The Boiling Crab — Restaurant in Sacramento

This is Sunday, my friends came in town for visit and want to try the famous boiling crab. So we stop by night time almost 6, waited about one and half hours for our table which is fine Sunday night always busy. Our server was really nice we got party of five, 4 adults and 1 one year old. We ordered all flavors shrimp total 4lbs, 2lb mussels, 1 lb clam, 4 corns and 1 order sausage and some appetizers. Long story short, 1st we got mussels and clams it’s was great only clams got so many empty shells. And then we start to get our bags shrimp, at first I tried the shrimp it tasted funny I thought is that they used cheap shrimp it’s not fresh, and with the heavy sauce can’t really tell what’s wrong with it, then I ate one that’s cooked outside and raw inside, I immediately notified our server she took that one bag back said she will get us a new bag while we work on other bags. At this point I’m just really upset, my wife is pregnant and I got one year old might have eaten not fully cooked seafood. The same time we working on other bags and I noticed every bags got some shrimps that’s not fully cooked, I called server again to notify manager. While we wait for the manager we got our new bag 1lb shrimp, this time it’s cooked, but over cooked. I’m not sure they reused the one they bought it back to cook again or what, the shrimp it’s like chewy gum way over cooked. The manager showed up did not even apologize, she just looked at table even don’t care I’m trying to show her uncooked shrimp, she said “oh, looks like you guys finished most of it like half way, so we can’t do anything at this point, I’ll give you 10% off 1 item.” You heard that right, “ONE ITEM” which is 1lb shrimp $1.6. I told her it’s not about the money, my wife is pregnant and I got one year old toddler can’t eat raw seafood they might get sick, not sure how she passed her health safety license. Of course each person grab one shrimp from the 1lb bag its like almost half way through. She just gave a nasty look, it’s like not the first time it happened she just doesn’t care. At this point I got no mood even to eat anymore also she didn’t even offer to recook my food, just ask for check be done the night. I got my bill, she even trying to charge me additional lb shrimp they took back and recooked, now shows I got billed 5lbs shrimp total. If I didn’t pay attention to my check she just charge whatever she wants. This is health issues to serve raw seafood to anyone!!!! The lady manager name is Sarina Chanthanarm, not sure it’s really her name or not, the server just gave me the business card said this is the manager, I hope she go retake her health safety test to learn how important not to serve customer...

I thought everything would be great. The place was busy as usual and I don't go often but my family members do. I decided to order dinner to go and try something different. I usually stick to the gumbo with no okra and the catfish basket. The gumbo and catfish has always been good. I had one server talk to me and go over the menu. He took the time to describe the flavors, spice levels, market price Dungeness crab and prices. We also discussed other items like Sha Bang Bang shrimp 🍤 and I asked how the shrimp was prepared & cooked. He stated " the shrimp are butterflies, deveined, cleaned, seasoned and batter fried". He said it's served over rice with the flavor mixture that's combined. I also decided to order a sausage on the side and he suggested that I choose a flavor instead of plain sausage so I chose cajun . So after he told me the crab was a whole crab and I didn't want to deal with that I ordered: catfish basket, gumbo no okra, sha bang bang shrimp, and a cajun seasoned sausage. He told me about 15-20 minutes so I left and came back for pickup. My order was to-go. I opened my catfish basket in the car to snack on fries & catfish on my way home. I opened up my other items when I got home. I had a couple spoons of y gumbo but, only ended up eating the catfish basket for dinner. When I checked all of my items before putting them in the refrigerator I noticed how hard the sausage link was. It was so hard and heavy. I looked closely and realized they sauced it up but, totally forgot to cook it. Who sells raw sausage coated in Cajun sauce? I was very disappointed. I stuck everything in the refrigerator and told myself I will deal with it tomorrow. The next day I washed off all the cajun seasoning and ended up cooking the sausage in my air fryer for 5 minutes and of course it confirmed that the sausage was sold to me raw because after I cooked it the juices cooked our and tge texture became tender. I warmed up the shrimp that were properly cleaned and took a photo of the shrimp that were not. Stacked them on my plate for everyone to see what they told me I was buying was not what was described. Unclean cooked shrimp. I was disgusted by this and ended up throwing away the Sha Bang Bang shrimp and rice when I discovered the shrimp were not cleaned properly. This was an unfortunate experience and a disappointing purchase and waste of my money. If I ever go back it's back to only catfish or gumbo. The catfish and fries were fine. Tge gumbo was fine as well. I don't recommend shrimp or sausage after...

This place is always packed but worth it. If you can’t make their opening time then be ready to wait in line for 1.5 hours. You can’t make phone reservations but they’re located in a great area that has boba shops and desserts while you wait. Once you place your reservation in-person you can check your wait time by looking at the yelp link provided via text. They’ll give you a 5 minute warning to return back to the restaurant once your table is ready so don’t stray too far. I got the 5 minute warning when I was 12 parties away. I suggest to wait in the front when that happens.

Parking is a nightmare, so I would park within the plaza and walk.

I highly recommend the soft shell crab with fries. I can never share those and always order two for myself. If you don’t want the fries it’s $1 off.

Be wary of the person sitting across from you when they bite into their corn because the sauce will get into your eyes and will burn.

Update:

Went back here on my birthday. They are allowing indoor dinning. I didn’t get the host name but she was super accommodating to my minor time adjustments. Our server Kelly was great too! The food here always hits the spot. I finally tried the sausage. I highly recommend.

8/21/2021 Update:

If you place a to-go order DO NOT WAIT for the text to come. I see a lot of people’s to-go order just sitting there. I was told 45 minute wait and I never got the text to pick it up. They’re so busy today I feel bad for the staff. I would check after 20 minutes and then 10 minutes after. My bag feels warm. It’s usually hot when it’s freshly made. I still love this place but they...