South Everett's Seafood Upgrade: Angry Crab Shack

This story is brought to you by Live in Everett Member Juanita "Nita" Dawson LMT/MMT

How have I driven past the old Olive Garden location for ten months without realizing it is now an Angry Crab Shack??? And more importantly, why did I do this to myself? If you’re like me, you have probably never heard of Angry Crab Shack, but if you love seafood, you must try it. The Everett Angry Crab Shack opened in November of 2023 and is one of a franchise out of Mesa, Arizona… which was a surprise to me.

After being seated at a table covered with plain white butcher paper and handed a cup of markers to doodle, our waitress gave us the rundown on the menu and how the seafood boils work. I did walk in with visions of raw oysters reclining in brine in their scraggy shells, but my hopes were dashed when I was told they were sold out.

Their menu consists of loads of seafood including oysters, catfish, shrimp, clams, scallops, lobster, crab, crawfish, and mussels in all sorts of offerings; a burger and a spicy chicken burger; fried fish baskets; rice bowls; some standard cajun offerings like jambalaya and red beans and rice; mixed seafood boils; and a build-your-own seafood boil. There are also a few items on the menu for kids and vegetarians.

The price of the seafood boils is set by the market and you can customize your bag: you pick your meat, sauce, and desired spice level. You can also add items like corn cobs, potatoes, or sausage. If you prefer more seafood in your bag, they have an add-on menu where you order seafood by the half-pound, also at market price. For those of you who have a hard time choosing when faced with more than three options, they offer a set of mixed bags where they have the meat and veg set but you choose your sauce and spice level. There’s even a Neighborhood Block Party boil that will feed 5-8 people.

To start, we ordered a few beers and a basket of calamari with cocktail sauce. The strips were tender and nicely breaded, the meat was not overcooked, and while the cocktail sauce could have used more of a kick, it was light in texture and tasty.

Being newbies, the menu was fairly intimidating but it wasn’t long before we decided. I ordered the Twin Lobster Rolls which was plain, chilled lobster meat seasoned with cajun spice, served on two buttery New England rolls, sprinkled with green onion, served with a lemon wedge, a tub of melted butter, and cajun fries. I didn’t taste much cajun seasoning on the lobster or the fries, but that wasn’t an issue. The lobster was tender, delicious, and abundant; there was even a decent amount of claw meat in each roll. Having never eaten a lobster roll before, I have nothing to compare this to but the boyfriend said it was one of the best lobster rolls he’s tasted.

The boyfriend ordered the Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich which is a perfectly shaped and breaded chicken breast, smothered in their house Trifecta sauce (a divine combination of their cajun, lemon pepper, and garlic sauces), topped with coleslaw (but not too much!) and pickles on a toasted Hawaiian bun, also served with cajun fries. I was lucky enough that he offered me a bite because this was the best fried chicken sandwich I have ever had…and I’ve spent a lot of time looking for great fried chicken sandwiches! It was perfectly cooked and spicy with a lil crunch from the slaw, and tang from the pickles. The boyfriend was trying to invoke memories of the spicy fried chicken sandwiches from his time spent in the Southeast - and he said that since he can’t get Bojangles outside of the Southeast, this is at the top of his list.

I’m sure many of you have discovered the Angry Crab Shack in the last ten months, but if you haven’t, check it out. And please, order a half-dozen oysters for me.

Angry Crab Shack
1321 SE Everett Mall Way, Suite C
Everett, WA 98208
425-353-2722