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Categories: Cajun/Creole, Seafood
Neighborhood: Civic Center/TenderloinMon-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Fri. 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sat. 6:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
"This joint is a classic. My husband spotted it as we were strolling down Ellis, and we decided that its Dashiell Hammett affiliation, as…" read more »
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R is for ridiculously tastetastic
E is for engaging and enjoyable eating
D is for delightfully priced
For your sake and mine I won't acrostic the rest, but you get the gist.
Come here with an empty belly, a few dollars in your wallet and your biggest bib. You will leave utterly satisfied.
I've had some of their other menu items, but let's not fool ourselves, you're comin for the crawdads. They come in a few different levels of spiciness, and I recommend getting them as hot as you dare, the danger is worth it. They come to your table piping hot swimming in goodness just waiting for you to get the crackin. Shellfish tend to be a lot of work, so it's nice when you come to a place like this where the quality of the flavor totally makes up for the many minutes of cracking, picking, shelling, dipping, etc. you have to do to get your food.
It's an entertaining eat so grab some friends and sit down for a few pounds and some beers.
Also, don't go on Saturday, they're closed. I learned the hard way so you don't have to.
The meal at Red Crawfish was enjoyable. We had the calamari and Cajun fries (more fries than calamari), garlic noodles, 2 pounds of boiled shrimp (original seasoning - one spicy and one extra spicy) and the combo special with clams, mussels, shrimp and crawfish. It was two of us and we were trying to meet the requirements for our coupon, otherwise we wouldn't have been so decadent.
My favorite part was of course the carbs. The noodles were buttery and had crispy bits of garlic. The rest was good and although I'm not typically a fan of fries, their Cajun ones were very nice. I'm going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars. Perhaps I'll have to go again to make up my mind.
I promise that my review is in no way affected by this observation of one of their patrons, but I'd like to give a word of advice to the sports enthusiast in the front corner of the restaurant last night: Perhaps you were drunk, but the over and misuse of the f-word was a bit much. It was literally every other word and sounded ridiculous. I love the word and am no stranger to it, but in order for it to have it's intended affect it should be used appropriately. Show some fucking manners!
I discovered Red Crawfish when I was on my way to Turtle Tower, another Vietnamese restaurant just a block away. I've since dined at Red Crawfish multiple times now.
My first visit was with a friend whose also a fellow Yelper and foodie, we were there because they serve Bun Rieu, a tomatoes based soup with crab meatballs, shrimps, and Vietnamese hams and rice noodles. We've been searching for good Bun Rieu all over town and finally found a good one. Our meal was satisfying.
I returned the next time with my family for a full blown crawfish meal. We ordered half of the menu (there were only 5 of us) and sampled everything from:
- cajun style crawfish steamed with herbs, cajun seasoning, garlic and spices -- the crawfish is well seasoned with the spices and garlic, it came out hot in the bag and as the server opened the bag, the steam of flavors exploted. It was incredible. What's the left to do, but roll up your sleeves and dig in. Is a messy dish, but that's where all the fun is.
- sweet potatoes fries -- addictively good and trust me, once you had sweet potatoes fries, you might rethink about ordering French fries.
- beef cubes sauteed in blackbean sauce and bellpeppers -- the perfect dish to eat with rice.
- garlic noodles -- creamy, garlicy egg noodles that is the perfect compliment to the spicy crawfish. Can't order one without the other.
- sauteed combinations of greens and mushrooms.
- garlic bread -- Order the garlic bread so that you can dip it in the steamed crawfish sauce as you eat the crawfish. Why let perfectly tasty sauce go to waste?
- sauteed ground chicken and basil -- This is great with rice or wrapped with lettuce leaves, which is what we had.
Everything we ordered was super delicious, well seasoned, the craw fish was spicy and addictively good.
My last visit (last Friday) with family friends (8 of us) and we again pigged out on everything I mentioned above on my last visit, plus we ordered:
- steamed cajun shrimps with garlic, herbs, and cajun seasonings.
- cajun seafood noodle soup -- spicy noodle soups with Vietnamese vermicelli noodles in a tomato based soup with seafood that hit the spot on a cold Fall night;
- deep fried calamari and catfish coated with cornmeal batter served with tartar sauce.
- Beignet and vanilla bean ice-cream -- the beignet wasn't as fluffy and light as the ones in New Orlean's Cafe Du Monte. This beignet is little too doughy and fried a little too long. A little dissappointing. But there is always room for improvement.
Overall, all my visits to Red Crawfish have been good ones and a very satisfying ones. I always went home with a full belly of good food without breaking my bank. The quality of food is pretty close to the one in New Orleans.
Decided to try this place since I LOVE the Boiling Crab *drool*, and folks have told me that this is thee "Boiling Crab" of SF! SO 4 stars just because this is NOT the Boiling Crab, but the food is pretty tasty!! (Once you have Boiling Crab, everything else seems to get overshadowed...)
I ordered the garlic noodles, which were so super yummy that not only did my tummy smile, but we ordered a second order because one wasn't enough. We also tried the sweet potato fries, which went really well with ketchup...and I normally hate sweet potatoes so good job, Red Crawfish!
On to the shellfish! We tried the combo which came with shrimp, crawfish, mussels, and clams with cajun seasoning. Sauce was absolutely no comparison to the whole shabang at Boiling Crab. No one at the table really liked the crawfish either since it's SO much work for the tiiiniest morsel of meat; those fellows are pretty slippery too, haha. Altogether, it wasn't bad...it was actually really good, but I just couldn't help comparing!
The menu is a whole lot more extensive than the Boiling Crab and it's definitely not as messy--you get to eat on actual plates!--but I don't think anything can replace the actual Boiling Crab. Super yummy, but I'd rather drive alllllll the way down to San Jose...
Had the set meal number 2 with my gf. Sweet potatoes were very nice and the garlic noodles were awesome! Didn't know what the he'll we were doing trying to get the shell off the crawfish but a guy (I think the owner?) showed us the best way to do it and also gave us a little dish with pepper and lime to make it that much better. Service was a little slow but overall was a fun night out.
Its nice to find a place that is like 1.5 hours closer to home than Boiling Crab. I went here yesterday night with three guys. It looked like it was going to be a long wait but the wait was only 5 minutes. The place is pretty small and gave off an Asian feel.
It took the waitress a while to get to us. She told us they ran out of crawfish. Kind of strange because they are named red CRAWFISH. O well I don't like crawish. We ordered the special #2 with shrimp in place of the crawfish and also another pound of shrimp. 3 pounds of shrimp for 4 people. We also ordered sweet potato fries and garlic bread.
The garlic noodles and garlic bread were really good. The fries weren't bad either. The shrimp was good but I think the sauce could be better. It was the lemon butter or something.
I was not full after eating. The dessert took a while to come after we finished eating. The dessert was chocolate ice cream and three fried cookies. You had to share the ice cream and everything.
Overall the price was 45 dollars for 4 people. Not too bad. I could have used another lb of shrimp.
If they had a membership card, I would be Queen cause my ass is here every other week. This is the place where you bring your closest friends who are willing to eat and get dirty with you.
My gal friend and I are able to demolish the dinner for two which includes 3lbs of crawfish, garlic bread, sweet potato fries, garlic noodies, and dessert. Although the crawfish are cooked in a variety of flavors, my favorites are original, garlic butter, and lemon pepper. With three people, we added the spare ribs and crab. The crab is tasty!
I love bringing out of towners to dine here, because it is an experience that you would never forget. After all, who doesn't love to crack, chat, and chew?
Is is crayfish or crawfish?
I don't know the difference, but I know one thing for sure..this place is delicious! I like their happy hour specials: Buy 2 lbs and get 1 lb free. However, you can't mix or match, it has to be all shrimp or all crawfish.
If you roll in a big group, try getting the set meals which comes with sweet potato fries or garlic noodles. This place makes sweet potato fries RIGHT! I'm seriously, it's thick cut, and fried to perfection-simply the best! The garlic noodles and garlic bread also complements the garlic crawfish! You'll leave this place smelling like garlic, but at least vampires won't attack you.I wonder how much garlic this place uses per day?
Don't forget to leave room for dessert, yes, those beignets are a must!
October 30th, 2009, I decided to try this place out with a few friends. Let me tell ya, I haven't had crayfish since I was 10 years old. So to go to a place where they have a "happy hour" on it, is awesome. Their happy hour is basically between 5 and 7pm if you buy 2 lbs of crayfish or shrimp, you get another pound for free! WHAT FREE??? Probably the greatest word in the English language. On top of that they have four levels of spiciness to satisfy your burning desire: mild, medium, hot, and SUPER HOT! So we got the special #2, which consisted of 3 lbs of crayfish, some garlic noodles (which kicks ass), garlic bread (yes, we love garlic), sweet potato fries and a desert which was ice cream and some Asian doughnuts. On top of that we ordered 3 lbs of shrimp too, just to take advantage of their happy hour.
To sum it all up, the food was awesome! The waitress helped out a lot with what to order, being it our first time there. Not to mention my friend couldn't keep his eyes off of her!
All in all, great night, great food! Will be back!
I am a huge boiling crab fan, so I was excited to try this place out and was hoping that it would be an adequate substitute since it's in SF. Its def not boiling crab, but it does the job. We ordered 2 lbs of shrimp with corn and sausages and a dungeness crab. The sauce wasn't as thick and flavorful as boiling crab and the crab was either overcooked or wasn't fresh. the meat was dry and was stuck to the shell so it was hard to get most of it out. i usually love crab and never leave a shred left in the shell, but i couldn't finish it...i didn't care to. the corn was good, but you can't really mess that up. The sausage was ok, but i like the ones at boiling crab better. Would prob come back for shrimp if i was craving and didn't want to drive to the south bay, but for crab, would go to ppq or thanh long.
*nom nom*
First time going to Red Crawfish, and it definitely will NOT be my last!
This place is pretty unique. Located near Civic Center / SF Federal Building (on the edge of the tenderloin) of SF, and surrounded by plenty of other Vietnamese restaurants. This place is a fusion of Cajun and Asian (my wife calls it "Casian" cuisine). They have several dinner sets to choose from depending on the size of your group or appetite. We had 2 adults and 2 kids, so we chose Dinner Set 2, which included 3 lbs of crawfish (we split it up as 1 lb mild for the kids and 2 lbs of spicy crawfish for my wife and I), sweet potato fries (w/light tempura batter), garlic noodles, garlic bread, and dessert (beignets with chocolate chip ice cream). We also ordered 1 lb of mussels. Whole lotta garlic for one meal!
The crawfish were awesome. Just right on spice (my lips and fingers had a nice burning sensation afterwards). Definitely takes some work to de-shell and get the tail and claw meat, but worth it. Mussels were done just right- plump and juicy! Garlic noodles were very tasty. Sweet potato fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Beignets were made flat like mini pancakes. I am used to them being round (like a Hawaiian Malasada), chocolate chip ice cream worked well with it.
The staff was extremely friendly and attentive. I highly recommend this spot for groups who are not afraid of getting a little messy (don't worry, everyone gets a bib).
Great price, good crawfish with a side dish of corn on the cob, sausages, and potatoe in a charming affair in tenderloin area know as little saigon. I love this place. The waitress (Suzanne) gives great services and fabulous smile.
totally not what i expected... at all. but really good. I'd def go back, but next time with a group of 4 or more and get some of their dinner sets. the crawfish were hella tasty (i may have mixed the rest of the garlic spice sauce with rice and drank it down) but a lot of work for a little meat. this is nothing to do with the restaurant but rather with the animal itself.. next time i'll know better. the server was super nice (Even after the 1 year old with us broke a glass... smooth) and the food came out promptly. Boss got the gumbo, and it was pretty damn tasty. i'd sum it up as asian creole cuisine, which sounds odd but works pretty well.
I'm all for restaurants serving two types of cuisines, as long as they do both cuisines justice. This place started as an Asian restaurant years ago and the Cajun flair was brought in about last year or so.
But the goal of my parents and I that night was to experience the Cajun side of this restaurant. This was going to be my first experience with crawfish (or crawdads as I was kindly corrected), and the one common fact that I kept hearing was that it takes a whole lotta patience to get what you want!
As usual with my food-loving family we ordered more than we can handle. We went with Set Dinner #3 which included: 3lbs. of crawfish, 2lbs. of shrimp, gumbo with rice, garlic chicken wings, and dessert of the day. To satisfy everyone's varying tolerances for heat, we ordered 1lb, spicy, of crawfish and shrimp for my dad, and since I was sharing with my mom, I convinced her that medium spice wasn't that spicy. I was only hoping that was the case. We also ordered a side of their garlic noodles.
First out was the gumbo: EXCELLENT! Probably could have used more heat, but it was perfect for my mom. I had to restrain myself from eating another bowl since I knew so much more food was coming.
Garlic chicken wings were nice and crisp and weren't doused in garlic, but lightly topped with it instead. The taste kind of reminded me of the Chinese-style fried chicken wings.
Garlic noodles were great - not too oily/buttery. It seems like such a simple dish, why doesn't mine tastes this good when I try to make it?
Then out comes the steaming crawfish and shrimp in two separate bags - spicy for my dad and medium for my us. Both bags included corn, potatoes and sausages as well.
So I started a-yankin' and a-crackin' and a-pullin'. One of the waiters, Joel, was nice enough to come to our table to make sure we were doing the crawfish justice. He tells me that there are also some meat in those tiny little claws - they have those shell cracker things if you ask - but you really got to want it if you do that. I was satisfied with the little tail and dipping it into my little saucer made of salt, pepper, and lime juice. The meat is fine and juicy as is, excellent spice and taste, but the lime juice concoction added another dimension to the flavors.
Those little suckers were a lot of work indeed, but they were yummy!
The large pieces of shrimp were also mighty tasty. I also realized that shrimp isn't all that easy to peel, either! By the time we were done, our table had scraps and juices spilled all throughout. Good think they have butcher paper as tablecloths. My mom hung in there with the medium spice, but after a while it just got to hot for her. I thought it was just right. Thanks, Mom, for taking one for the team!
Good thing we got beignets with chocolate chip ice cream for dessert! That'll help cool down anyone's burning mouth.
One thing they definitely need: wet naps at the table. For the meantime, bring your own. The paper towel at the tables just won't cut it.
Great place for groups who just don't care about playing with your food and making a mess! Go with the set dinner specials to get the best deal.
We stumbled along Larkin to find something to eat before meeting friends at 222 Hyde. Red Crawfish caught our eyes and decided to try it out since the dinner special #1 seemed right up in our alley, as "affordable" screamed at us: a 1 lb. crawfish in a Louisiana boil with roasted minced garlic atop and garlic noodles. We also ordered the Salt and Pepper Garlic Chicken wings, too.
It sure did have that Boiling Crab'esque feel to it. They provide crab bibs, too. You're going to smell like garlic after you leave this restaurant. Be forewarned.
Everything was tasty. I'd come back here again and try their crabs next time.
I love eating out with my platonic life partner Kentar-O. Only he could help me demolish three pounds of crawfish, a basket of sweet potato fries, an order of super garlickly noodles, garlic bread, finished off by a plate of beniets with ice cream. What I mean is only he could help me demolish all of that, and then stop the waitress from clearing off the plates so he could finish the leftover few bites of noodles and scrape the ice cream plate clean. I'm surprised he didn't crumple up the table cloth and sauce excess crawfish juice out of it.
Great food by the way!
I found this place on http://restaurant.com. It was one of the few places on that website with decent yelp reviews. Having family from Louisiana, i was really excited about trying this place out. It did not disappoint. I like that the flavors are part Asian and part Cajun. I'm all about it. Hubby and I ordered:
-2lbs of crawfish w/ red crawfish seasoning and medium spicy. it was nicely seasoned with just enough spice to leave a faint burn on your lips. they didn't have Louisiana crawfish when we went so we got the huge delta crawfish :D
-1lb of shrimp - also good. I'll order more next time. they were a good size.
-1 order of garlic noodles - standard. good.
-1 order of cajun chicken wings - def good. kinda salt & pepper/cajun wings
-1 order of sweet potato fries - enjoyable. i like the tempura batter.
This was entirely too much food for 2 people. We managed to finish all of the shrimp, crawfish and wings but we couldn't finish the rest. With the $25 http://restaurant.com coupon, the bill was less than $50. I was pretty happy about that.
I'll definitely come back again but I'd probably order less crawfish. If you pull off the body the wrong way, intestines will come out. yuck. i don't think I'm all that into cleaning my food while eating it. and the cooked eyes floating in the bag...a little weird after awhile. Everything else was great. I'm bringing Mom next time - maybe she'll give Red Crawfish her Louisiana seal of approval!
One more thing - it's in the TL. Walked past a guy smoking crack on the way to the resto. Also was lectured/yelled at by a lady. But it won't stop me from going again.
Crawfish Galore!
If you love crawfish, garlic and butter then you need to come here. This place might be an contradiction since it was originally a Vietnamese joint and began serving Cajun. Who would've thought that a fusion of the two would work? Well, it's not really a fusion since they keep the two styles different but dang...what a delightful combination it is.
But we came here for the crawfish and boy did we ever get some crawfish. They have a special 2 for 1 deal where you buy 2 lbs worth and you get 1 lbs FREE. We got excited when the server came and brought out this huge bucket full of crawfish swimming in buttery goodness and garlic. Next time I'm ordering some rice so I can pour all that goodness on it...YUMMY!
If you have the appetite and patience to deal with these little suckers, it is worth it. Yes, it's gonna get messy but they provide you with a bib. Although it didn't help the wifey as she spilled a good amount of that goodness on her shirt. But that didn't deter us from enjoying devouring these little critters.
Besides the crawfish, we ordered some fries and boy oh boy....these were some of the best fries I've ever had. Seasoned and cooked to perfection is how I would describe them. Yes, I dipped those fries into the goodness if you were wondering.
I have to give mad props to Marian G. again for recommending this place. She hasn't disappointed so far.
Let's just start off, I have a love and hate relationship with this place. Being there is only 2 crawfish spots in the city, Coco's and here. Hands down Red Crawfish is way better but to compare it other places like Boiling Crab in SJ/LA..not so much.
I like the fact that theres other food like garlic noodles and sweet potatoe fries which is good, cause for some reason, i dont know about you guys but its hard for me to get full off of crawfish.
When I first went here I was in love, it was yum...the garlic and butter flavor not the other one. But the second time i went the Louisiana Crawfishes were out of season so they got it from the Sacramento Delta, and man these guys were MONSTROUS! a bit scary, fishy and hecka sharp, it stabbed me and my friends a few times.
But other than the delta situation...i heart you red crawfish!
and believe it or not, the bathrooms pretty clean! ( I always do a bathroom check)
Mmmmm!
I got a pound of the crawfish, mussel, clam and shrimp! The clam and mussels were some of the most tender I've ever had. I liked the sauce too, but I ordered the extra spicy, and it didn't meet my heat expectations.
I didn't know how to eat the crawfish, so the waitress was nice enough to demo opening one.
One word of warning. The pound of seafood includes whole crawfish, shrimp with heads and clam and mussel shells, yeilding you a lot less food than it sounds. I easily coulda polished off two+ pounds.
That being less than economical, I'll probably add a side of sweet potato fries the next time.
Two suggestions for the owners: Serve bread alongside the boil. It seemed like a waste having all that delicious sauce with no bread to sop it up. Also, it would have been nice to get a wet nap after the meal was done. My credit card is now crawfish flavored.
The good:
prices are incredibly decent and the food is loaded with flavor. i loved the garlic noodles. even everything else on the side that wasnt seafood was well prepared. usually places that serve something not their main concentration is really bad but this place has a nice balance. the catfish is good and so is the sweet potato fries
The bad:
theres no AC. the place is kinda small and packing in like 30 people in a small area w/ steaming hot seafood everywhere is a BAD idea. the shrimp we had was overcooked. i know its kinda a lot to ask for when trying to get in all the juices and cookign it just right but iono.. when shrimp is overcooked its harder to peel off. i guess thats just me. im a mediocre fan of crawfish. i sometimes dont get it though. the shell is hard as hell and the meat you get is small. guess i'm just picky.
id come back here and get other things aside from the usual.
I love NOLA and Vietnamese food but I didn't love Red Crawfish.
We came for dinner but their entire soup menu was not available due to it being a holiday and since they didn't make the soup for lunch, they wouldn't offer it for dinner either. No biggie, I can understand, but a little let down.
Its nice that you can get crawfish in SF, and the ones here were OK. Nice spice and kick. However, I was very disappointed by the other dishes we ordered. The garlic noodles were literally DRENCHED in oil. The dish itself was tasty, but it was a bit disheartening to see so much oil on the plate. It was even leaking off the plate and soaking into the butcher paper. Gross. The same could be said about the flat noodle dish we ordered. OILY.
Beignets were OK, more funnel cake taste than beignets. But I have been spoiled by Cafe du Monde twice this year so I may be biased.
THE BOILING CRAB OF SF!!!!
After reading fellow Yelper Liz C.'s review of The Boiling Crab, I started to crave crawfish. Treking down to SJ is impossible during lunch; nor would I drive there for a weeknight dinner. I remember passing through Red Crawfish in the past, so I yelped it and found it had a similar concept to The Boiling Crab (they also have a regular Viet menu). I immediately I dragged my foodie co-worker with me and we were on our way.
We went there for lunch and they kindly allowed us to order the Dinner Special ($39.99):
1) Ginger Chicken Soup: This was a nice start to the meal as the broth was rich and was slightly sweet from the carrots. The ginger added a nice zing to it. It
2) Sweet Potato Fries: HOLY MOLY!!! I normally don't care for sweet potatoes, but my goodness it was SOOO GOOD! The fries were tempura battered so they were super crispy, They were cooked perfectly; it still had texture to it and wasn't mushy. The slight saltiness from the tempura batter and the sweetness of the potatoes were a perfect combo.
3) Garlic Bread: It was good; you can't really go wrong with butter and garlic right? It was perfect for dipping the juices from the crawfish!
4) Garlic Noodles: MmMmmm...YUMMY! The noodles were comparable to PPQ but less oily. My only complaint is I wish the noodles were more al-dente.
5) 3 lbs of Crawfish (Spicy w/ Original seasoning): Ummm, I was speechless when I saw the size of those babies. They were HUGE; 4-5 inches long!!!! The crawfish was drowning in garlicky spicy goodness. It was tender and sweet; and using the broth as a dipping sauce created a MOUTH EXPLOSION of flavors!
5) Beignets w/ Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: YUMMY!!!! The beignets were more like a pancake shape. It was super crispy outside and had an airy center. It was served warm and was a perfect complement to the ice cream--great combo of textures and heat.
Portions were massive and it was enough to feed 3 people! We definitely got a BANG for our buck with the amount of food we got! 3 pounds of crawfish is almost $39; so we basically got the soup, fries, noodles, garlic bread and beignets for FREE!!!
SERVICE: Fast and friendly. The waitress checked on us several times and made sure our water was always full!
DECOR: Very simple; white walls and brown table and chairs. Tables are spaced out enough that you can walk through freely without bumping into the next person/table.
CROWD: Nearby City Hall and Federal Building Employees. My co-worker and I were such the porkers. Because most patrons order off the regular viet menu for lunch, they couldn't help but stare at two asian girls in business attire getting down and dirty (napkins all over the place, fingers covered in red spices) eating crawfish at lunch. LoL!
Will I be back??? You better betcha ya...now I have a reason to stay in SF for Crawfish!!!
I actually think the crawfish are just ok here. Hit or miss depending how fresh their shipment of crawfish are. So far, they've also been on the smaller side. No way have I seen that soda can size you see on the yelp photo.
My main desire here is the Cajun Spicy Seafood Noodles!!! One of the best spicy soup noodles I've ever had... like a kick ass pho bowl with creole flavors. Sooo delicious! Also decent dishes are the fried chicken wings... crispy with a corn meal coating. Gumbo has great spices, but is not that spicy. Still a great filler when you're tired of peeling all those crawdaddies. Also get the garlic noodles... great side to relieve any spicyness. Must be all the gorgeous butta in there. Sweet potato fries are decent... as are the cajun fries. Gooood spice.
So the crawfish boil broth/slurry is not bad. The Spicy definitely can be sweat gland expanding... but this is the most recommended level. The medium seems like it can afford to be more intense. But this asian style version gives this a rather sweet undertone to the broth.
I went on a Monday night, easy parking and no wait (unlike boiling crab in SJ).
We shared the Set Dinner No. 2, for 2 people.
- Sweet Potato Fries - They were good and very crispy. Might get a little salty after a while.
- 3 Pounds of Crawfish - The batch we got had smaller crawfish but still good! The flavoring wasn't bad either.
- Garlic Noodle - mmmmm i love garlic noodles even though it was oily it was still good.
- Garlic Bread - Just regular o bread with garlic butter.
- Dessert of the Day - we got a large flan which was very smooth and good way to end the meal. :)
We were stuffed after we finished everything. This dinner set was $39.99 and I had the http://restaurant.com $10 off $20 gift certificate which pretty much covers tax and tips. Pricing is very good consider how much food you get (unlike boiling crab in SJ). And they always post up discounted gift certificates on http://restaurant.com. There's one for $25 off $50.
Should get your hands on one of those http://restaurant.com gift certificates and try it!
FYI don't wear nice clothing if you are eating crawfish, its going to get pretty messy.
Will never go here again. Tried this place out because of the reviews on yelp. Service was kind of slow given that there was only one other table in there at the time. Ordered crawdads and shrimp regular spicy. What made me give them one star was the fact that they served us shrimp that was spoiled or leftovers that they reheated. Fresh whole shrimp is usually pink on the inside of the head when cooked. The ones they served us were black on the inside and the shell was dry. The waitress saw what the cooks had brought us and gave us new fresh shrimp and 10% off of our bill but to think that the cooks would even think about serving people that junk is inexcusable. I should have tried Coco's instead. Oh yeah their sauce is on the sweet side and not spicy at all. I prefer a taste more like Boiling Crab.
Oh my gawd, ya'll. There's a spectacular crawfish place in San Francisco.
Tempura sweet potato fries? Yes! Reasonably priced? Yes! Vietnamese food, for your friends that can't quite get the hang of peeling crawfish? Yes!! Six people for $66, and great service.
Sure, it's more expensive than what you'd get if you trawled it yourself out of the bayou, but come on, you're paying for refridgerated shipping, and they're a billion times better than Angeline's Mardi Gras imported crawfish fiasco. Mediocre would merit four stars, but spectacular definitely deserves five.
My family is from Louisiana, and I vouch for the quality and authenticity of this place. Why is it to strange to have Cajun and Vietnamese food mixed together? Have you been to East New Orleans? Trust me, that's all you'll find.
I have to go back and try the beignets (but not with people who make fun of my Louisiana-French pronunciation).
There are a gazillion of restaurants in SF. So to make one stand out, it has to be a combination of quality food and excellent customer service. RED CRAWFISH has it all.
I wanted to try out a different crawfish joint other than the few in San Jose. While this place is not as big as SJ Crawfish or Crawdaddy. What it lacks in space, it made up for in the warm friendly environment. The menu for Red Crawfish is surprisingly large, a combination of Louisiana recipes and your typical Vietnamese favorite dishes (I found out later the owners were Chinese).
The service as I mentioned before was impeccable. We all know how messy a crawfish feast can get. Our table was always cleaned and water was always filled. Given the fact that we came really late and there wasn't a lot of people there ..but still. Most places won't even give a damn even when it's slow. We accidentally order the Garlic Butter flavor after finishing up 3 lbs of the original flavor. BIG MISTAKE! The Garlic Butter was way too bland to go after the original flavor. We should have done it the other way around. They were cool enough to bring the Garlic Butter back and throw it into the original flavor for us, which by the way is effen AWESOME!
I was talking to our server Susan. They only serve Crawfish after 5 pm on weekdays, but is opened for all day for the other dishes. I think they serve Crawfish all day in the weekend. I dunno..please call to confirm.
Overall, this tiny little place is a gem in SF. I haven't gotten a chance to try the other dishes since 6lbs of Crawfish were enough for the three of us. But based on the other reviews on here, it must be good! Oh BTW, remember to ask about their pricing promotion
Other than toothpaste, gum and tobacco, I always thought mint was a useless ingredient (However, I owe it to the Trident company for keeping me kissable & communicative after devouring on a plate of garlic bread)
Leave it to Crawfish and their spicy ground chicken with mint leaves to slap me upside the head just to fall in love with this dish. This interesting entree is served with fried rice and bits of mint leaves with a cute little mint garnish on the side. Beautifully presented and it's not too spicy either...I would say medium to hot. Very unlike any classic asian dish I've tasted.
Along came other dishes we've tried; house special combo noodle and combination fried rice with pineapple. Both dishes.....delicious and unlike most asian meals I've tasted...salted to perfection.
Though, this place gets crowded around 12PM every weekday, it's worth coming by earlier than that time to avoid ass hauling
One of the choicest restaurants I've been to in my neck of the Tenderloin woods....
Little Saigon...you know you got it going on
I was meeting up with a friend of mine in SF and she asked me.. do you like crawfish?.. ohmygosh.. doo i. i looove crawfish!!! so a group of us ventured out to the tenderloin for some vietnamese inspired creole food. We got 2lbs of crawfish and 2lbs of shrimp, garlic noodles, garlic bread, and sweet potato fries. All the food was deeeelicious. It reminded me a lot of Boiling Crab, but without the crazy long waits. Plus the garlic noodles.. yuuumm. This place is a little more relaxing than Boiling Crab, which is nice so you can talk to each other without yelling. i will definitely find my way back here.
Yes, 129 reviewers marked their territory on this here review page before me, but I loved this place so much, that being #130 totally works for me because this place rocks!
I came here on Tuesday night after planning to go to Pagaloc. Every time I hit the Bay area, the P to the Lac is a destination for me, but after being lured a few doors down to try this place, wow, I am totally sold.
What an incredible deal to be had here. The food quantities are massive, tasty, well presented, approachable and fun! Yes, fun! I love dismantling bodies and sucking heads. Am I a serial killer? No, just a crawfish enthusiast and if you are too, come here! You will not be sorry!
The service here is also tops and friendly, so hard to really go wrong with this unassuming little hole in the wall!
... Word of advice though, watch where you put your fingers while eating here. My poor friend got a little hot crawfish spice in his eye and well, crying like a little bitch would be an understatement ;) Poor guy.
SCRUMPTOUS! BOGO!
Buy One Get One pound for free!
I think the original and the garlic sauce was really yummy.
The service was very friendly. The crawfish were not very meaty but it satisfied one's craving for these red little creatures.
COMPROMISE with my friends! This place has craw fish, Vietnamese food, and Chinese food! I was dying to eat at CoCo's but one of my friends is highly allergic to crab and lobster. The craw fish is a cousin of the lobster and I didn't want to take any chances, she told me that she would sacrifice herself for me, just for one day :) Then I felt kinda bad so I decided to eat pho and then I just remembered that Red Craw fish serves pho and craw fish! x33333
We ordered salt and pepper squid (5.75), 2 orders of garlic noodles (6.50each), and the Combo special (14.99/lb).
+: The salt and pepper squid is pretty worth it! You get a huge ass plate with it and some fish sauce. The garlic noodle was the bomb! The Combo special was okay...I ordered it mild with the Red Crawfish seasoning. It had Clams, Mussels, Shrimp, Crawfish. I even remember how many were there in detail! 4 craw fish, 3 shrimps, 2 mussels, and 3 clams, that all equals to 1 lb! Kinda ripp! but the clam and the mussels weigh a lot due to their stupid shell! Hmm next time I come here I shall only order the shrimp! But overall it was pretty good! Their mild isn't as spicy as Coco's (thank god!).
-: Service is kinda slow. You should expect the food to be better then the service here. But the service wasn't bad. It is just that they take your order and they basically leave you alone until they see your water glass kinda empty or if you ask for the check. The thai iced tea came in a very small cup, so not worth it for $3. I think there is a better deal at Lee's! The lady looked very offensive when I told her not to refill my water cup.
i enjoy this crawfish joint over the other places i've been to.
This is definitely not the place to go on a first date if you choose to have the crawfishes spicy.
Everything was so delicious:
-THE CRAWFISHES ..of course...we got 'em spicy
-SHRIMPS: got these suckers very spicy ... glass of milk helped tremendously
-GARLIC NOODLES: tasty & yuummm
-GUMBO: Must get this. i've never really had gumbo before(not that i can remember) so i cant say this is the best gumbo out there in the world, but it sure tastes like it.
-SWEET POTATO FRIES: I was selfish ... I ate the whole basket to myself.. before anyone can touch it.
-BEIGNETS
We always had a hard time trying to find a decent place to eat before going to the Warfield. But now that Red Crawfish is on our radar, problem solved!
We were with Melanie and Madeline, with whom we have enjoyed lots of cajun food, both in Louisiana and elsewhere. I wouldn't exactly call Red Crawfish authentic cajun. To me it's more like an Asian restaurant that dishes out their own version of crawfish, shrimp, gumbo and other Louisiana specialties. And that's fine with me, because I love their take on it, fusion at its finest. Everything we had -- crawfish (we ordered the spiciest version, and it was perfect), sweet potato fries, garlic noodles, and mixed veggies -- was finger-lickin' good.
The decor is fine, nothing notable. What really stands out -- aside from the tasty food -- is the excellent waitstaff. Based on the number in our party (four) and how hungry we were (famished!), our server was very helpful in guiding us through the various "set dinner specials" and pinpointing the one that was best for us. Throughout dinner she reappeared frequently to refill water glasses and check on us.
We left stuffed and happy to have found this little gem in the 'loin. The value is amazing -- lots of food for not much money. Will definitely go back next time we go to a concert.
A great Cajun and Vietnamese food experience. I get the feeling that this place has a lot of regulars. Joel, our server, was really enthusiastic and his enthusiasm was infective. He sold us on the #3 special:
-3 lbs of crawfish
-2 lbs of shrimp
-fried chicken wings
-gumbo
-dessert of the day (usually flan but Joel gave us the beignets at no extra charge)
The crawfish were fantastic -- my first time having them. Great Cajun flavor infused into them. The fried chicken wings were amazing -- some of the best skin I've ever tasted on fried chicken. The gumbo was really good too. I'll probably pass on the shrimp next time as they were difficult to eat for me. I left full and happy. I'll definitely be back soon to try the catfish.
To get to Red Crawfish, bf and I had to circle around for a parking spot. Found one, but was occupied by a homeless guy. Found another spot, and had to cross the street to avoid the fist fight going on. The black man was about the beat the white guy with an orange cone. He even ripped apart his shirt and took off his necklace. Definitely not going to walk into that. Red Crawfish better be worth it all this, I thought.
Two days before, I had tried going to Boiling Crab in San Jose. I had never been to a place like this before and I wanted to experience it. The wait was 1+ hour. We ate at Vung Tau instead.
At Red Crawfish - buy 2 lbs of the same thing, get one lb free. Boyfriend and I got 3 lbs of shrimp total, and a catfish/cajun fries basket. I wanted crab legs. They don't offer that. I settled for a whole crab. They didn't have that either. Wtf? The shrimp was too overcooked. You have to know how properly remove the head, or the insides will get all over the place. Leave your nice clothes and purses at home and put on the bib. There were times when I asked myself "how did THAT get THERE?" Verryyy messy. I hear crawfish is even messier. Service was great. All that food = 33 dollars. Absolutely worth it! But next time, I'm going to Boiling Crab for crab legs.
PS. Order extra spicy, if you like spicy. Spicy isn't spicy enough.
A strange, fantastic experience amidst the bleakness of civic center. This odd pairing of Cajun and Vietnamese cuisines - a true creole, in the linguistic sense - is a freakin gem, and I'm so glad I found it. Where else can you order garlic noodles and crawfish by the pound off the same menu?
My associates and I wandered in after a visit to the Asian Art Museum and were immediately set upon by Joel, the convivial proprietor of the Cajun component of the establishment. He promised us wonders, and he delivered. As Aaron V. documented, we ordered the #3 Special, consisting of 3lbs crawfish, 2lbs shrimp, 9 or so fried chicken wings, gumbo, and a plate of beignets and ice cream.
Everything was delicious. The crawfish were cooked perfectly. The service was off the chain - I mean this guy could not have been nicer or more excited about his offerings. I've been missing the feel of a Maryland crab shack for a long time now and Red Crawfish is just about the closest I've come out here.
Word to the wise regarding the shrimp - eat them fast, or liberate them from the bag, as by the end of our meal they had become overcooked.
shit'll make you slap your cousin for nuthin.
Nani like wingy.
Ok...I don't do this often but.... FIVE STARS!
My awesome party of six strolled in at 830pm on a Monday night. Parking right in front, score. Its on a pretty busy street though, I can see how parking would be horrendous on weekends. Place was pretty empty, score. Very clean, homey, asian hip-ish feel, score. The decor/ setting was a step up from other crawfish places I've been to. Most notable difference - a plate AND fork?! Usually you just get a paper towel roll...and thats it, maybe a wet nap if you're lucky. They also give you real sauce trays for your pepper/lemon & trash trays for the crawfish shells. Not totally necessary, but nice nonetheless.
I've been on a crawfish craze lately. Crawfish for dinner two days in a row? Don't judge me please. I shoulda listened to Yelpers and not even bothered to try anything else but the crawfish. The sweet potato fries (could be sweeter/crunchier) and garlic noodles (plain noodles with garlic powder) weren't anything to rave about.
On the other hand, the crawfish was to dieeee for. The sauce was yummooo, and the crawfish was mos def bigger compared to other places. It just isn't as satisfying when you do all that hard work for so little meat, ya dig? I'm going to be repetitive and tell you to not waste your time/money/stomach space on anything else on the menu when you could be eating these bad boys. Trust.
As other Yelpers have mentioned, the service was outstanding. The price was very reasonable $12.99 per pound / buy 2 lbs get 1 free / came out to $25 per person. The only and only gripe I have about this place is the lack of drink refills...is that Asian of me? hehe... Don't answer that.
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