Wookiee Hut Cuisine presents: Barking Crab Boston, MA 617-426-2722 Review by Diana, SuSu, MaceVindaloo, Diasala, Zit The Barking Crab has a lot going for it. It's on Boston's waterfront, it's ostensibly a crabshack, and they offer drinks and an outside area as well as inside bar and dining. The decor is decidedly nautical, complete with mastheads, fish hook mobiles, picnic tables, and those heavily shellacked, sticky wooden tables made from planks. They even have a lobster pond where the arthropods are kept in seawater till they are chosen to decorate your plate. But this supposed attribute to lobster freshness is actually what gives us pause — the authentic seawater in the lobster pond ... they apparently pump the water from the harbor. And do you know about Boston's sewage system? They supposedly lack an adequate one, and the raw sewage ends up in the harbor itself. And tests of the water with the lobsters in it indicated a fecal colloform count of over 70-times higher than acceptable! This did explain why the lobsters at the Barking Crab were so robustly healthy looking. Lobsters are scavengers and they love this stuff. It's good for all manner of algae, too. Think of it as fertilizer ... The place is still open, and so perhaps one can assume they corrected the problem, and that the health department has been satisfied. Even so, perhaps it's best to do as one does when visiting third-world countries and not imbibe in the questionable food items. (Boston as a third world country, hmn ...) That means that you should have the beer, which they don't brew themselves and the harbor water hasn't been in there. It's a funky place, decorated like you'd want your local beer dive to be decorated, especially when it's located right on the water. Boston's wharf area is like many other maritime cities, in that the waterfront was once a dangerous place. It was semi-deserted except for the hard-working, hard-drinking men who loaded and unloaded ships' freight for a living. The surrounding buildings were mostly warehouses — in the dark, they were eerie, with no windows and loading dock doors. This place has ambiance! Yet it also appeals to those looking for a looser, friendler party format than some more formal bars. The night we visited, there was a party for Pete and Margaret (we don't know who they are) in the outside picnic-table area. We sat out there because inside was hot and humid on this humid and cool night. The barmen came 'round to tell us the area was reserved, but we told them we realized that, and promised that after a few beers, we'd be on our way. They were kind of relieved and thanked us, and left us to our pitchers. Instead of hot spotlights, the place was largely illuminated by Christmas twinkle lights on the outside, and fluorescants in the corridors outside the bathroom and in their kitchens. It made for a much more urban-rustic look, and contributed to the found/salvaged items decor of the place. The beer was American beer. We felt like we were at some weird reunion at someone else's old-school beach place. We think it'd be a great place for a beerfest, but we'd want to bring our own ice and our own food. It's a bit like the old-fashioned advice given about going to Mexico, but we think we'd trust the food in Mexico! (We didn't have any food here, sorry ... we aren't that adventurous!) Disclaimer: The opinions and observations noted are the property of the author. Neither Wookieehut nor any associates makes any claims or lucre from the posting of this report or review. This webpage is presented by Wookieehut.com. Enjoy!