Based on 744 reviews, the restaurant has received a rating of 4.0 stars. Price $$
✔️ Dine-in ✔️ Curbside pickup ✔️ No-contact delivery
Address:
4508 University Ave, West Des Moines, IA 50266
Phone: (515) 224-5888
Website: https://www.laughingcrab168.com/
Social Profile: 
Hours
| Sunday | 11 AM–10 PM |
| Monday
(Labor Day)
|
11 AM–10 PM
Holiday hours
|
| Tuesday | 11 AM–10 PM |
| Wednesday | 11 AM–10 PM |
| Thursday | 11 AM–10 PM |
| Friday | 11 AM–10 PM |
| Saturday | 11 AM–10 PM |
Menu
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Menu Photos
Photo Gallery
Order and Reservations
Reservations: laughingcrabiowa.com
Reviews
Travis Laird
Initially, walking in I thought it could be a mystery going here from out of town. It didn’t take long to realize that this place was a great seafood restaurant with the majority of the food being served in a crab boil style seasoned with your selection out of the 10 they have and spiced to your liking. VERY GOOD RESTAURANT. IF YOU LOVE SEAFOOD THIS IS YOUR PLACE!!!
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Joel Martin
Solid 4/5. Slightly higher prices for the quantity you get brings it down a bit. I thought staff was perfectly friendly, and the atmosphere is fun overall. The food was great! Had a little bit of everything to try out several options, and I liked everything. Expectations of course need to be in line with Midwest comparisons and not Cali or New Orleans type of quality, but if you love seafood, it is a good spot to at least try.
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John Hsieh
Woohoo! A crab boil place finally opened in the Des Moines area. This is perfect timing as Joe’s Crab Shack recently closed and we were dying for a place to get seafood. Is Laughing Crab the best crab boil place we’ve ever had? Not by a long shot, but it’s the best (and only one) in Des Moines. The seafood is properly unfrozen (Iowa is a land lock state… obviously all the seafood were shipped here frozen), and we haven’t gotten sick after eating here a few times. In terms of spices and flavoring, the key is to adjust the level to what you like. We prefer to order with “Extra Seasoning” as we really like crazy butter and seasoning tastes. Don’t like that much butter? Order with the “Light Butter” option. The weird thing that we’re not used to is the hard-boiled egg that’s thrown into the specials, but I guess given that we’re in Iowa… Anyways, solid place for crab boil and even better ordering the stuff to-go… that way you don’t have to deal with the crowd and restaurant priced drinks.
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Ella X
Crab legs are their best! My ranking for those in pic imo would be crab legs>shrimp >lobster>crawfish>mussels. This is quite a nice seafood places in DSM if ever craving! Highly recommended. Fyi, gloves they provided are made with regular plastic materials, oil would able to came through after 20min or so, if u hate the smell and mess on your finger, could try bringing a pvc gloves yourself.
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Dan Davis
We got the great big seafood boil thing. It was great. Did the “butter & old bay” seasoning. It was a lotta food. We almost finished it. There is no way that I could have cooked this at home for anything close to what we paid for it. If you like shellfish (& have at least 4 hungry people) get it. I uploaded a pic. All that said – the place was clean & the staff was polite. Nothing negative about the experience. I highly recommend this place.
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Jacque Doyle
Amazing experience! Excellent food, service was wonderful! Family friendly. Prices reasonable.
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Kesia
I stopped in for a quick dinner and was extremely impressed. It was nearly 5pm and was seated quickly. My server was very attentive and came by frequently to fill up my water cup or see if I needed anything. Food arrived quickly and everything tasted great! I ordered the Wednesday special and I think it was good value. Definitely will return again.
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Dmytro Buldakov
The place is rather pleasant. Service is friendly. Food is good. Not perfect but good. Green mussels were chewy (as they commonly are in this type of places) but tasteful. Heads off shrimps we’re simply good. For whatever reasons crawfish was tasteless. That’s sad because I usually love it. Potato and corn Cobb were very flavorful.
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Katie Jensen
I am not a fan of seafood or fish, but my husband is. We got there just as they opened on Monday. Clean, open, and did not smell fishy, which might come up as more people get there. You get the cute lobster bibs. We did order hushpuppies as appetizers. The hushpuppies were smaller than expected and lack flavor. We ordered the #C combo, which had crab legs, shrimp, lobster tail, corn, hard boiled eggs and potatoes. We selected the butter garlic with old bay seasoning. This all came to our table in a bag. The lobster was my favorite. The crab legs were too difficult for me to get the meat out. What I did get out was too fishy tasting for me. The shrimp was good. The seasoning was delicious, making it easy for me to eat. Next time, we will order individual items instead of a combo. Would have been nice if staff could make recommendations. Lots of options. Our server was very nice, but due to accent, it was difficult to understand at times. Parking is limited and difficult in or out due to location. Enjoy pictures.
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Eric S
Staff was amazing and very helpful. Food was absolutely delicious. Definitely recommend stopping in.
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