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Oakland Magazine »  Dining »  Restaurant Guide

Restaurant Guide

Art's Crab Shak Restaurant and Lounge

Categories:
  • Seafood

Essential Information

4031 Broadway
Oakland, CA

510-654-2864

For four-something decades, East Bay residents have been sucking and cracking their way through pounds of delicious lemon-butter crab at one of Oakland's best-kept secrets, Art's Crab Shak. You don't go to Art's for the fine-dining service or chic atmosphere (there are Christmas cards on the wall from the '80s, after all); you go there to get your hands dirty and fill your stomach with fried snapper, collard greens, garlic rice, garlic noodles with shrimp, and of course, crab. Dungeness crab is drenched in butter and lemon, topped with marinated mushrooms and a splash of lemon pepper. Art's doesn't take reservations, but you can always order to go, if the line is too daunting. This establishment makes you pay before the meal, so no dining and dashing here. But skimping on portions isn't part of Art's vernacular. A party of five or more won't go wrong ordering the family bucket of crab, we swear. On a weekend, the sound from the cackling regulars hanging at the bar might drown out conversation, but, hey, didn't your mother teach you not to talk with your mouth full anyway?

Additional Information

Area: Temescal

Price: $$$

Features:
Credit Cards Accepted
Full Bar
Wheelchair Accessible