grab a yabby

we were hoping the actual dining experience would be an improvement on the booking service as both myself and my husband left two messages on the contact mobile number, and sent an email with a couple of questions and no one bothered to get back to us. someone finally answered the mobile on the third attempt and third day of trying. i don't understand how a business cannot return contact requests within 48 hours so wasn't too impressed but thankfully the actual  dining experience was a bit nicer. once our questions were answered i booked online for 6 people for sunday lunch. it was a lovely sunny winters day and the restaurant was quite stuffy and warm. we asked about some ac and was told it wasn't working. after about 10 minutes we asked if some of the sliding doors could be opened and the waiter went and checked with his manager and opened the doors which caused a lovely cool breeze to waft through. great now to order! we ordered crunchy ribs, calamari and oysters. we asked where they oysters were from but apparently no one knew. but my friends said they were tasty as i don't eat the slippery suckers. the calamari was good too but we never saw the ribs as the waiter told us there was only one batch left and they burnt it. so we ordered the crunchy wings instead and they were great! so few hiccups along the way but the one waiter on the floor handled it all so well, and always with a smile. he does that place proud. we then ordered bugs, prawns, yabbies and crawfish to share and were given mallets, bibs and plastic gloves etc. it was a different experience to use the table as your plate and smash your food to eat and peel but a lot of fun. the corn and potato that were included in the seafood bags was tasty too. personally it's not a dining experience i want to do on a regular basis but it was definitely nice to give it a go. .

verdict: slow service, ribs were good, seafood platter a no-no. will i revisit? no, thanks.  ordered the pork ribs + seafood platter (groupon). the rating of 2.5 goes to pork ribs. i am rating '0" for service and seafood platter. there were only 3 occupied tables at that time and we had to wait 15mins before we get a menu and another 1.5hr for the food. that is freaking long!! prawns were not fresh at all, we even had 1 that went bad in the bag. the spicy sauce went well with the other seafood. fortunately, the pork ribs were good or this needs to be rated negative.

ordered fishermen basket. had 1 yabby, 4 prawns, mussels and clams. chose cajun sauce. food was tasty. didn't like the plastic bag it was served in. service was also poor. 6 out of 10 for food.

the xo sauce is tasty, but just serving is too small. ribs are good. but it's a bit messy they put the seafood/dish in the plastic bag but give you a glass bowl for the waste/shells, why didn't they swap around, put the dish in the bowl and give you the plastic bag for shells....you can still eat with the bib & gloves....

in the heart of mt lawley, great location for a get together. the food is mainly seafood at "market prices". so be prepared to spend. we had the seafood basket (mix of mussels, bugs, prawns and clams). also the lobster tails, bag of yabbies, king crab legs and the pork ribs. overall it was a messy, but fun feed where you can dig in with your hands amongst friends. sharing is the way to go and you can choose different sauces for each dish - the spicy one is yum! the king crab legs were meaty but felt old or not fresh. otherwise the bugs, yabbies and lobster tails were tasty and fleshy. surprisingly the pork ribs were quite good - i had a bit of doubt, but it was bbq well, had good flavour and wasn't dry or chewy. filling feast!

food
i had the fisherman's basket combo for $60 which was made cheaper as i shared with a friend. you can choose different sauces and how spicy you wanted it, and we went with the grab a yabby sauce, which was rather tasty.

experience
you get given a bib, gloves, mallet and cracker, and that's it. no plates, not cutlery. we sat there for a while trying to work it all out and in the end we were scooping the rice with our fingers and eating off the damp paper covering the table. interesting to say the least. definitely not a first date kind of place.

service
the restaurant was dead so we had a very attentive and friendly waiter who guided us through the demolition of our meal.

price
i feel as though this is somewhere you go for a special occasion, not a casual night out for dinner. we shared our main so we were still hungry, but typically you'd be looking at spending at least $50 for your main alone, not including drinks etc.

the other downer is that there's only 1 item on the dessert menu!!

overall a pleasant experience that i'd recommend everyone try at least once. would i go back? prob not unless there was a dinner special as it's hard to justify that much money for a yabby you spend the whole time peeling and not enjoying until the end!

went to grab a yabby for their limited time, all you can eat mussels and clams bag. wonderful service and they were very forgiving that we arrived 15mins late. the restaurant set up was very bright and had a lot of unique decor. they have really cute food catcher bibs for you to wear! their seafood bag is wonderful and very tasty. it does take a while for the food to arrive but it was pretty busy at the time. since we came for the unlimited mussels and clams bag, it was worth the $35/pp but wouldn't get the clams for its usual price of $26 a bag. we received complimentary chips with the japanese kewpie dipping sauce and rice with our seafood bags. overall was a delightful experience. would come here again for the food and excellent service.

pretty decent.
we shared a starter (soft shell crabs) and the yabby combo. sauce for the combo was the home one in hot version (mild/med/hot/intense) - actually had a kick!!
don't go if you are awfully hungry or right at lunch time coz service can be slow. best time to go is just before.. around 11ish.

venue was bright and inviting, loved the decor. service by a young guy was fantastic. he's super friendly and attentive, asking us a couple of times while eating if everything was alright.

* fisherman's basket with grab a yabby special sauce - good portions and loved the sauce. we asked for hot sauce and they delivered. seafood tasted fresh too.
* mega pork rack - a let down. meat didnt fell off the bone and need to be marinated longer.
* potato & sweet potato chips were great, not oily at all and seasoned well.

i wouldnt go back for ribs, but would for their seafood dishes.

a magnificent meal and the service was beyond compare. we went with a large group for a birthday and the staff went out of there way to make it a great night.

try grab a yabby for dinner on tuesday night, did not have mud crab & lobster... so ordered the clam & tiger prawn (both one lbs) cooked in xo sauce medium hot and also ordered alaskan king crab legs cooked in garlic butter sauce.
the clam was a bit of a let down because a lot of empty shell and little meat but the tiger prawn was really good... xo sauce (medium) was hot enough and had really good flavour!!
the best was alaskan king crab legs in garlic butter sauce... totally awesome!!
service was good. would have given higher rating if not for running out of several items on the menu!! 6 items all together...

was invited to grab a yabby for my cousins birthday, spending dinner with a small group of friends. great location and hands on! you are provided with gloves and a bib to prepare. from here things can get messy! if you have yabbies and other shell fish you have a hammer to bash your food up! was a fun experience and a great evening. perfect for catching up 🦐 🦀

in february, i celebrated birthday week which i think is the best week of the year. it is really an excuse to eat out every day of the week and not feel guilty. one of the dinners i had during birthday week was at grab a yabby in mount lawley. it is tucked away in the same alleyway as miss potz. when we arrived we were the only customers there (maybe a bit too keen). the place has only recently been opened and is a cool little restaurant that offers something different. if you’re a seafood lover this is the place to go. it offers an american experience whereby seafood is served in a plastic bag, you get a little wooden hammer to smash the shell and wear bibs and gloves while eating. it was very fun to eat, but very very messy. maybe don’t go here on a first date hahaha. my friend managed to get sauce down her arm despite the bibs and splattered sauce into my face while trying to open her shellfish. luckily there is a sink there to clean up after.

where to go when you're craving seafood? grab a yabby in mount lawley would be a good place to start. with a couple of friends, miss d and miss s, i was finally able to visit grab a yabby. we were very excited for the prospect of the endless yabbies we were going to consume. so we were more than a little disappointed when we found out they had run out of yabbies on the night we visited! i'm not sure a restaurant named grab a yabby is allowed to run out of yabbies, but they did.

sadly can't say anything good because we booked, got there and they told us they had no yabbies, no bugs and no lobster either. and that was early in the evening. went elsewhere for dinner instead. 👎