My friend’s mom was in town recently and we came here for a nice dinner. We weren’t disappointed! While not the fanciest place in the world (and the decor seemed to need a little updating), the food was so tasty!!! Considered a “fusion” restaurant, the seafood dishes definitely have an Asian twist. Just expect to drop a few bucks for their signature dishes – crab, of course.

Crustacean is quasi-famous for being one of the first fusion restaurants ever. Through this, it gained a large reputation for being unique, but Asian fusion is anything but unique anymore.

I heard that this has led to the restaurant going slightly downhill, mostly riding on its reputation for continued success. However, it should still be good.

The menu has a variety of dishes, most of which reminded me of Vietnamese foods. As the name suggests, they have a lot of seafood dishes, all of which were pretty good.

The roast crab and tamarind crab (yup, we had both) were solid, though you do have to question whether they are worth the price you pay (especially since they are easy to make yourself). The steamed sea bass is very good, but steamed sea bass is very good almost anywhere you go and it doesn’t have to cost this much. The garlic noodles also fall in the category of “This is good, but it’s just noodles in oil and garlic…and it costs $10.”

Desserts were good, but typical…nothing new.

The service is actually probably the part that stood out…the people were exceedingly friendly and accomodating…definitely top-notch.

All in all, the food is decent, but most of your money is probably going to the service, as the food is good, but more expensive than it should be. You can get food just as good for less (or better for the same price).

Tamarine in Palo Alto is a cut better for the same money. Or, if you want good crab dishes, try the chili crab at Shiok. Still, Crustacean is worth going to because of its history as one of the first fusion restaurants and it’s still a solid meal.

The regular crab is excellent. Must order the garlic noodles!