The Boiling Crab — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We visited The Boiling Crab in Los Angeles in 2025, and while there are a few things you should know before you go, this place is absolutely worth it if you love bold, flavorful seafood and don’t mind a bit of a wait.

Parking

Let’s start with parking—because in LA, that’s always half the battle. The good news? There’s plenty of parking in the underground structure, and Boiling Crab validates your ticket for up to $15. So even though the garage might say $20, you’ll only end up paying $5 out of pocket if you dine in and get it validated. That’s a solid perk and makes the trip much more stress-free.

The Wait

Now, here's the downside: the wait time. Expect to wait anywhere from 1 to 2 hours to be seated. That’s right—even on weekdays or slower times, this place draws a big crowd. And honestly, it makes sense—the food and experience are just that good.

That said, come prepared:

Get on the waitlist early if possible (call ahead or check if Yelp Waitlist is available).

Bring your appetite and patience—you’ll need both.

During the wait, the area offers a couple of great spots to explore:

85°C Bakery Café is right next door—perfect if you want a little pastry or iced coffee while you wait.

HoneyMee, a Korean-style ice cream shop next to the bakery, is also a fun stop. Their desserts are top-notch and great for killing time.

The Food

Once you're seated, it’s game time. The seafood is phenomenal. We ordered:

Lobster, shrimp, mussels, and clams – All cooked to perfection.

Their signature seasoning mix (“The Whole Sha-Bang”) – Bursting with flavor, spicy, garlicky, buttery goodness.

Steamed rice and Cajun fries – Great side pairings to balance out the rich seafood.

Appetizers and soups – Also flavorful and generously portioned.

Whether you're a fan of spice or prefer something mild, you can customize your order to your heat tolerance, which is a nice touch. The seafood is fresh, the sauces are bold, and you’ll want to lick your fingers when it’s all over—and that's encouraged here, given they give you gloves and bibs for the full messy experience.

Service & Atmosphere

The staff is friendly, fast, and attentive. Whether you need more water, extra gloves, utensils, or anything else, they’re quick and polite, even during the rush. The atmosphere is casual, loud, and fun—perfect for groups, friends, or even family outings if you don't mind a bit of a mess.

Final Thoughts

Pros:

Incredible seafood

Excellent service

Fair parking situation with validation

Casual, fun vibe

Great nearby snack options during the wait

Cons:

Long wait times (plan ahead)

Not much else to do nearby if you don’t want sweets

If you’re looking for a top-tier seafood boil experience in LA, The Boiling Crab delivers big time. Just don’t come starving and expecting to walk right in—this is a place worth waiting for.

Highly recommended! Just be strategic with your arrival time, and maybe grab a sweet treat...

Best seafood experience ever! I've never been full on seafood ever in my life! It is normally because I am poor and resourceful (aka cheap). But since it was my honeymoon it was time to dive in! We had to get the snow crab legs, king crab legs, and experiment with crawfish, yes please! And of course the whole shabang sauce! Love it, this is my place as the table was just covered with wax paper so I can finally be messy and not embarrass my wife. I can be myself!

So we get the snow crab legs in the plastic bag full of that delicious sauce, lemon, garlic, butter, etc. Can drink that when I'm thirsty! The king crab legs were as long as my arm! Love it! Snow crab legs were definitely fresh and so sweet to the taste buds while the king crab legs were so meaty and tasty! I'm salivating while I'm typing...

The crawfish was awesome to look at, mini lobsters! Sweet in the head to suck on and little tails to munch on! Too bad it was too much work and little reward but good first time nevertheless.

But gotta be honest doing all three with shabang sauce was stupid, the taste quickly was overpowering our tastebuds and needed our pallets to be cleansed! So at max do two shabang and the rest another sauce. You can always throw the others and dip it in the shabang if desired!

All in all amazing and all for $50! The service was excellent and the waiter was very helpful in helping us.

I need a second honeymoon with my wife or a...

I love seafood, and so does my boyfriend! So when we come here, we go all out, lol. We try not to eat the whole day or make it our first meal of the day since he knows I love this place. We come here almost every weekend and if not every weekend, most definitely every month for sure. We get the basic, the shrimps with the cob, always get the whole shabang, my boyfriend doesn mild/medium and i love spicy gotta do the triple X. Lobster is good, have to ask for some butter, raw oysters and their sauce they give with them, to die for!! We've tried all the fries and love each one of them. It's usually busy, so wait time is always over 30+ min, it is rare if it is less than 25 min. We usually call to ask the wait time, once they tell us, 25 min or less, we jump right up and head over there. We have never had a bad experience here, service is really fast, it's Loud, which I don't mind but sometimes it's a little too loud, when ordering they can barely hear you. Overall, it's a good place to come hands down! There's parking in the street, rarely find any available, they do have a parking structure which is $5 if you get your ticket validated. As of recent, Fri-Sun they have Valet in the structure from 4pm and after, there's no "no im fine, I'll park it myself", that'll be $20, I find it dumb in a way that they have it, I don't mind waiting for parking. Suggest you park outside if you want to be overly...