Mad City Crab House Quick Byte Review
Mad City Crab House
122 State Street
Madison, WI
(608) 310-6933
Hours: Open for lunch and dinner, Monday – Saturday
Mad City Crab House has been opened on State Street for nearly a year now, filling the Madison need for a straight forward shellfish oriented restaurant. We tried Mad City Crab House for lunch several weeks ago. We found it to be bright and airy, evoking the feel of the Florida sea shore through the colors and overall decor.
The menu changes often, depending on fresh catches and crab that is freshly available at the time. Not surprisingly, it is heavy on the crab, with most of the appetizers and other dishes being crab dishes. On the surface, the prices seemed reasonable, with appetizers ranging from $6.95 for items like Jerk Calamari and Pan Seared Crab Cakes, to $8.95 for Stone Crab Claw Cocktails and for a plate of Oysters by the 1/2 dozen.
We tried the Crab House Spin Dip ($7.95), a mixture consisting of Dungeness Blue Crab, spinach, artichoke hearts, cream cheese and parmesan cheese, served with garlic toast for dipping. The dip had a good consistency, creamy from the cheese. We’ve had better such dip, but this did hit the spot.
You can order your crab by the pound, which we did. On this trip, we chose Crab Legs ($10/pound), and Stone Crab Claws ($12/pound). The Claws are steamed in a white wine garlic sauce and have good flavor.
The Legs were served simply, with a side of drawn butter and a slice of lemon. The legs were messy and hard to eat, as this restaurant doesn’t seem to believe in making the partaking of Crab Legs easy on their diners. No slits were added to the shells, forcing the diner to wrestle their food into submission. Surprisingly, no wet wipes are offered with the orders, and weren’t even available upon request, leaving bodily parts that came in contact during the wrestling match smelling of seafood. If you are out for a business lunch, or heading back to the office after a more casual lunch, this can be a messy and awkward situation.
Overall, we liked this restaurant. If you have a hankering for simple shellfish at a reasonable price, this fills the niche.
