Shaw's Crab House

Interior

We went to dinner at Shaw's Crab House, at the Schaumburg location. Although the Chicago location has been featured on Check Please, Natalie knew generally about this restaurant from residing in the area (and actually may have eaten there in the past but doesn't remember exactly).

The decore reminds you of days gone by with an art deco style.  We were there on a Saturday evening and you definitely need reservations for the weekend. Also, if you don't like seafood at all you are a bit out of luck because almost everything except a few entrees involves some sort of seafood. 

Lobster Bisque

We ordered the old standby of Lobster Bisque. It was good, but not the best ever.  Maybe Lobster Bisque (or any soup) is best ordered when it is colder outside so maybe you can appreciate its warmth. When we order Lobster Bisque we are probably looking for it to top our best experiences in the past and that hasn't happened lately. So maybe we should venture out and try other appetizer type foods.

Tuna & Guacamole

For an appetizer we ordered something that had a very simple name - tuna, guacamole and chips.  But it was a little fancier than that simple name implies.  It was sashimi grade chopped tuna (basically tuna tartare) on top of guacamole.  It was served in a dish that was sitting in a bowl of ice - although we consumed it before it would have gotten to room temperature.  It was served with tortilla chips and was basically a super fancy form of guacamole.  We decided that to spruce up guacamole at home we could try this if we got our hands on some quality tuna.

Crab Cakes

For one of the entrees we got crab cakes, which were served with a red pepper mustard mayo and a small salad on the side. They were good, but they weren't quite as moist as even the crab cakes we have made at home.  We like crab a lot but are reluctant to go all out and order crab legs because we are not skilled at cracking them and getting all the good meat out.  So we kind of settle for other crab dishes to get a similar taste.

Pasta with Lobster, Spinach, Brie and Cheddar

For the other entree we ordered ordered a pasta dish with lobster, brie, spinach and cheddar cheese sauce.  The pasta had generous large pieces of lobster and a good cheese combination.  But when compared to the lobster pasta we had a Parker's the week before the lobster portion was better at Shaw's but the overall combination of flavors was better at Parker's.


Final thoughts on Shaw's Crab House:
Food - the food was good, but if we were to go to a Lettuce Entertain You seafood establishment we would suggest Joe's Stone Crab (which is just a few blocks away from the Shaw's downtown location and has a very similar vibe)
Service - good service but the server could have given us a better idea of the highlights of the menu
Atmosphere - a bit of a step back in time with the decore.  Although we would consider this to be an adult oriented restaurant we did see a family of 5 with younger children venture in (although it sounded like the dad was vocally disappointed that the children all ordered sliders at a seafood restaurant - so maybe completely seafood isn't the way to go even with a sophisticated family).