Gao's Crab

It sucks because I really love the seafood from GAOs overpriced or not if it's all you can eat (AYCE) I don't want our server telling me I can't order a certain amount because he doesn't think I'll finish it or trying to limit me on how much I can order I've been 5 times in the last 6 months because the food is really good but I've only had a good serving experience one time !!! Hope my next visit isn't the same

Food is good nine times out of 10. Sometimes the service is a little shifty. I believe it used to be a BYOB. I no longer think it's that but they don't serve much alcohol maybe beer .

Like many, I heard of Gao's Crab on social media. I gathered my closest girlfriends to indulge in this great all-you-can-eat deal. We were seated quickly and the music they played was R&B nostalgia. We were given a short explanation of the terms for the buffet, the only exception was that crab was an additional fee. The seafood boil was tasty. Some items I liked such as the boiled shrimp and some I didn't like the shrimp balls but to each his own. The clams and mussels were also tasty and well seasoned. The soju flavors were good, my favorite was green apple. We were having a good time and had good service.Unfortunately later that evening I got violently ill. I did reach out to the owner the next day to report this but the response I got was not satisfying. There was no accountability and the owner/manager was insensitive to my concern and condition. It was a turn off and honestly I haven't eaten seafood since then.

As of 3/21/23 the AYCE option is $40/person and Blue Crab is not available (we were told that the szn is over). Without the Blue Crab, the AYCE price seems steep. Regardless, we made best of the situation and stuffed our faces to the best of our ability anyway. We stuck to the Jumbo Shrimp, Black Muscles, Sausage, Corn, Clams, Turkey Neck, Baby Squid, Fish and Shrimp Balls with the House Cajun Flavor, Spicy. The sauce and the seafood were perfect together; it satisfied my party's craving for delicious, SPICY cajun food. My only critique is that the sauce could use less oil. There was a thick layer of red oil with every bowl that was served.Service is not good here. We had to flag down a server every time we needed something. Which was disappointing considering we were watching the servers dick around behind the bar.Overall, I really enjoyed the food minus the oil. Also, based on other reviews the mild here is still pretty spicy... so if you can't handle spice I'd avoid this place all together LOL. The price is pretty expensive seeing as they don't have the full menu and you won't get good service here. Just good food.

Holy, crabs! I waited since September to try 老高手抓海鲜 Gao's Crab. Because of inflation and decreased supply of fresh crawfish toward the end of last season, I had to wait. I finally stopped by to checkout the hypes on the social media.I really wanted to try the All U can Eat seafood in order to bring a crowd to indulge in the seafood segment in Houston Chinatown. Other than those typical imported stuff to the restaurant fish tank, there are food from the nearby waters. That's what excited me to sample the local crawfish and shrimps.This time, I starved myself until 3 pm. I walked in around 3:15. The goal was to consume whatever I could in 120 minutes. This year's price is $40, unlimited food and unlimited soda. I'm not a soda person, water was good enough for me to wash down the heat.Waitress was really patient with me as I asked so many questions. Yes, you can split the check to each person. No takeout and no share from the AYCE person. You can get $12 per pound if there are leftovers. So, to note that the crawfish is never a selection on this AYCE menu. You cannot get different flavors in one round but you can get different flavor in different rounds. My first round was jumbo shrimps, turkey neck and fish balls with lemon pepper and mild spicy. It was really garlicky and with a hint of spiciness. I overindulged the food. I hope no one was taking a picture of my face.My second round was frozen clams, black mussels and corn with 13 spices and mild spicy. The peppercorn oil was naturally spicy and numbing. Savory is well balanced in this bowl. I just don't like using my hand to scoop out the food in the hot oil. I asked for chopsticks. This sauce was a little too oily and salty for me. Ok. I'll deal with my doctor later.During my course of rounds, I saw my neighboring tables got humongous bowl of seafood. That was a rare scene in Chinatown. The restaurant filled up pretty quick with all kinds of clientele. The music was piping hot. So does the seasoned seafood bowls.The dessert bar sitting the corner caught my attention. That was a treat to cool down my senses. I was pretty full by then.

Pros:Great places for boil seafood. The cajun spice hit the spot for me but too spicy for other folks in my party. A bit pricey but I didn't feel I overpaid.Lastly, I love the music they play, hip hop.Cons:The price.Forget fries and onion rings. The service can be better but I had no complaint

If your restaurant closes at midnight just say that!My sister and I decided to try GAO's after sussing them out on Yelp! And discussing them, for like two weeks.We showed up at 12:05 on a Saturday night. We walked in and waited at the "please don't seat yourself" sign, as the girls behind the register looked at us in bewilderment. After about 15seconds too long of awkward staring, we left, with no greeting or acknowledgment from the staff. If we aren't supposed to seat ourselves, where is your host? Who is doing your greeting? Needless to say, we walked right back out the door.After a few minutes of contemplating in the car and talking to some other guests who had pulled up in the parking lot, we decided to take our chances.We were informed once we re-entered and walked directly up to the cash desk, that the kitchen closed at 12:30 and that they were only doing to go orders from that point on. We ordered our food and took a seat to wait for it. While trying to make our orders, we were informed that in order to get a lobster or lobster tail, you have to make an order by 8 o'clock so that they can go and get the lobster from the market , and since it was 12 AM lobster was completely off of the menu. Also, the girls that worked there had no clue which type of scallops they offered, sea vs bay . Granted, not everyone who works in food service is as passionate about food as I am, but the "hosts" were completely unwilling to even find out the information from the kitchen staff, as opposed to just offering a shoulder shrug and an IDK. My sister and I took seats at the multitude of open tables, because there was only one other customer group dining in at the moment.( red flag) my sister toon the opportunity to peruse Yelp! for any other option that would potentially give us a better customer service, and the ability to dine in. She found another option, and tried to cancel our order because we really wanted to dine in. The staff was very quick to reassure us that the food had already been dropped that it would be very inconvenient for them to cancel, and that they were willing to allow us to dine in because we were desiring to cancel.Overall the food was mediocre in seasoning, tasting more like lemon pepper than anything else, the customer service was bad, the hours were ambiguous, and I don't think I would return.The joy of late night spots, is that you get to enjoy them late night. If you advertise that you close at 1 am, but you stop seating guests at midnight, a FULL HOUR before close, and your kitchen closes at 12;30, yall really close at 12:30, and start treating your customers as inconviences at 12. Overall the food wasn't TRASH, but with the hoops I had to jump threw to get it, and the fact I wasnt overwhelmed with juicy seafood goodness, I don't think I'll be returning. Unless I have a crab leg emergency at 11:58 pm on any given day.Edit: they DO NOT devein their shrimp

Once upon a time Zain R. asked me if I wanted to grab dinner during the week. I was all like, "sure." And he was all like "cool." So we did. The end. Okay, but HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT THE SERVICE?!?!?!?!?! Nick greeted us at the door and hooked us up with menus and a rundown of the specials. Super friendly, and seemed to be watching over all the things. Michelle was working the entire restaurant, literally has everyone taken care of across all the tables. She was amazing. Always checking in, SO nice, and SO fast with anything we needed. Service was bomb!!!!!!To the foods:They have a free snack bar if you really can't wait. It has fruits, sweets, and a couple savory items. I would caution you to go lightly, as the combos are quite filling. We did grab some appetizers. I didn't care for the chicken strips or hush puppies. They're filler, and not worth it compared to the main attraction (the boils). They were out of Chicken wings and Calamari this evening, which is fine. If they were like the other appetizers I won't mind not having them, and even if they weren't I still feel like the Gangster Boss of Tatooine after the plethora of seafood I just enjoyed. The Fried Shrimp were good, and worth it. We also went with a dozen oysters in the raawww. They were fresh and tasty, well worth it. Check the pics. For the mains there are a la carte, combo, and AYCE options. We decided to opt for a combo. This particular combo had 2 snow crab clusters,1lb head off shrimp, 1lb of clams, 2 eggs, 2 corn, 2 potatoes, and 2 sausage. You the pick the seasoning and spice level. We went with the homemade Cajun, at medium spice. Delicious. I could do spicier, because heat don't scurr me. Zain likes his food spiced and enjoyable, so medium was a good compromise for us. The boil was A++ delicious, there was hear there was flavor, and there was quantity of all things. I feel like I put a lot of those creatures on the endangered species list. I'm about to watch Andor feeling like Jabba the Hutt. So satisfied. Overall, YASSS! Amazing service, thank you Michelle for being fantastic! The boils are bomb, the facility was clean and had a nice feel, ambience was on point. BYOB, and it closes at 1A. Give it a go!

I am not usually a fan of seafood boils but Gao's Crab has totally changed my mind. We got the Combo B which consisted of 2 snow crab clusters, 1 lb. head off shrimp, 1 lbs of clams, 2 eggs, 2 corn, 2 potatoes, and sausage. The sides were okay but if I were to get another side I would get the fried shrimp. I really liked their oysters. But the best part of the night was the snow crab and the shrimp from the oil. Although it looked like it was going to be heavily seasoned, I loved the taste and how it permeated through the seafood.While the food was great, service was even better! Our servers were Nick and Michelle. If you're ever in the area and craving amazing food with even better service, I would head over to Gao's Crab.

If you are reading this review, do yourself a favor and just go and visit. We arrived late afternoon on a Saturday and the place slowly started to fill up. They have an all you can eat menu option. They also have combos which we tried to allow us to taste more seafood. I also appreciated that because we didn't want potatoes or eggs we were able to try another side so we tried the shrimp and the fish balls. To be honest I couldn't tell the difference between the two but they were good. We selected a combo of crawfish and a combo with mussels, shrimp and snow crab clusters. The snow crab still had a noticeable butter taste even with the Cajun seasoning. The staff was wonderful. They made sure we had enough gloves to get us through our meal. The atmosphere is nice -really enjoyed the mix of pop music combined with CCTV classic shows and movies on the screen. The star of the show was the strawberry lemonade. It was so good we ordered some to-go!For spice level we chose 4 which was just one more than what they said was medium and it packed a punch of you consistently dip in the sauce.