The Kickin Crab - Santa Ana

Garlic noodles with shrimp-5/5Clam chowder-5/5 (SUPER HOT but good!)Grilled Tilapia- 1/5 ours was just overcooked :/Fried fish tacos- 5/5 Cajun fries- 5/5 (HUGE FRY BASKET)Raw oysters- 5/5 (Literally was Amazing omg)3lb KC fiesta Crawfish- 3/5 3lb Kickin Style Crawfish- 5/5 the table favoriteGarlic butter- 3/5 not for us but was really thick and creamy, definitely uses real butter Service was good! We waited 1hr for a walk in on a weekend for a group of 6 at peak dinner hour. This really captured the flavors of viet Cajun and was overall a HUGE win!

Been multiple times, but most recently came with friends who had never been. Staff was friendly and helpful! Came on a Monday evening and had no wait. Food was delicious! A little pricey but still some of the best Cajun seafood in the area. Definitely messy but that's part of the fun! Cozy enough to disclose the messiest of "affairs". Will be back with more friends soon enough. -Monday Night Foodies

Seafood heaven!This was my first time at The Kick'n Crab! My friend who isn't on Yelp, recommended this place to me. I looked it up on Yelp and had to give it a try. I brought my hubby with since he loves seafood. I ordered the popcorn shrimp and the seafood Alfredo. I LOVED the popcorn shrimp! The breading was so good! Addicting really. I wasn't a fan of the seafood Alfredo. It tasted like flour, and wasn't buttery and creamy. I should have known better to order an Italian dish at a seafood restaurant. My hubby was in heaven! He ordered a whole lobster, a pound of king crab, and a pound of shrimp. He handled all of that! Plus he had some clam chowder and some popcorn shrimp. He works out and runs 5 miles everyday lol So, he can eat all that without a problem lol Service was good. The vibe is laid back and ambiance is beachy. We will be back. The seafood is great.

Lobster was delicious! So was the shrimp even though it was slightly overcooked. The Kickin style is always recommended.Service was quick and attentive!

Visited here and the crawfish, although it's frozen but it has a old taste to it. Almost rotten. I couldn't even eat most of it and that's a shame because it's pricey! The staff is nice, we got seated at a decent time... I wouldn't recommend the crawfish.

Usually I would go to Boiling Crab but the line was too long so opted for Kickin' Crab. Got the shrimp bag but personally I like the flavor of the Boiling Crab the whole shabang flavor more. When I asked for extra spicy, they just added some kind of sour spicy hot sauce which was just okay.However, their garlic noodles were really good! I thought it would be garlic-y but the noodles had some creaminess to it and surprising really good.The ambiance is a bit dark and kinda loud bc they turned up the music pretty loud. It was hard to have convo with my bf. Other than that, good option to go to if Boiling Crab gets too busy.

Seafood here was amazing! The cajun fries and extra large size for only about $5. The garlic noodles are so soft and had the perfect amount of garlic. They weren't dry at all and were delicious mixed with the seafood boil sauce. The seafood itself was also amazing. It was fresh and perfectly seasoned. Some of the crawfish was definitely frozen longer than it should have been, meaning the tail meat was shriveled and small, but other than that it was great. Service was also really good. We checked in online on yelp and when we arrived we were able to check in on the ipad in the restaurant. Bathrooms are a little dirty, but they get the job done. Overall, would come back here again for the delicious and perfectly flavored seafood boil.

One of my favorite places to get cajun seafood! I came Sunday afternoon around 2:00 pm and it was about a 15 min wait and still fairly busy. There were several open tables in the back, but I don't think there was enough servers so they weren't seating people there.My go to order is 1lb of shrimp ($17.50/lb) with Cajun fries ($5.99) and a side of steamed rice ($3.25). I love pouring the sauce over the rice. I also like how the shrimp isn't overcooked/super soft at kicking crab. They're also generous with the amount of fries. As with everything else, the prices have definitely increased. The service was okay. No one came around to see if we needed anything, but the server did bring things out quickly when we asked. Overall, kicking crab will always be my go to spot when I'm craving cajun seafood.

We came here for dinner a few months ago. It was only our first time dining at this location, but I've long before this I've long enjoyed the Westminster II location. Since it was the weekend this restaurant had a long wait but we were fine with that. The check-in process was confusing but we got seated after about thirty/forty minutes of waiting. This location is severely understaffed and it's difficult to get a clear answer on most things, whether it's their waitlist or picking up a to-go order (which I did for a relative en route to a family party a while back - the whole experience was a headache).The main event of seafood in a bag tasted great! We got the Kickin' Combo 1 with shrimp, crawfish, and clams. For the sauce I always go with Kickin' style with gives you the best of all worlds. Our big mistake was ordering the 1/2 dozen oysters - our server forgot to bring them out for a long while and we had to remind them. (Since they were served late, my hands were already messy once they arrived and I unfortunately didn't snap a pic). Once they finally arrived, they tasted like subpar tap water. It was disappointing, especially given the cost. I love oysters, but poor handling made these taste gross. I don't think oysters should be available on the menu if they're going to be mishandled to the point of tasting almost inedible?In general I love The Kickin Crab! But I'm sad to say this location isn't worth the hassle for me when there are way better options that aren't that much farther away.

I can't believe I've never written a review for this Kickin Crab. I've been coming for years, and this place deserves a review.I used to (over a decade ago) go to Boiling Crab, but the long lines and decline in food quality made me search for a new shrimp boil place. Kickin Crab became my new go-to! Their Kickin Sauce is not quite the same as Boiling Crab, but I like it nonetheless! It has a slightly sweeter taste, which I don't mind. The shrimp here is almost always plump where the shells come off easily. There have been a handful of times where this wasn't the case, and we had shrimps that were overcooked or not fresh, and the shells were difficult to peel. Prices for the seafood are all market price... which is annoying because I like knowing how much things cost before ordering. Cajun fries and sweet potato fries are solid here!Service is always friendly and attentive. The interior has an almost identical vibe to Boiling Crab, seashore dock with writings on the wood panel walls. I did a lot of comparison to Boiling Crab because I was looking for an alternative, and I've found it with Kickin Crab. I highly recommend this place!