The Crawfish Pot & Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Houston

I decided to take my mother and bf since I had a pleasant first experience when I dined here. We drove about 45 minutes to the location and waited over an hour to be seated, due to the folks waiting to eat there as well- when we were finally seated, the newly employed hostess failed to mention that their only menu scan is placed on the counter at the entrance and that we would be needing it in order to view the menu. We were sat at the table near the RR (not recommended for a party of 3 but its what was available at that time) we then waited an additional 20+ minutes before our waitress came by to take our drink order. I ended having to go back to the hostess and request for a waiter, both hostesses made reference that they were new employees and therefore didn't know who was assigned to my table, although the newest employee tried to be a little more helpful by going up to one of the staff members who was either a Mgr. or owner, he then told me he'd come up to my table and take my drinks because our assigned waitress was nowhere to be found. When our waitress came by 2 cokes were ordered, she failed to mention they had fountain soda and canned coke, we received the fountain coke which btw my mom prefers canned coke- we then requested to have the canned coke instead to which the waitress lied and said what we had been served was canned coke, my mother and bf who know their cokes well knew that wasn't true, maybe she just didn't want to make a double trip, ironically, my mom spotted another table who in fact had a canned coke & sprite on their table but we had Styrofoam cups, so there was our answer-- we had gotten fountain drinks, which they kept. By the time we got to the menu they had ran out of most items so we ordered "a la carte", ordered 1 dz. raw oysters as appetizers (which we ended getting last because according to our waitress she was in the back "pulling teeth" as she stated, trying to get the ONLY guy who can apparently crack open oysters) a few lbs of crawfish & shrimp (which were served head on, unsure if they have ez-peel available) when we asked for green limes & seasoning, we were advised they are all extra charge, you would imagine that limes and seasoning which is known to be a side to seafood would not be an extra charge, but not @The Crawfish Pot & Oyster Bar, you'll get charged extra for anything you request! The food was quickly served, we learned the kitchen was not the issue but the staff who clearly know not what they were doing and the Manager(s) on floor which were nowhere to be found. We left extremely disappointed in the service and will highly likely not be returning, our $100+ tab can be used elsewhere. I hope a staff member reads this and has it addressed so they can improve their way of operation because...

The food is absolutely terrific. King crab was a little over-cooked but still very good. Shells get soft and flexible on over-cooked crab. I would probably give this place 5 stars but the seating management was terrible. I understand waiting my turn and am willing to do so when it makes sense. I had 4 people in my group. We were 5th on the waiting list behind 4 groups of 2 each. When a 6-top opened, I asked if our group could be seated there and was denied. I asked the lady why and she said it was a six person table. I explained to her that it didn't make sense to leave us standing and leave that table empty. She then explained that it would not be fair to seat me before all of the 2 person groups I was behind on the list. I know, even she didn't realize how absurd that was when she said it. I was so frustrated, I almost asked her to seat a 2 person group at that 6 top if she was going to stick to that explanation. So I waited another 10 or 15 minutes and a family of 6 just walked in, did not get on the waiting list, and was immediately seated. I went back to the hostess to complain that she seated someone before us that was not even on the waiting list, and her response was that they had 6 people! Which is it? Must you have the exact number of people the table sits or must you wait until your position on the list is next? What's ultimately funny is they ended up seating us at another 6-top when it opened. Hopefully, that was because she finally understood the flaws in her arguments. So 4 to 5 star food, but I'm giving the place 3 stars for so poorly managing the seating arrangements. I will go back, with the knowledge that I may have to argue with them some to make them understand how to efficiently seat patrons to maximize their business. This was all on a Tuesday night too. They really should consider moving to a bigger place if they have so many people waiting to eat on a Tuesday. I can only imagine how busy it is later in the week and...

We tried this place years ago and got crawfish but weren't that impressed so we didn't go back. Until today, our daughter said the place had gotten better so we tried it again. We waited about 10 minutes to get in and be seated, and we were taken to our table to be seated and the floor under our table was a complete mess. So we stood around waiting for them to clean the floor which was another maybe 3 or more minutes. Took a few minutes to get our drinks and when I got my coke it was flat so I returned it. We ordered and got our crawfish pretty quick. But my husband's plate took about 5 minutes longer than us so we waited to eat until he got his food (it should have all come out together). The butter and seasoning tasted pretty good, but the crawfish meat wasn't that good. We travel a lot and have tried crawfish in many places. Most of the crawfish meat was like ground crawfish, and when I peeled the crawfish it would break often and stick to the shell and worse the crawfish were small. I have never had so many broken and ground crawfish meats. I do not recommend this restaurant for crawfish at all. And last let's not forget to mention the high prices for crawfish at $7.99 lb, and the sides for 5 potatoes for $3.00, 2 potatoes and two small sausages for $4.00 etc.. Even this late in the season we haven't been or seen anywhere with such high prices for crawfish. The boudain balls and spicy mayo were very tasty and the waitress was nice but that's about the only good I can say about this place. I can definitely say that we will never...