Black Pearl — Restaurant in Katy

Love everything I’ve had so far. Been four times in the last month two months. My Hapa Vietnamese friend + I tried this first. Then brought my Thai mother the next time. Thai friend + I went this past Sunday bc the craving was imminent. Everyone has loved everything, thoroughly satisfied + is officially a fan. Even so far as driving across town to have on a regular basis

The owner is so sweet! Unfortunately, the staffing situation seems limited to one person. Two on the weekend, one runs good/drinks only. Only reason it’s not 5 stars. Takes a while for someone to come back to check at times. Please have patience. Considering the pricing, quality + location, Black Pearl is deliciously worth it

Love their crawfish! Get the mixed flavours. Their spicy wasn’t spicy enough for my preference so we were brought out a side of smashed habaneros. Delightful. It was so pleasant + the crawfish had flavour throughout. Minimum order of two pounds. Is a dollar more than other places but worth it, IMO. The garlic looks to be the jarred, diced bits but it doesn’t have that aftertaste. Better than expected at first glance

Typically order sweet potato fries to dip in the crawfish sauce but got the tater tots. Perfection! Did order the sweet potato fries another time. Must order extra crispy in the future. Forgot last time + too soft/soggy in centre

The chilli oil scallops are divine! Sometimes with quail eggs, others not. Either way, delicious!!!

Felt Saigon street food vendor vibes at every bite. Made me feel as if I were back in Vietnam in such a fun way with the food

So, lastly, sweet snails w/ thai basil, forget what you think you know about “escargot” if you’ve never had this before. This is different + better. More meat. Not overkill by butter

I cannot get enough of this place. It is officially in my top three favourite seafood...

Not one of the better dining experiences that I've had. Came in wanting a basic crawfish boil and some boba. Prices were higher than I had seen online which could either be due to the seafood prices these days or the fact that it was a weekend. I wanted a combo one with crawfish and was informed that there was an additional charge per pound if I chose crawfish. Please note that when they say 2 sausages, they mean 2 slices of sausage (see the picture for reference). Additionally, due to a miscommunication/misunderstanding (not sure which) with the server I ended up with the House Special sauce, which is basically garlic butter, rather than the Kickin Cajun. I was informed after the fact that the Kickin Cajun is not popular because it is sour. Aside from my general confusion that the Cajun sauce isn't the best option for a Cajun dish, I can't comment any further since I ate what I got, which was the House special, medium heat. The crawfish themselves were tender and tasted fresh and they did not skimp on the garlic. It was just salty enough and just spicy enough. As for the boba, I was told they didn't have the small size that was listed on their menu, and more importantly, that they didn't have the typical black boba balls, only the crystal boba. To be frank, this seems like an oversight. It would be different if they just happened to have a few boba options in their drink section, but they shouldn't advertise themselves as a "Seafood Bar & Boba" if there isn't even classic boba. To be clear: the food is not bad. It just didn't hit the spot, on...

Ordered crab fried rice ($14), shrimp garlic noodles ($11), grilled squid ($16), grilled scallops ($9), and mussels ($10)

Service - From the get go, the waitress seemed to be in a rush with all her interactions with us, even though there was only one other occupied table in the whole restaurant (with only one person sitting there). Even though all of us were wearing masks, she was not wearing one when she would talk to us.

Environment - space was clean but they have both music and TV's on. The TV's drowned out the music and was stuck on commercial breaks which was really distracting.

Food - As for the food, it was fine. I really liked the mussels - it came in a garlic butter lemon sauce. Also liked the grilled scallops and grilled squid. On the other hand, the crab fried rice and shrimp garlic noodles were okay but not as good as the other items we ordered. If I were to get something again, I would get the mussels and the scallops.

Overall, food was okay but service can definitely...