American-style, dirty-hands seafood has been trending over the last 12 months. Before arriving in Bangkok, Shrimp Lover opened three branches in Los Angeles where it’s made a name for full-flavored Cajun seafood boils along with some Thai dishes.

Here in their fisherman village-themed mall opening, they have actually cut many of the Thai offerings, but you can still find single dishes like pad Thai (B150) and khao pad goong (shrimp fried rice, B150). These are probably the weakest part of the menu: the former soggy, the latter simply flavorless.

The highlight really is the imported seafood, whether it’s Maine lobster, Dungeness crab or New Zealand greenshell mussel (all at “market” prices), which come boiled up and spread on paper mats. There are five types of sauce to choose from: Louisiana, lemon pepper, Indian, Thai seafood (of course) and medley.

The finger-lickin’ B399 combo, which includes shrimp, octopus and mussels, represents good value for money, while the Louisiana Cajun sauce is spicy but well-rounded so as not to take away from the freshness of the produce. But we weren’t quite prepared for the baby octopus (B199) in medley sauce—which is even more pungent, even more intense.  It’s also delicious. But you’ll need some rice to handle the heat. On that topic, we love the flavor of the Cajun fried rice’s (B150), but we’re not so sold on the overcooked shrimps.

Oddly, we’re also not greatly impressed by the fried appetizers like the West Coast wings (B120) and Cajun fries (B85). Both lack the spicy kick we hoped for, and on our last visit came served almost at room temperature. The crisp calamari (B140) fares somewhat better, helped by a decent-tasting mayonnaise. When visiting Shrimp Lover, we’d steer clear of the Thai and deep-fried offerings and head straight for the main attraction—the seafood boils, which are honest, messy fun, and pretty tasty too.

This review took place in November 2015 and is based on a visit to the restaurant without the restaurant's knowledge. For more on BK's review policy, click here.