I want to first say that I completely appreciate The Boil for what it's trying to accomplish. As someone who love loves loves seafood (I mean the down and dirty crab shack kind of seafood, not the fancy, high end seafood restaurants), I don't think that there are many, if any, roll up your sleeve kind of seafood places in New York City. There are some in Brooklyn near the water but there aren't any places actually in Manhattan.
Cicily and I thought that we were getting there early at 6pm on a Friday but the place was already packed to the gills and the only option we had was to share a table with 4 other people in a corner. It was actually totally fine because they were very nice and otherwise we would have had to wait 2 hours for table. The menu here specializes in seafood by the pound. They have crawfish ($12/lb), shrimp ($12/lb), dungeness crab ($30/lb), snow crab ($15/lb), king crab ($30/lb), lobster ($20/lb) as well as a bunch of combinations and other appetizers. Upon first look, Cicily and I both commented on how expensive the prices were. Yes, we know that it's NYC and not Louisiana or Maryland but at home I can get shrimp for $5/lb or dungeness crab for $20/lb and Cicily mentioned that she can get a pound of crawfish for $3 at home. Yes, I know real estate is higher in NYC and that there's always a mark-up when you eat out so I was willing to totally over look that. I haven't really had crawfish before and Cicily mentioned that typically you need about 2 lb/person but since we wanted to do more than just crawfish we both got the combo A (1 lb crawfish, 1 lb shirmp and some corn, potatos and sausage), split 1 lb of snow crab and got a of sausage ($3). The waitress suggested that we go for the boil special sauce on top of all our seafood - it consisted of garlic butter, old bay and lemon pepper and then we decided to go for spicy flavoring as well.
Cicily had mentioned that in LA they put the seasoning in the water while they boil the crawfish so that the flavors are infused into the crawfish while they cook. It looks like here instead they boil everything and then coat the crawfish and shrimp on top of everything afterwards. I usually don't like a ton of sauces on top of my seafood, I prefer to have them cooked clean and naturally and then have the sauces on the side for dipping but I was open to trying new techniques. The food comes out in this giant steaming plastic bag and they give you plastic gloves and a bib. Now being true seafood lovers, Cicily and I couldn't bring ourselves to put on gloves and a bib. The whole point of an experience like this is to get dirty and covered in seafood - although when I got home I was kind of regretting that I didn't use the gloves. There was a decent amount of crawfish and shrimp. I actually thought that the shrimp was pretty big in size (they were served with the head on) and preferred them to the crawfish since there was so much more "meat" to them. The crawfish were good but honestly it was just way too much work for such little return. At first bite, the sauce was spicy and very flavorful but by the end I realized that it was way too heavy on the garlic butter. I could almost feel my arteries clogging with each bite and there was so much garlic in there that I was so glad that I wasn't on a date because there would have been no way I would have been able to go near them without feeling self-conscious. By the time I got to the end of bag, I was completely covered in the sauce and just felt gross. I moved on to the snow crabs after finishing my bag of crawfish and shrimp and the crab was a bit disappointing. The size of the legs were pretty small and thin. I've had much plumber ones from the grocery stores in Chinatown or Costo and I realized that I still like my crabs with a cleaner taste. I didn't like it covered in all that sauce. I didn't even get to the sausage because well honestly it just looked kind of gross. It was covered in that white greasy fat and just wasn't presented in a way that was very appetizing.
Despite all this, I wasn't totally unhappy with my meal, it just wasn't mind blowing. But what really annoyed Cicily and I was when we were finished and drinking our 2nd beer the owner/host came up to us and said, "Did anyone tell you about the time limit? I need your table for another party now." Umm - no one told us about the time limit and I think it's a bit in poor taste to tell a party about it after they've already sat down and ate. On one hand I totally get that they were super super crowded and needed our table. I get that completely. I just think it could have been phrased better and even when he said that, they never gave us our check! He just said he needed our table but then walked away. We had to flag down our waitress 10 minutes later for the check. It would have been nice if they had said "I see that you're done eating but that you still have a full beer. Perhaps we can move you to the bar while you finish your drink so that we can use your table for those who are waiting for a table to eat." The problem is that their bar was also very full but honestly I think that's something that restaurants need to plan for and kicking people out while they are still eating/drinking is a bit off putting. I do want to say that our actual waitress was super sweet and checked in on us constantly and I had no problems with her. Another downside to the meal was that it was cash only. I don't mind places that are cash only if they are on the cheap side, but most people here are probably going to drop $50+ and for that amount, restaurants should allow customers to pay with credit cards. All in all, I loved the idea and concept of The Boil and would probably go back if someone wanted to try it out, but knowing that I could steam my own shrimp and crabs at home for half the price and the same or better taste doesn't make me want to run over there tomorrow. Total price: $52/pp with tax and tip
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