So this is a duel review between Hot N Juicy and Smokin' Crawfish. As you can tell by this review, I'm all in with Team Smokin'. But isn't it true with life? Do you want a Hot guy/gal, or do you want a Smokin' guy/gal?! Told you so!
Time of Visit:
Hot - Thursday night around 9pm
Smokin' - Friday night around 9pm
Wait time:
Hot - For eat in, there were 7 parties ahead of us so we decided to do take away.
Smokin' - Lots of room; seated at a booth promptly.
Parking:
Hot - small parking lot so we had to park in the dark residential alley akin to Freddie Krueger's neighborhood. It was a bit scary and we ran for the car.
Smokin'- plenty of room in the shopping center. No sweating or running required.
Service:
Hot - Given the wait time, decided to order to go at the to-go counter. There were 3 staffers there, but no one acknowledged us for a solid 5 minutes. We didn't even get a "be with you a minute." Ignored and they didn't care!
Smokin' - cast and crew were very attentive... actually beyond attentive. The tag team waiter and waitress were great, funny, and helpful. Billy, I can tell you love your job since you are just fab at it.
Price for crawfish:
Hot - $11.99/lb
Smokin' - $11.99/lb
Quality of crawfish:
Hot - tasted frozen and lots of cracked heads. It's never a good thing to have a crack head. Most of the crawfish were very small. Size does matter when it comes to the crawfish.
Smokin' - obviously live crawfish, lots of different sizes and heads were all in tact. Meat had a nice chew.
The Gear
Hot - bib and gloves (to go), you provide your own table cloth (I used the hotel laundry bags!)
Smokin' - high end paper table cloth, bib and gloves
Poop sack:
Hot - Not sure what these crawfish were swimming in, but the pooped sacks were very full of who knows what.
Smokin' - Poop sacks not as heinous as Hot and actually most were pretty white as oppose to black.
Seasoning:
Hot - Ordered the Hot N Juicy Special in mild. It had great depth of flavors with different levels of seasoning. Hot actually wins in this category.
Smokin' - Ordered Smokin' Style in mild. Flavors were good and garlicky, but just a notch below the layers at Hot. However, my companion thinks Smokin' wins in this category also.... Sigh, I guess I'll have to come back again and again to taste test.
2nd Date Quality (the come-back factor):
Hot - Not even if you treat me like a call girl and paid me.
Smokin' - Anytime baby!
Atmosphere:
Hot - Hurry up and eat so we can get someone else's a$$ in your chair.
Smokin'- Take your time and talk to me. Also, try to win a lobster from the claw machine while you are at it and Smokin' will even cook it for you.