can eat for $30-$35.

As you can imagine I passed on the create your own combo. I went instead for a fried catfish basket ( wanted fried haddock but it was out of stock). I also ordered Crab Bisque to start with, which typically is a pretty straight forward experience.

My soup arrived and to my surprise it had artificial crab meat on top, it was also luke warm. So not a good start, I'm in a restaurant that boasts as being high quality seafood but I'm looking at artificial crab meat (which it wasn't stated on the menu either as artificial).

My entrée arrived timely enough, it was decent in flavor slightly over cooked but still decent. We ordered hush puppies as well which were pretty good.

Overall the experience was lack luster, their pricing needs to be reevaluated as well as their menu. I feel like they're charging metro area prices but don't realize that this area is well versed in seafood options and at least 4-6 crab houses within a stones throw.

If you go here please be willing to shell out 40-60 dollars for 2-3 people.. and that's not even touching their create your own combo options. I hope they can improve their quality before the populace wisens up and gets...

We arrived about 20 minutes before they opened. Strangely all the parking spots near the entrance were full of cars. That's odd I thought as I backed in across the parking area. Maybe they opened early today for some reason. Then a person got out of the car directly in front of the entrance and went in. Cool its open early, we hopped out and went in. We don't open for 15 min one staff member barked at us. The person we followed in went into the kitchen. Would it be OK to sit here and wait? All we got in return was a shrug.

How many red flags already and we hadn't even been seated.??

As we sat and wait, staff were sitting around noses in their cell phones. Loud vulgar music pumping so loud I could barely hear my wife speaking.

More red flags, but we wanted some seafood and we all were rather hungry, we waited to be seated.

Waitstaff was attentive and personable.

We ordered our lunch and it arrived quickly. First was hushpuppies and the low country boil. The hushpuppies were slightly undercooked but yummy. The boil was brought to the table in a large plastic bag sitting on a metal bowl. Enjoy she says and walks away.. ok, the customer is supposed to carefully open the bag and pour it into the pan.. why? It took the 2 of us to carefully pour the food into the pan and then stuff the empty bag into the trash car. As we cleaned up the rest of our food arrived. Fried cod dinner and the medium steamed oysters.

We dug in. The boil was good. Lil bit spicy but seasoned well. No complaints. I tried the steamed oysters. Overcooked and a mound of pepper on it. Nope. Don't do it. Maybe I'm the idiot who eats steamed oysters with a squeeze of lemon. Then I grabbed a piece of fish. It's supposed to be cod, but it definitely wasn't. It was good, but had many fine bones and had skin and was rather fatty.

So to sum up; customers park out back, serve themselves and get over and under cooked incorrect seafood while employees park up front and are rude.

Can't say we'd go back again. Wouldn't recommend...

We had a FANTASTIC experience at Red Crab Boil. A hidden gem in Fredericksburg. Despite being initially seated near the bar with a high chair for our baby, which made the hallway quite cramped, our concern for our baby’s safety was swiftly addressed. When I asked my husband, “Is this safe for our baby?” The person seated right behind my son, promptly reacted and agreed. He took the initiative to relocate us right then and there to a private corner, ensuring our comfort and safety.

We are extremely grateful for his prompt and considerate action. We later found out that he actually was the MANAGER and his name is ANTHONY. Our family agreed that Anthony exemplifies what every customer service organization needs—a PROACTIVE, SERVANT LEADER who supports his team at ALL levels. We all noticed how he helped mop the floors and checked in with other customers, which further highlighted his dedication to excellent service and great team-player.

As for the food, it was outstanding as always. My husband loved his fried catfish basket, while I thoroughly enjoyed my two-item boil (shrimp and crabs) with the award-winning juicy sauce (medium level) and a cup of rice. For appetizers, we always alternate between the choices Po’ Boy shrimp (wrap that lettuce around each spicy, fresh shrimp bite!), calamari, and oysters.

Red Crab is our go-to place for celebrations and we consider this place as our family’s comfort food destination. The SERVICE IS EXCELLENT, and we highly recommend this place. THANK YOU ANTHONY FOR GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND. We see you and we appreciate you!! We will...