Crusty Crab — Restaurant in Los Angeles

What happened to my favorite seafood restaurant of all time? We use to go there all the time but moved to Long Beach so we hadn't been there for awhile. I was thrilled with the food, service and prices. (Seniors on a budget). We went the other night to celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary and were really looking forward to it. Started out that when we entered the door there was no one there and the sign said "wait to be seated". So we waited and waited and waited. I finally went into the kitchen and said "Anyone home"? The help ignored me until I repeated my request. Finally the waitress who was on her cell phone said "Oh yes, we're here". Not a good start. We ended up seating ourselves. Also, I immediately requested 12 oyster on the half shell and I requested horse radish to go with them, I had to request this twice AFTER we were served the oysters

Then we looked at the menu and were we shocked to see the change and not for the better. We have always been so happy with your prices as we are on a budget, but many items have almost doubled and the salad bar now costs $5. when it use to be inclusive with most meals. That puts an additional $10. on our tab right off the bat. Use to be able to get deep fried scallops/zucchini together, not now, unless an increased charge. My husband asked for MGD which you use to carry, and which you no longer have. Not everyone likes mexican beer. I use to just love your Seafood Pasta because there was such a variety and quantity of seafood (i.e.scallops, clams, fish & shrimp). What I had last night was lots of sauce with chopped up seafood???, and all of 2 shrimp. Talk about a disappointed, that's an understatement. I will say that my husband was happy with his grilled seafood plate with the dinner salad and I was happy with that, and the deep fried scallops were a wonderful size, but I feel sad that your place is no longer our favorite. Maybe the service thing was just an off night, but the ability for us to afford your establishment is no longer feasible. So we spent about the same amount of money, but their were 4 items we were not able to afford due to you raising prices. Raising your salad bar to $2.50 would have been a stretch for us, but $5.00 is just too much, not to mention the other items that have increased on your menu.

So, I don't know what else to say but it's not likely you'll see us there again, unless we win the lottery.

Sincerely, Richard...

I originally gave one star but after thinking through I am giving two stars.

So I went to this place 2 weeks ago. I left review on San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant on the location separately.(1 star)

From this restaurant(fish market, more like), I bought grilled fish and grilled shrimp plate. Fish was fresh and it was great. But the rest was not. When the fish went on the grill, we were told it would take 50 minutes. I was like,,, what?! 50? or 15?! He said 50 min because the fish is big so it would take long time.... Okay, pues ni modo... Then not even 20 min later my fish was ready. But the fish was bigger than the one we bought. LOL. Seems it grew. 😆 Clearly it was not ours but, hey, we ain't complaining if it's upgrade. 😁 Unfortunately, there was no taste at all. It was pure "grilled fish".... Went back and let them know it had no taste. They gave us lemons and garlic butter.... Well, obviously fish was not tasty enough that we decided to take home and season it ourselves.

Shrimp plate. Dude! Pouring so much oil does not make the plate any tastier or tasteless than it is.... I remember I used to visit this San Pedro area and ate similar shrimp plate but clearly that was a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it was nothing like the great plate that I remembered... The dish had too much oil and clearly I expected too much from ordinary citizen who happened to be given "a chef" title. This dish also, I had to pack it up and re season at home to truly enjoy and get my money worth it.

By the way, the horchata next to my grilled fish plate cost $10 and super dilited. Ridiculous and What a rip off. (nothing to do with this review but just warning you not to waste money on this thing. )

Again, fish was fresh so it was great but make sure you take it home and cook it yourself...✌️

I will never come back...

We ate at San Pedro Fish Market when Ports o' Call still existed, and we decided to try this place again based on reviews here and their website. I knew the present location is temporary since a new development is underway, but we were misled and fooled by the photos posted here and elsewhere that shows a metal-covered, wharf-like building that has an old-time ambiance. That is not at all what we found on August 31. It was about 90 degrees and we found only outside picnic tables with umbrellas, all sitting in a dirt lot. No water misters, no fans, just baking in the hot sun with patchy shade. The kitchens are square temporary buildings and servers take orders and carry the food back out. We chose not to go into this fenced, gated lot because the big bouncers at the gate said the wait was 1 1/2 hours, and this was at 3:30 pm. There was no way we were going to wait in the sweltering sun only to be seated in hot, dusty conditions at a picnic table. I have no doubt the food is still good, but the surroundings are terrible and I feel cheated that there is no such building as the one shown on this website and other online locations. Ambiance is being promised that doesnt exist. We may give it a try when the new delayed development is completed, but...