After a nice nap on board the Argosy Cruise, I was all ready for our first real meal. Top on our list for a meal at the Seattle Waterfront is the Crab Pot. This is quite unlike any Seafood restaurant that we had ever been before … and certainly a meal that is unforgettable.
The Crab Pot is located on Pier 57 … just a stone throw away from the Argosy Cruise and the Seattle Aquarium. Anyway, Pier whatever, if it’s on the waterfront, you will be able to find it. The Waterfront is not a long stretch … almost all the main attractions are located on a 1/2 mile stretch or so.
It was almost 2PM by the time we got to Crab Pot. I thought that it will be a great time to go for lunch expecting to avoid the lunch time crowd. Bad idea. Even at 2PM we had to wait 20 minutes for a table.
It was a really cold day, freezing cold as a matter of fact. We asked to be seated inside but they told us it will be quite a wait. Being hungry and not wanting to waste any more time waiting we took the tables outside. It was quite OK. It was not that it’s outdoors but it certainly is not as warm as inside. [I thought Suanne certainly looked very hungry and cold in this picture! LOL!]
The Crab Pot has a very extensive menu which includes steak, burgers, chicken and of course seafood. But the Crab Pot is known as the home of the famous Seafest. There are four choices of the Seafest. They are charged by the person. The cheapest is $15 per person and ranges up to $33 per person. My advice is to get the most expensive meal you can afford — it is worth every cent.
After doing a few calculation, we decided that we can afford “The Westport” which costs $22.
First came one of the best bread we ever had … and no, it’s not because we are hungry and cold. They are really nice … warm and crusty sourdough bread. It was so nice, we asked for more.
Herein is the fun and best part of eating in the Crab Pot. First they lay a large piece of paper over the table. Then they gave each of us a wooden block, wooden mallet and a bib with a large red crab. Oh yeah … no plates, no forks and knives … we all eat with our hands.
They came with a big steamy pot of seafood and then promptly dumped the whole lot onto the table. It was a lot of food and for a moment we could not decide what to go for first.
The favourite was perhaps the mussels as they were the first gone. The prawns were awesome too … they were so good that we ate it even with the shells on.
Nanzaro ate only the dungeness crabs and sausage. He so enjoyed it, he did not say a single word the whole meal. He just quietly picked on the crabs before we realized that he ate almost all the crabs himself. That rascal.
They also gave us a lot of melted butter … so much that it overflowed all over. I guess that is the whole idea. It is supposed to be messy.
It was a great meal although we made a mess of the table. The food was great but more so, it was fun. With hindsight, I wished we had gone for their “Alaskan” which included Alaskan King Crab. Some of the neighboring tables had that and it looked absolutely delicious. Next time we’re in the Crab Pot we’ll plan to save enough money to order that.
If you’re looking for food around the Seattle Waterfront, I suggest you go to the Crab Pot and try their Seafest. Highly recommended. Like I said earlier, it will be an unforgettable meal. I guarantee that.
I noted that the menu was based on per person. Did you guys order for 4 people or less?
Nice! I visited the Crab Pot for the 1st time a few months ago and it was great fun. I must say, however, that after the food has been dumped on your table and has had 10-15 minutes to cool down, it doesn’t taste very good. More reason to make a mess and eat fast I suppose 🙂
Hi ScoobyDoo: You don’t have to order for the number of people you have on the table. We did not order for four people since the boys would not be able to take a full order. Ben
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Hi Ben, I’ll have to put the Crab Pot on my list to do things next time I’m in Seattle. Probably have seen the place as I always venture down to the Pikes Place Market on Western Ave. I get a kick out of watching those huge Salmon or Steelhead being tossed back and forth from vendor to vendor. Anyway the Crab Pot seems like a place for me…thanks
What a great seafood feast, which we had that over here in London, even if we did would cost a bomb!
Great meal & blog keep up the great work here.
kang at Londoneater.com
A group of 10 people were at the Crab Pot to celebrate a birthday with friends and family and I must say that we spend a large amount of money for food and drinks. We were all conversing and having a great time after dinner and the birthday cake, when the waitor came by and asked that we move to the bar and we had to leave the table. That was very embarassing and being that we spend a lot of money there and gratuity was given whether we wanted to or not, we all felt like we were thrown out of the restaurant. We had underage kids with us and do not feel that we should have moved to the bar if we wanted to continue our conversations. This was the first time for 6 of the 10 people and we all agreed that we will not be visiting the Crab Pot again. Lousy customer service!
Jessica, you have my sympathies, this is precisely the case with certain London restaurants particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, I do not patronise restaurants that impose a strict time limitation at the dinner table, money is king, you can take your custom to wherever pleases you. In my experience, Chinese restaurants here never ever do that.
But then restaurants are strictly for-profit businesses, if putting a time limitation on the dining table increases businesses, there would seem to be a justification in their doing what they did, after all the diners were not turfed out on to the street, just advised to take their continuing chinwagging in another part of the restaurant.
But of course this stipulation must be made clear in advance or in a prominent header under contract law.
But I would personally not patronise such a place, too much of both a hassle and an inconvenience if nothing else.
This looks amazing, I definitely want to head down there and try this place out, and maybe get a good blog post out of it as well.
I was in Seattle for a week and ate here not once, but THREE times. Get the Alaskan…pricey, but well worth it. Wash it down with a Manny’s…A good brew, a nice kick and lets you down easy.
Hi Ben, I love your website. We’ve tried dining in at Crab Pot before (but the one in Bellevue, WA) and it was a great experience. We moved down here in Texas over a year ago from Washington state and will be visiting Seattle in 2 weeks. Crab Pot in Seattle will be our first stop!!! I miss Seattle!!!
Hey EJ:
Next week … we’re posting a mini series of dining out in Seattle. Hope you will enjoy reading of the places we went to.
Ben
Does anyone know the hours and days they are open? I plan on going to seattle this weekend just to go to the crabpot. I heard of it on the discovery channel.
Thanks to anyone who can help
Hi Tonya: They are opened Su-Th 11AM-10PM; Fr-Sa 11AM-11PM. Their website is http://www.thecrabpot.com/. Ben
Can you believe it? I got in trouble at work for reading your blog. Not because of the content, but because I was supposed to be, well, working! Don’t they realize I need to be able to break up the monotony of my day by checking in and reading the latest and greatest posts here?
I totally agree with you. Work takes too much time away from reading blogs. Thats why I stopped working and just read food blogs the whole day everyday. 🙂
Hahahah! WOW! Crispy you are back on Chowtimes already!!! You are quick!!!