American barbecue and seafood restaurant Big Easy Bar.B.Q & Crabshack is a relatively new addition to the Covent Garden restaurant scene. Housed in a former electrical power station, the place is huge and spread out over 2 floors. The décor is crabshack-meets-industrial, but it works.

We popped in for lunch at around noon (coincidentally it was the 4th of July, Independence Day) and were fortunate to get a table without a reservation. The place did fill up quickly soon afterwards. I was really pleased that our servers were helpful and friendly. In fact, all of the staff were just fantastic!

We were shown to a table on the main floor by the stairs, and I could see the staff tirelessly going up the steps, perfectly balancing a parade of trays from the kitchen below. Each dish looked so good! It was a great way to see many of the menu items!

We settled in with our drinks (watermelon juice, margarita and ‘Big Easy Brew’ ale) whilst we soaked up the jovial atmosphere and perused the extensive menu. The menu has a wonderful selection of meat and seafood dishes. All of our starters were deep fried to perfection (crispy calamari with tartar sauce, bite-sized popcorn shrimp with cocktail sauce and voodoo shrimp with spicy sauce and blue cheese sauce).

I hadn’t had Canadian lobster in quite a while so it was the Lobster Fest option for me! I chose the 1lb lobster roll, which included fries, house salad and a slushie cocktail (I had a strawberry daiquiri). The lobster was fresh, tender and plentiful, packed in a split-top hotdog bun lightly toasted in butter. One of the best lobster rolls I’ve ever had. One of my lunch companions had the Big Easy smokehouse burger with smoked cheddar, which was served with fries, cole slaw and a pickle. My only minor criticism is that everyone’s fries were slightly undercooked, which was a bit of a shame as they were quite tasty. I was too full for dessert (I would have loved to try the red velvet cake) but my husband ordered the baked cheesecake with ice cream, which he enjoyed.

Overall, we really enjoyed the experience of eating at a properly done American restaurant. Many places get the concept and food wrong. Not the case at Big Easy. The place is noisy but lively and fun… and I would go back in a heartbeat!

The owners, managers or staff did not invite me to visit this establishment and were unaware that my experience would be the basis of a written review. It is based on my experience at my own cost and I did not receive compensation for my review.

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