Cravin' Crab Haus — Restaurant in Riverside

Absolutely Disappointed – Will Never Return I want to preface this review by stating that my ladies and I were genuinely excited to dine at Craving Crab Haus. Unfortunately, our experience took a sharp and unexpected turn that left us stunned, frustrated, and deeply disappointed. Shortly after our food arrived, I noticed that the shrimp and crawfish were overcooked—rubbery, tough, and just not enjoyable. I politely informed our server, Brenen, and mentioned that while I would like to continue eating the rest of my food, I’d be happy to place the overcooked items in a separate bag in case the kitchen needed to assess them. My order included shrimp, crawfish, crab legs (which I never received), a lobster tail, eggs, and corn on the cob. Brenen confirmed that the missing crab legs were removed from the check and gave me a bag to return the shrimp and crawfish. What happened next was truly unbelievable. Moments later, a woman named Kathy—who seemed to be the bartender—approached our table, waved the bag of food in the air, and bluntly stated, “So we have made the decision to ask you all to leave.” I calmly asked why, and she rudely replied, “It seems like we cannot satisfy you all,” while still holding the bag. Instead of attempting to understand our concerns or providing even a hint of professionalism, Kathy took a confrontational tone from the very start. I explained to her that I returned the shrimp and crawfish because of the poor quality and had no intention of having them remade—I simply didn’t want them due to the texture and taste. Kathy continued to speak over me, made no effort to de-escalate the situation, and even refused to split our check, despite my clear and respectful request to do so in order to wrap things up quickly. At this point, it was clear we weren’t going to be treated fairly. So, we decided to contact the Riverside Police Department to assist in resolving the situation. During this time, the owner—who we were told was named “Tee”—was pacing and yelling at Brenen to “get us out.” It was clear that management had no interest in resolving the issue professionally. Once the officer arrived and we explained what had happened, he spoke with Tee (alleged owner) and suggested a reasonable solution: food that was untouched should be removed from the bill, and partially eaten food should be discounted at 50%. He even had to tell Kathy to split the checks per person. Shockingly, they still tried to charge us for the returned shrimp and crawfish. What happened next was beyond petty: the owner stormed over, dumped the bag of returned food out onto the table, and stated, “You ate 10% of the shrimp and 10% of the crawfish. I will remove 90%.” I explained I had only tried one of each. His response? “There were 10 of each. You ate one. That’s 10%.” At that point, I honestly just laughed in disbelief. The lack of professionalism, the combative attitudes from both Kathy and the owner, and the complete disregard for basic customer service were astonishing. I have never experienced anything like this, especially not from people in positions of management. Do yourself a favor: skip Craving Crab Haus. If you’re craving seafood, visit Boiling Crab or Bucket of Crab and Crawfish instead. The food is consistently better, and more importantly, the staff actually cares about...

• TO THE OWNER OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT:* You blatantly lied in your response to our encounter. First and foremost, you copied and pasted the same review response on multiple reviews that are clearly separate incidents from our experience. Your response to my review appears to be a generic reply, which does not reflect the specific circumstances of our visit. Evidentially, you do not take your customers or their feedback seriously. Instead, you have chosen to deflect about the entire ordeal. This raises concerns about the seriousness with which customer feedback is regarded.

During our visit, WE CONTACTED THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. Not your management or employees! We observed that your management opted to involve your security company, Securitas, who visited our table and said they do not know why you all contacted them as there isn’t anything that he could do.

It is apparent that customer service and satisfaction are not prioritized in your establishment. Specifically, the actions of Tee and Kathy were not aligned with the standards of quality and customer care that one might expect. Tee and Kathy are the antithesis of quality and great customer service. When I expressed my dissatisfaction with the overcooked shrimp and crawfish, the response from your staff was not conducive to resolution, culminating in an inappropriate suggestion to ask our party to leave.

I would appreciate clarification on the established protocol that you, as the owner, have established to address concerns from customers who kindly returned food that they disliked, specifically food that was overcooked, tasted like rubber, and was not consumed…. YOU DON’T! It is crucial that customers feel their concerns are taken seriously and that there is a process in place to address such instances. Again, no one from our entire party was disruptive or aggressive.

Furthermore, I would like to address the misrepresentation regarding our willingness to pay the bill. NO ONE REFUSED TO PAY FOR OUR CHECK, and for you to blatantly lie and state that in your response is an illustration of your integrity and ethics!

To clarify, we paid for our meal after the police officer advised that we should remove the uneaten food and that the check be split as initially requested. I also noted a previous review mentioning that a customer was charged for contaminated food, which raises further questions about your establishment’s commitment to customer satisfaction. NO ONE REFUSED TO PAY FOR OUR CHECK, and for you to blatantly lie and state that in your response is an illustration of your integrity and ethics! To clarify and as I stated in the previous review, once the police officer spoke with you (TEE) and informed you that you should remove the food and drinks that were not eaten, and after the check was split as we originally requested, we left without an issue. Let me ask you this…. If our party didn’t have the money to pay the bill, where did the money come from? I also noted a previous review written by Juan Sandoval mentioning that he had an insect in his food. The customer was charged for contaminated food, which raises further questions about your establishment’s commitment to customer satisfaction.

I hope this feedback is taken constructively and that future improvements...

UPDATE: The owner of this establishment is now trying to say that they never refused us service INSIDE the restaurant when in fact they did, never once was there a conversation about there being a waitlist or an option for us to wait for a seat inside and not all of the tables were full in the restaurant that day.

When we went to this restaurant on Father’s Day surprisingly it was no where as packed as other restaurants we tried going to that day, and we would have had no problem waiting in the car for a seat as our car did have AC to accommodate my younger sister.

When we walked into the restaurant the host/owner looked at my sisters service animal and then proceeded to ask us how many people were in our party and we told him 5, immediately he told us we could not sit inside due to us having a dog (the dog is a fully trained service animal) and that we would have to sit outside on the patio.

We explained to the host that the dog was a service animal and not a regular pet and he was very firm with us that they do not allow animals inside the restaurant and that they have to cater to other guests who MAY have allergy’s which makes no sense because lots of people are pet owners and could potentially bring pet hair in on their clothes.

So since we clearly weren’t being heard out by the host and he wasn’t understanding that my sisters dog was a service animal and he is there to alert her of her seizures, we decided to not cause a scene and immediately turned around and left.

Previous Review: On June 16 at 1:40pm front host refused us service inside the restaurant due to my younger sister having a service dog he said that we could sit out on the patio but my sister suffers from seizures and can not be out in the heat for long periods of time and by law service dogs are aloud to go into any public area including the dining room. No exceptions because it is...