The Holy Crab: Louisiana-Inspired Seafood in Vancouver

The Holy Crab has opened their first location in Canada and it’s located on Vancouver’s Robson street. It’s very interesting to see something new open up in this neighbourhood that isn’t Japanese food. I was invited to try a few things off the menu, so I was ready to get my hands dirty.

The Holy Crab has partnered with suppliers to bring the best selection of local and premium sustainable seafood to its tables, with many of them Ocean Wise.

The menu includes a variety of seafood such as Dungeness crab, King Crab, Snow Crab, lobster, shrimp, clams, mussels, oysters, and crawfish. Seafood is boiled and served with a choice between garlic pepper or The Holy Crab’s signature Cajun sauce.

Interior

The 2,900 square foot, 92-seat restaurant aims to focus on sustainable seafood offerings in a casual and friendly southern-inspired setting.

Preparation

They give you gloves, a bib, utensils and lots of paper towels to make sure you’re ready to begin devouring all the food. They have many different kinds of scissors too for cutting up the various types of seafood. The staff are nice and they will give you through how to each each item.

Dungeness Crab

The dungeness crab comes from the Pacific Northwest, on the coast of Washington. It is best known for its sweet and succulent taste. It is about 2lbs and is OceanWise certified. It was hard to figure out how to crack this open, but my trusty friend Gastrofork did all the dirty work and I just reaped the rewards. It’s good to have skilled friends.

It is topped with their original cajun garlic pepper sauce and you can have it as mild, medium, spicy or HOLY MOLY!. Of the bunch, we liked the holy moly as it has more flavour but it can be spicy for some people.

Crawfish

The freshwater crawfish also known as crayfish is like a tiny lobster. I would say this isn’t my favourite seafood as it’s mostly shell. You have to work hard to get a small piece of flesh.

Shrimp

The shrimp was pretty good and you can’t go wrong by adding corn to it. One of the easier items to peel with your hands.

King Crab Legs

Hailing from the Northern Pacific, these gigantic King Crab legs are filled with tender, slightly salty white meat. As the legs were spikey, it was a bit hard handling them and cutting into them.

Maggi was super determined to de-shell this for the table. Props to all her effort.

Clams

Clams are OceanWise certified and I found the meat inside the shells to be a bit tiny.

Onion Rings

Onion Rings were lightly battered and had a nice crunchy texture to it but it was missing some seasoning.

Crispy Soft Shell Crab

These baskets are so cute. The soft shell crab is delicious, I have a secret soft spot of soft shell crab.

Crispy Fish Fingers and Cajun Fries

This was one of our favourite sides. The fries and fish dipped into the tartar sauce was so good. We gobbled this right up.

Sweet Potato Fries

Another delicious item. Super crisp and you can’t say no to sweet potato fries.

Steamed Vegetables

Nothing exciting here, but if you need a balance of veggie goodness, it’s an option.

Drinks

The have alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. My favourite thing to have with good Cajun seafood boil is beer. Besides beer, there are mocktails and cocktails.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was great to give The Holy Crab a try as there have been other seafood boil restaurants popping up in Metro Vancouver. It’s very unique in the West End on Robson Street. The flavours of the sauce aren’t overpowering and goes well with the items on the menu.

We Rate The Holy Crab: