Wednesday 30 July 2014

Crab Harbour Restaurant

The Crab Harbour Restaurant is a new restaurant that just opened their doors approximately 2 months ago in the heart of Richmond Hill.  The restaurant specializes in some of the most intriguing ways of cooking an Alaskan snow crab.  Scanning their menu, there is both an a la carte section as well as a set menu which they have listed for $58.89/person.  We made reservations for the evening however when we got there, we noticed that the restaurant was only a half full.

Since there were four of us we thought it would be best to go with four set menus.  We figured it was the easiest way to go.  There was also a line on the menu that say an extra $30 per 1.5lbs.  When the server came out he said the set menu would mean we would have 6.0 lbs to spare however the first 2lbs would not count.  When he brought four crabs out (basically one per person), the total weight after the 2lbs was subtracted was 5.6 lbs. That was like 1.6 lbs over and therefore we would be charged an extra $50 for the evening.  Seeing that it was quite a significant addition, we asked the guy to find four crabs to bring it within the 4lbs difference.  After hemming and hawing for a couple of minutes, he came and said the 4 smallest crabs were 5.2 lbs in total, which means we would still be on the hook for an extra 36 dollars.  It's a tactic that is performed but some of the other restaurants in the city and I would have none of it.  We told them that if they could not find us 4 crabs for under 4lbs total then we were going to leave.  It's not a matter of being cheap or anything but why should the restaurant take advantage of us and force us to pay extra.  It's rather misleading and deceiving. If all the crabs are going to go over, either make your prices to $80.00 per person or don't price it this way.  While this was going on, the table behind us had the exact same issue and after hearing them argue back and forth with their server, they decided to leave.  A new waitress came by and said in order to overcome this juggernaut, they were going to serve us 3 crabs instead of 4 just to get it under 4lbs total.

We reluctantly agreed as the new waitress said she was going to everything right for us that night.  The first to arrive were the appetizers.  Each person oddly got something different.  I got some ginger and beets in mine, while others got seaweed and a different combination of appetizers. 
Appetizer
The Steamed Egg Custard Soup arrived and this was served inside an egg shaped bowl.  By keeping the top on, it kept the dish nice and hot.  What really made this dish standout was the beautiful taste of the Steamed Egg Custard.  It was rather smooth and went down very easily.  Although some may have found the contents to be rather salty, compared to some of the other dishes served that night, it was probably one of the more tastier dishes for the evening. 


Next to arrive was one whole Alaskan snow crab.  Basically the crab had been steamed and cooled.  The legs and claws were all individually cracked open already. Each person also got a small bowl of crab tomalley.  The crab tomalley was tasty while the crab meat itself was well, crabby.  If you ever had crab meat before, there really isn't a great taste to it.  Unless it is mixed with something else, the crab meat would taste about the same as any other crab.

Alaskan Snow Crab
Next to arrive was the Crab Legs Sashimi.  The crab legs had an interesting texture to them in that they were coarse yet soft to the tongue.  One had to literally suck the meat off the legs.  There was a sauce that also came with the legs to assist with the taste.

Crab Legs Sashimi
Next to arrive was the Grilled Crab Paste.  This was basically a mixture of the crab tomalley, crab minced meat and some green onions all served inside a crab's head shell.  Despite all the ingredients mixed together, this dish was surprisingly disappointing.  There was very little to no taste to it at all despite all the ingredients.  It also didn't help matters that the ingredients were all somewhat cold when it arrived. Even though they were only going to serve us three crabs instead of four for the evening, four crab shells arrived on a plate.  The waitress said she was trying to make it right for us so that we could all enjoy the evening so she went in and got four crabs for us instead of the three.

Grilled Crab Taste
The Shrimp Tempura arrived next.  Normally they often serve Crab Legs Tempura however we were told that they didn't have enough in stock and therefore Shrimp Tempura was all they could muster for the evening.  There wasn't anything special about the tempura.  Just simple shrimp with batter was all there was to it.

Shrimp Tempura
The Grilled Crab arrived next and this consisted of 9-10 crab legs that were grilled in tin foil and in a grill.  Again there was no special sauces that went with the grilled crab.  It was dry crab grilled in a pan.  The meat was fresh yet simple however the portions were somewhat small.

Grilled Crab Legs
Last to arrive was the Featured Crab Shabu.   To me, this was probably the best meal all night.  The mixture of lettuce, noodles, crab legs, tofu and bean sprouts mixed with a tasty soup finally hit all the right spots in my stomach.  Up until now, I was still quite hungry and felt like I hadn't anything filling all night.  All those ingredients only provided about 2 bowls per person.  In retrospect, I wish that more of this shabu was provided as it was by far the best meal of the night.

Featured Crab Shabu
I have to admit I was a little bit turned off with their whole method of trying to get more money out of our pockets.  I like people to be up front with us and not have any deception.  If the second waitress didn't come by and assist us with our orders and eventually gave us our fourth crab, we probably would have left the restaurant just like the table behind us.  The food truthfully was somewhat bland and quite simply put, too simple to be charging $60.00 per person.  There was no creativity to many of the dishes. If I was to ever come back again, I would just order the shabu and the steamed custard egg as they are the only two where I thought brought the best value.   Without the shabu and the waitress that evening, I would have given them a 2.5 out of 5. With them, I would give them a 3 out of 5. 

Crab Harbour Restaurant
280 West Beaver Creek Unit 38
Richmond Hill, Ontario

905-731-5570

No comments:

Post a Comment