Crackin’ Kitchen

I don't know why it took me so long to write this, but maybe I was too busy dreaming about the crab boil of my dreams--because CrackinKitchen truly delivers.I went twice. Yup, twice. And both times? I dove headfirst into their snow crab seafood boil, spicy enough to make you blush and messy enough to remind you that the best meals are never clean. The flavors? Smoky, buttery, kiss-of-heat perfection. Every bite had me licking my fingers and shamelessly reaching for more. Pair that with service as smooth as the Hawaiian breeze, and you've got yourself an experience, not just a meal. The drinks are solid too! Oahu, I'll see you in December. And you already know Crackin' Kitchen is on my itinerary.

This review pertains ONLY to the visit I made 28 December, around 1:30pm. Was in area figured I'd come in for a late lunch/ early dinner. Please see the pic I posted day I came so you can refer to what I saw visually walking UP to the place. The menu table normally is at main entrance up against door so patrons can view the menu. Not the case this day. Also none of the doors were open, and all blinds were lowered giving the appearance they were closed. Patrons/guests would have to enter the premise block the entryway. I entered the building, no one was at the cashier/greeting table. I walk further in, then an elderly lady sees me and gets super startled - stating "Oh! We weren't expecting anybody to be here!" She quickly grabs menus and proceeds to take me to a table. All tables are already made up with paper lining and all, and with it just being me, I mentioned how I usually sit at the bar as I don't want to mess up the tables and waste materials, since I wasn't eating the boil. She gave this look of immediate disapproval, and just said 'Whatever'. Sit myself down, she slaps menus next to me and immediately walks away, disappearing into kitchen. Now I'm seated and no one come over to greet me, or at least bring me water for a couple of minutes. Finally get brought a cup of water by bartender, still no greeting walks away, and starts tending to getting supplies ready completely not addressing me. I FINALLY have to call her over just to order a beverage, and then she just nonchalantly 'What you ordering?' Now if you aren't getting the gist here ZERO customer friendly interactions when you have a completely EMPTY restaurant!!! I said I needed a bit more time to place food order but place my beverage order while mulling over the choices - something crispy but light refreshing and not to heavy that will paralyze me. I'm enjoying my beverage - bartender completely not monitoring the entryway - as this group of Japanese tourists enter, and are waiting at guest counter for seating. Not lying - this bartender completely unaware there was ANYONE around - I could HEAR them talking half way across the ROOM!!! I decide NOT to assist to see HOW long it would take for this person to use her Situational Awareness to SEE she had guests! I SWEAR it was almost 3-4 minutes!!!! The group was starting to shift uneasily about, unsure what to do. So I finally "Ahemmed!!" loud enough - the bartender FINALLY looks up at me - and I point to the door where NO ONE was and rather than rush over and being apologetic, slowly finishes up what she was doing, and calls for the elderly looking lady. That one comes out seats them - walks off and again it takes time for the bartender to even bother going over to properly greet and address them! That's when she comes over to me, muffles a thanks. I'm on E for my beverage at this point and request a refill. Was given a look like how DARE I get another beverage before eating, and was gruffly asked if I was ready to place my order.No sooner do I place my order, does refill my beverage, takes away all the menus (usually the Manager or the other bartender would leave them on standby in case I wanted to order take out) walks off and ignores me until the food is ready til food was just about ready. No friendly engagement at all. Truth be told I WAS wanting to do a to go item for my dinner later - but considering the unwelcoming behavior, rudeness of the bartender, I got up walked over to pay my bill - oh yeah ZERO tip - deservedly so! And from here on out - I will NOT dine or support this business when these individuals are on the clock. Will DEFINITELY take my business elsewhere because I sure the heck was made to feel MY business and presence there was EXTREMELY unwelcome and NOT wanted.

My wife booked a crab boil for herself and her brother. They were the only place in Honolulu with king crab available at all. When we arrived, the gentleman was apologetic that all he had available was red king crab; a better crab at a higher cost. One might think this to be a problem, but it was better than she had expected and the higher price point was irrelevant. She and her brother, both true foodies, left walking on air.

Waitress was not friendly. Food was tasteless. Ambiance was zero. The serving of food dumped from a plastic bag for the diners at the next table was gross looking.We had lived in Hawaii many years, and this restaurant left no good memories.

Located on the 3rd floor of International Market Place in Waikiki along with a bunch of other restaurants on the same floor. Great ambiance, the space felt very open as half of the restaurant had no walls so it's like dining outside but with shelter. It was the weekend and there were only two tables occupied for lunch time. I walked past this place a few times and wanted to try it, so that was the day.We tried their clam chowder, gumbo, crab cake sliders and garlic shrimp with the garlic noodles substitute. The clam chowder was creamy and delicious. There were quite a bit of clams in there too, but I'm not sure if it's worth $9. My hubby said he liked the gumbo. I tried a bite and it was good. It came with rice as well. The crab cake sliders were decent as well. My biggest disappointment was the garlic shrimp. It seemed like a great deal. You get a shrimp plate with salad and rice and 12 pieces of shrimp for $22 (garlic noodles sub $3). But geez, I haven't had such old shrimp in a restaurant before. I mean, it wasn't to a point where it smelled, but the swimmerets and parts of the body of a few shrimp were blackened - a sign of getting exposed to air for too long. And even for those who weren't blackened, the shell was shriveled away from the meat already, and the meat itself kinda broke apart, instead of the fresh plump shrimp meat that one would expect. I was served 12 shrimps, but I think I could only eat 6, and forced myself to eat 2 more, but I really couldn't finish the rest. It's the first time I left shrimp on my plate like that! I let one of the kitchen staff know but he didn't seem to be bothered either lol. So I guess I won't bother to come back too.This place has potential and being one of the few (or maybe the only one?) seafood boil restaurants in Waikiki, it could really draw in a crowd. I hope they can source better shrimp as it's a staple for a seafood boil restaurant. Hopefully that was an isolated incident, but I don't think I'll spend money here again to give them another try. There are so many other restaurants in town.

Literally AVOID AT ALL COST. I should've listened to the reviews for this one. There was a reason this place was so empty on a weekend evening when other restaurants were not. I love sea food, everywhere I've traveled, I've had this type of seafood boil. And this is probably the worst place I've had it. In the entire world. From Amsterdam to Canada to anywhere in the US. This is the worst place to have seafood boil. The seasoning/sauce is so bland. I got the white and black sauce as it seems to be their speciality. Where is the flavor. They might as well just advertise straight up boiled seafood without sauces. Definitely not worth the price and definitely not worth the visit. I usually give 2 stars lowest, just for service, but the service wasn't good enough to make up for the bad food especially for the price you pay for lobster. Tl;dr - food sucks, don't waste your time or money. If you really want to try it, don't get the black and white sauce.

Although we are dining out later with friend I needed a lunch nosh loved the tropical lemonade the with mixed strawberry and guava I stuck with the standard tea. We ordered the lunch crab fried rice, Guava soy wings and the Garlic Shrimp plate. Not the biggest place but quaint

Table for 5 under name Friday ... Omggg this place food is out of this world delicious. My husband and I ordered the king crab for 2 with red and black sauce spicy level 2 and my sister in law Dungeness crab with Portuguese sausage in red sauce. My brother ordered crab fried rice delicious. Family friendly and super efficient helpful staff. Yes another highly recommended must eat place in Waikiki and you will not be disappointed. Thanks for showing us how to properly use the tools for opening our king crap legs.

The customer service was very good Professional and Friendly . I LOVE Crab. The Crab, Shrimps., Muscles and Clams were on point and they taste so good The special sauce wasn't hot nor salty . Just like I like it Would I go there again YES.!!! Kudos to them at Crackin' Kitchen.

The service was great but the food... not so much. We got the Dungeness crab for two which came with one whole crab, one corn cob cut up, one potato cut up, and a container of spam cut up for $190; not anywhere near enough for two people to be satisfied with that price. The sauces included were subpar and lacked much flavor at all, we could only taste a metallic bitter flavor with a hint of garlic. I recommend visiting a different boil establishment as the cost and flavor are not worth it. I will give credit to the service as they were good.