Captains Boil - Center St 13th Ave NE

[taemo]

We always go to crawfish restaurants whenever we're in the US and been wondering when Calgary would get one (Vancouver and Toronto have a few already) so I was surprised and delighted to see a Captains Boil sign passing through Center Street, we knew we had to try it ASAP.

Service is a little slow but I'm hoping it's only because they just opened recently.

Ambiance is really nice, very clean with nice decorations, they will provide you a plastic bib and gloves at the table, there's also a hand-wash station (great as we don't like using gloves)

We ordered shrimp, mussel, clams in mild captains boil and shrimp in non-spicy garlic.
Wife does not like spicy food so we went with mild and non-spicy first also so that we can taste their spices first but really mild had no kick at all so will be trying spicy next.
I was a little disappointed with their spices as it looked and tasted like 80% butter and 20% spices.
They don't use a lot of garlic either and it was pureed instead of chopped so flavor did not fuse much in the seafood.

Corn, potatoes were good and the sausages were really good, have to try okra next.

And fortunately they cater to the asian crowd so there's white rice, IMO don't bother with the fried rice. Just grab a spoon full of spices from the bag and pour it on your rice.
Garlic bread goes well too.

They currently don't have crawfish as it's not in season and waitress claimed their source is from the pacific and not south-east USA. I was reading an article about pacific crawfish couple of months ago, on how it is bigger and tastier than NOLA crawfish and how it is spreading in the Washington state so I'm guessing that's where it will be coming from (counting down for April)

Waiting line will be insane and place will be packed with asians, I think we'll just take out a tray and eat them at home.

Food - 3/5
Ambiance - 4/5
Service - 4/5

Overall, we can see going here once a month.

[bleu]

Thanks for this review. I will definitely be trying it.

[D'z Nutz]

Thanks for the review, Earl. I drove by it the other day and was wondering if it was any good.

[taemo]

Good but not the best cajun seafood I've had.
#1 in Calgary only because it's the first and only in Calgary

Still planning to go back again sometime next month.
weekday and/or exactly at 5pm is the best time to go.

[RX_EVOLV]

How are the prices?

[taemo]

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How are the prices?

seafood is expensive in Calgary
from what I recall
16$/lbs for shrimp or mussels
20$/lbs for clams

2$ per cup of rice, piece of corn (half cob), per whole potato
6 or 8$ for sausages (worth it IMO and good for 2-4 people)

[TomcoPDR]

Love seafood boil stuff, so tasty. I remember when that place was a Chinese restaurant.

[C4S]

Went there .... quite busy, but kind of interesting ..

Full house, but only one table with White people ... I know it is on Centre Street ..not big deal, but was expecting it is a "white Seafood" restaurant ..

However, no Crawfish, and no corn .. kind of turn me down .. (may be just not during winter time?)

Price is somehow much higher than I expected, of course, still cost less than "Catch" (or other seafood restaurants) but since this is a franchise restaurant from Toronto, should be slightly more affordable IMO.

I guess I will try again when they have Crawfish and Corn ...

[ExtraSlow]

Was more excited about this before I found out it was a massive Ontario franchise. Will still try it out, but less excited about going to the 28th location of something.

[taemo]

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Went there .... quite busy, but kind of interesting ..

Full house, but only one table with White people ... I know it is on Centre Street ..not big deal, but was expecting it is a "white Seafood" restaurant ..

However, no Crawfish, and no corn .. kind of turn me down .. (may be just not during winter time?)

Price is somehow much higher than I expected, of course, still cost less than "Catch" (or other seafood restaurants) but since this is a franchise restaurant from Toronto, should be slightly more affordable IMO.

I guess I will try again when they have Crawfish and Corn ...

never been to Catch nor any other seafood restaurants in Calgary as their menu never interested me.
If the crawfish/seafood restaurant is full of asians or african american, you know it is legit.
When did you go that they didn't have corn?

TBH I wasn't expecting them to have crawfish either as I don't think they would be able to import them from Louisiana.
Even most Vegas/Cali crawfish restaurants gets them from Louisiana right now as crawfish farming just started recently in Washington/Seattle.

Waiting to see the quality of their crawfish in April too, and I'm hoping that their spices and service improves too.

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Was more excited about this before I found out it was a massive Ontario franchise. Will still try it out, but less excited about going to the 28th location of something.

I don't mind it being a franchise as long as it taste good, so far I'm not impressed but better than not having one at all.

I sometimes make my own shrimps, clams, mussels boil for dinner and use a shit ton of cajun and garlic, perhaps I just got used to mine. But would rather go to a restaurant for convenience.

[Prelude_dude]

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Went there .... quite busy, but kind of interesting ..

Full house, but only one table with White people ... I know it is on Centre Street ..not big deal, but was expecting it is a "white Seafood" restaurant ..

However, no Crawfish, and no corn .. kind of turn me down .. (may be just not during winter time?)

Price is somehow much higher than I expected, of course, still cost less than "Catch" (or other seafood restaurants) but since this is a franchise restaurant from Toronto, should be slightly more affordable IMO.

I guess I will try again when they have Crawfish and Corn ...

Not sure if this is why but; the owners are Asian. The friends and family soft opening they did was pretty much all asians. All the advertising they seem to be doing is on their personal facebook, with a lot of the writing being in Chinese. Seems just to be their target market at first until they start ramping up their advertising.

[Disoblige]

Naw, even if you go to Vancouver or Toronto, most of the people you see eating at these places are Asian.

And based on their location, it makes even more sense.

[Xtrema]

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Not sure if this is why but; the owners are Asian. The friends and family soft opening they did was pretty much all asians. All the advertising they seem to be doing is on their personal facebook, with a lot of the writing being in Chinese. Seems just to be their target market at first until they start ramping up their advertising.

Not a terribly bad strategy. Asian love to eat and usually has loads of disposable income and love seafood.

The only down side is I don't know if most Asian love cajun spices.

And given the Chinese restaurants competition are heating up, staying in food biz but out of that fray isn't a bad idea at all.

[max_boost]

I can't afford to eat this seafood stuff lol too expensive

[nj2Type-S]

i want to check it out, but, damn! i just did a "mock" online order for 1 x Dungeness crab, 1 x steamed rice, 1 x corn, 1 x nestea and it came out to $56.70 incl. gst haha! maybe on special occasions...man, I'm poor LOL.

[Disoblige]

It's not about the cost, but more so the value.
Plus the work!
I gotta do all the work to get the meat AND still pay this cost? Not interested lol. I rather hit an AYCE and eat unlimited jumbo shrimp, lobster tail, etc.

[The_Rural_Juror]

Crawfish is out of season until Speedog gets his act together.

[flipstah]

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It's not about the cost, but more so the value.
Plus the work!
I gotta do all the work to get the meat AND still pay this cost? Not interested lol. I rather hit an AYCE and eat unlimited jumbo shrimp, lobster tail, etc.

What kind of crab is on sale at T&T often? Are they Dungeness? Because you can buy a bunch of them for $60.

Then again like you said, the effort is still there... But the quantity though!

[nzwasp]

Hopefully the food comes in a plastic bag ? like down in the states

[E90_330xi]

It does come in a bag, but as mentioned earlier not a ton of flavour and pretty pricey

Quality wasn't great. Shrimp and Crab seemed mushy like it was over cooked. hopefully the kinks get worked out

Also, no liquor licence yet so no booze. Although that might have changed in the last 10 days