The Kickin Crab

Food here is really yummy. We always get the combo with Louisiana or Cajun seasoning. I would stick with the shrimp versus the crawfish because getting good sized crawfish in CA really doesn’t happen. Always plenty to eat and we love the vibe.

I’m giving this one star purely based on the fact that the restaurant changed their garlic noodles, and I want the original back!!! They were my favorite thing in the world, and they don’t taste the same with the new noodles. Please bring the original noodles back!!!
Other than that, this restaurant deserves 10 stars!!! My favorite restaurant in OC.

Came here with some friends because we were worried about the wait at Boiling Crab only to find out we still had to wait about ~25 minutes here LOL, but it was fine. Came on a Friday night so you already know how DJ is but we got pretty lucky and managed to catch a spot only about 2 minutes entering the plaza– wow new record! Bought a pound of shrimp, medium, kickin’ style along with an order of cajun fries! Cajun fries came out pretty quickly and it came with generous portions, very tasty with ketchup. Shrimp was pretty good and wasn’t overcooked. I switch things up and either dip the peeled shrimp into the bag full of sauce or dip it in the pepper and lime. Yummerz! Just which sometimes the $/​lb was cheaper like it was in the old days ;(

I went to Boiling Crab a few blocks away on a Sunday night, it was a 2.5 hour wait, insane. I came here afterwards and I waited no more than 30 mins which is expected.
The prices and offerings are pretty much similar to Boiling Crab except they have some Italian dishes and Noodles. I ordered a pound of shrimp and snow crab legs.
Service was quick, they were very generous on the shrimp and sauce. Boiling Crab has been cheaping out on the sauce in recent months and you essentially get dry stuff. I enjoyed Kickin Crab way more than BC and will look forward to it when I get down to OC.

Our go to place for cajun style seafood boil in a bag place. Been to many places and this one is the closest and most reliable place (never gotten sick). Boiling crab is also right across the street from this location, but I prefer this one (less hectic, hubs prefers the sauce here).
Service has been always good. Young men & women who work there are friendly & prompt. I don’t do cooked (I prefer raw sashimi grade fresh seafood) seafood often but my hubs loves the shrimp with their spicy boil seasoning. I’m also not a big fan of the spicy spices in the bag but my hubs is addicted to that sauce.
Okay, I go with him to eat clams, oysters, and those crispy fries!!! Don’t leave the table without ordering their fries! Now that sauce in the bag is a great for dipping the fries! The garlic noodles are a great add ons as well.
With so many cajun inspired seafood restaurants around (near by are Boilig Crab & Ritter’s) you would have to make the decision yourself but my preferred place is this one in the neighborhood.
So go & get your hands dirty — grab a beer and peel away~ enjoy the sweet fruits of labor! Wear that plastic bib proudly!

Good spicy seafood! Get the bag! Kickin style extra spicy with an ice cold corona! Service is good, prices are decent. They only open at night during the week so don’t try to show up for lunch.

This place is the best the service is great also the food taste great as well the price is really good as well a pound of shrimp for 10.99 they also have different seasoning you can have on it and you can add corn or potatoes to it as well there fries are really good too !! I highly recommend them if your craving some good shrimp at a good price.

Usually we go to boiling crab but today we wanted to try something new. My friends say this place is great. So we decide to try it!
Unfortunately I have a child that does not like sea food. And usually gets chicken tenders when we go to boiling crab. But they don’t have that here. Since she was starving and we had already placed our order. We thought it would be OK to go get her outside food. As she’s eating one of the servers says she can’t eat outside food. That totally made my meal feel bitter. Knowing my daughter couldn’t eat … I feel like she would have eaten there if there was something for kids to order in the first place .
We ordered the shrimp and it was pretty good .also some Cajun fries. And of course didn’t get any refills. I had to get up and ask one of the take out girls for a refill. Overall ok visit. Don’t think will be back with the family here …

I love eating here, I just hate that it makes me fart a lot, but whatever.
The service is good, sometimes it gets too loud, but that’s ok.
Definitely one of my fav spots to eat.

I tried The Kickin Crab in San Jose and it was nothing like this one! We ordered the combo with 2 lbs of crawfish that were fresh and 1 lb of clams which included 3 red potatoes, some sausages and 2 pieces of corn extra spicy. The extra spicy wasn’t too spicy, it was just perfect. Crawfish and clams were so fresh! Sausages were yummy, so full we couldn’t eat the potatoes and the corn was the most disappointing. The corn was so frozen that there was no more juice in each kernel, it was hard and dry! Al the juice was sucked out of the kernels if you just look at it.
Fried chicken wings, over cooked but the seasoning was so good. Over cooked better than undercooked.
Fried Calamari was amazing! i love tentacles and it was a mixture of rings and tentacles. Great portion! Great flavor! Spicy!
Cajun fries, Delicious! They are skinny shoe lace fries with a good amount of seasoning on them, spicy!
Clam chowder: GROSS. We ordered 4 cups at maybe ⁶⁄₇ dollars each and no one even ate ¼ of it down. It was very watery and some type of herb was put in it, maybe rosemary? JUST not our kind of clam chowder, maybe for others.
Fish tacos were okay and the shrimp bites had big pieces of shrimps on them, those were yummy.
Service…meeeehhh… we went an hour in to opening and there was only maybe a handful of tables, we were a table of 7. Food was speedy and it all came promptly, but we had to ask for refills, bags to go, limes, straws, everything. Maybe they are all upon request.

Honestly, all these alternatives to Boiling Crab are the best. The same quality of seafood, but maybe a tad bit better. Everything is great and plus, less waiting time!
The servers here were very friendly and attentive.
Everything’s great, except for the fact that they’re located in a very busy plaza. When you go on weekends in the evening, there is little to no parking just because of the location.
The food and service, however, is absolutely great.
Will definitely be back to this location if i’m ever in the area!

I think Kickin crab is a good alternative to Boiling Crab (BC). I honestly much prefer BC over Kickin crab. But when the wait times @ BC are SUPER LONG and phone number to order take out is all jammed, I will do Kickin crab. The need for cajun seafood is strong…
I usually order 2 pounds of shrimp (spicy, kickin style) and fish and chips.
SHRIMP: Some of the shrimps are really hard to peel and if I do manage to peel it I have torn bits and pieces of the meat off. Plus, it is not all tasty when the meat is all mushy. :(
TEH SAUCE: I think the sauce is a little too sweet for me. I am more use to a savory taste with my shrimp. The spicy level is meh but i have pretty high tolerance for spicy food.
FISH and CHIPS: I think this dish is ok. Very standard and nothing too special.
I think kickin crab is alright. It is my back up restaurant when I can’t wait or get a hold of boiling crab.

WHAT KIND OF RESTAURANT CHARGES FOR PLAIN SINK WATER?
I’ll be honest, I love Kickin Crab. I’ve been a loyal Kickin Crab/​Boiling Crab/​Crab Hut (SD) customer ever since I could remember.
This Kickin Crab is located on Bristol St. near South Coast Plaza. Location is okay and WAY less crowded than the one in Diamond Jamboree. However, my experiences have always been mediocre here.
Food is okay and comparable but right as we were seated today, we were asked what we would like to drink. We replied instinctively with water and the waitress immediately responded with «Water is $ 0.35″ is that okay?» Uhhhhhhhhh are you kidding me? First off, your customers are coming in, sitting down to dine, giving you their money and business… and tap water isn’t complimentary? Secondly, your restaurant serves some of the heaviest, greasiest foods and your customers have to pay to have something to wash it down with? I’ve honestly walked into Starbucks on days when I forgot a water bottle and they have more than happily given me a Venti sized, TRIPLE-​filtered water without me ordering ANYTHING. That’s customer service and that’s what builds loyalty and the develops the mindset for customers to return and give you their business.
Food-​wise, I ordered a lb of shrimp and some of them were overcooked and really soggy. Cajun fries were normal. I added 3 potatoes to my shrimp and realized they are also pricier than DJ ($ 1.99 versus $ 1.50).

I wouldn’t return.
our waitress was nice and place was clean enough but I was put off by the atmosphere and the sudden realization that they actually change for tap water. Why do this to your customers? It really set the mood for the meal after I was informed I would be charged for tap water. Where are we? West Africa?
The fries were good. The wings were dry. It was all very expensive

I normally go to the Kickin crab on Magnolia, but this location is A LOT better! I literally have been here so many times and they are CONSISTENTLY good. Service is great, our waters are constantly refilled and food comes out pretty fast. The thing I like about this place is that when crawfish isn’t in season, they will give you extra crawfish instead of charging less. Their combos are a good deal and I usually get that.
I highly recommend getting their clams & shrimp w/​sausage medium kickin style. It’s the perfect amount of spice and I’m not sure why but the sauce tastes amazing w/​clams in it. Their sauce is always flavorful and the spice level for medium is always the same each visit (unlike other restaurants where it sometimes varies). For appetizers DEFINITELY get the garlic noodles and cajun fries or sweet potato fries. The fries are a good amount to share, but the garlic noodles is a different story. I could eat the whole plate ’cause it’s sooo good! I can like smell the garlic buttery goodness as the server brings it out from the kitchen LOL. Seriously the garlic noodles are like heaven and don’t you dare leave this place w/​out trying it!
The shrimp here is a lot bigger in size compared to other crawfish places and I love the sausage. There’s rarely ever a wait when I go here and everyone seems to celebrate their bday here. I love it ’cause they play this cute edm-​ish bday song and sing lol. I also like how they make it convenient to wash your hands by having 2 sinks outside the restrooms. This is definitely my go-​to spot when I’m caving cajun!

The inside was pretty big and spacious although considering the outside appearance looks run down. Service was really nice and good. We came right when they opened so service was good since it wasn’t as busy then. I think the seafoods must be old because the shrimps felt like they were breaking apart while we were eating. Waitress told us the crawfish are small now since it’s not in season but they are live. When they came out, it looks like they were frozen and felt like it was old as well. For some reason I thought the sea snails dish sounds good so I placed an ordered for it. It didn’t look good when it came out but I kept trying to have good hope for it. It tasted like they were dead and the flavor was a little off and tasted weird. The bf told me to stop eating it but I didn’t want to be wasteful since it was a little pricey so I tried to keep eating it without complaining. However when the waiter came to check on us, I asked if these were old since it had a smell to it and he was nice enough to take it off our order without asking. Overall service was really nice, attentive and greatttt but I don’t think I’ll trust eating here again since I don’t feel like they were serving fresh seafoods.
I really liked the Cajun fries. Garlic noodles were ample and seems newly made.
Bathroom route was really weird and off! It’s like a maze.

Our family got food poisoning after eating the Combo #1 on 12/​27/​2015, and we kept throwing up for 3 hours! Then we must go to the emergency room. The doctor identified that the seafood we ate was stale and not fresh! Until now we only can taken liquid food.
Their manger refunded our cost of meal, and gave us the contact info of kicken crab’s distributor. We wrote an email to him, but he still didn’t reply us. He doesn’t want to take his responsibility to handle it.
We will sue him and Kickin crab! They totally damaged our health and spirit. Where is your heart going

The place is old and really run down.
Before you get to the restroom you have to go through a route of people, kids running around and tables. Then You have to pass through a gross, dirty rope curtain.
Once in the restroom you want to hold it. The door locks are screws make shift to be locks. The toilets are loose from the bottom and the speakers are so loud. Like I really want to hear the recent sports game on full blast.
The whole place is filthy. Someone needs to call the OC Health Inspector.
Food is all right and they serve Coke… gross!
You’ve been warned.

My friend recommended this place so we decided to pay a visit since we were already in the area. There was no wait at all when we came and got seated right away.
My friend and I shared the garlic noodles, 1 pound of shrimp and the Cajun fries. The garlic noodles and shrimp were pretty good. The shrimp was pretty big and juicy which I liked; but I think I’ve had better. I especially liked the Cajun fries! That was my favorite part of the meal.
Service was good. Our server was pretty friendly and attentive but a bit slow.

My parents and I live drove all the way from San Diego to Santa Ana just to try this new place. My best friend told me it was good and I wanted to try it for myself. The only downfall of the Kicking’ Crab is the location. Only because my parents love going to the shopping centers on Bristol, but it is no biggie if the food is good. And let me tell you, its definitely worth the drive.
We came on a Thursday so there was no wait at 5PM. The place is decorated like the other cajun seafood places, but I really liked the big blackboard — the entire menu was written on it. We were seated immediately and handed our menu. The menu items were the same as the other Cajun restaurants, but there was one thing that stood out and that was the Garlic Noodles! The Garlic Noodles is a must try for anyone that comes here! It is soooo good, especially when its first brought out. The noodles are soft and chewy, and oily in a good way. Also, the garlic is not overpowering. Everything about the Garlic Noodles is good.
Besides the Garlic Noodles, we also ordered shrimp, oysters, and sweet potato fries. The oysters were fresh and plump — that’s how it should be but lots of places serve you oyster that is «meatless» and has a distinct sea smell and taste. The shrimp was fresh as well. I ordered medium but it was spicier than I thought and wanted. When I order medium at Boiling Crab you could barely taste the spice, but you definitely taste the kick here. The sauce was also good — we ordered the sauce that includes everything. Lastly, the sweet potato fries were crunchy and sweet. I guess you can say everything was great! I will be coming back when I am in the area :)

Brutal gut !!! Unbedingt ausprobieren !
(Es gibt mehrere Standorte in und um LA !)
Ich hab ja schon allerlei Meeresfrüchte gegessen, aber dieser Laden toppt alles :-)
Awesome, Amazing und einfach Unglaublich Lecker !
Die Shrimps (dicke Garnelen) sind der Wahnsinn, dazu Venusmuscheln (Clam) und einen ganzen Lobster (Hummer), ein Traum !
Und das alles in einer würzigen, leicht scharfen Knoblauch-​Sauce.
Wirklich sehr geiles frisches Seafood.
Auch die Beilagen überzeugen:
Die Cajun Fries sind der Hammer, sehr knusprige Pommes. Für mich die besten in ganz Amerika ! Dazu gute Maiskolben.
Das alles wird serviert in einer großen Plastiktüte, die mitten auf den Tisch gestellt und seitlich runtergekrempelt wird. Darin ist Sauce und der gesamte Fisch verstaut, das Ganze bleibt erstaunlich lange warm.
Man isst mit den Fingern, vorher bekommt man von den Kellnern ein nettes Latzerl umgebunden :-D
Zusammen mit meiner Freundin hatte ich die Combo Nr.2 für 50 $
Jeden Penny Wert !
1 Pfund Garnelen
1 Pfund Venusmuscheln
1 ganzen etwa 1,5−2 Pfund schweren Hummer
Dazu 6 halbe Maiskolben als Beilage, keine der angebotenen Kartoffeln oder Würstel (igitt, doch nicht zu Fisch…)
Fazit:
Mega lecker, jeder einzelne Bissen hat überzeugt und uns sehr zufrieden gestellt. Der Tisch schaut danach aus wie ein Schlachtfeld ! :-)