Groupon | idea rabbit

For Sheepie’s friend’s birthday, we were celebrating it at the Crab King in Steveston. The organizer (the birthday-star’s girlfriend) had some groupons, but they also seem to know the owners, so I think we got extra. The organizer had a commotion with the staff there as the timing of the reservation was screwed up. Not sure who’s at fault, but it was ok, as we (about 16 of us) went to the nearby Waves to just chit chat to kill time.

We were back there for 7pm, but it was still busy. We weren’t the only ones celebrating birthdays as we heard a group and the restaurant staff sing the ol’ birthday song. I wondered why the table were metal and covered in kraft roll paper. I soon found out why. Time to get your fingers dirty!

4 of us shared a pot, and there were plenty of food.

Veggies for the hot pot, along with some dumplings.

We all the the ‘mildest’ soup base, but it looked bloody hot. I took a sip and coughed, as several others did. For our pot, we took out the peppers. It was spicy, but once food was placed into the pot and it diluted the soup a bit, it got better. Also, your tongue become accustomed to it, though I was more worried about getting an upset stomach afterwards. It tasted like Tom Yum Soup.

This was another amazing tower of crabs! It was filled with garlic. Super delicious.

The crabs are definitely a challenge to eat, but they were the plumpiest crabs I’ve ever had.

Whether it was the spicy soup, or the full-house, we were starting to sweat! No AC or open windows! It was messy, and for a lot of work, some of us weren’t full yet. However, it was satisfying to have that much crab, as we normally don’t get to eat fresh crabs that often

The organizer paid for everything, so I can’t comment on the pricing. Service was fine, though it’s mostly self-serve.

Taste: Price for Value: N/A

Atmosphere: Service:
Location:

I bought the 50% off Groupon for this restaurant. I had seen their ads in the KLIP magazine, so I was happy to get some discount on a restaurant that I was wanting to check out.

It was full house. I had tried making a reservation the previous Friday on that day, but I was told it was full, so I phoned the following Thursday for a reservation for Friday evening at 7pm.
The main goal of this trip was to try out the Cute Temari Sushi, which I guess is their signature dish. 10 round nigiri for $12. Very cute, but a bit difficult to eat unless you have a big mouth lol. The fish were fresh and tasty.

Cute Temari Sushi $12

Itadakimasu roll $9.50

Agedashi Tofu done in 3 ways $5.50

We also had the Agedashi Tofu done in 3 ways $5.50. The one with dashi sauce one was interesting. Subtle flavour. I think I liked the teriyaki sauce the best. Not much fan of the sweet chili sauce. It was just hot…that’s it.

We also had the Itadakimasu roll $9.50 which had unagi (eel) and avocado, tamago, tobiko, cucumber, and fried onions. It was crisply and very tasty, although I find that these ‘special’ rolls everywhere try to put a lot of things in it, and they all get mixed up. Other than the eel, it’s hard to know what’s inside, let alone taste anything with the BBQ eel sauce poured onto it. It’s definitely not the true Japanese dish where the focus should be on one flavour and not mixing a whole bunch of everything into one thing – which seems to be popular thing in North America. Despite that thought, the roll was still pretty good.

The restaurant was quite loud and busy, but the staff were very friendly and service was prompt. However, when we were done our meal, they started repairing the tables for some reason when it was still open for business and customers were still coming in. That was a bit disruptive – and so unJapanese like – especially when all the staff were Japanese.

Other than that, it was a pleasant dinner. The voucher process went smoothly, and would likely return sometime again the future.

Taste: Price for Value:

Atmosphere: Service:
Location:

idea rabbit

Tag Archives: Groupon

The Crab King Restaurant

Itadakimasu