Daniel B.
Yelp
I had a good experience at Boiling Crawfish. All the food I had was good, but a few of my friends, who ordered different things than me, disagreed. The restaurant opened in December 2015. From what a few of us were told by one of the servers, and how I understand it, the full business name is actually "Boiling Crawfish and Crab" and the restaurant is based upon the popular Boiling Crab restaurants out west. This restaurant, in fact, uses the same Boiling Crab branded cups and gets them from The Boiling Crab's Texas location. This location, however, is not a franchise and is individually owned. Chinese ownership and staff. A second location is opening soon at the Mall of Georgia in Buford.
The restaurant is located on Buford Highway near I-285 in the building that's probably best known for housing various incarnations of Chinese/Taiwanese restaurant Cafe 101. It's a unique, dated, circular shaped building. They've spiffed up the place with a big, bright, light-up sign outside and campy, beachy, nautical decor inside. I sorta like it. There are TVs playing ESPN, an oyster bar, and all tables are covered in coated disposable sheets. Since the eating is messy here (it can get so messy, they give you bibs and gloves), it makes for easier clean-up.
The good stuff on the menu is listed at market price. To give you an idea on pricing, here's how much everything was during our visit:
* Crawfish - $7.99/lb (buy 5 lbs get 1 lb free)
* Shrimp - $11.99/lb
* Blue Crab - $10.99/lb
* Snow Crab - $13.99/lb
* King Crab - $23.99/lb
* Clams - $9.99/lb
* Mussels - $7.99/lb
* Lobster - $15/lb
* Dungeness Crab - not available (seasonal)
You purchase all of the above by the pound and each is served in a plastic bag, tossed in a sauce with spices. Sauce options include Cajun, lemon pepper, garlic spread, everything (Cajun + lemon pepper + garlic), and BC Special (described as tasting like curry). Spice levels are none, mild, medium, and hot. You can add extras into the bag, tossed in the same sauce and seasonings, such as corn on the cob ($0.69/piece), potatoes ($1.50 for 3 pieces), and sausage ($6.99).
I tried the clams, mussels, corn on the cob, and sausage and thought everything was tasty. It's mainly because of the sauce, but the seafood was fresh too. I tried both the everything sauce (hot) and the BC Special sauce (medium). It was hard for me to discern between the two sauces. They might as well have been the same sauce. The sauces were very buttery, garlicky, and spicy, which is what made them so good (and bad for your health). I enjoyed slurping the sauce up from the shell with each morsel of clam or mussel. Both the clams and mussels had appetizing consistencies and no unpleasant "fishy" taste or smell. The corn and sausage were par for the course. Really, the only reason they were good is because of the sauce.
Along with the aforementioned bibs and gloves, the above listed items also come with buckets (for shells), deep plates, and crab crackers if ordering crab, of course. FWIW, my friends were disappointed with the crawfish, lobster, and fried shrimp. "Rubbery" is a word I heard used by more than one person.
Other food Boiling Crawfish offers include fried catfish ($8), fried shrimp ($8), chicken tenders ($5), fried oysters ($10), and fried calamari ($8) baskets. Baskets come with fries (regular or sweet potato). They also sell wings ($6 for 6 or $8 for 10) and sides like Cajun pasta, clam chowder, and gumbo ($2-3 each).
I love fried catfish, so I ordered a fried catfish basket. The basket came with 4 pieces of fried catfish, which I thought was generous, atop a bed of soft and unmemorable (but not bad) sweet potato fries. I thought the catfish was OK; not significantly better or worse than fried catfish you can get just about anywhere else including Piccadilly. I wasn't a big fan of what I think was the tartar sauce. It seemed too thin. I like my tartar sauce nice and chunky.
I also love raw oysters. They had 12 on the printed menu, but only 5 were available during our visit. Oyster prices ranged from $1.00 to $3.25 each. I tried one of every oyster they had:
* Blue Yonder ($2.50)
* Duxbury Grand ($2.25)
* Duxbury Wild ($2.25)
* Blue Point ($2.25)
* North Carolina oysters (included on the house)
The Blue Yonder and Duxbury oysters were from Massachusetts and the Blue Points from Long Island Sound. The oysters were cold, fresh, and delicious. I enjoyed every one. Some were briny, some weren't, but all were succulent. I particularly liked the Duxbury Grands. Though they weren't as strong in flavor, they were especially luscious and plump. The oysters were customarily served on ice with cocktail sauce, horseradish, crackers, and also Tabasco sauce. I want some more now just thinking about them.
I thought service was good. The kitchen did get backed up because we had a large group, but I thought our two servers did a nice job. Landy was great. Payments were conveniently processed tableside via tablets.