Crustacean

Finding parking wasn't too difficult w/all the parking garages around.
Very good services,
Sweet ambiance
And delicious good despite the price.

So I want to start off with a positive. The food was hands down incredible. The crab was so good, garlic noodles were delicious.

The only reason I'm giving a 3 star rating is the service was horrible. We went for a late New Years celebration along with celebrating our anniversary. We made a reservation and when we arrived the owner or manager I am not sure sat us. He did recognize that it was out anniversary and told us he would advise the waiter.

We never received water the whole meal after asking for it when we first sat down. The waiter never came back to check on us and someone else brought our check. When the check came they automatically added gratuity and that makes sense why they never came back. An easy tip for them and crappy service for us. We each had a drink, shared the crab, shared the garlic noodles and some shared some shrimp tempura I think that was what it was called and with automatic gratuity and fees it was $180! I was baffled. I will not be going back there unfortunately especially since the food was great.

This is one of my go to SF spots. Been coming here for 15 years and will always frequent it.

The food is always excellent, service is perfect and the restaurant is clean, classy and well kept.

The garlic crab is a must as is the calamari. I have tried almost every appetizer and they are all exceptional.

Nothing but great things to say.

I was wowed by all their food. Everything is delicious and nothing like I ever had before. Service is great and ambiance is good too. I will definitely come back.

Visited the original Crustacean while visiting San Francisco! Went with my family after we spent the day in Napa.

To me, the outside is unassuming and it's located on the second floor. Inside, the restaurant is deep with lots of seating. We were greeted and seated immediately.

Well if you come here, you have to order the crab--it's what their known for here! I ordered the roasted (Dungeness) crab and their famous noodles! It was delicious--bring your appetite! I wasn't able to finish but thankfully, I had help!

Ambiance was nice. It was quiet and lighting was in between dim and relaxed.

Walked in with my family of 5 at 445 on a Saturday with no wait.

I haven't been here in a while, they used to have white table cloths and would do the crumb scraping thing, but I guess not anymore? Maybe a Covid change? I kind of thought that made it extra fancy and also there usually was a waiter just hovering to see id something was needed. Not quite that level when I visited which was ok with me since I wasn't looking for fancy, but I hope they do that during prime time dinner

Crab puffs
Mango salad

Shaken beef
Roasted crab
Roast Salmon

I enjoyed the mango salad, nice freshness to offset the heaviness of my entrees.

Shaken beef was nice and soft, the sauce made it almost sweet. I think a little salt would have made it pop

Roast salmon was delicious, my family loved it. The soy ginger sauce was balanced.

Roasted crab was the star!
Garlic butter pepper, i wish I was eating another right now

overall a great dinner, just a little surprised in some of the small changes. When I went it was very spacious, almost empty, but it was also an early dinner.

I would definitely come back

The food was pretty good but i wouldnt recommend the Grilled prawns. I WOULD recommend the crab lol it was great and the garlic noodle was so delicious. I over ate, well we all actually did. The service was great we had a reservation which i highly recommend. The atmosphere is pretty chill and you dont have to dress fancy or anything but to each their own. I dress up everywhere lol the building is confusing but its upstairs, but compared to Thanh Long, i prefer Thanh long because of the location.

While in San Francisco for the weekend a friend of my husbands highly highly recommended that we try out the crab at Crustacean. As we journeyed to the location we couldn't help but notice a shell of what once was a storied city prior to the pandemic slowly turning into an afterthought. When we arrived the building for Crustacean's greeted us with an elevator that just like the storied city, had seen better days of which we rode to the 3rd floor while we admired the dust bunnies on the drapery of the interior. The entrance of the location was somewhat nostalgic with an Asian vibe and sticky floors. You could definitely smell the freshness of the behemoth crabs that we were about to devour.

Food: The start of our meal was a slow one. Our appetizer was the coconut shrimp and we were so looking forward to tasting some delicious shrimp. Sadly, the coconut was almost burnt and because of that the shrimp were just okay and a tad bit dry.

The crabs were huge and so was the price. $80 per crab! As we dug in and got it crackin', the garlic let us know who was boss, but was subtle enough to where it just enhanced the deliciousness of the fresh crab meat.

We also ordered garlic noodles that were unfortunately overcooked to continue the theme of our experience with the shrimp. We had to send them back for fresh noodles. The second batch was still overcooked but not as overcooked. If that makes sense. Just like the crab the garlic was present and even though overcooked the noodles still were somewhat tasty and paired fairly well with the juicy flavor filled crab meat.

Service: This was the star of our experience and was absolutely worth the 20% mandatory gratuity that's charged for each meal. The servers were attentive, prompt, and very accommodating to our every need that somewhat balanced out the opportunities with the food disappointments.

This restaurant was recommended to me during a recent trip to San Francisco. So happy I was able to dine here!

Upon drop off with my Uber, I was uncertain if I was at the restaurant. Then realized it's on the third floor of a small retail/restaurant center. When I walked inside, the restaurant appeared to be very small although I quickly realized is bigger than it appears. Great for an intimate dinner or for larger groups (especially to share the entrees).

My server was extremely helpful with explaining the menu. I opted to try an appetizer (which I didn't need, more later), two secret kitchen specialities.

The Crustacean Shrimp Toast appetizer was ok, not much to write home about. I say save your appetite for the main event. In my case, this was The Roast Crab. I didn't know what I was in for...it was huge! A full Dungeness crab roasted to perfection. Once I removed the outer shell, I realized in addition to the many crab legs, there was additional meat in the body of the crab. The spices were phenomenal and the crab meat divine! AN's Garlic Noodles were equally delicious and a great accompaniment to the crab. I dined alone so there was a LOT of food! I ate the crab and the majority of noodles were packed to take with me.

My meal was pricey (this was a $125 meal before gratuity) although could have easily been shared.

I'm still dreaming about the crab and noodles! When back in San Fran, this will be one of my must have restaurants!

The food is wonderful. I usually do take out once a month. My husband loves the Garlic Crab and garlic noodles. What can I say.

Taking my 3 nieces 1 from Atlanta, 2 from Bakersfield Friday evening. It's gonna be wild with fun & good eats.

Oh the fried banana is to die for also.