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    The Boiling Crab

    3.6 (28 reviews)
    Closed 12:00 pm - 10:00 PM
    Updated 2 months ago

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    THE BOILING CRAB ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Divey
    Casual
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    Moderate noise

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    Crabby fries
    Arati S.

    Had a wonderful dinner here at the Boiling Crab. Cara our waitress was a sweetheart and took her time explaining all our different options. She was very enthusiastic and a joy to talk to. The quality of the seafood was also good, and the Shabang sauce was my favorite. Tyler the manager was very professional and super kind. He made sure to introduce himself and made sure our experience was amazing! Great hospitality, great food, what could go wrong?

    Naomi G.

    The service was really nice. The manager answered all of our questions and gave wonderful recommendations since it was my first time there. The food, though, was mid. I wish the corn, potatoes, and sausage were included (instead of extra price) since other seafood boil restaurants that I've been to usually include it. Overall, it was seasoned alright and the shrimp was cooked at the right texture too. I did get takeout and the bibs & gloves were not in my takeout bag, but if I go next time, I will ask for it.

    King crab legs
    George H.

    I was looking forward to trying out this place, but was sorely disappointed. My daughter and I came here for lunch today while in the Richmond area. The service was fine, but seafood was average at best. We got a pound of mussels and a pound of king crab legs with one ear of corn, 3 eggs, sausage link and potatoes. The whole shebang seasoning is just too salty. We also got a softshell crab plate with fries. I know it's not in season, but the softshell crabs were just tiny for what they're charging. The king crab was market price, about $70/lb. I think we got 3-4 legs. Definitely not worth it. Total cost for this lunch, including tip was $164. Next time, I'm just going to do it myself. You can get two pounds of king crab legs at Sam's club or Costco for $34.

    Snow Crabs
    Nicole N.

    Can't believe Boiling Crab is finally in Richmond!! I've been to many Boiling Crabs throughout southern California, and after having my fair share of seafood boils here in VA, I was so excited try out this newly opened location! As usual I got the shrimp and snow crab legs with the whole shabang sauce, mild spice. The sauce tasted pretty familiar: tasty cajun flavors with abundant garlic pieces and a slightly tangy citrus flavors! The snow crab legs were pretty juicy but the shrimp was a little overcooked in my opinion. I think their menu also features some local things that Californian Boiling Crabs don't have, such as the catfish. The catfish was fried nicely and crispy with a nice light batter. Appreciated how generous they were with 4 thick pieces of catfish plus the cajun fries! The cajun spices on the fries were pretty spot on. I know it just opened so it was a little rough around the edges but it still hits the spot! The servers were really nice and friendly but maybe a little new on the job. The owner/manager also stopped by to check in on us. Love how the naval/seafood decor was similar to that of other Boiling Crabs and the bathroom rooms were clean. Overall this place really brought back memories and the food was tasty!!!

    Amazing huge crab legs! Fried calamari, fried catfish and shrimp so fresh and delicious! Flavors on point . I wished the potatoes and corn were included in the crab order, but overall Service was amazing, [[HIGHLIGHT]]restaurant is very clean and neat![[ENDHIGHLIGHT]]

    Mussels

    The food was tasty! The mussels and the sauce is AMAZING! So much flavor. They even gave us the wings for free as part of a promo they had going on that day. Service was 10/10. Everyone in the restaurant checked on us multiple times and made sure everything tasted good.

    Friends at boiling crab.

    Finally a seafood boil in Richmond that actually has real flavor and seasoning that you can't replicate at home and fresh. Hubby and I gave up after trying all these other from bad (left our food) to merely mediocre and finally gave up. We started making all of our seafood at home since. We know of Boiling Crab back in CA home of some the finest food and where there was always a minimum of 1 1/2 wait. We were ecstatic to find TBC here in VA. We came back at least 5 times since they've been opened. Their lemon pepper fries and fried shrimp baskets are just addictive. Our go to are the snow crabs and clams with potato, corn, and sausage the whole shabang medium I can forgo customer service for good food but customer service here go above and beyond.

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    Review Insights

    5 months ago

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    21 days ago

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    1 year ago

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    11 months ago

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    2 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

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    1 year ago

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    2 years ago

    Small and quick service has a bunch of different options and was reasonably priced! I would definitely return for another visit

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

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    2 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

    [[HIGHLIGHT]]Clean environment[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]], good customer service, I like the build-your-own system for the seafood boils

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    1 year ago

    [[HIGHLIGHT]]Not a bad place to eat.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Our server was really nice. I really liked the seasoned fries and calamari.

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    We appreciate your review, thanks for visiting TBC.

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Service was A1. Seafood was finger licking good. We came in on grad night and staff was very attentive.

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Great seafood. The shrimp is so delicious. The host and servers are super friendly. The restaurant mood and feeling is very welcoming.

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    3 years ago

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    Ask the Community - The Boiling Crab

    Rappahannock

    Rappahannock

    3.8
    (617 reviews)
    1.6 mi
    $$$

    We were in Richmond on a Sunday evening and traveling with our four legged friend. There were…read moreseveral options for outside dining and the menu suggested this was a good place to start. Soon after we. Ordered the octopus and mussel appetizers a storm came in and the rain fell pretty hard. Our choices were to run back to the hotel or stay and dine huddled under an umbrella. Being a little wet with beverages and good food seemed the better option so we ordered more food. The octopus was great. I have tried it prepared many ways and here it was both tender and flavorful, really done well. Shrimp cocktail is usually pretty basic, but often the simplest dishes demonstrate the most skill. This is truly one of the best I have ever had. The shrimp were plump and flavorful. Their cooking stopped at just the right time leaving a slight bit of translucent hue, but still cooked through. Very nicely done. The salad with home ranch was dressed nicely and the dressing was light. The scallops were cooked well and perhaps my only criticism is that the corn purée was better in concept than execution. I can't say enough about the staff. We were two people on a Sunday night crazy enough to dine in a downpour. The staff never made us feel like they wanted to punch out, embraced us being outside and were creative in waiting on us with umbrellas to keep the food from getting wet. It would have been understandable for them to limit the trips to check on us, but they persevered and made us feel welcome. If you are in the area, highly recommended stopping by, rain or shine, and sampling their menu. Nicely done.

    The food here was amazing! The grilled octopus was so tender and the risotto was delicious. I…read morewould've liked a touch more lemon zest in the gremolata though. The pan seared fish was moist, but the grits it came with were not crispy. The whole fish was also moist and tender, but the exterior could be a bit over-charred for some. The blueberry upside down cake was great. The staff were friendly and attentive. Overall, I would definitely come again!

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    Rappahannock
    Ceviche with plantain chips
    Ceviche with plantain chips
    Grace St. Spritz

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    Grace St. Spritz
    Lillian

    Lillian

    4.6
    (48 reviews)
    0.7 mi

    if you are going to read any of these dumb yelp review in full, this is the one…read more i once read an article describing the talent of the head chef's ability here to "cram so much bold flavor into a tiny dish". in general, i usually dread small plate restaurants expecting to pay a large bill and leave hungry. this was the exception. these were the most unique, creative, high end, flavorful, dishes i have ever had. seriously. the absolute best BITES of my ENTIRE life. i swear to god dormant tastebuds and flavors i didn't even know existed were provided here. the chef here draws spanish inspiration into each dish, and i was in there feeling like the food critic from ratatouille the way familiar flavors blended in effortlessly with extravagant flairs. and don't get me started on the presentation !!! everything was gorgeous. this restaurant was named #3 out of 100 in the city, and i honestly think it should be #1. i may be biased since my boyfriend works at a sister restaurant owned by the same guy, but this is definitely the favorite sibling for me. unreal how fresh, flavorful, and carefully crafted everything was. so so so so good. if you come to richmond, make this the top priority to visit. that being said, if you can't handle intense, innovative flavors, this isn't the place for you. also, go during happy hour

    Hats off to the staff at Lillian who continue to be wonderful, but now that they have scrapped…read moretheir dollar oyster lunch specials, the food has absolutely nothing to offer. Like too many restaurants in the Scott's Addition area, this is seafood cooked without finesse and then absolutely brutalized with absurd amounts of palate fatiguing, brash, loud flavors. Every item on the menu endeavors to conceal mediocrity in the quality and handling of the ingredients with explosive, overwhelming additives meant to shock you into submission. Things like black garlic and chili oil, raw garlic, sesame seed oil, and punishing heat are inescapable on the menu, which really says to me loud and clear "we do not understand the appeal of seafood, and might have a fundamental misunderstanding about good food in general." I don't exaggerate when I say these dishes would be improved (setting aside things like inability to properly cook octopus) by scaling back the flavors to 5-10% the loudness level they are currently at, to let the ingredients speak, and to make the dining experience less of a punishing marathon with no relief. I have had much subtler and more skillfully balanced dishes at Indian and Thai restaurants, cuisines known for strong flavor profiles. I'm through listening to these Richmond restaurants trying to excuse simply bad food by claiming "that's the nature of the cuisine." In this case, Lillian claims that dishes characterized by these cacophonous competing flavors is "South American." No it isn't - the person conceptualizing the dishes is just a bad chef who doesn't know what he's doing, and at the prices Lillian charges, that's inexcusable. Drowning every dish in flavors that overwhelm the palate is not a way to respect your ingredients or your diner, and only communicates youth and insecurity. Anyone who's eaten widely and knows their ingredients will rightly feel assaulted and insulted by this overpriced, unskilled fare. To anyone who decides to go anyway: Good luck with the digestive distress, and with the taste that will still be left over in your mouth the next morning, no matter how much you brush your teeth.

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    Seafood Tower
    Seafood Tower
    Banana dessert
    Banana dessert
    Miller high life with Aperol

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    Miller high life with Aperol
    Beaucoup

    Beaucoup

    4.7
    (59 reviews)
    0.6 mi

    My awesome girlfriend made us a reservation here and kindly requested a seat by the garage…read moredoor....and they did it!!! Literally so nice and cool! Food was fantastic and really made you sit back and wonder "how did I end up in the French countryside and why do I have an urge for a cigarette?" Can't wait to come back!

    SO good, favorite spot of our Richmond trip!…read more My brother and I were looking for late night oysters. Sadly when we came in Wednesday night at 9 PM, we were told they were only serving drinks at that time. I emailed the restaurant and was informed that on most nights, they indeed close the kitchen and only serve drinks after 9 PM, but that on weekends they'll keep the kitchen open longer. I'm so glad we came back on our last day of the trip. It was a Thursday night at 7:45 PM and pretty full. Thankfully, there were some seats at the bar which we preferred anyways since you got to watch the oysters get shucked right in front of you. We ordered the bread service, and though it said house cultured butter OR whipped beef tallow, our kind server made sure to ask if we wanted one or both (the answer was both, of course!). We also got 4 Virginia oysters (appreciate not being forced to order in increments of 6 or 12), chargrilled oysters, and "dessert tonight" which ended up being the most perfect chocolate cake (I think it was describe as something else, but my memory fails me) with a white chocolate ganache-like topping and pistachios *swoon*. I tried the wine of the day which was an orange wine that it was a nice not-too-sweet, not too dry wine. I'd recommend it with a pasta or fish. Our server (didn't catch his name but he had a nice brown sweater and a beanie, receipt says Taylor so maybe that's his name?) was so nice! Great vibes all around from the interior to the bathroom to the service. Would definitely come back.

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    Beaucoup
    Beaucoup
    Raw oysters, Blue Points along the top and Minnie Pearls along the bottom.

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    Raw oysters, Blue Points along the top and Minnie Pearls along the bottom.
    Edo's Squid

    Edo's Squid

    3.9
    (905 reviews)
    0.7 mi
    $$

    i love the dim lighting and the family style entrees…read more the brocc rabe garlic + oo w ricotta + parm add shrimp was absolutely life changing i cannot wait to have it again we had an amazing waiter he was spot on w everything so grateful to have been shown this restaurant

    I know this is a Richmond institution bc it's been around forever. It's good but I feel like it…read morecould be even better. Very old school with no online reservations which is not super convenient but hey I can get behind it if they are going for an exclusive vibe. Very much an old style Italian restaurant but feels like they have really packed the tables in here - like sardines- so yeah it feels a little tight for my tastes. Service was friendly and helpful. (Making the reservation over the phone was not overly warm and fuzzy but hey I get it you probably are tired of having to take reservations over the phone all day lol). We got a popular app- the squid,white bean and arugula which was bright and flavorful so lived up to the hype but a little disappointing in that there was not a lot of squid so $18 for beans and arugula seemed a bit much. Also got the seafood bisque which was pretty tasty. For entrees we got the halibut, the monk fish fra diavolo and the spaghetti with crab meat. The spaghetti with crab meat was shockingly good. It better be for $40 but I don't always like crab bc it can be overly fishy in a not good way but this entree was very good. We also liked the halibut- nice piece of fish perfectly cooked. The MonkFish had a nice flavor, but the bones in it was a little bit overwhelming, and kinda made eating a lot of work. Seemed pricey to me since only one of us had a glass of wine and no other drinks, but I guess $50 a person sans cocktails and dessert is the new norm?!

    Photos
    Bar
    Bar
    Calamari
    Calamari
    Edo's Squid

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    The Boiling Crab - seafood - Updated August 2026

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