Fatty Crab

NOT A FAN of Fatty Crab on Hudson St.

Went there for a Thus night meal -- there were four of us. Really disappointing for such a highly regarded -- and pricey -- spot. Here's why:

- The place was blasting music as if they were trying to fill a club, when the restaurant is really small.

- Waiter was quite snarky and too-cool-for-school, which struck me as especially strange given it took...+READ NOT A FAN of Fatty Crab on Hudson St.

Went there for a Thus night meal -- there were four of us. Really disappointing for such a highly regarded -- and pricey -- spot. Here's why:

- The place was blasting music as if they were trying to fill a club, when the restaurant is really small.

- Waiter was quite snarky and too-cool-for-school, which struck me as especially strange given it took him about 20 mins to come over and bring us water. No apology, no warmth, etc.

- We were told to order lots of small plates, and that the food would come out fast and furious. We didn't see the first plate until about 45 mins after placing it.

- Food was not tasty, but maybe that's just my opinion, b/c the other folks I was w/ liked it.

- Had to literally wave arms like a crazy person to get any staffer's attention. They were all chatting and hanging by the bar area.

- No apology for any of the delayed service.

I won't go back.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (80 Replies) (by JessicaMadeline, created July 12, 2011)

»Fatty Crab Price to Portion

Went with a group of 8 last night, on the whole we all liked everything we ate a lot, but I was a little put off by the price to portion ratio.

We ate:
pork belly and pickled watermelon, very good--loved the bite of the watermelon after the fat but $15 for 4 pieces of pork belly and some watermelon? I was at the Union Square farmers market yesterday and saw a belly for $17 (I guess pork belly...+READ Went with a group of 8 last night, on the whole we all liked everything we ate a lot, but I was a little put off by the price to portion ratio.

We ate:
pork belly and pickled watermelon, very good--loved the bite of the watermelon after the fat but $15 for 4 pieces of pork belly and some watermelon? I was at the Union Square farmers market yesterday and saw a belly for $17 (I guess pork belly has jumped the shark, unless you buy it for $4 in C-town). We had to order 2 of these so everyone could get some.

Pork buns: Also very good, nice big chunk of belly with a spicy sweet sauce. At 11 bucks for 2 (making Baohaus look like a deal) we had to get 4 orders.

Chicken wings: 3 unsplit wings apiece. Nice, with strong Indian flavors that I can't exactly pinpoint because I was pretty drunk at this point.

Fatty Duck: crispy and rich, but a half duck for $17 in which we each only get a bite is kind of shitty in my opinion.

Chicken Claypot, which was also kind of small (but the cheapest entree at $14). There were only a couple pieces of tofu and some sauce left by the time it got to me.

Beef shortrib rendang ($25) was fantastic. I loved the coconut flavor.

Instead of getting the fatty crab itself, our waiter recommended getting a couple orders of toast with the crab gravy. This was awesome, and we ordered extra toast to finish all the gravy. Not sure how much they charged us for this (or if they charged us for the extra toast).

We also got 3 rounds of the recession special, which was one of the better deals in the restaurant: a pickleback and a tall boy PBR for $10. However, they ran out of pickle juice for the second round, but mysteriously found pickle juice reserves for the third.

On the whole a very good meal, but we were rushed the whole time because we were taking up so many seats. All the food came out quickly, and we at in around an hour. We ordered our last round of recession specials as we were finishing our meal. They brought us our bill really quickly and the host and our waiter were eyeing our table as we felt obligated to chug our pbr's.

The bill worked out to $80 a person ($50 without drinks). The obvious comparison (though some will certainly disagree) is Momofuku. For the fried chicken dinner at Noodle Bar with 7 people, it worked out to $40 a person with drinks and lots of other add-ons (pork buns, tamales, dessert). Much more food as well. At Ssam bar I've eat through pretty much the whole menu, with drinks for $60 a person (3 of us).

What does this mean? Overall the food was great, refreshingly spicy and hot, but the price/value means I probably won't be going back for awhile. However, it also means that I need to try some of the more authentic Malaysian restaurants in the city (especially Laut, which is right near my office but I keep putting off).

Anyone else have similar thoughts about the value or other new Malaysian rec's?

www.lawandfood.blogspot.com-COLLAPSE / REPLY (2 Replies) (by ChiefHDB, created April 3, 2010)

»One of the Worst Meal$$$ in Manhattan

We met another couple for dinner last Friday @6:30. The music decibel level was so loud that we should have walked. BUT, we unfortunately stayed. We were literally shoved into a table. From the starting gun, we were rushed and hurried. The food was beyond awful. Having eaten at the UWS branch, I could not believe it was so poor. The slidders were dry, tasteless and with gristle to boot. The duck...+READ We met another couple for dinner last Friday @6:30. The music decibel level was so loud that we should have walked. BUT, we unfortunately stayed. We were literally shoved into a table. From the starting gun, we were rushed and hurried. The food was beyond awful. Having eaten at the UWS branch, I could not believe it was so poor. The slidders were dry, tasteless and with gristle to boot. The duck breast was mostly fat (thus the name) and bone. The fish fry was meagre and tasteless except for the pepper-heat. The steamed pork buns were more bun than anything else. I would never consider returning. The before-tip tab was $155 with 4 glasses of wine. The decibels were in the red, we were rushed and hurried out and the tab was outrageous amount and quality of the food. Zak Pellacio had better take a close look at the place, if he has the time given his empire. Very disappointing and very obvious that the focus is the drink tab NOT the food. STAY AWAY from here if you are looking for anything close to Malaysian food. The authentic Malay places embarass this imposter and expose the prices for what they are, a rip off.-COLLAPSE (by Marco, created October 12, 2009)

(by gargantua2, created September 7, 2011)

(by cushymitch, created June 9, 2010)