The Boiling Crab — Restaurant in San Marcos

Wanted to hold a birthday dinner here because I've eaten here before and it was amazing (my review used to be 5 stars). I planned to bring 7 people, but noticed that their wait-list system said groups of 7 or more people need to talk to the host. I was doing this online with the Yelp app, so I called the restaurant to ask about making a reservation or just being manually added to the waitlist, so I could be seated at 6:30. People on the phone told us that we needed to be there in person just for them to answer our question. I drive all the way over there to tell them I want my family to be seated around 6:30, but instead they tell me to come back in 30 minutes. They really couldn't have told me over the phone to just show up at that time to join the waitlist? I had to drive all the way over there without even being told if I was going to have the opportunity to make an actual reservation or not, just for them to tell me to come back in 30 minutes.

This is NOT how you do service. If you have some greedy business reasons that make it better to use a waitlist system with no reservations, fine, but you could at least try to not make it a pain just to join the waitlist, I'm not trying to make my grandparents sit around waiting for a spot on the waitlist to open up, I want to be able to join the waitlist, be given a time I need to show up at, and show up at that time to be seated. If we are seated too early, not everyone can make it (some of my family is at work), if we are seated too late, then we are accommodating for elderly people who can't sit around waiting for an hour.

Going to eat at a restaurant should not be a logistical...

Monday night, 6pm, party of 9. The food was very good, spiced just right, hot and tasty. It arrived soon after ordered. Our server Ryan did a great job, checked back in frequently and when he was busy other floater support stopped by to check as well. We did the call ahead for our large party and were informed someone would need to "be here" before a table would be prepared. When we arrived there were many open tables and only a few minutes wait for those just checking in. We quickly received notice our table was ready.

The poor review is for the manager interaction. I provided her a concern with our wait experience which involved being lined up along the wall, for a "headcount" and told we would not be seated until the 9th person arrived. We could see the table set and waiting empty for the additional 15 minutes that we waited for the 9th person in our party, lined up on the wall, like group punishment. The manager stated this was their policy. The 5 minute conversation that followed demonstrated lack of apology, not taking ownership, deflecting responsibility to the customer and citing policy. Upper management, please consider empowering host staff with some discretion to provide a better customer experience and provide managers with...

This Boiling Crab location is brand new, so I wanted to see if it would live up to the legacy of The Boiling Crab name. The first time I visited, I was surprised with how busy this location was. The parking lot immediately surrounding the restaurant was full, which wasn't a big deal as the bigger parking lot in the connected shopping center was mostly empty and very close by (less than 2 minutes walking). They don't have any reservation system in place at this time, which is a HUGE pain to deal with unfortunately since this means you can either join the Yelp Wait-list, or show up at the location and wait for hours in person. Once you are seated, the service is extremely friendly and proficient, wait times are short, and the food is good. I get a snow crab with the full shebang and some sausage to go with it. I also get a side of lemon pepper fries. The food tastes AMAZING, but I do wish they included metal tools for the crabs since the plastic ones get dull and can be a little difficult to use. The servers both times I visited were kind and caring. The total both times around was just under $100, for between 2 and 3 people. I would recommend trying this place...