We had such a great experience at The Kickin' Crab! The seafood was fresh, perfectly cooked, and packed with delicious flavor. Everything came out hot, and the seasoning was so good--we enjoyed every bite! The service was just as wonderful. The staff was friendly, welcoming, and attentive throughout our meal. They checked on us regularly and made sure we had everything we needed. Great food, excellent service, and a fun atmosphere. The only disappointment was the iced green tea--it had very little flavor and tasted more like water and seaweed. Other than that, everything was amazing, and we'll definitely be coming back! read more

Unfortunately, this happened again. This time, both the shrimp and clams were noticeably poor in quality and did not seem fresh. The texture and overall condition were concerning enough that I was not comfortable eating them. It definitely raises concerns about freshness, storage, and food safety. This is very disappointing. read more

G-R-E-A-S-Y I needed over 50 napkins to pat dry the excess grease on both the fries and fish. Sad part is they use the same grease for both, so they taste the same. Actually, can't even taste the potato bc they are just fry material. Hope u can c the amount of grease on the napkins If you want to clog your heart, add plaque to your veins, eat here. Pretty tasteless food. I threw most of mine out. What a waste of nearly $20.00. I gave 2 stars bc the fish and the sliced limes were fresh, host was friendly. read more

The Kickin' Crab - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

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I tried Kickin Crab for the first time and really enjoyed it! The gloves, messy eating style and abundant napkins were a fun experience. I got the lemon pepper shrimp with mild spice. The spice level was extremely minimal. The sauce wasn't really as lemon pepper-y as I would have liked. The garlic butter sauce was better, to me! The garlic noodles were delicious, the sweet potato fries were pretty average but still good. The serving size is huge and I was quite full afterwards! The atmosphere is very casual and good for a family or friend hangout. read more

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Friendly service and the best fried oysters! they're an acquired taste but if you love fried oysters, this is the place. I think there were 9 in the serving, which was around $20. Horseradish-y cocktail sauce was a big bonus. read more

Kickin Crab has stuck as a classic seafood boil spot for as long as I can remember with so many locations in SoCal. I like them because they have great combo deals, unique appetizers, and fast and friendly service at this location! My friends all wanted shrimp, mussels, and clams individually. Instead, they offer a great combo #1 deal with all three of our choices which was very nice! The combo comes with a pound of seafood of 3 choices from their selection of 4 items, 2 corn cobs, 2 potatoes, and 4 pc sausage. Now I would add extra if you were really feeling hungry, but we found the portion to satisfy our cravings enough. We did order their Cajun fries, though, which were addictive and spicy! It's a simple seafood boil joint, nothing fancy but it doesn't need to be. The seafood was fresh, hot and delicious! I want to try their coconut snails the next time I am back! Overall, standouts were the food and service at The Kickin' Crab. read more

The Kickin' Crab - KICKIN COMBO #1: Shrimp, Mussels, Clams (1lb ea) - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

Worst experience ever. When asked for a manager the Supervisor Josh stated there wasn't one and was very rude. We sat outside and were refused gloves. Not friendly and lacks customer service. He lied about his name and then we later found out his real name not a fake name. He has no business being a supervisor if he treats customers he did. Later that night my daughter was so sick to her stomach. She definitely has food poisoning. Shrimp was not cooked right. Skin was very difficult to peel. The fish was fishy and the drinks tasted very odd. read more

Went to this spot with some friends, who swear by this spot. I had a great time here. The food was amazing. The staff was very attentive and nice. The atmosphere was great. I with the spot had a little more televisions, but that's not going to stop me from giving this 5 stars. Loved this spot!!!!! read more

KICKIN' CRAB @ DIAMOND JAMBOREE The wait on memorial weekend wasn't that bad, only about 15 minutes for a group of 3. Their house seasoning for the seafood boil bag in medium was perfect--not too spicy and not bland. It's a pretty casual place to go out, make sure to ask for gloves! read more

The first time I had Kickin' Crab it was at the Santa Ana location and honestly it was pretty watery and the shrimp were really overcooked. However, I had a much better experience at this location! We got the combo one Kickin' Style medium and 1 lb of snow crab legs. The clams were so large and juicy and I loved the sauce this time. This location is kind of more small and cramped so it was a bit noisy but it was fine for a smaller group! The servers were a bit busy but still made time to refill waters whenever they were low :) read more

Love Kickin' Crab!! Located In Diamond Jamboree Center!! Relaxed Ambiance & Friendly Staff!! Casual Restaurant Serves Cajun Seafood Boil!! Great For Lunch Dates & Family Gatherings!! Menu Offers Appetizers, Soups, Seafood In A Bag, Seafood Entrees, Garlic Noodles, Add Ons & More!! Ordered Pound Of Shrimp, Added Eggs & Potatoes, Mild Kickin' Style Seasoning & Rice!! Good Seafood Lunch!! Service Was Quick, Helpful & Attentive!! Will Return For Future Visits!! ThankU read more

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Great service and no wait on a Saturday noon! The flavor of the seafood boil sauce was fantastic, but only can do full pound orders and no half pound. The quality of the shrimp was outstanding with no mushy shrimp at all. The Cajun fries when dipped in the seafood boil sauce was delicious but only their own, the Cajun seasoning was not as prominent Definitely would return again! read more

The Kickin' Crab - Shrimp, Cajun Fries - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

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Located in diamond jamboree where parking could be hectic. But food is very good and flavorful. Cajun fries is always good Can't go wrong with shrimp Clams were juicy Garlic noodles are garlicky Fried oysters were hot and freshly battered Sweet potato fries are decent We ordered the combos with Kickin style sauce that includes all the sauces they have. It's good ! They provided the shell crackers for our snow crab legs so it was easy to eat. Request for gloves if you want to keep your hands clean ! read more

The Kickin' Crab - Combo 3 and 1 - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

I am a fan of Kickin Crab always. The wait on a Friday night is usually long. We were 12th in line which was about an hour wait. If you get cold easily, request to sit on the right side of the restaurant. The left side is colder for some reason. Anyways, the host quickly got us seated when we received the text. Our waiter was attentive at the beginning, but later, he slowly got busy with other tables and wasn't attentive any longer. We were later being helped by other waiters. Our usual order consists of Kickin style medium crawfish with sausages, Cajun Fries, and Kickin' wings. The prices are starting to slowly go up. For a piece of corn, it's about $2. Right now, you have an option to choose live or frozen crawfish. We always go with live and it's about $21 per pound. read more

The Kickin' Crab - Crawfish; Cajun Fries - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

I'd give this place a mixed review--there are definitely some good points, but also a few things that could be improved. The spice level is well done--level 1 has a nice kick without being overwhelming, so it's a good choice if you want flavor without too much heat. The shrimp and clams were decent and enjoyable, but the crab and lobster didn't taste as fresh, which was a bit disappointing. This is definitely a spot where it's best to go all in and order everything together to really enjoy the experience. One small but important note: you'll need to ask for lime specifically, as they only provided lemon by default--and lemon and lime really do make a difference in flavor. I still don't love that they use foam containers for hot water. It just doesn't feel right having hot liquids sit in foam, and it takes away from the overall experience. Service was another downside. It wasn't the friendliest or the fastest--both the waiter and waitress seemed like they didn't really want to be there. The restaurant can also get pretty busy during dining hours, which probably contributes to the slower service. Also, be prepared to get messy. This is not the place to go if you want to stay clean while eating--hands-on is part of the experience here. Overall, it's an okay spot if you know what to expect and go in with the right mindset. read more

Josh who lied and said his name is "Faith" is the reason we will never return. This was the worst dining experience I've ever had especially as someone who used to come here often. We came in with our small dog because it said that they have outdoor seating. They said we couldn't sit outside but that we could order to go and sit in the shared area between restaurants. That was a real inconvenience considering the patio area was completely empty and only a few steps away from the servers. Still we said okay and ordered almost $200 worth of food. We went in and asked for gloves and Josh aka Faith said that they can't give us gloves. I explained the situation to him and asked if he could make an exception for two pairs of gloves which probably cost 5 cents. He refused and was so incredibly rude about it. I asked for a manager and he said he was the supervisor. I asked for the store manager's name and he wouldn't give it to me just like he gave a fake name. He gave me some email address and who knows if that's real too. A "supervisor" should know better than to argue and be difficult for the sake of being difficult and over gloves. It was vey clear that he just wanted to be annoying especially when they sold alcohol on a to go order and gave bibs and table covers but not gloves. You lost customers over gloves, great job, Josh. I hope your real manager appreciates that. read more

My family loves this place. We always get snow crab and shrimp and it's great every time. I'm particularly impressed with the shrimp -- it's cooked perfectly every time -- never overcooked and rubbery like at some places. And they're nice big and juicy. We've always also ordered the sausage and potatoes with the snow crab, and it's pretty good. We've recently also started ordering the red rice and broccoli and while nothing special they're good sides. They sometimes run out of the utensils like the crackers and scissors -- we've even talked about bringing our own. read more

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Bdon was amazing host to us. He was so kind and helpful. Food is amazing and we enjoyed it so much. Thanks Bdon read more

We ordered the garlic noodles, seafood scampi, seafood alfredo pasta, Kickin' Combo Deal #3 and chose the kickin' style for our seasoning, and a pound of snow crab legs. Everybody at the table loved the garlic noodles. I liked the texture of the noodles here. I didn't have much of the seafood scampi, but the pita bread it came with was good. The seafood pasta was great too and again loved the texture of the noodles! There were 5 of us and we shared the kickin' deal #3 where you can choose 1 of the following: lobster, Dungeness crab or snow crab legs. Then the second portion you can choose 3 options from: clams, shrimp, crawfish, or mussels. It's an additional $2 charge for head off shrimps. We ended up choosing the snow crab legs, double shrimp and one crawfish. For our seasoning, we chose Kickin' Style. Kickin' Style is a mix of the Garlic Butter, Cajun, Lemon Pepper, and Louisiana seasoning. My favorite thing was definitely the snow crab legs... which is why I ended up ordering an extra pound of it after. I didn't really love the shrimp and crawfish though. When we walked in I think I saw a white board that said they were out of live crawfish that day so maybe we got the frozen ones? The live ones are probably better. Service was good, I think we shocked the waiter with how much we ate haha. They give you gloves to make the seafood boil experience less messy. They also have a sink where you can wash your hands after and when they bring your bill, they give you hand wipes. read more

The Kickin' Crab - KICKIN COMBO #3 - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

Kickin Crab is a hit or miss depending on the day. Difficult parking during busy hours + friendly service. We ordered crab legs and shrimp this time around which were not fresh. Sauce lacks in flavor. read more

The Kickin' Crab - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

My daughters know I love to try new things so for Mother's Day they brought home an amazing feast of seafood and all the fixins from Kickin' Crab. We enjoyed snow crab legs(their Alaskan king crab was already sold out) shrimp, mussels, garlic noodles, andouille sausage, potatoes, corn on the cob, fries and rice. My favorites were the mussels and garlic noodles. You choose the spice level and we chose mild which still has a slight kick to it. It was so delicious !! Since our order was "to go" I have one suggestion to make the experience better. The staff should automatically ask if bibs and gloves are needed. My daughter forgot to ask for them but I feel the staff should always ask this on pick up orders since the person picking up is so busy making sure all the food is packaged up, it is easy to forget to ask for the non food essentials. Doing this simple thing just helps to complete the entire food experience. All in all a terrific food experience! read more

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Came on a Saturday afternoon and was immediately seated which was ideal since we were starving! We ordered #2 and got snow crabs & shrimps with the Kickin' Style seasoning. The service was speedy, and our server was super attentive and regularly checked in. I can't recall the last time we feasted on seafood like that, and boy, it didn't disappoint! The restaurant was clean, welcoming, and it's in the perfect vicinity of other dessert spots after your meal! read more

The Kickin' Crab - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

I am writing this review at 4 AM after having a meal at The Kickin Crab around 9 PM with my husband. We both got food poisoning and cannot sleep from the symptoms that we both got which started about 1 hour from consuming the meal. I don't know what happened to the quality of this place! read more

Shrimp was very delicious. It is not a long wait like boiling crab. Everything came out delicious

Food was very good! We were 4 adults and 4 children. Wait time about 40 minutes but it worth it.

The Kickin' Crab in Irvine, is located at the Diamond Jamboree plaza. During busy times of the day or night, parking can be a big pain if you're trying to find a spot in the main lot. There is additional parking available in the parking structure behind the plaza. They unfortunately do not have a wait list on your Yelp app, however, they do have one inside that you can add your name to. This household loves seafood. The kids constantly ask for a seafood boil but wait times are usually longer than we are willing to wait. This last time was an exception on a Saturday evening. The wait list was surprisingly only 20-25 minutes. This time around, we sat over on the left side of the restaurant. In previous times, we were seated to the back right where it's a bit darker and more cramped. I'm glad we got to sit where we did this time around. Our server, whose name I totally didn't catch, was amazing. What we order; 1) The Kickin' combo deal # 3 - $129.99 We chose the snow crab, shrimp, crawfish and mussels. I wish we would've done more shrimp or chosen clams. Although crawfish is good, they're not as easy to take apart. So much work for such a small amount of meat. This comes with two pieces of corn, two pieces of potatoes and four pieces of sausages. This bag and the other items we ordered that were in a separate bag, was full of chopped garlic. So good. Since I am the only one who likes spicy, we ordered the food with garlic butter. I asked for a side of kickin style sauce in medium. In reality, I could've gone one spicier. The medium was very mild to me and I could barely feel the heat but the sauce was tasty. That's what I get for asking someone how spicy something is. We all have different spice tolerance , so I need to take that into consideration next time. 2) garlic noodles with shrimp $23.45 - a must for our little one 3) extra snow crab legs - Market price 4) extra shrimp - Market price 5) extra mussels - Market price 6) Dungeness crab - Market price Overall Kickin' Crab is five stars for this fam but I have to take it down a notch because they really need to learn how to clean the bathroom floors. The floors were really dirty and stained, along with the lower half of the walls. Other than that, we love this place and look forward to dining there every now and then for some delicious Cajun seafood boil. read more

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Great food Great service Great ambiance And not a bad wait time Looking forward for the next visit read more

Ordered the combo #1 with an extra pound of clam home to eat w my family. Everyone loved it, great flavor, not salty at all, although they could be a little bit more generous with the sauce to go w our rice. Overall, great food! read more

Came here on a weekday evening and was pleasantly surprised that we were able to get a table pretty quickly. I've seen lines outside of this joint so we were pretty excited about getting seated swiftly. The ambiance is what you expect at a seafood broil restaurant. I was impressed by the overall cleanliness and decor. Food came out quickly - fries coming out first. The fries were definitely good, but a lil cold when they came out. Wish they were more fresh. Same applies from the seafood. Unfortunately the shrimp just didn't taste super fresh! The sauce was pretty good and it definitely helped. The combos are probably the best value if you're feeding more than 2. All in all, not bad! I was pleasantly surprised. read more

It's been a minute since I've been to a seafood boil place, but these places are always fun to go to with a group of friends. We went on a Wednesday night to this location, there was essentially no wait for a table of 6. For our starters, we ordered the calamari and Cajun fries, both of which were seasoned and fried very well. Then we decided to do the combo with the shrimp, clams and added the snow crab legs with the kickin style and mild spice. Then we added some corn and sausage on the side as well. Overall, everything was delicious. The sauce wasn't too overpowering, mild spice was a good level for me and the seafood seemed fresh. I'm not too picky when it comes to these seafood boil places. As long as you're getting together with some good friends, and getting your hands dirty with some delicious seafood, its a good time. read more

The Kickin' Crab - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

Came on a Tuesday at 5 PM and there was no wait and plentyyy of parking in the diamond jamboree lot. we got 1 pound of shrimp, (frozen) crawfish, and clams along with garlic noodles and and cajun fries. the seafood was perfectly cooked and well seasoned. we got it in spicy and none of us thought it was spicy, just temperature hot so we will prob get spicy spicy next time. my favorite was the shrimp - juicy and plump yummy. garlic noodles had plenty of garlic and butter and was a good portion. cajun fries were crispy and paired so well with the food. i do wish there was more cajun punch to it, but still really delicious. service was good and attentive - they refilled our waters regularly and was available when we needed. bathrooms were also clean. overall, a great time :D read more

The Kickin' Crab - shrimp, crawfish, clams + potatoes. kickin style spicy - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

We've been to a few of these seafood boil places and comparatively, Kickin Crab ranks in the top half. Pricing is OK -- it's more expensive than places in North OC/LA or even Santa Ana, but obviously not as expensive as a touristy spot like Santa Barbara. Parking could be a challenge on weekends and meal times -- during peak times, we avoid the main lot and parking garage, and go straight to the extra lot off of Alton (next to H-mart on the other side of the driveway). Wait time is usually about 30 minutes during peak times. For our family of 4, we usually get Combo 3 plus an appetizer and extra sides like pasta or rice. Comes out to about $200-$250. Service is inconsistent. Sometimes we get great service, other times, we're waiting to get gloves and water refills. read more

Expensive as hell but worth it, You basically get everything you want, including the table cover and lemon slices, the juices alone is amazing but you have the option. The worker was basically like, "you want snow crab, potatoes, sausage, eggs, corn and you want it hot?" This was extremely delicious, but not $70-$80 delicious. The place is expensive but totally worth it, I just can't justify paying so much. It should have cost $50-$60, you don't get the actual entire crab, just the legs. They charge you for the entire crab, every items you order, it should at the minimum have given me those metal crab opener things or a mallet. Also, the worker pretty much wanted me out of the store, they never asked me if I wanted to dine in there. Only reason why I don't rate this 5 stars is the price and lack of utensils. read more

Came here on a Friday evening and had to wait about 60-75 minutes for a table. Service was okay but they were definitely a bit scrambled. Ambiance is kind of loud, there are TVs on and people usually come here in groups so there is a lot of chatter and background noise. Food was good, we ordered a crawfish seafood boil, fried shrimp & fries entree, and fish & chips entree. Everything was good. This is messy eating so come here wearing something you're ok with getting a bit dirty and get ready to roll up your sleeves and dig in! read more

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We usually order on uber but we decided to go in and have the store experience. Service was fairly good. Food still tasting good. Not much of a wait since we came on fourth of July so just had to wait a couple minutes for them to push some tables together for our party of 8. read more

Basic ambience, quick service and delicious (seafood) fresh stash served piping hot on the table. What more can one ask for!? A perfect place for groups, be it family or friends. I visited with my folks a little over a month ago for the first time and I definitely will visit again. Their broth in the bag is so tasty. I would recommend not wasting it at all rather ordering fresh steamed rice and a portion of Garlic noodles to go along. We had the prawns in super spicy broth. Yum highly recommend. The fish n chips were decent. The garlic noodles are lip smacking for the taste buds, drool! The place is huge, well spaced out seating and sweet service. Plenty of parking available outside the restaurant. Must visit when in California. read more

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Currently has fresh crawfish much better than frozen in the boil bags. Great fish tacos. Pass on the clam chowder, popcorn shrimp and seafood scampi plate not work the $21 with 3 mussels, 3 clams and 3 shrimp. Good taste but not worth the money. Pitas with the plate were good fluffy and soft . read more

The Kickin' Crab - Shrimp, crawfish and dungeoness crab boil. KICKIN COMBO #3 - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

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The Kickin' Crab offers delicious cajun seafood in the popular Diamond Jamboree plaza. Parking can be difficult to find on the weekends, especially in the evenings. This spot doesn't take reservations so you'll have to check in with the host early if you want to eat at a typical dinner time. For 2 people, we ordered: -2 lb shrimp head-on, kickin' style, medium spice level -1 lb clams, kickin' style, medium spice level -3 pc corn -6 pc sausage 1 side of white rice We also shared the following with friends: -1 order of cajun fries, medium -1 order of sweet potato fries -1 order of garlic noodles -4 pc chicken tenders I appreciated that the server checked on us regularly and refilled our water. I also liked that they provided gloves so we didn't have to get our hands that messy. The garlic noodles, seafood, and cajun fries were my favorite items. read more

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The seafood in a bag, especially the shrimp and mussels, was absolutely the best, perfectly cooked and bursting with flavor. Sometimes the mussels are undercooked. I could eat the shrimp again and again without getting tired of it. read more

The Kickin' Crab - Shrimp, Mussels - Cajun/Creole Near Me - Irvine, California

Visited the Irvine location today and had a really disappointing experience. While the service was just okay and the shrimp actually tasted delicious, the crab was completely spoiled. It was hollow, completely black on the inside, and had a terrible, funky smell. When we brought it up to the staff, they refused to replace it or fix the issue, claiming that it was "normal." It absolutely wasn't normal, and their refusal to handle a clear food safety issue completely ruined our meal. Won't be coming back. read more