Angry Crab Shack — Restaurant in Henderson

We introduced our children to seafood steam pot last summer. With Joe's being gone we needed a new place. Our son (who is our oldest) just turned 10 and he chose to try this place out. His dad and I were secretly stoked, hoping this was our new seafood spot. The waitress was cute, but not the warm, inviting type. She seemed a little stressed, definitely not personable. We were sat at our table and greeted by Joelle. She was nice enough but really couldn't care that I was trying to crack a joke with her. Fine. We ordered our drinks, had some basic questions, ordered, and waited. The fried pickles were AMAZING! My 8 yr old and I LOVED them. The calamari was a tad rubbery but the kids tried it and liked it. Our salad and gumbo came out next. I've never had gumbo so I don't have anything to compare it to. But, the 10 yr old liked it. Main course came out right as it should. It was tasty. The kids had never had crab from the legs before so they were having a great time tearing it up! The older 2 kept talking about coming more often, this is so fun. My son loved every aspect of his birthday dinner (though mom and dad didn't say anything so he was bummed someone else got attention and not him.) Oh well. He'll live. I suggested this place knowing we'd be paying a lot. I'd done my research and was ready to pay to be WOWed. When my check was handed to me, I was a bit taken back. After asking Joelle what the deal was, she pointed out the "automatic gratuity" was added. There are so many things I have to say about this and why my 5 star rating went down. No where were we shown, told, or was it posted that auto gratuity would be on our bill for a party of 6+. Joelle was a VERY basic server. She did everything that meets the standard EXCEPT prebussing. It actually kind of worked out because my husband and 8 yr old used the blue bucket for trash while my 10 yr old and I used the finished salad bowl. For a party of 6+ we should have had at least 2 trash bins for each end of the table. Many years ago the Vegas locals voted to get rid of auto gratuity because quality of service went down when servers knew they were guaranteed a decent tip. Being that Joelle did her basic job, I didn't feel the need to tip her more than what she already added for us. After talking to another server, he tried to smooth things over and it just didn't work. The governor has punished families of 6 from dining out for a year now. Not til recently did we start being allowed to dine out as a family (our other 2 children are 5 and 3). We tried to before but restaurants were frowning on my husband and I sitting with the younger ones while the older 2 sat at a neighboring, socially distanced table. This was not your fault. But, choosing to add gratuity takes my choice of what to tip away. Having been a server, I know that Joelle did ok but she should have prebussed. However, I overlooked all the extra trash and plates because she kept our drinks filled (hallelujah!). My husband and I try to tip at least 20% when we go out, more or less depending on how great the server is. Joelle chose her tip, or you chose it for her. Furthermore, by us being surprised by it, put a bad taste in my mouth. My children want to come back but I doubt we will when mom can make comparable food, have personable service, and tip herself with a new pair of shoes.

REVIEW UPDATE : The prebussing is neither here nor there. Is it annoying to have 18 cups, yes. My major complaint is that no where is it posted or mentioned that we would have automatic gratuity. Another server mentioned you do it because of the strip, but you are far from...

Trifecta combo is the best out there and the fact that you can customize the 🥵 spice level is perfect (no spice to 🔥 hot 🔥).

In Arizona, we had been going to the Angry Crab Shack for some years and we never noticed that we could order an additional half pound until last night so we were beyond delighted with that 🥰.

The food was good as usual & as expected but our service was subpar. I think I've been better attended sitting at a slot machine in a crowded casino by waitress that occasionally comes over and asks us if I want to drink then we were by our server.

It started with the hostess who escorted us outside, after we asked her if we could ride on the wood outside she said she would go and ask and return... We're still waiting 😒.

The bartender originally came and asked us what our drinks were...I got this perfection called "Ling's Lemongrass Press" that was a medley of something between like a Moscow mule and some other great euphoric✨ flavors. A few minutes after we were introduced to our server who came and introduced himself. He stated he was going to go and get our place settings to include a bib and crab eating accessories...but never returned with anything, instead it appeared he went inside then came back out and sat down at another table with whomever was sitting there for quite some time.

Another team member brought us our boil bags 🦀🦀 and then realized we didn't have a bib or any of the accessories so he got what he could find.

Our server never once refilled our drinks 🥤 or offered other drinks (like water) but we ended up being grateful the ice melted into water so that we could have something to wash down our food .

Apparently that conversation was pretty good because he must have forgot he was at work and had people that needed to be tended to. Finally, he got back up and attended to another table then he came in to check with us- I requested lemons, melted butter and salt. He continuously forgot and about it & later remembered he forgot and went back in to bring it out...by that time I was about 1/2 way done with my bag.

Shortly after he brought us our check and for that he was quick to come back. 🤦‍♀️ Unfortunately, for the first time in a long time we did not leave a tip. It was not deserved had I been able to find the young man who brought over or boil bags, bibs & accessories, I would have gladly tipped him.

I do have to give kudos to the the person who I think may have been the manager who walked around with a lobster and put it over our heads so we took a picture with it. He seemed to be in good spirits and have a great attitude.

I'm sure we will go back but it won't be any time soon and if it is, we'll probably try on a different day in a different shift and hope the...

UPDATE: On our second visit, Mark treated us very well. He is an excellent server; helpful, knowledgeable and provided plenty of soda refills. We ordered a variety of food including the Shack Trio, the Queen crab, Shrimp Cocktail and a house salad. The Shack Trio, served with a corn cob and small potato, included a little lobster tail, some snow crab legs and a half pound of headless peel and eat shrimp. The small lobster tail was properly cooked, the crab legs were very good and the shrimp were delicious. The Queen crab was big and tasty. The shrimp cocktail included 10 plump juicy shrimp and delicious horseradish cocktail sauce. My wife said she had to take a break just eating that! The house salad included tomatoes, cucumbers, croutons, a spring mix, and housemade ranch dressing. The interior is nicely decorated. They have a bar and lots of seating options. Televisions all over the place showing a variety of sports and entertainment. Will, a manager, came by to check on us. He was very nice. The fried cornbread with ice cream dessert is amazing! Overall, we are glad we came back and look forward to our next visit!

FIRST VISIT: Jules did an excellent job serving us. She was helpful and friendly. We were impressed with all the variety, including the lunch specials, which were very reasonably priced. Nice interior with a fun atmosphere with plenty of decorations and television screens all over. We all ordered the shrimp and crab lunch special, which was fantastic! The generous portion of snow crab legs was big and perfectly cooked. The shrimp was ample, plump and juicy; easy to peel. This is some of the best crab I've had in a long time. The potatoes and corn topped off a great crab boil. Their clam chowder was delicious, had tons of clams and a little bit of bacon bits. It was served with parmesan encrusted dipping bread. Several flavors of sauce from which to choose, with many heat levels. Our soda and tea was refilled many times. We were very happy to be served crab crackers, zippers, and scissors. All of those are very nice to have while eating crab, while wearing their provided bibs. You're lucky to get one or two of those tools at any other crab boil. And, since I'm mentioning the place setting, a knife, spoon and fork were also provided; also rare in any restaurant these days to get all three of those. They have live lobsters and dungeness crabs (one did seem rather angry) to pick out for your meal. Overall, we were very impressed with this restaurant's food, service and decor. Look out for that giant shark! We look forward...