9 Chain Seafood Boil Restaurants That You Need To Try, According To Customers

Cajun and Old Bay spices, shrimp and crawfish, potatoes and corn; all integral ingredients to a delicious seafood boil. But if you're not making your seafood boil at home and are instead hitting a chain restaurant, it can be nerve-racking to dive in and leave your trust up to the chef. After all, there are dozens of chain seafood boil restaurants across the United States. Not to mention, chains are known for their fast service, and the biggest seafood boil mistake is that timing is everything when it comes to building a boil. So, where can you go that the boil is worth the price and, frankly, your taste buds? Trust us, dining at a seafood restaurant is the one time you'll want to splurge, as low seafood prices can signal cutting corners when it comes to sourcing.

Thankfully, customers all across America have already done the hard work of trying out these restaurants, and their reviews are your ticket to ensuring you get the best seafood boil possible. Looking out for portions, quality, service, flavors, and consistency makes all the difference, so we've gathered the best of the best that hit all these categories, bringing the best seafood boil right to you. Though if you're not so much of a boil fan, you can always grab a seafood plate with help from our guide to the best seafood restaurant in every state.

California, Texas, and even internationally, The Boiling Crab encourages you to get down-and-dirty with its seafood dishes. Here you can create your own dream boil by choosing the seafood (including a choice between three different types of crab: blue crab, snow crab, and king crab), sauce (Rajun Cajun, Lemon Pepper, The Whole Sha-Bang!, and Garlic Butter), and spice level. Then you can add on sides like corn on the cob, sausage, potatoes, and more.

At the Wilshire Boulevard location in Los Angeles, customer Manni P. on Yelp boasts about the shrimp, mussels, sausage, corn, and potatoes in the boil, noting that it's "good flavorful seafood." He's not the only one who enjoys the shrimp either. Several customers mention the shrimp, with one Yelp user saying the shrimp and sausage are simply the best.

Another thing that customers love about The Boiling Crab is its sauces and spice levels. Rather than just powdered seasoning, one Reddit user found that the restaurant uses real garlic and spices to create that big flavor. Even a TikTok user dips his corn into The Whole Sha-Bang! sauce for the best bite.

Those on the East Coast, in the Midwest, and even all the way down in the South can head to Hook & Reel for Cajun seafood inspired by Southern seafood boils. To create your signature boil, you get to choose the seafood, as well as the sauce (Old Bay seasoning, Cajun, garlic butter, seasoned garlic butter, lemon pepper, or the Hook & Reel Special Blend), then the heat level (mild, spicy, or fire), and lastly any add-ins you'd like (corn, potatoes, sausage, hard-boiled eggs, broccoli, noodles, and rice). Of course, there are premade boils that you can choose from off the menu too.

One Facebook user points out its custom options as one of the best parts of going to Hook & Reel. She's able to get a seafood boil without any seafood by ordering a boil full of the add-ons and picking out a sauce and spice level for it all. Since you can even add noodles to the boil, it becomes almost like a spicy soup.

While some may worry about over- or undercooked seafood, especially when it mixes so many different kinds in one boil, a TikTok user reassures that all the seafood comes cooked perfectly. Even in a boil with shrimp, clams, mussels, crab legs, and a lobster tail, all the food comes hot, fresh, and at the perfect texture.

Over in the Southern states, The Juicy Crab is all about creating the juiciest seafood boils with 12 different premade combos, eight different options for your seasoning, and five spice levels. Not to mention, you can always create your own combo and even customize your sides, whether you prefer corn, eggs, or potatoes. If you prefer just one type of seafood, you can even go that route too with boils that contain just crawfish, crab, lobster tails, mussels, clams, and shrimp (or just sausage if you're not a huge seafood fan).

Not only do customers call it one of the top seafood boils ever, but The Juicy Crab is a great place for a seafood boil on a budget, especially if you're heading in with a large group. One Facebook user took four adults and two kids to the Jacksonville, Florida location and ordered two appetizers along with 2 pounds of shrimp, 1 pound of crab, and a ½ pound of sausage. Not only was the food filling for everyone, but the cost came to just over $100 for six people to eat out.

Customers also note that its crab legs are worth ordering. Not only are the crab legs well-cooked and delicious, but the price is less than other seafood boil joints for the same, if not better, quality.

Taste the flavors of Louisiana at Storming Crab, located all across the United States with many locations in the Eastern region. Much like other seafood boil restaurants, Storming Crab has six different combos to choose from, but you can always make your own boil, too, with four different flavors and six different heat levels. Other than the boils, this restaurant also serves both raw and baked seafood, along with gumbo, chowders, pasta, and po'boys for the true New Orleans experience.

YouTube channel Smoky Mountain Faith, Food & Fun took a trip to the Pigeon Forge Storming Crab to try the boils. They were impressed by how clean the crab, crawfish, and lobster meat came out of the shell. Especially since cracking open crawfish or crab can be a job on its own. Not to mention, the amount of food you get is enough to leave you full with leftovers to take home.

One of the other things customers love about Storming Crab is the restaurant's free Seafood Bread if you're dining in. This cheesy bread with crab meat on top is even the reason one Reddit user heads out of her way to grab Storming Crab over other seafood boil restaurants. Though even if you're getting takeout, you can always order an appetizer of the Seafood Bread.

Those east of the Mississippi River (and those in Texas) can head to Crafty Crab for New Orleans-style boils and other fried seafood specialties. To make your seafood boil, you choose from a ½ pound or whole pound of all the usual seafood favorites. Then you pick from four different seasonings, including The Boom!!! that mixes Crafty Cajun, Buttery Garlic, and Lemon Pepper into one. The spicy scale goes from mild to extra fire, and all boils include potato, corn, and an egg.

One food reviewer took to the Crafty Crab in Bowie, Maryland, with his family, where the seafood boil came doused in seasonings and juices to produce a bold and succulent flavor. He notes that you can even get steamed blue crabs when in season for more of a Maryland-style seafood feast.

Another pro for Crafty Crab is that its seafood boils come out hot and fresh rather than other places where the seafood can get soggy from sitting in the boil for too long. One reviewer on Google rated her boil perfect at the Minneapolis location, due to the perfectly cooked seafood boil and its signature garlic butter sauce. Plus, the service for her was unbeatable.

If you're looking to split one seafood boil between your entire table, Crab Du Jour is the place to go. Besides its custom seafood boils, the restaurant also carries a Du Jour Catch Special that gets you a little bit of everything (though you can always include add-ons). For this special, you choose between snow crab legs, Dungeness crab, or two lobster tails, as well as two choices from a selection of clams, crawfish, shrimp (head on or off), and black or green mussels. It also comes with three potatoes and three corn on the cob.

Crab Du Jour is a great spot for those who are not the biggest fans of spice. One Reddit user notes that as someone who does not go for spicy, the mild heat level with Du Jour seasoning is a winning combination. Another user also agrees that overall Crab Du Jour focuses on butter-heavy sauces that are more traditional than the Cajun-heavy spices elsewhere.

Even though it's a chain, the reviews for Crab Du Jour are consistent across various locations. One customer in Philadelphia says it's one of their top picks for seafood chains. Meanwhile another reviewer in Asheville says on Yelp, "The seafood was cooked perfectly. And I was born in a little fishing village in New England and know good seafood when I find it."

Pier 88 prides itself on its Famous Low Country Boil, which the restaurant says is ordered over 500,000 times a year. This Famous Low Country Boil gives you the ultimate seafood boil experience, including a ½ pound each of snow crab legs, shrimp (no head), sausage, boiled egg, corn, and potato. Plus, you still get to pick between four different seasonings and five different spice levels (including a non-spicy option).

One thing customers love about Pier 88 is that its seafood boils focus on balance rather than compromising taste for size and vice versa. This way you get to enjoy the sauce and seasoning, amount of seafood, and spice all on an equal playing field. One customer on Yelp confirms that her meal had "good-sized crawfish, a well-seasoned but not overwhelming sauce, and it was all pretty affordable."

Outside of its Famous Low Country Boil, another reviewer on Yelp recommends the Dungeness. She and her party even came back another day while on their Vegas trip to get the Dungeness crab again.

There are no plates and no silverware at The Kickin' Crab, so you're encouraged to get messy as you dig into its seafood boils the traditional way, with your hands. With locations in California, Texas, Arizona, Missouri, Georgia, Nevada, and Oregon, The Kickin' Crab serves up its seafood boils in a bag and by the pound. If you're planning on splitting a seafood boil, you can always opt for one of its three combos featuring three to four seafood choices, one seasoning, and one spice level. Each restaurant even carries live crawfish that chefs cook right as you order it for a better meal. As New Orleans crawfish boil expert Rick G. Nelson tells The Takeout, "If a crawfish is dead before you cook it, bad news."

The fact that The Kickin' Crab's crawfish is cooked live comes through in its flavor, with one TikTok user saying the seafood is the freshest she's had in a while, specifically when talking about the crawfish. She's not the only one praising its freshness either; even a Threads user touches on the high-quality seafood that comes in every boil.

Another thing customers love is how much sauce you get with your boil. One reviewer on Yelp had corn and sausage left at the end of her meal as well as plenty of sauce, so she took it home, served it over rice, and made a whole other meal out of the delicious sauce.

If you live on the East Coast, Shaking Crab is a way to get authentic seafood boils even if you aren't living right on the coast. Choose between the five Boil Combos that come with a variety of seafood, corn, and potatoes, or eight Shaking Combos where you can pick out one favorite seafood with your choice of sauce and spice level. You can even get the side of garlic noodles and make your seafood boil into a seafood soup.

Part of where Shaking Crab gets its praise is for the amount of food you get in each boil. One Tripadvisor user ate at the Boston Common location, where he had a huge serving with "lots of meat," making it worth every penny. Another customer at the Clifton location on Yelp agrees, "The price point is good for the amount of food they give."

Whenever you go to order your boil, plenty of customers recommend the Shaking Sauce that Shaking Crab is known for. It's essentially a Cajun seasoning blend, but customers note that it gets even better as you go up in spice level.

When it comes to seafood boils, there are a lot of different elements that go into making a delicious one. The amount of seafood, the quality of the seafood, the seasoning or sauce, whether the heat level is appropriate, and cooking style separate a good seafood boil from a bad one. So, when deciding what's the best, we looked at all aspects of the boil. Was the seafood cooked perfectly? Is it live seafood or frozen? Was the sauce or seasoning up to par with expectations? Did the boil come out hot? And was the amount of food worth the money?

Since we're using customer reviews as our source, it's more than just one customer's experience that makes a great seafood boil restaurant. Since tastes and experiences can vary, we also looked for consistency, especially across various locations of the same chain. If one person likes something, it can be a one-off, but if more than one person says the same thing, then we know it's more likely to be true for you too. Rather than just selecting one customer review, we ensured that it's a group-formed opinion by taking all sites and perspectives into account.