Coast restaurant now a shell as crab eatery closes

Billed as the best place for crab in the state, this American-style restaurant has closed its doors after lasting just 11 months, five months longer than the owner thought it would.

AN AMERICAN-style crab house has been put into liquidation less than a year after it opened at a ritzy Gold Coast marina.

King Crab Co GC, owned by Seaside Dining Group, went into liquidation on Thursday after opening just 11 months ago.

People who arrived at the Marina Mirage location in the past week reported the restaurant was closed without explanation.

King Crab Co Gold Coast opened in December and promised a fun, casual and messy approach to fresh seafood.

Its co-owner Karl Danier told the Gold Coast Bulletin in December the restaurant was tipped as a “pop-up” and expected to only be around for six months.

Seaside Dining Group director Rory Smit said the operation of the restaurant was his “private business”.

“We’ve shut down temporarily at Marina Mirage while we renegotiate conditions with parties involved with running the restaurant,” he said.

King Crab Co GC at Marina Mirage.

It was Queensland’s second King Crab restaurant following the opening of the Bulimba restaurant in August 2018.

The Bulimba restaurant is understood to be unaffected by the Gold Coast closure.

The crabs were sourced from all over the world including Alaskan King and Snow crab, Australian Blue Swimmers, Fraser Island Spanner Crab and Jonah Crab Claws, ranging from $38 to $75 per half kilo.

Liquidators or administrators were appointed to 113 Queensland businesses in September.

Read the Courier-Mail’s full list here.

Additional reporting by Alister Thomson.