Seven Pounds of Crawfish for One Pound of Meat: Where to Get a Seafood Boil in St. Louis
Revised October 26, 2026
Where can you get a seafood boil in St. Louis?
Start with Hook & Reel on Chippewa Street or Crab’s Landing on North Tucker Boulevard. Broadway Oyster Bar serves a bucket of boiled crawfish on South Broadway, and Peacemaker in Benton Park puts andouille and a biscuit in its boils. La Juicy Seafood has kitchens on West Florissant Avenue and in O’Fallon, and Crafty Crab is in Fairview Heights. Order by the pound, then pick a sauce and a heat level.
Keep reading ↓Mostly shell. That’s the bucket in front of you at Broadway Oyster Bar on South Broadway: a pound and a half of spicy boiled crawfish with lemon garlic butter, a band playing somewhere behind you, and juice running down your wrist as you twist the first tail loose. Pinch, pull, reach for the next one.
About 15 percent of a medium crawfish’s body weight is tail meat, according to LSU AgCenter and Sea Grant agent Mark Shirley. It takes about 7 pounds of medium crawfish to make 1 pound of meat, and about 8 pounds of big ones, because of their big claws and heavier shells. Bigger isn’t better.
That math runs the whole seafood boil scene in St. Louis. At Hook & Reel on Chippewa Street, the seafood is listed as MP, market price, every boil has a 1-pound minimum, and the printed menu adds an 18% service charge for parties of six or more. So order like you’re buying shells, ask for medium crawfish when you can, and read the bottom of the menu before a table of six writes in a second tip.
Timing matters too. Louisiana’s wild crawfish season generally runs from mid-January through early July and peaks in March, April and May, according to the crawfish guide We Love Crawfish. Below are the boil houses and crawfish counters we could confirm from their own websites and menus, with hours and phone numbers. Places that show up on older roundups but that we couldn’t confirm are left out, so call before you drive across the river for one.
- Six or more? Call ahead and ask whether a service charge is added. Hook & Reel’s is 18%.
- Order a pound per adult, then add sides. A pound is the minimum per boil at Hook & Reel and Crafty Crab.
- Pick your heat one level below your pride. The sauce coats everything in the bag.
- In spring, ask for medium crawfish. More meat for the weight.
- Wear something washable. Shells spray when they crack.
Where can you get a seafood boil in St. Louis?
Start with Hook & Reel on Chippewa Street or Crab’s Landing on North Tucker Boulevard. Broadway Oyster Bar serves a bucket of boiled crawfish on South Broadway, and Peacemaker Lobster & Crab in Benton Park puts andouille and a biscuit in its boils. North and west, La Juicy Seafood has kitchens on West Florissant Avenue and in O’Fallon, and on the Illinois side, Crafty Crab is in Fairview Heights.
Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & Bar, 4680 Chippewa St. This is the build-your-own boil at full volume. You pick your catch by the half pound or pound, then one of seven sauces, from Plain to the house Special Blend, which the menu calls its most requested, then Mild, Spicy or Fire. The Garlic Butter is “a creamy buttery sauce with a garlic punch.” Lemon Pepper is “a citrus sauce with an infusion of peppercorns.” Or go Dry, an Old Bay-only rub of sweet paprika, cloves, cardamom and dry mustard, and your fingers smell like a spice drawer on the drive home. Dine-in hours are 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call (314) 282-0770.
Crab’s Landing, 701 N. Tucker Blvd. A boil house built around combos. Its online ordering menu leads with them: snow crab and shrimp; shrimp, snow crab and sausage; shrimp, snow crab and black mussels; and a lobster combo. Snap a snow crab cluster at the joint and the steam comes out with the meat. If someone in your group would rather not crack anything, there are fried shrimp, catfish and chicken tender baskets, plus hush puppies for whoever’s waiting on the crab to cool. Online ordering opens at 11 a.m.
Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway. The New Orleans room from the top of this page. That bucket of boiled crawfish is $25.75, and the kitchen keeps going with Crawfish Enchiladas, which the restaurant promises are always on the regular menu, even during its food festivals. It lists Louisiana crawfish and shrimp among its seafood. There’s live music twice a day every night except Friday, when one act plays the evening, so you’re peeling tails to a band. Call 314-621-8811.
Peacemaker Lobster & Crab, 1831 Sidney St., Benton Park. A different kind of boil. Chef Kevin Nashan’s kitchen draws on the Acadians of the Northeast and Gulf coasts, and every lobster or shrimp boil comes with potatoes, corn, andouille and a biscuit. The raw bar is built around a 130-year-old stone oyster trough, and the restaurant says its catch is flown in daily. Tear the biscuit and drag it through whatever’s left in the bowl. Crawfish shows up here as a buffalo crawfish poorboy. Call 314.772.8858.
La Juicy Seafood, 10732 W. Florissant Ave. and 373 Winding Woods Dr., O’Fallon. Louisiana-style Cajun boils, from crawfish to Dungeness crab, and a house rule printed on its own site: prepare to eat “the Louisiana way, with your hands.” Roll your sleeves up before the bag opens. The West Florissant kitchen is open daily from noon to 10 p.m. (314-942-6668). O’Fallon runs noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday (636-294-9171).
Crafty Crab, 51 Ludwig Dr., Fairview Heights, Ill. The Metro East pick. Its online menu walks you through three steps: your catch, then your seasoning (Crafty Cajun, butter garlic, lemon pepper or “the boom!!!,” all three mixed), then your heat, from mild to “fire (my mouth on fire).” Order the boom and you get garlic butter, lemon pepper and Cajun heat in the same bite. Each pound comes with potatoes and corn on the cob, with a 1-pound minimum, and it sells crawfish by the pound. The Fairview Heights Crafty Crab is open noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call (618) 489-1153.
Where the butter came from: the Viet-Cajun boil
The bag-and-butter boil isn’t straight Louisiana. Texas Highways magazine traces Viet-Cajun crawfish to Houston, a style that combines Cajun spices with Southeast Asian flavors. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, many Vietnamese refugees settled along the Gulf Coast to work in the seafood industry. Houston restaurants were serving the style by the early 2000s, and it took off after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 sent an influx of Louisiana-based Vietnamese to Houston.
The magazine’s scene would look familiar here: a crowd digging into plastic bags “dusky with seasoning.” A festival organizer it quoted, Tinh Trinh, explained the difference in one line about the finish, more salt, pepper, garlic and onion, then butter: “The Vietnamese like a lot of butter.” Look back at the sauce lists above and you’ll taste the same idea.
Not every night out should end with butter to the elbows. Date-night restaurants in St. Louis
How ordering by the pound actually works
Think of it as building the meal, not choosing it. At Hook & Reel and Crafty Crab, you order seafood by weight, at least a pound per boil, and the corn and potatoes ride along: two potatoes and an ear of corn with every Hook & Reel boil, potatoes and corn on the cob with each Crafty Crab pound. Then you choose the sauce, then the heat.
Is 1lb seafood boil enough for 2 adults? Here’s the arithmetic nobody prints on the menu. A pound of crawfish is mostly shell. With medium crawfish, the LSU AgCenter figure is about 7 pounds of whole crawfish for 1 pound of tail meat. Crab legs and shrimp come in their shells too, and you pay for those by the pound as well. For two hungry adults, a pound is a starter, not dinner.
On heat, believe the names. Crafty Crab labels its top level “fire (my mouth on fire)” for a reason, and the sauce coats everything in the bag, so there’s no scraping it off later. Order one level below your pride.
First crawfish? Hold the head in one hand and the tail in the other, twist, and pull them apart. Peel the first ring or two of shell off the tail, pinch the end, and pull the meat out with your teeth. The head is full of seasoned juice; plenty of people suck it before they toss it on the pile. Crab legs are easier: snap at the joint and the meat slides out. Either way, wear something you can wash. The sauce travels, and shells spray when they crack.
Extras are where a table customizes. Hook & Reel’s sides run from fries and Cajun fries to sausage, broccoli, corn on the cob, rice, noodles and ramen noodles. Peacemaker sends its boils out with andouille and a biscuit already in the mix.
Why is seafood boil so expensive?
Because the seafood is priced like seafood, and the market moves. Hook & Reel’s menu lists its snow crab, Dungeness, king crab, lobster, shrimp, crawfish, clams, mussels and scallops at market price, so the price moves with the market. Add the shell weight above and you’re paying a lot per bite of meat.
The other line to read is the service charge. Hook & Reel’s printed menu adds 18% for a party of six or more. That’s not a reason to skip it. It’s a reason to check the bill before you add a tip on top, and to ask about the rule anywhere you’re booking a big table.
If you want a fixed number, Broadway Oyster Bar’s bucket is the clearest one we found on any menu here: $25.75 for a pound and a half of boiled crawfish.
What months are best for crawfish?
Spring. We Love Crawfish puts Louisiana’s wild season at mid-January through early July, peaking in March, April and May, and notes that farm crawfish are available over a longer stretch of the year. When the calendar turns to April, the LSU AgCenter says, the Louisiana season is usually beginning to heat up.
So in fall and early winter, a crawfish craving is a gamble on whoever’s still serving it. Broadway Oyster Bar keeps boiled crawfish on its menu, Hook & Reel and La Juicy list crawfish among their boils, and Crafty Crab sells it by the pound. When spring comes, ask for the medium ones: an LSU AgCenter agent says larger crawfish carry less meat for their weight, because of their big claws and heavier shells.
If somebody at the table doesn’t eat shellfish
Sort this out before you book, not at the table. Hook & Reel’s menu runs to po’ boys, baskets, wings, pasta, soups and salads, including a chicken po’ boy. Crab’s Landing has chicken tender and catfish baskets. Peacemaker has a smoked brisket poorboy and a corn dog.
A shellfish allergy is a different conversation. Hook & Reel’s menu asks you to tell your server if anyone in your party has a food allergy. Do that everywhere, and call ahead to ask how the kitchen handles it before anyone orders.
Why a boil works for a group
Most group dinners are separate meals at one table. A boil is one pile. Nobody waits on an entree, nobody compares plates, and the mess is shared, so it isn’t embarrassing. Trinh, the Houston festival organizer, called crawfish “a thing we come together for,” and that’s the whole pitch. For a table of six, call ahead and ask about the service charge while you’re on the phone.
Would rather run the pot yourself this weekend? Start with how to buy fresh seafood in St. Louis, then call the neighbors.
If you own a spot like this, a boil house, an oyster bar or a Cajun kitchen people cross the river for, here’s a question worth sitting with. When someone asks their phone for a seafood boil near them, does your name come up, or the place down the road? See who AI names instead of you, then decide if a Gold listing belongs in the mix.
More St. Louis eating guides
- Cajun and Creole restaurants in St. Louis
- How to buy fresh seafood in St. Louis
- Where to eat in Soulard
- Things to do in Fairview Heights
- The best restaurants in St. Louis
Frequently Asked Questions
What months are best for crawfish?
March, April and May. We Love Crawfish says Louisiana’s wild season generally runs from mid-January through early July and peaks in those months, with farm crawfish available longer. In St. Louis, Broadway Oyster Bar keeps boiled crawfish on its menu, and Crafty Crab sells it by the pound.
Is 1lb seafood boil enough for 2 adults?
Usually not as a full dinner. A pound is the minimum per boil at Hook & Reel and Crafty Crab, and much of that weight is shell. The LSU AgCenter says it takes about 7 pounds of medium crawfish to get 1 pound of tail meat. Plan on a pound per adult, plus sides.
Why is seafood boil so expensive?
The seafood is sold at market price, which moves with the catch. Hook & Reel lists its crab, lobster, shrimp, crawfish, clams, mussels and scallops as market price, and its printed menu adds an 18% service charge for parties of six or more. Shell weight also means you pay for more than you eat.
What is Viet Cajun cuisine?
It’s a style that combines Cajun spices with Southeast Asian flavors. Texas Highways says it originated in Houston, after Vietnamese refugees who fled after 1975 settled along the Gulf Coast to work in seafood. The finish is the tell: more garlic, onion and pepper, then plenty of butter, tossed in a bag.
What are the best sides for a seafood boil?
Corn and potatoes come first. Hook & Reel puts corn and 2 potatoes in every boil and offers sausage, broccoli, rice, noodles and Cajun fries on the side. Peacemaker in Benton Park adds andouille and a biscuit. Hush puppies are worth an order anywhere you see them.
Where can I find the best Cajun food in Saint Louis?
For a New Orleans room with live music, start at Broadway Oyster Bar at 736 S. Broadway, where Cajun and Creole dishes share a menu with boiled crawfish. For a bag boil, head to Hook & Reel or Crab’s Landing, which both serve seafood boils. Our full guide to Cajun and Creole restaurants in St. Louis covers the rest.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.