Crab Pub — Restaurant in National City

My critique here isn’t about the food or the service, but about value. I’m writing this as a heads-up for anyone who’s never had a Cajun boil and is considering trying it here. What you're really paying for is the mall location experience, not the amount or quality of food. I assume the high pricing is to cover overhead, but it doesn’t justify what you actually get.

Our family of four (two adults, ages 21 and 19) wanted to give it a try. We’ve been to other Cajun boil spots before, and I’ll be honest — for what you're paying here, you’re not getting anywhere near the same portions or experience. You’re better off heading a bit north to the Clairmont area instead.

Our bill came out to over $130, and we left genuinely disappointed with what we received. When the menu says "1 King Claw," they literally mean one claw. When it says "2 potatoes," "2 corn," and "4 sausages" — that's exactly what you get. Not two pounds of corn — two small pieces (barely a quarter of a cob each). I honestly don’t believe we received the amount of seafood they claim in the description.

As for the $12 chicken tenders — they looked like a kids’ meal from Carl’s Jr., served with a few fries. Everything came out quickly, but not in a good way — more like a rushed, low-effort meal than a thoughtfully prepared dish.

The taste? It was okay, but nothing memorable — certainly not better than other places we've tried. They measure everything down to the ounce, and it shows.

Service wasn’t great either. It took a while just to get someone to take our order, and overall, we spent more time waiting to order, for the food, and for the check than actually eating.

And to top it off, my wife went to the restroom to wash her hands after the meal and found there was no soap available. Maybe it was just bad luck that day, or maybe that’s the norm — either way, it left a bad impression.

All in all, this was a first and last visit. Not because of the food itself, but because the value just isn’t there. I honestly feel ripped off, but hey — at least we can say “been there.” Unfortunately, it just means we’ll have to head back up north...

Very poor experience. First ordered appetizer, and food was brought first. Had to remind waiter about it. Asked for food without sausage, brought with sausage. No problem, people make mistakes. This time Brought again with corn now but still sausage. Mind you , order wasn’t remade , just corn added. Brought to another employees attention and asked him to remake our order the way we asked and again brought wrong and again rather than remaking order, they just added hot broth to original bag. Food also seemed lower quality than usual. We normally go to location on college and crab had little to no meat And broth was super watery.

I give them 2 stars because staff was friendly despite the repeated mistakes , but they were very slow to check on us. Poor service overall .

When we were done eating had to wait a while just for someone to take our payment.

Will not...

Wow! I honestly was really surprised how good this place was considering… I ordered for pick up, so how the food tastes at home… can make or break it! let me tell you! First of all - I really liked you can order everything online super easy and didn’t have to pay with card, you can pay in cash when you arrive, also it seems like they start your food once you arrive (no problem)! The place was nice too! Big bar counter , beers on tap!

I ordered the shrimp/mussels/clams bag and my husband got the snow crab legs! They give you A LOT of food in that bag- it was so hot- the taste was so delicious! And the shrimp was not over cooked ! They weren’t all mushy. It was really good! With a side of white rice! I will def go back! The place has only been there a year- and they are cooking up some really good seafood! Next I need to dine in so can get a...