Accommodating my daughter's recent & voracious obsession with crab legs, we tried Crab 'n Spice on…read moreW. Lake Mead about week ago.
We arrived for an early dinner --4:30-5p, & were seated promptly --about 5 min., as it was not too busy yet.
The vibe was welcoming & friendly, & the ambience very casual & chill, in contrast & irony with the price point for most entrees. This is not meant negatively though: everybody knows fresh seafood is not cheap!
Our server was upbeat & informative, explaining the structure of the menu & the all you-can-eat options.
Unfortunately, that's where the positive feedback ends.
We both opted for the AYCE snow crab, which is served in 1 pound portions in plastic bags. The crab clusters are swimming in whatever sauce is chosen to accompany the legs, of which there are several.
You also pick a couple sides with each bag. For my 1st round, I chose the Cajun coconut sauce. Daughter chose the garlic lemon.
The sauces were very rich, greasy & salty. There was too much of it, but also, the delicate flavor of the crab was completely dominated & overwhelmed by it.
Butter seems to be the 1st ingredient in the sauces; I don't normally complain about butter... but it was SO much, & again so salty.
Crab legs are a delicacy that do not require any condiment other than lemon & butter, in my opinion.
We could've asked for the crab legs plain. They probably allow that right?
But there is no simple lemon/butter option
We didn't finish our 2nd bags for these reasons.
I felt like I had consumed a stick of butter, & the flavor of the crab legs was lost in the sauce. I started to feel a bit queasy.
For that 2nd bag, I chose the "all in" sauce, which is a mix of all the sauces.
It wasn't distinguishable from the Cajun coconut.
Regarding the sides, I chose corn & sausage w/ the first bag. (They are thrown in to the bag with the legs & sauce. )
Immediately, I knew the corn was a terrible choice. It was water-logged, & covered in sauce. yet flavorless. Over boiled.
The sausage was OK: there was exactly 1 bite.
We had fries & rice also which were served separately--not in bags.
The rice was plain & boring, but that's steamed white. In this context, it was better served plain because again, the overwhelming sauce with the crab legs was more than enough for the palette.
The fries were tasty: Crispy & had good flavor.
Our service was attentive at first, but became a bit lax eventually. Nothing too bad though.... We had to ask to have our bucket, (for the shells & trash that accumulates during the messy feast) which was overflowing, emptied.
I also had to flag down a server for refills on our drinks.
It is worth noting that the first round of drinks,, (water for my daughter, Diet Coke for me) was fine: Water tasted good,, & both drinks were cold & refreshing.. My Diet Coke had adequate carbonation, which is not always the case at restaurants!
Upon her first sip of the 2nd glass of water, my daughter's face scrunched up, & she looked appalled.
She said, " Mom, taste this water. Something's wrong with it. It doesn't taste right. It's gotta be tap water or something...."
So I did.
I've lived in Vegas for 30 years & I've had all kinds of water here, including the city's tap water, though I don't consume it regularly.
This was worse than any tap water I've tasted in any city. I don't think it was tap water--at least not the kind that comes out of my tap at home.
I don't know what it was. Dirty dish water or dirty fish water? It was not consumable. We asked for a replacement & received drinkable water once again.
We both decided we would not return to Crab 'n Spice. The water was a one-time fluke I'm sure.
Even though the service fell off a bit over the course of the meal, it was not below-average, & I liked the friendly server.
There's only one reason we will not be patronizing the restaurant again: Sauce. Too much. Too greasy. Too salty.
The check was a bit more than most everyday family-style restaurants, but it was not unreasonable considering we both had the "AYCE" crab legs.
In fact, it was about the same as what we would've paid for 2 entrees & side almost anywhere.
So price is not a factor in not going back.
We had a good time and don't regret going. We had to try it out.
Based on the crowd that was there by the time we left, we must be in a minority in not savoring the saucy meal style.
I would have given 3 stars but the nasty water served to my daughter took away a star.