Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & Bar — Restaurant in Charlotte

A FOLLOW UP: Hook and Reel responded to my review feigning concern and providing an email address for me to contact - which I did nearly immediately. I never received a response to that email. It shows me that the issues I encountered probably start at the top of the management chain. I would avoid this chain of restaurants.

After a long day I decided to stop in here for dinner. The place seemed nice and was mostly empty except for 2 tables - one with some loud little kids. After a long wait at the greet stand I was lead to a table right next to the kids and had to request we move on to another. The pleasant server took my drink order and was gone a long time before returning with the drink and ready to take my order. I ordered hush puppies, the scallops and red potatoes in lemon butter and rice. The hush puppies came out in a reasonable amount of time and were quite good. I then waited 15 or 20 minutes more for my main meal. The server places this enormous bag in front of me filled with my scallops, and a small bowl of rice and unceremoniously drops a single cellophane wrapped plastic spoon on the table. The scallops were mostly cooked ok but a couple were rubbery on the edges but the sauce that they were cooked in was AWFUL. Watery and so incredibly salty. I was able to stomach the scallops by fishing them out of that muck but could not eat the rest. The server never checked to see how my meal was (or if I needed a knife) until she came and asked if I'd like the check! I told her the meal was mostly inedible and asked for a fresh bowl of rice in hopes I could dilute the salty sauce and salvage this dinner. Afterwards when she did bring the check I found a charge for the replacement rice! I politely asked for the manager who took his time coming over and I politely and calmly explained my issues with the meal. I asked to split the cost of the meal portion of the bill, because as the manager pointed out, I did eat the scallops. He marked the bill down by $12 (not nearly half) to around $46 with the tax which I thought wasn't fair. I tipped the server $5 only because, despite her friendly demeanor, she...

Poor customer service. Cheap, Cheap, Cheap👎👎 The food was decent and the waitress was a pleasure...but the manager...

So, I ordered one of their specialty cocktails - the $16 Flower bomb. After waiting 30min the waitress brought out the drink stating that the bar tender was out so the manager had to make the drink etc... that was fine. However, the drink was not. When the waitress returned I very politely asked if I could swamp the drink out for a glass of wine (as I assumed not having their bar tender could be affecting the drinks quality). She immediately had this horried look on her face and said "I seriously doubt the manager will allow that, she's real cheap". I've never been in a restaurant in my 40 years of life that has refused to change a drink that you don't like. It's $16!! So I insisted that she at least ask. But sure enough, the waitress came back and said the manager said "NO"! I was shocked into silence.

My friend ordered one of their seafood pots. She asked for silverware and was given a plastic fork. She asked for cocktail sauce and was given a single package of the popular store bought cocktail sauce. Again... WOW. For the prices they are charging, you can't even get silverware and they don't even have their own cocktail sauce - felt like we were at a backyard picnic.

When the check came, yes i got charged $16 for the nasty drink that was still sitting on the table. So I held my breath and gulped it hoping to get a least a shot for my $16 bucks.

We still tipped 20% because, it's not the waitresses fault the management is so poor.

They got us once, but we will never go back. The only reason they got two stars is because the food was decent and waitress was sweet...

I was so excited when this place came to Charlotte. I wouldn’t want seafood from anywhere else but here. Since then I have really saw the service decline and the things that were never an issue before are now the reason why I would no longer give my service to this place. I have always ordered seafood the same way, “Cajun and Garlic Butter seasoning only”. I don’t like lemon pepper so that’s why I don't get the combined choice. It was never a problem to order it that way. I ordered a Togo order and I wanted the same thing as always. I was told I couldn’t get two seasonings and if I wanted two I would have to pay $2 extra. Okay cool, if that’s how it is now I understand and I’ll pay the price because I enjoy the food. I came in the other day to actually dine in, went to order my food and the server said “We can’t do two seasonings only one. You can get one seasoning on the side for $3” So I told her I ordered a Togo order a week ago and they were able to do it for $2 and it was all in one bag. She replied with “Well I’m the server and I know how it works”. Right then and there I continued to order my food because you know it is what it is. As I am ordering she wanted to be passive with her service and after she walked off I decided to actually just cancel my order. It’s sad because I won’t be back but it’s even sadder when you have a good company become money hungry and greedy. It’s not a problem to grow or change especially due to the economy but not even being able to add an additional seasoning to a bag and have to order a side of it which will actually use more supplies or to not have a set price on what it’s charged is just not good service. It’s a big...