Reddy Claws — Restaurant in Lakewood

Never had a chance to taste the food. Was excited about this place, arrived about 10 minutes after they opened only to find the door locked. I noticed another customer use a secondary door, realized that it is a shared restaurant space with a Pho restaurant. So I entered the Cajun restaurant through the pho door. Walked over to the Cajun side of the restaurant and the waiter proceeded to let me know that I came in the wrong door. Confused, I thought he seriously wanted me to leave the restaurant and go to the Cajun door, when I told him it was locked he was apologetic. I did not know the protocol for ordering, so after waiting a few minutes at the table I proceeded to the counter at which time a gentleman told me that I needed to sit at the table and the waiter would come. As I was returning to the table, the waiter, the same one who told me I came in the wrong door, came to me and I asked what size the gumbo came in i.e. was it a small cup or was it a bowl. He kind of gave me the impression that it was small and then pointed to the picture on the menu which of course was the size of a postage stamp and didn't know if it was 4 oz, 6 oz or 8 oz of soup. At this point my excitement for the restaurant waned and I decided it was overpriced and not worth the hassle I felt like I was...

NOLA boy here so I am pretty picky about cajun food around the country. Regardless, I had a great experience here! Staff was friendly and place was clean with fun decor(the techno/rave music was my least favorite but gave the food festivities some urgency ;) ). We ordered the Combo #2 with Crawfish, Shrimp and the Snow Crab (one big crab split in half), and it was GREAT. We had so much fun making a mess chowing down on this delicious bowl of goodness. We ordered it with cajun flavor and "spicy" and it was the perfect amount of heat. I had just a drip of sweat coming from the forehead and a quick inhale might make you sip that water quick! We really enjoyed the dish and the sauce it is coated in/made for dipping was really something special. Of note, this meal in particular came with a wax paper over the whole table for "plates", gloves(for people with delicate skin), crab claw crackers, and a little scooper/cutter for getting to the crab goodies. So no forks/plates and it was great! Incredibly fun and delicious dining experience, and as a southern boy, happy to recommend...

Writing this review because I actually do like this place, but they need do better, especially with the competition near by. Came in for dinner around 630/7. There was one big party of 10-12 ppl and that was it. We were told to grab a booth and then given menus. We were not spoken to again for 15 minutes. Therefore, we decided to leave and literally go across the street to Crawling Crab. It is unfortunate that poor service drives customers elsewhere. If we had been seated and told it would be a few minutes, and at least taken a drink order, it would have been fine. But this was not the case, and costed them a customer for the evening. Hope there one other table they had was worth it. Their competitors had us seated, order taken, and appetizer on the table in under 15 minutes. It really is a shame, because we do prefer the food at Reddy...