Crab Pot

Published 4:52 am Thursday, August 9, 2012

Crab is one of those foods that I’ve never really had to pay for. I’m one of those lucky people who happens to know generous fishermen, and have it given to me by the Hefty sack a few times each season. So I really don’t ever buy whole crab at restaurants that offer it. But even if I did, I’d never pay $29.95 for one. This out-of-line fee is indicative of the rest of the prices on the Crab Pot’s menu.

The food is very good, just incredibly overpriced.

Clam chowder ($4.50 cup/$7.95 bowl) is delicious. The potato is pillow soft, and melts in the mouth. The thickness is spot on, right down the middle of the spectrum. Perfectly seasoned as well, though a few twists of the server’s pepper mill do add a nice touch.

Crab cakes ($15.95 a pair) are spicy and blackened, details the menu really should provide. I found them to be salty and a bit crumbly. The delicate crab flavor is lost amidst the blackening spice and charred surface. The cakes are a bit larger than I usually encounter, but certainly not worth $8 apiece.

Seafood and chips dishes are superb. I consider Astoria’s The Ship Inn to be the gold standard of battered and fried seafood, and Crab Pot is every bit their equal … except for the prices, of course.

Calamari ($15.95 for 10 pieces) is of the strip variety, but very tender, and kept from flaccidity by the great beer batter it’s been dipped in. The batter is golden, crispy, and doesn’t retain a lot of grease. The prawns ($16.95 for five, $24.95 for 10) are also perfectly cooked, and large for restaurant prawns. Fried Willapa Bay oysters ($11.95/$18.95) do not disappoint. I usually don’t care for battered oysters, but Crab Pot’s recipe is hard to dislike.

The kitchen is also quite adroit when it comes to cooking times. Oysters and prawns are often overcooked in the fryer, but not here. Cod fish and chips ($12.95 two piece/$19.95 four piece) are just as impressive as the rest. Moist and flaky within the crisp exterior, I’m reminded why cod is my favorite fish for the dish.

The “chips” that accompany are fittingly fantastic. Well seasoned and with a crispiness that lasts, they deserve to share plate space with the splendid seafood. Halibut, a fish I prefer more delicately prepared and sauced, fetches quite a price at Crab Pot – $17.95 for two pieces, $32.95 for four. It was good, but it wasn’t that good.

I flipped through the Coastal Menu Guide and found The Ship Inn’s sample menu and perused the prices. The prices of two and four-piece halibut dishes are $10.75 and $20.45 respectively. That is also the price for prawns. Same preparation, same quality. Plus, The Ship Inn doesn’t charge 50 cents for additional sauces, a practice I find chintzy and offensive when spending so much per plate. This is similar to Crab Pot’s $1 charge for fountain drink refills. There’s no restaurant markup quite as sweet as fountain drinks, but come on. I gave you two bucks for a glass of Diet Pepsi that cost you 15 cents? Give me a couple on the house. After all, I’m paying $27.95 for this fettuccine Alfredo with prawns on top and my guest’s Caesar salad with chicken is $16.95!

There are a few modestly priced items to be had. Fettuccine Alfredo starts at $9.95. It’s when you start adding things to it that it starts to skyrocket. The cheeseburger is just $8.95, and quite good, with handmade patty, romaine for lettuce and a side of those tasty fries.

The $9.95 oyster sandwich is also priced right and delicious. I enjoyed the bay shrimp panini ($12.95), which features press-grilled focaccia around plenty of shrimp and cheese. I really loved the food at Crab Pot, but I wouldn’t spend my own money on it!