Voodoo Crab of Centereach — Restaurant in Town of Brookhaven

We tried this after a month or so of letting it work the new-restaurant kinks out. Our first visit was purposely made on a slower weeknight. Food was fresh, service was quick and flavor was unique. We really enjoyed it. It has a limited menu but we had no problem picking out dishes. If the name doesn't give it away, the menu revolves primarily around seafood with a Cajun flair. The main dishes are all served "boil" style (cooked together with shells on, with a small piece of corn on the cob and a whole small potato with the sauce that you pick). On our return visit, we were slightly disappointed. We ordered the same exact dishes. My wife and young son ordered the calamari boil and in both dishes the calamari wasn't cleaned enough. Many of the rings had the interior membrane still intact. While edible, it made for a bit of a turn-off (one ring even had a sizable piece of cartilage in it). A calamari enthusiast would understand what I mean. As the manager stopped at each table, we nicely explained that the flavor and freshness was very good but showed him a few pieces that were set aside. Although he didn't seem like he fully understood (he was Asian), he apologized and said he would let the chef know. We weren't given or looking for a discount and only mentioned it because a good manager would want to know, but a good manager would at least offer a complimentary desert. The waitress was friendly and attentive and we gave our usual 20% tip without mentioning it to her. I had a shrimp boil and it was very good but lacked the amount of sauce served with it the first time. We came away assuming it was an off-night or a new kitchen prep was on duty. Just so you know what to expect......It is a casual, "get-your-hands-messy" restaurant. A small bucket is on the table for shells and remnants. The prepared food comes out in individual plastic bags and is poured into a tray at the table and served with plastic utensils. I assume this is to simulate the dumping of the boil-pot onto a paper-covered table as is traditional with "boils". Prices are very reasonable. The ordering process allows you to customize your sauce type and spice-level as you order. The fried rice and Cajun potato wedges make good side dishes. We may return, but the poorly-cleaned calamari and lackluster reaction to our polite complaint was disappointing and there are so many other restaurant...

Edited... 01/25/21

Upgrading this review to 5 stars. We have now been there several times. They are firing on all cylinders everytime we are there.... Try the korean style steak... It's awesome as well as the shrimp fried rice, tempura popcorn shrimp and softshell crab. Love this place!!!

Giving them 3 stars because I can't give 3.5 for now. They weren't a 4 but not a 3 either, but me and the wife definitely be going back for another meal. Let me start off by saying the service was great and the food was good, but it was way too early on in their opening to be out of numerous menu items hence the 3 stars. As well as they were run that is not something that should be. You shouldn't have to go with a third choice because they were out of your first and second. However what we did have... Most was very good. Julane ( hope I have that correct ) our server was awesome. Very attentive to the table... Always had a smile... And made a great suggestion on the appetizer when the first options we wanted were not available. Definitely going back the food was very good and will reevaluate the review.

Grilled charred oysters... Great... Excellent flavor... Cooked perfect. Not really an oyster type of person but our server recommended them after our first 2 options were unavailable... Glad she did

Fried Calamari, I liked it more than the wife... I said it was pretty good... She said it was ok. Honestly it's fried seafood... If there's lemon slices, cocktail sauce and cold beer I'm happy.

The entrees... We both did "boils" that seems to be their most popular meal... They were really good... You pick the size... You pick the fish and they boil it up. My wife said hers was good but the snowcrab was slightly overcooked. Mine was perfect... Shrimp, Manila crab, andouille sausage it was all great... Potato's and corn cooked just right... Very enjoyable.

Will definitely be going back... The Korean steak smelled amazing... Need to try it.

It's early on... They just opened... I believe they will stick around and be better than they are right now. They are already off to a good start. Manager checked in with every table and was on top...

I would rate this place lower if I could. I went on a night where we were three hours away from closing and ordered the shrimp special now.Mind you, we were three hours away from closing.And the waitress told us that there was no more special.We also tried to order a few other items and she said they were not on the menu.They had run out. Our server looked like she had a really long day. Because her attitude towards us, it was like she was ready to go home and she wasn't trying to hide it. Perhaps she was having a bad day. I don't know and I can understand however, you chose your fate to be a server. You shouldn't take it out on the staff. The place wasn't very busy, but we still had to continuously ask for water. And our food came about 20 or 25 minutes late again. The place wasn't busy. This is not the first time we've been to this restaurant at this location and possibly about 4 times now. And we have not had a good experience at any point, and we keep going back hoping for different. But that's like the meaning of insanity, doing the same thing and explaining I think a different outcome.We will not be going back to any of these place.Nor will we be suggesting...