Dancing Crab Thai East Liberty — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

This place is super nice, large, clean and offers outdoor seating as well. For those coming here on a bicycle there is a place right in front of the restaurant to lock up your bike.

Let's talk about the food now, if you look at my reviews you will see I've basically eaten at every Thai restaurant in the Pittsburgh metro area, so let me talk about how things compare to other offerings in the area

In terms of the crab rangoons this is easily the number one or number two spot. The rangoons themselves were nice and crisp in the inside filling was very tasty. You could actually taste and see crab. I also thought the dipping sauce was also very good as well. It was nice and thick so didn't run down off the rangoon. It stayed in place.

Now for me I'm usually a level 10 heat level but most places in the Pittsburgh Metro a level 10 is American 10 and not true Thai level 10. This place however, is an exception. It's level 10 is truly hot rivaled only by Red orchid in the North hills. This place achieves its heat via pepper oils, more than pepper flakes and what not. I like this because at the end of the bowl there wasn't a big mound of pepper flakes.

I got every soup they had on offer and each one was top tier easily in the top three in the Pittsburgh area with possibly only the smiling banana leaf in East Liberty tasting better but it was very close.

The steamed dumplings are also very much handmade and are stuffed full. If you go with the vegetarian dumplings they are also extremely good. Hands down the best that I've had in the Pittsburgh area. The Thai Chicken wings were also very good, particularly the sauce, but the wings themselves were fried. Excellent. They were crispy and well cooked. Honestly the way these were cooked rivaled some of the best wing places here in Pittsburgh.

So that rounds out the appetizers my wife and I got. So let's move on to the main meals. This place offers a wide variety of classic Thai cuisine choices, including a variety of curries. Basically everyone I've ever seen all your classic noodle dishes as well as all your classic rice dishes. If you like Thai food, you will certainly find one of your favorites among the selection. The way the food was presented was very nice and you could tell the chef really put a lot of emphasis on how the plate looks when it's delivered to the diner. The quality of the food was of course very good within the top five here in Pittsburgh. Now I will say to be fair it's not the absolute best I've had in the Pittsburgh area, but it's certainly in the top five.

Let's now move on to service straight up. It was excellent. Our server was extremely friendly and what appears to be the manager was also very attentive. In fact, I was their first person to order a level 10 and I don't think they thought I would be able to handle it, but of course I was.

Now in regards to will you have to wait before getting served? I don't think so because this place is huge by far the biggest Thai restaurant that I've been to in Pittsburgh. There's ample seating, a very large bar as well as outdoor seating too. The outdoor seating in particular is rather nice because it's tucked on the side of the building and is not accessible via the street. So it's really nice and private. As you can see in my photos, it even has umbrellas to protect you from the Sun.

Final thing is the bathrooms. They are not only well appointed. They are also very clean. This is always important to me because a dirty bathroom is often a sign of a dirty kitchen.

Final summary this is a fantastic place to go to and offers a lot. It is now in my top five here in the...

Trying out Dancing Crab was born from initial disappointment for my wife and I. My wife, who is admittedly quite bad at restaurant decision making, decided she wanted Vietnamese for a rare date night. We planned to go to Pho and Roll in East Liberty. Unfortunately, when we got to the door, we were met with a sign saying they were closed for renovations, which we hadn't seen anywhere when researching online. Since we were already parked at a meter, we decided to try out Dancing Crab, which is just down the road, and it turned it a sort of happy accident.

The dining room is very pleasantly designed and furnished, and the old glass block long bar from the previous establishment gives the space a pleasantly funky touch. The service was very attentive and friendly, even though we were initially the only people in the establishment, since we came in early around 415.

We started out with the Dancing Shrimp, which was a pleasant dish with a nice house sauce on the shrimp. For my main, I got the Klui Tiew Lod (I found it as "Kluay Tiew Lod" online), which was a lovely dish of flat rice noodles with minced chicken and shrimp. It had a nice sweet and savory flavor, and getting it at a "6" yielded a good deal of welcome heat. My wife got the Khao Soi noodle soup with tofu, a favorite Thai dish of hers, and it was flavorful and had some unique and pleasant spices that I hadn't really had in other versions of the dish. Overall, it was a nice experience with good food that made us happy to have accidentally dined...

Dish: Fried Calamari (Takeout)

Fried calamari is a staple appetizer that, when done right, balances crisp coating with tender squid. Unfortunately, The Dancing Crab's takeout version missed the mark.

The breading didn't hold--it slid off almost immediately, leaving behind rubbery, overcooked rings that were tough to chew. The texture was disappointing, and not long after, my stomach seemed to agree. A seafood dish shouldn't leave you wondering about its freshness.

The one saving grace? The seasoning. Flavor-wise, it had potential--savory with just the right touch of spice. But strong seasoning alone can't carry a dish when the fundamentals are off.

Service:

The service was a bright spot. Even as I waited for takeout, a staff member stepped out to check on me, offering a level of attention that was genuinely appreciated. Courteous, warm, and professional.

Ambience:

Though I didn't dine in, the space itself deserves a mention. The Dancing Crab looks stunning inside--like a fine dining establishment, polished and thoughtfully designed. It's a massive upgrade from the music bar that used to occupy the space. The vibrant, colorful décor brings a fresh, upscale feel to the East...