The Captain Crab — Restaurant in Lakewood

The Captain Crab: A Taste of the South in the Pacific Northwest

​As a native Southerner with a wife hailing from New Orleans, I've come to appreciate a good Cajun seafood boil. While the Pacific Northwest has its own incredible seafood scene, it can be a challenge to find a spot that truly captures the authentic flavors of the Gulf Coast. The Captain Crab in Lakewood, Washington, however, has managed to do just that, and it's become a cherished destination for my wife and me, marking our special occasions with a memorable dining experience.

​The culinary journey at The Captain Crab begins with an unexpected delight: the Grilled Oysters. Despite my usual hesitation with oysters, these were an absolute game-changer. Savory, perfectly grilled, and brimming with flavor, they are a must-try appetizer that could convert even the most skeptical oyster eater.

​The star of the show, without a doubt, is the Cajun Seafood Boil. The House Cajun Sauce is the secret ingredient, a rich and flavorful concoction that flawlessly permeates every item in the bag. I highly recommend ordering extra corn and potatoes, as they absorb the sauce beautifully, becoming little flavor bombs themselves. While the spice level can be customized, starting with the mild option ensures you get the full depth of flavor before the heat takes over. My personal go-to combination is the headless shrimp, sausage, and mussels, each a perfect vehicle for the incredible sauce. ​The one area for improvement is the crawfish. As a connoisseur of Southern cuisine, I suspect they are frozen rather than live, which, as any enthusiast knows, can affect both taste and texture. However, this is a minor detail in an otherwise superb experience.

​My only other critique is the price point, but this is a reflection of the current market for fresh seafood, not a failing of the restaurant. Given the quality of the food, the generous portions, and the overall special-occasion atmosphere, it's a price I'm more than willing to pay for a taste of home. The Captain Crab has truly earned its place as our go-to spot for anniversaries and birthdays.

​A note to the kitchen: I've often thought that whole mushrooms would make a fantastic and low-cost addition to the boil. Their texture and earthy flavor would be a perfect complement to your exceptional Cajun sauce. And for a truly unique event, imagine a limited-time offering of a live crawfish boil, perhaps during Mardi Gras week. It would be a premium option that would surely...

New Years Day 2025, My wife, my mom, and I tried out Captain Crab for our first time. There was plenty of parking, so finding a spot right up front was easy, and that's important because mom is 97. We were seated quickly, and the service was great. The drink list was impressive and even had Jonny Walker Blue as an option. Being a single malt Scotch snob, I have always been skeptical of the hipe surrounding JB Blue. I strolled up to the bar to inspect the bottles. I wasn't going to spend $35 for a dram of something if it had a spout in it, but all the liquor was nicely corked off. Spoiler alert, while JB Blue is nice, very smooth with some vanilla going on, it ain't all that. While Jonny Walker wants $250 some dollars for a bottle, you'd do just as well spending half that on Glenmorangie. But thanks, Captain Crab, for finally putting that to bed for me.

We love crab and lobster, but we're not the biggest Cajun fans, so we all got our snow crab boiled with butter on the side. My wife got the combo with the shrimp, and mom ordered lobster tail. Everything came with corn on the cob and either a potato or a selection of vegetables.

Absolutely everything was overcooked and... well... cooked to death. Mom's lobster was like rubber. Although my crab was still tasty, it was way overdone, as were my wife's shrimp. The corn might as well have been a dish sponge for how soft and mushy it was. Maybe if you're getting all this poured out in a spicy sauce it masks how horribly these items are actually cooked, but if you're not getting it with the Cajun sauce, it becomes immediately apparent that no one in that kitchen knows how to prepare anything, to include corn.

So, if you're looking for basically a Cajun soup that you have to do some work to eat, Captain Crab is the place for you. If you want your seafood done nicely and prepared individually for each customer, this is not the place to go.

To sum up our experience: the service was fantastic, the food was edible if not great, and although the place looked nice, my wife said the ladies room was a mess, so Captain Crab lost a star towards atmosphere for that. Thanks for letting me try the JB Blue, I've been wanting to give it a shot for a long time. Other than that... we're not...

My wife and I visited The Captain Crab for the first time tonight. We were a little skeptical at first. The last time we ate at a restaurant at that exact location, it was the AAA Buffet. That was a very negative experience but tonight was the complete opposite. Although the outside of the building does not look much different, the inside has been beautifully transformed. It has the ambiance of a swanky seafood restaurant but with fun sophisticated robots that assist the staff in seating you and serving the food. The aroma is as appealing as the decor and gets you salivating even before you see the menu. The menu is very generous with tons of options for many different types of shell fish not just crab. In preparation for the arrival of your food, the server covers your table with a paper table cloth, plastic bibs, a bucket for shells etc, shell crackers and scissors as well as plenty of napkins (and you will need them). The food was amazing! We had snow crab and headless shrimp which was accompanied by corn on the cob and a small baked potato. It was delivered to our table by a robot and then placed on the table by our server Alicia. (Alicia was amazing and took great care of us!) When you order your food, you have 4 different options of buttery sauce ranging from slightly spicey to, buckle up and get ready for a raging inferno in your mouth. If there are still embers burning in your mouth when you're finished with your meal, they offer a choice of vanilla, strawberry or chocolate ice cream for dessert. All in all, this was a great dining experience from beginning to end. If you like shellfish prepared and served in a fun and unique way, you're going to...