GREAT EATS HAWAII: KARAI CRAB REVISITED

KARAI CRAB
HONOLULU, HAWAII

KARAI CRAB

901 HAUSTON STREET

HONOLULU, HI 96826

808-952-6990

www.karaicrab.com

Hours: 11:00 to 10:00 PM Daily

Valet Parking Available

Free Parking for Take Out

My second visit to Karai Crab confirmed what I said in my first blog about the place. The food is really good. We went on a Sunday and there was no wait and plenty of room without a reservation. A friend of mine dined here a few weeks ago and told me that you can sit outside. The inside dining room is a bit small and has the feeling of an office building. There is nothing on the walls and absolutely no atmosphere. We requested to sit outside and the hostess quickly accommodated our request. Outside was cool and comfortable. The tables overlook the small lagoon and waterfalls that surround the Willows Restaurant. Simply beautiful and relaxing. Loved it outside. We had an incredible little waitress that was so courteous and smiled constantly. She was fantastic considering she was taking care of the tables inside and had to keep coming outside to take care of us. We started our huge meal with the Etouffe ($8). This is a slightly spicy dish of shrimp in a creamy sauce that is served over Dirty Rice with Red Beans. Absolutely loved this dish and would come back just to have it again. Next up was some Corn on the Cob ($3). Four small pieces of some very sweat corn that was lightly spiced. Thought $3 was a bit high for such a small order of corn but loved the taste.
We ordered the Garlic Bread ($2) because the waitress recommended it so we could soak up the sauce with the bread. We all got so full on the other stuff and never touched the Garlic Bread. Ended up taking it home along with a whole lot of leftovers. We saw the Bacon and Jalapeno Corn Bread ($3) and just had to try some. Served with a huge serving of honey butter on the top. The bread had nice pieces of corn inside and was delicious. The Chicken Wings ($12) were good but lacked spice. I ended up soaking the wings in the sauce from the Crab Legs and they were fantastic. The Karai Crab Combo Bowl ($25) was ordered with the Karai Special Sauce which is a combination of Cajun Spices and Garlic Butter. We went with the "Spicy" heat level and it was HOT. For me it was the perfect heat level. My wife and daughter liked the flavor but thought it was a little to hot for them. The Karai Combo includes shrimp, mussels, clams, crawfish, corn, sausage and potatoes. All of the seafood is placed in a large bowl and tossed with your desired spices. There seemed to be a lot of Mussels in our bowl which we are not huge fans of. Loved everything else in the bowl. Make sure you cut up the potatoes and let them sit in the sauce before you eat them. This adds a ton of flavor to the spuds. The King Crab ($32) was delicious. Huge crab legs soaked in our chosen Karai Special Sauce with "Spicy" heat level. Once you get the crab out of the shell, you can dip it into the sauce. Pure heaven. As we dug into each dish, the heat started to kick in. We were all drinking water and wiping our hands and faces non stop with napkins. My daughter requested a glass of milk which was quickly brought to our table by the Manager. This was a great meal. We had a load of leftovers which the waitress happily packaged into takeout containers for us. Loved the spice level, food and service at Karai Crab. You can read my first review by clicking on the link below.
http://greateatshawaii.blogspot.com/2012/09/karai-crab-honolulu-hawaii.html