Cali Licious Crab and Brews — Restaurant in Santa Ana

Seen this place a couple of times and finally decided to give it a try. Was greeted the second we came in amazingly friendly staff! Maybe had about three minute wait as they set up our table, it was our first time and they were very helpful with the menu. We started off with one of their signature micheladas and a pelon pelo which is a two micheladas but in a huge candy container which you get to keep! Great flavor perfect mixture of beer in Clamato!! Started with the fried calamari as an appetizer. Perfect breading didn't really need the sauce included. You can choose to have the bell peppers with it or not feel like adding the bell peppers we didn't get much calamari it was more like a fried bell pepper plate. We ordered two of their bowls or they can come in bags so you could pick which is a great option. The first one we got was lobster, shrimp crawfish, potatoes, and sausage with cali Cajun and mild spicy. Flavor was amazing. I did not need lemon food stayed hot the whole time we were eating. The second bowl we ordered was snow, grab shrimp, clams, sausage, potato, and hard boiled eggs. This was the best crab I have ever ate! Cook to perfection perfect seasoning very moist not overcooked at all. Shrimp is not baby shrimp you actually get a lot of shrimp! The potatoes I feel were just okay nothing really special I would skip those next time but the corn and egg were perfect! The egg was the added soaking in the juices just made it so perfect. Would definitely go again and try the other three flavors they have to offer. If you want a fun night with drinks and amazing sea food come here. Also they have little drinks for the kids with hello kitty. So even the little ones or just in general if you don't want to drink they have fun options! Family owned definitely check this place out if...

We have been frequent patrons at killer crab near south coast plaza and our original plan for our party of 9 was to go there but there was a 2.5 hour wait. My son found this place on yelp and we called and they told us that there was no wait at 7pm on a Sunday night. We drove up and saw that the restaurant is located in the Main Place Mall near the discovery science cube. Other than one table the entire restaurant was empty which was a little suspicious. We sat down and the menu was similar to the one from killer crab. We ordered a calamari for appetizer and the. Most of us ordered shrimp and crawfish and a couple of people ordered grilled shrimp tacos. The sauces tasted good but were much oilier or greasier than the one that we are used to. You have the option of getting your grump without shell which costs about $6 more a pound. Patrons started to roll in at 7:30 and by 7:30 there we a total of 7 parties and the restaurant was about 50% full. Our server was Michelle who was very nice but overall the service is super slow compared to other busier places that want to turn over the table. Overall food was 4/5, service 4/5, ambience 3/5. . After we received our bill, I had to change my score. They charged us different prices that were on the menu. They charged us more for the shrimp and the excuse was that prices have gone up and they charge market prices which is not what the menu said. Only crab and lobster were shown as market price. They also charged us for the sauces that comes with the food even though, again the menu didn’t say anything about extra change for the sauces and other Cajun shrimp places like killer shrimp never charge extra for the sauces! Our server adjusted the prices after...

Last weekend, Yelp recommended Cali Licious to me. It sounded right up our alley but we were recovering from a late night in Hollywood and getting off the couch seemed like too much effort, so I stored it in my "places to try" for a later time. Fat forward to tonight and after we had the regular "cook or order" Friday night conversation, I knew exactly where to go.

Cali Licious is located at Mainplace Mall down at the 24 hour fitness end off of Main Street. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted warmly and informed as a family owned restaurant, we were now part of the family. The service was outstanding. Everyone was super friendly and attentive. We ordered king crab legs and shrimp and added sausage. We chose the mix de todo sauce, mild sauce. We also ordered Cajun fries and garlic bread. They offer bibs and gloves and have the perfect napkin dispensers for those who opt to go gloveless.

Our food was served quickly and piping hot. The crab legs were ginormous and full of flavor. We asked for a side of the medium sauce, which we ended up dipping everything in. I 100% could've just sat with a bowl of the sauce and a side of garlic bread.. it was the perfect combo. My husband (the crab aficionado) was completely content having the crab legs mostly to himself.

We will absolutely be back again soon so we can try the mussels, extra picante sauce and their Michelle's.

Thanks for inviting us into the family.. we're...