Crustacean

We tried many of the dishes — not the healthiest selections — crab puffs were deep fried, beef kabob — juicy and delicious — garlic noodles were bland but dipped in mustard sauce they were good — major extra there was a good jazz singer — this was on a Tues. night

Same thought as my previous review, and I would expect an upscale restaurant to teach their waiters a thing or two.
We felt that we were… somewhat rushed during our dining experience here. Not sure how to explain it, but it felt that they were trying to turn the tables quickly for their tip. I saw my waiter eyeing the check because you can tell he was excited to see how much tip he received.
My sister just had her wisdom teeth pulled out, and I ordered two soups for her since she can’t chew anything. You would think they would try to accommodate knowing this information, so as an example, her bf and I left our mashed potatoes for her and asked for the mashed potatoes to go. If I were an exceptional waiter, I would provide extra mashed potatoes so she can have it for a full meal, especially since we were spending a minimum of $ 500+ on our meal.
It just didn’t feel like the restaurant provided darn good quality service. Even the ambiance — I mean you got that glass fish walkway but now the glass is all messed up because of people walking over it that you can hardly see the fish. I mean. you need to update the place!!! It just feels like it’s falling apart.

Oh my! The mister frequents this place when he’s in LA with friends. This was my first time and I was not disappointed. We shared crab puffs as our appetizer. Great filling. My main course was the crab cakes salad and the mister had whole roasted crab and garlic noodles. Dinner was delicious. My cakes were seasoned to perfection and had a little kick. The mister let me taste a fork full of the garlic noodles which I believe is a dish to share. I can see why he was trying to keep them to himself. Great balance of garlic and other spices. This place was a great choice; good food, great ambience, and music. This place was hopping last night. I throughly enjoyed my night out.

I visited this restaurant with high expectations on Saturday, June 18, 2016 for dinner. We were seated, our drinks arrived and then I noticed a roach crawling up the wall. We told the waiter and the manger, Ali Menrnia, came over and asked if we wanted to move seats. He NEVER even apologized or offered us a free drink or anything. I wanted to leave but my dinner guest wanted to stay, since neither of us has been there before.
I had the garlic noodles with prawns and my dinner guess had the filet mignon. Both meals tasted fine but this place is truly overrated and overpriced. I have had better garlic noodles from restaurants in Alhambra for a fraction of the cost, and never saw any roaches climbing the walls during my meal.
My advice to anyone thinking of trying this place is to save some money and check out a restaurant in Alhamabra or Rowland Heights. You will get a comparable or better meal at a fraction of the cost… and no roaches.

Totally not worth the price ! Was putted on a table next to the Main Street. Restaurant was so noisy that we can hardly hear each other. We came as a party of 6 adults, ordered 4 drunkard crabs, 4 garlic noodle and one appetizer plate with a mixture of all their well known finger food. Didn’t even ordered any drinks and dessert and Bill come out to be $ 480
Being an Asian, the food was super ordinary to me and I had taste much better one in asia and also in the san Gabriel valley Chinese restaurant for less then half the half here .
It’s really nothing special about the food and I don’t understand why people are raving about this place unless it’s about the prestige of dining in Beverly Hills ?
If you want crab, go to Asian restaurant ! More variety and less pricey ! I feel stupid to come here to eat crabs.

The garlic noodles that everyone talks about is… magnificent!
I had that with the tiger prawns and was super happy.
I came for an early dinner and was lucky enough to miss the dinner rush. The host was nice, our server was extremely professional and personable, and the food was delicious. No wonder this establishment is such a success — Chef An & family have definitely done right!

The Famous out of shell crab and garlic noodles… don’t mind if I do! I don’t know what it is called but I had this tuna appetizer plate and it was sooooo good. Calamari was delicious as well.
One less star because the service was not great. My waiter came by the table maybe 1 – 2 times for the whole time I was there. Other than that, I had to grab a waiters attention. Nonetheless, ambience is great! The fishes in the floor, very cool.
Oh, and to finish off my night, I saw the rapper Meek Mill coming in the door as I was leaving!

I’ve been to Crustaceans for dinner a handful of times and I’ve enjoyed each and every experience. Their garlic noodles are a must! I could eat an entire bowl to myself! I always get the Shaken Beef (personal favorite), but got the whole lobster on angel hair pasta this past weekend. The lobster was flavor and delicious, just wish I got a little bit more of it. I also recommend it with the garlic noodles instead of the angel hair pasta (I got the garlic noodles on the side so didn’t want to over due it). We ended our night with the coconut cake and it was one of the best coconut cakes I’ve had! The cake was covered with coconut shavings and was super moist. Service was great as well!

Absolutely divine!!! I’ve been going here for 20 years and every time it is PERFECTION!!! From a light snack in the bar area listening to live music enjoying a specialty Mr. Or Mrs. Red cocktail to a sit down dinner in the upstairs dining room overlooking the beautiful orchids and chandelier. I have to be honest though I am a creature of habit and I don’t need a menu when it cones to ordering… Appetizer: shrimp mousse rolls. Cracked crab. Garlic noodles of course. Broccoli and last but not least the fried bananas for desert will change your life for the better.

I wouldn’t be able to write enough about this place! We traveled from the Bay Area to the Los Angeles Area to rest and enjoy our 5^th year wedding anniversary!
Months ago, I booked my reservations to Crustacean for May 14^th (our actual date) because I proposed to her at the Crustacean in San Francisco.
We were greeted by the valet, host stand, and ALL STAFF with a warm embrace! Like everyone, I requested a booth, but they didn’t have one, the seats that they sat us at first, were uncomfortable.
The General Manager: Sonny; came over and introduced himself and gave us a warm anniversary welcome to the restaurant and moved us to great table, with space! :-)
Our waiters, along with Sonny checked on us throughout the entire night and simply treated us like royalty! We had an AWESOME time and we will visit crustaceans every since time we go to LA!

This place had amazing garlic noodles with shrimp !!! Just be aware that your breath will be kicking all day but it is all worth it. I think they have a good executive lunch on the go you get an appetizer which the meatballs are really good and choice of an steak salad or garlic noodles. This place has an among ambiance and excellent service. This place is on the pricier side but really enjoyed it.

Please let it be known that the reason for such a low rating isn’t the food. The food here at Crustacean is amazing and worth every single calorie. We go to An Qi a lot; even gave the District by Hannah An a try only to have a disastrous experience. So I’m not shy about my food and restaurants and how much I love them.
Having been in the restaurant business in my youth I know how important first impressions are. That first impression starts with the phone call when you make your reservation. We originally had a reservation for Saturday night but changed it to last night (Sunday). No big deal, except for the fact that when I called on Saturday night to change it, the hostess who answered spoke so quickly that I couldn’t understand her, put me on hold for 5 minutes, and then got disconnected. It took me 5 more times before they answered again to finally get through. I changed our reservation to 8:00pm Sunday and it was settled.
Fast forward to Sunday and I call Crustacean at about 7:00pm. Same thing– spoke really fast, and put me on hold for a while. I wanted to delay our reservation from 8:00pm to 8:30pm or 9:00pm due to a last minute business call my fiancé received. The hostess told me their last seating was at 8:30pm and to make sure we were there by 8:30pm. Her exact words.
We rushed from downtown LA to Beverly Hills to get there by 8:30pm. We were a tad late but got seated without an issue. Now here is what annoyed me so much to the point I’m even utilizing my writing talents to leave a review: at 9:00pm and even 9:30pm, people were still coming in and getting seated. Why in the hell would the hostess tell me 8:30pm is their last seating when she knew damn well that wasn’t the case?
A restaurant tends to survive when they make the guests feel welcome and it’s all about them. The hostesses here in LA have become so catty and snotty because they get a little power at the door and think they can lie to people to make them go elsewhere. When Crustacean was at its prime and it was a hot restaurant, that was okay at the time. But while the food is still amazing (best fucking Chilean sea bass and garlic noodles EVER), the appeal of the restaurant has been lost.
Our diet is starting today so Crustacean won’t be included for a while. But I feel that if they keep allowing these hostesses to have the same snotty attitude, they’re going to lose good business. If I want snottiness at the host stand, I’ll go to Chili’s instead.

I’ve been here with my boyfriend for many of our anniversary, Valentine’s Day, and special occasion dinners, and honestly it’s been a memorable experience every time. Usually we make our reservation through AMEX concierge and they coordinate so well with Crustacean, down to the dessert request. The dress code is classy and upscale, but it results in the overall environment being just that — classy and upscale. As expected, everything is on the pricier side, but I think that it is average pricing among the other Beverly Hills restaurants in the same class. This past anniversary, we decided to really indulge ourselves with drinks, seeing as we’ve made it to 4 years, so our waitress recommended the sangria for me and the lavender mojito for him (although I was really jealous of his), and for our second round I got a Pinot and he got the Sidecar with Bourbon, which we agreed were excellent.
For the meal, we were given a free appetizer, so we got both the dumpling platter and the beef tacos, which were both incredible. For our entrée we got the crab (out of shell, which I would highly recommend) and the Colossal Tiger Prawns, which weren’t very colossal this time around. The garlic noodles were, as usual, completely satisfying and we were surprised with a complementary lava cake and good wishes for our celebration.
I know we’ll be coming back for some or another event, and it’s great to have this place as a staple, but it is not entirely consistent on excellent or otherwise.

Crustacean, perhaps an homage to 1980’s era of exaggerated, over-​the-​top, pretentiousness in the guise of harking back to the French colonial period of Vietnamese histoire.
The dining room: Black lacquered columns w/​art deco gold capitals with Vietnamese objets d’art, even a touch of Japanese w/​the hanging of crimson red Origami cranes, which when a thousand are made, are called Senbazuru & can fulfil a deeply held wish.
Riverwalk of Koi/​Japanese carp topped by crystal clear plexiglass gives an illusion of being able to walk on water teeming w/​elegant, dignified colorful fish moving ever so stately.
Crustacean is probably the most posh Vietnamese restaurant in all of Los Angeles w/​prices to boot. There is the price of admission to this Palais Vietnamien.
1) Turmeric Squid is a small dish of char-​grilled pieces of chewy, snappy yet soft, creamy meat sautéed in probably sweet, earthy, pasty hoisin-​like «BBQ» sauce that had a smoky infusion for sweet savoriness, topped w/​a bit of green frisee. Tastfully decorated w/​comets of crimson Sriracha & de-​skinned sweet, low acid orange segments
2) AN’S FAMOUS ROASTED CRAB™ w/​AN’s Garlic Sauce & Secret Spices. Get it de-​shelled for an extra $ 2. It’s a deal since it is so laborious & messy doing it table side in your cocktail dress or suit.
Sweet ocean kissed crab is infused w/​funky, earth toned garlic, subtle Umami of Nuoc Mam/​fish sauce, black pepper in a light oil matrix all hiding under the bright red-​orange carapace of the crab itself.
This dish would go well w/​a simple bowl of Jasmine white steamed rice & a bit of steamed vegetables as a blander offset to the spiced, oily crab. Great dish for those w/​deep pockets.
3) Garlic Noodles «Frutti di Mare»: Half lobster whose flesh is chewy, fibrous, sweet sautéed in the garlic sauce that seems to have a sweet-​acidic tomato-​onion base. Small, chewy, creamy black mussels & fibrous rock shrimp is also in the tomato colored sauce.
The spaghettini-​like wheat pasta seems quick sautéed in garlic infused light oil, but the noodles were not al dente & tended to be a bit soft & limp.
1−3a) The pairing of choice was Japanese Sake (sah keh) which tends to elevate the Umami of most East Asian foods. I chose Dewatsuru, «Crane of Mt. Dewa», Akita Prefecture.
Bouquet is slightly woody from probably Sugi no Ki/​Japanese Cypress, astringent white flowers. Sharp, peppery yet fruity w/​ripe Japanese Pears.
Finish is clean bitterness along w/​rock sugar lingering sweetness. Dewatsuru did an excellent job of highlighting all the garlic & earthy flavours. FYI: the pour is extremely small so sip ever so gingerly to pair w/​the meal.
Great place to impress a date or business associates. Flashy in a Trumpesque or should I say Drumpfesque fashion, I did like the food here.
Service is well meaning, but the big crowds even on a Wednesday night make for spotty service. If you’re used to Little Saigon or SGV prices, do not step even one foot on the Koi river since it will take you down the river without a paddle. 4– Unilocal stars when all is taken into account.

Crustacean fills the Vietnamese-​food-​for-​nonVietnamese-​people-​who-​want-​to-​pay-​a-​LOT-​of-​money-​in-​Beverly-​Hills niche quite admirably.
There is the signature dish: An’s Famous Roasted Crab with An’s Garlic Sauce and Secret Spices apparently made within her secret hidden kitchen-​within-​a-​kitchen where only family (by blood, one assumes) are allowed to enter. Holy Secret Kitchen, Batman! This was rather good.
And there is the other signature dish: An’s Famous Garlic Noodles, which were good although quite overcooked imho.
And there is the quirky appetizer (Turmeric Grilled Calamari, absolutely delicious).
And for the non-​seafood-​people, there is filet mignon and ragout eggplant and baked tofu pasta.
And the music! Live, lounge-​y and rather loud at first (but then toned down after one of our dining party commented to our server that we could not hear one another.) Beach Boys ftw!
The décor is Vietnam-​travel-​brochure-​inspired-​with-​a-​touch-​of-​Vegas.
Decent service and wine list.
Soooo…if you don’t have time to fly to Vegas for the opportunity to walk on a glass-​covered koi pond/​river and eat some vastly overpriced famous food and listen to lounge singers, may I recommend Crustacean?

Frist time dining in hoity-​toity Beverly Hills — check!
Especially, at an Asian restaurant in Beverly Hills — double check!
Hehehe, never dined in Beverly Hills before, and so this was a special treat for me — first time dining in Beverly Hills, and did it at an Asian (Vietnamese) restaurant, so to speak, lol!
PARKING: Street metered parking or valet. I was able to find street metered parking around 6:30PM on a weekday. Maybe valet might be better for weekends.
Chef An also has another restaurant called The District by Hannah An. I was curious about this place a few years back (and then forgot about it), and it piqued my curiosity again when my coworker had mentioned that her friends were taking her here (this was about two years ago), and asked if I had ever eaten here for any food recommendations. So this time, my two other lovely dinner mates, and I decided to dine here. Our meal consisted of:
Appetizer:
1. Turmeric Grilled Calamari $ 16.00: Saffron, Orange Zest, and Peanut Mustard Sauce. The grilled calamari was tender and grilled deliciously! Added with citrus slices around with some greens on top, this paid «amuse bouche» was wonderful. Between the three of us, we each had about 4 pieces. Generous dish :)
Entrees:
1. An’s Famous Roasted Crab with Garlic Sauce and Secret Spices (Dungeness Crab Out of Shell) $ 60.00: I would recommend the crab out of shell, especially, if you’re sharing this crab among your dinner mates, and don’t want to get your hands dirty or look crazy trying to suck out the crab meat, lol! The crab meat was generous and flavorful. The garlic sauce wasn’t overpowering, and the crab membrane inside was delicious! Sadly, the crab we got wasn’t a chick (I live for roe!). Nonetheless, he was still delicious, lol!
2. Asian Fruitti Di Mare $ 55.00 (Lobster, Rock Shrimp, Mussels, Crawfish. in Lobster Broth with AN’s Famous Garlic Noodles: I was hesitant about the name, but once I saw what it consisted of, this dish was worth it. Since this place is known for the crab and garlic noodles, this dish combined with seafood and garlic noodles, was a winner for me too! I liked the soft noodles (my dinner mates preferred it a lil more al dente, but I think it was perfect). Added with the yummy seafood that came with it, I like it a lot. Best of all, the garlic wasn’t overpowering in this dish either, and the mussels cooked here was tender and didn’t tasted too ocean-​y either.
Drinks:
My dinner mates for sake and Vietnamese beer, and I got a Pink Lotus Martini ($ 16.00). I loved my drink: Alexa, our waitress brings it out in a cotton candied form, and once she pours the liqueur over, it transforms into a yummy cotton candied flavored drink! I love it! My favorite, and absolutely better drink the ones I had at CRAFT (Gypsy Queen and Singapore Sling — alcoholic was too strong and harsh!). I would definitely recommend getting the Pink Lotus for a little drinking entertainment amusement, lol!
Service and ambience: On point with refilling our drinks, and clearing away the dishes. The food wait was somewhat slow, but enough to get some pictures in, lol! The restaurant itself is gorgeous, and love the koi pond walkway. Just like Steph C. mentioned, they should have extended the koi pond walkway into the restrooms for the koi to swim around while peeing in there, lol! Regardless if she was joking or not, I agree on that part, lol!
Overall, I would definitely come again at some point. The main entrees here are slightly greasy afterwards, but if you get dessert, it helps mellow out the greasiness. Being in the 626 SGV, I’ve been spoiled by all the yummy Asian food down there (and of course, prices are cheaper too!). Though, this place was awesome to try, and at least now, I can cross it off my foodie bucket list, lol! :)

Came here for dinner after work one night and LOVED everything. Side note: I wasn’t paying attention when I was walking in, I was playing on my phone. Looked down, and thought I was about to fall into a pond before I realized that I was standing on glass over the pond.
We started with a few rounds of an appetizer tray, and moved on to the roasted crab with garlic noodles. The appetizer tray had a few different things on it — the chicken satay really stood out.
I am the millionth person to say this, but damn that crab is amazing, and so are the noodles. I didn’t even realize that it was a vietnamese place until after we left. Definitely makes sense because the crab and noodles are DROWNED in garlic. I happen to love garlic, but even though it’s the signature item, don’t bother ordering it if you don’t like garlic. You won’t be able to stand it.

I think that this place is overrated. It gets three stars from me because the restaurant is beautiful, but besides that everything else was pretty mediocre.
The service was bad. At first I didn’t think too much of the slow service because we were a party of 9 but when the waiter completely forgot multiple drink and food orders when it seemed like he was writing them down that’s when everyone started to get annoyed (especially because he didn’t realize the orders were forgotten until 20 – 30 minutes later). Everything took a long time to come out, I think I waited for my drink for about 25 minutes. HOWEVER to our waiters credit (don’t remember he’s name) he tried very hard to make it right when he forgot things so I did really appreciate that.
The food was just okay, I got the An’s famous roasted Dungeness crab with garlic noodles. I think maybe because everyone raves about this place I was expecting to get blown away by the food (especially the noodles) but I wasn’t. But don’t get me wrong the food wasn’t bad, just nothing to write home about.

I must say this establishment never disappoints me. I recently came to the House of An for an Anniversary dinner. The fish in the floor makes me feel like a kid again. Overly excited and smiling. We were promptly greeted and seated. Just how I like it. Our waiter Sukit was polite and attentive. The noise levels were moderate however the overall ambiance makes you feel as if your transplanted in another country. Love it.
Now let’s talk about the food. I order my usual, Garlic Noodles w/​Prawns. The noodles were full of garlic flavor and the Prawns perfectly cooked. We also ordered the Filet Mignon (Medium) with Mashed Potatoes. The steak cut like butter and melted in your mouth like Ice on a Sunny Day. Dessert featured the Eurasian Fritters topped with a scoop of ice cream and layered coconut cake dusted with cocoa powder. Let’s just say I’m salivating writing this review.
This was definitely a night to remember and I’d like to thank Crustaceans and the staff for making it special.

I only found out that we were having our Holiday work dinner at Crustacean the day before. I’m almost glad because the anticipation might have been more than I could bear. I had never been before but had lots of knowledge of what was in store. That can be a problem, right? What if the food, the service and the venue don’t measure up to my expectations?
We were seated in the Sommelier Room upstairs. Very nice and intimate. No one drank any wine however. A little ironic if you ask me. I guess you could say we’re more of a cocktail crowd. The specialty cocktails my coworkers ordered were all a hit. My Manhattan (bartender’s choice) was excellent.
Our server A.K. was perfect. She did an amazing job entertaining us as well as giving advice about exactly what we should order. For my selection I have to admit I played it a little safe. In a way I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I mean, when the signature dishes at a restaurant come with the weight they do at someplace like Crustacean doesn’t that make you more than a little curious? The yellow corn bisque with crab meat, the garlic noodles and the roasted crab out of the shell were all everything I had hoped for. Dessert was crème brûlée (A.K.‘s recommendation, just right) and coffee. As a whole I would say that the flavors, textures and presentation were all impeccable.
Even after all the hype I wasn’t disappointed in the least. Crustacean is worthy of its reputation without a doubt. And that’s a pretty tall order.