Manchester Crab Du Jour Shows Off Its Menu In Grand Opening

MANCHESTER, CT — Though its doors opened on Sept. 15, the Crab Du Jour at Manchester's Shoppes at Buckland Hills mall showed off its menu Thursday evening in an official grand opening ceremony.

The festivities took place on one of the restaurants karaoke Thursdays, but not after Manchester Mayor Jay Moran presided over a raucous ribbon-cutting to officially welcome Crab Du Jour to the community.

The local address of the restaurant is 194 Buckland Hills Drive. It is occupying one of the traditional outside entrance spaces designed for restaurants at the mall. It has entrances both outside and inside the mall.

Plans for the Cajun seafood chain were announced as early s 2019. The restaurant was initially targeted for The old Hometown Buffet vacancy on Slater Street, but, in 2020, the focus shifted a mall vacancy.

Crab Du Jour features home-style seafood served in "generous portions" like crab, crawfish, calamari and lobster. For those not into shellfish, the po'boys, Cajun wings and hush puppies are among the most popular menu items.

See more on the menus and restaurant here.

The appetizers of choice Thursday were the mozzarella sticks and the coconut shrimp, both good-sized portions with a light-tasting breading that did not overwhelm the tastebuds.

The entree was one recently added at the Manchester location — the seafood pasta — featuring calamari and black muscles in a house-made vodka cream sauce. The subtle cajun bite added a tasty aspect to the dish.

The dessert choice was the funnel cake fries.

Here are some other samplings:

The current Connecticut locations include: Manchester, Milford and Bridgeport with the best opening slated for Hartford.

All feature dine-in service, officials for the chain said.

The Crab Du Jour restaurant chain consists of about 60 independently owned and operated locations in 12 states. The first restaurant opened in Raleigh, NC, in 2019.