For all you seafood lovers out there, this one’s for you! I really enjoy living in Berkeley – it’s a vibrant and unique place with tons of great restaurants, attractions, and people. But one thing I find myself missing from time to time is seafood, particularly the restaurants that serve them by the pound in sauce-filled plastic bags, such as The Boiling Crab.
So with the closest Boiling Crab nearly an hour away, what is a hungry, seafood-deprived Berkeley student to do? Check out Crab Yard, of course! Crab Yard is Berkeley’s version of Boiling Crab, with a very similar style, menu, and setup. Naturally, people are going to compare this place and see how it stacks up with the big players.
My friends and I ordered a pound each of shrimp (made sure mine came in “extreme” spicy combo sauce). We also ordered some cajun fries and sweet potato fries. In and of itself, Crab Yard serves pretty decent, tasty, and most importantly fresh seafood. The shrimp was cooked fresh and juicy, the fries were crispy, and the sauce good.
But when compared with the Boiling Crab, it still falls short. The sauce isn’t as infused into the shrimp, the cajun fries aren’t as flavorful, and the service was average at best. For some reason, the sauce was really, really hot (but not very spicy), so it was hard to peel the shrimp having to worry about burning your fingers.
Still, I’m nitpicking – at the end of the day, Crab Yard serves good and fresh seafood at the right prices. Great place to visit in Downtown Berkeley with a group of friends to enjoy a meal.
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