10 Restaurant Chains With the Best Crab Dishes

Crab has long been a prized seafood due to its succulent meat and delicate flavor. Cooking crab usually involves simple techniques such as boiling or steaming, preserving the natural taste and texture of the meat. Around the world, cultures put their own twists on preparing this crustacean. Among the most popular types of crab to eat are king crab, snow crab, Dungeness, stone crab, blue crab, and Jonah.

Whether you want to consume crab in a classic crab cake, via a Cajun-style crab boil, or tossed with fried rice or french fries, you've got choices, as restaurants across the U.S. showcase the versatility of this seafood delicacy.

Ahead, find 10 chain restaurants, including seafood favorites, Japanese restaurants, and steakhouses that serve the best crab dishes across the U.S.

Red Lobster

With more than 600 locations around the U.S., dinner at Red Lobster is a tradition for many. The chain delivers mighty seafood feasts, including its Crab Your Way platter.

Order this dish for a full pound of crab legs, prepared with butter or steamed—you can order up to 2 pounds of crab. It's served on top of crispy potatoes, which pick up the butter and drippings to become the perfect side.

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Bonefish Grill

One thing that's great about sweet crab meat is how versatile it is. Popular seafood chain Bonefish Grill has used that versatility in its creative and rich Crab-Topped Bang Fries—crispy seasoned fries topped with shredded crab meat and the spot's signature Bang Bang sauce, giving the dish a spicy zip.

Eddie V's Prime Seafood

This seafood chain, one of the best in the U.S., has several crab dishes on its menu, including crab cakes and crab legs. While those are excellent choices, another option is a side dish of the restaurant's crab-fried rice, in which savory soy-rich fried rice meets flaky, tender bits of crab meat.

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Joe's Crab Shack

Since opening in Houston in 1991, Joe's Crab Shack has been serving crab and other seafood to diners around the U.S. The chain currently has about 30 locations where you can indulge in the Crab Daddy Feast, a crab boil with three kinds of crab: snow, Dungeness, and king. Pick a seasoning blend, with choices including steamed, Old Bay, and spicy, and get your crab fix for the month.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Legal Sea Foods

Legal Sea Foods makes its way onto many lists due to its commitment to fresh-from-the-ocean seafood. While you may have tried its lobster roll, another shining menu item is the crab roll. For this dish, crab gets tossed with a light dressing of mayonnaise that brings out the meat's sweetness. It's served on a long roll with coleslaw and fries and might be the perfect summer meal.

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The Boiling Crab

The Louisiana-inspired Cajun seafood restaurant has been serving quality seafood boils since 2004—it's a classic way to serve crab. At this crab-focused spot, you first choose among blue crab, Dungeness crab, snow crab legs, or king crab legs. Then, pick a sauce (like lemon pepper or Rajun Cajun) and a spice level and let the restaurant work its magic. All you have to do is crack the crab and eat it up.

Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse

With locations from Boston to Texas, this Italian steakhouse has a menu of steaks, seafood, and pasta. Its oven-baked lump crab cake is made with a generous amount of crab and served with zesty whole-grain mustard. You can get this as a starter or as part of its hot seafood tower, which also features lobster, crispy scallops, and crispy calamari.

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McCormick & Schmick's

Another top seafood chain, McCormick & Schmicks, has more than 20 locations in the U.S. and five in Canada. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Houston, the brand operates in California, Georgia, Illinois, and Minnesota, among other states.

While the restaurant's commitment to sustainability means the menu varies by location, many outposts offer a rich lump crab cake. The meaty cake is served as a meal with mashed potatoes, a seasonal veggie, and tartar sauce as a topping.

Nobu

Back in 1994, sushi chef Nobu Matsuhisa teamed up with actor Robert De Niro to turn his sushi restaurant into an empire, and today, the celeb-favorite Japanese spot has more than 50 restaurants worldwide.

One of the chain's most cheeky dishes is the tacos—small crispy wonton wrappers stuffed with veggies, tuna, or the sweet meat of a king crab. This unforgettable dish has spawned copycat recipes.

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Truluck's

This Texas-born chain, with 12 locations in the Lone Star state, Florida, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., follows ocean conservancy guidelines—meaning you can know where your meal came from.

One such dish is the incredible fresh Florida stone crab claw platter, only available during stone crab season. A plate of chilled, pre-cracked claws delivers the sweetest meat on the stone crab. It's served with lemon and a house specialty mustard sauce.

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