Cracked Crab — Restaurant in Pismo Beach

I live locally, and have been wanting to go to this restaurant for years. I have heard good things. Well today was the day it aligned and I did in fact go there for lunch. It is located, conveniently, on Price street in cute Pismo, and it's everything about South County that I love. The manager started working here after high school, and has created and/or maintained an AUTHENTIC welcoming atmosphere. Brandy, the server I had the privilege of encountering, didn't make a fuss that I was alone (which often happens when I dine out) and she sat me at a nice table that was not in some dark corner. I felt seen. Nothing more, nothing less, which is exactly what I need. She adeptly explained the featured "buckets" (one designed for two, and the other designed for one). Shortly she returned with my drink and took my appetizer order (which was the crab dip). The crab dip is with blue crab, one of my favorites, and includes cream cheese. Sign me up. It could have been my meal, so yummy, but I was really craving that snow crab...so I stopped half way through the dip (yes, I took the rest home) and went on to order the single bucket. Brandy arrived with the cracking tools, drawn butter and a bib (that she asked if I wanted to put on, or should she) and I got the full treatment with her putting it on, and me never getting a bit o' crustacean on my clothes. Then, The SINGLE Bucket. Ok. It was full with crab and potatoes, crab, and corn on the cob and more crab and even sausages. Brandy dumped the whole thing on my table and I dug in like a barbarian who hasn't eaten for weeks. Well, that's what it felt like. I think I was a bit more composed. I simply appreciated the superior service by Brandy, and the excellent grinds. When it came time for my tab, Brandy was so respectful in the way she suggested I place the check book upright--that way she'll know I'm ready to pay. SMART. It relieves a customer from feeling ambiguous about the actual act of paying the bill. It was busy, but I never felt rushed. I enjoyed a bit of conversation with the people dining on either side of me, and that was nice, too. I will go back, for certain, but maybe with a dining partner, because even that single bucket was sooooo much food. And if I can, I will request Brandy's...

Since my wife and I love seafoods. So before our trip to Pismo Beach, we searched Yelp to find out where the best seafood restaurant in town is. Zillions of good reviews point to Cracked Crab.

This is the first restaurant we went when we got to Pismo Beach. It was a bit after lunch hour and we didn’t have to wait to get seated. The decoration was very cool with many of the wall murals splashing on all corners of the restaurant.

As we had done our homework before our trip, we knew exactly what to order. We got ourselves a cup of clam chowder and a steamed clam with wine sauce for appetizer. Then we ordered my wife’s favorite Alaska King crab legs and shrimp bucket lunch combo for our main.

We chose these dishes because everyone recommended them on Yelp. Their recommendations were right on. These foods were amazing.

As we understand it from the restaurant employees that there is only one place in the United States you can find this the types of Alaskan King crab and that comes from the Baltic Sea, and that’s at the Cracked Crab.

Mike, the late founder of the restaurant, had been going up to Alaska and bringing back the whole load of crabs from the Time Bandit fishing fleet. Now Cracked Crab is the only American outlet that receives crab from Dutch Harbor.

Our bucket of crabs arrived and we gasped at the beauty of it, three eighteen-inch long legs of the most delicious object on the planet. The Cracked Crab does a wonderful job at providing you with all the tools you need to break into these beauties, along with providing melted butter over a flame (see my picture), amazing cocktail sauce and fresh lemon wedges. None of these was needed, as this was the most succulent, amazing crab I had ever tried. Perfectly cooked and so full of flavor, this truly is the food of Kings. I have never had crab this good. You owe it to yourself to try this. You may not be a billionaire, but you can feel like a million bucks by having the best crab in the world and it is worth every cent.

Parking is easy as there are both street and restaurant parkings...

I took my sister and brother in law here for their 40th wedding anniversary last night. It took us awhile to decide what to order as it all sounded so delicious ( and I did research for 2 weeks before their visit from Big Bear for this Special event!) The atmosphere was very casual ' as we expected and wanted... and the service was Amazing. First we got some cocktails and we were served the best sour dough bread and the best butter i have Ever had in my life and i've had plenty ( i am 62 yrs old!) My sister ordered the " bucket for one and substituted Red Kingcrab and Lobster as that is what she wanted. We asked how much came with it at a price of $125 total- with the substitutions-- as they were out of Dungeness Crab. We were told she would get 2 large Red King crab legs and 4 small lobster tails with the potatoes and corn on the cob. Well, she got only one crab leg and 3 very tiny pieces of lobster tails! My brother in law and i both ordered the Maine lobster tail dinner at a price of $62 each and got a tail with about 5 bites of lobster, mashed potatoes and 5 or 6 asparagus spears... and no soup or salad was served with the dinner at that exorbitant price. The food was absolutely delicious, but the portions were very small for those prices. My bill was $328, not including the $50 tip.... Not sure if i will go back with those kind of prices n such...