Hooks Waterfront Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Florida

Food was delicious! There were only 2 servers for the whole place, they were running around but still attentive. Gave 3 stars because of overall experience...when we got there, the server said sit wherever you would like. We sat down and were helped quickly by one of the 2 servers. Took our drink order and drinks came out quick. When we ordered food we were told the kitchen was a little backed up. We weren't in a rush so this was fine. Took over an hour and fifteen minutes to get our food, not what we were expecting with "a little backed up." When the food arrived, it was really good. Had the po boy shrimp sandwich, fish and chips, and kids chicken tacos. Everyone enjoyed their food.

The not so great things during our experience...the wait to get the food was rough as mentioned earlier. When the check came the prices were higher than on the menu. I normally don't pay that close attention but, another table mentioned it when they were paying while we were waiting. The server told them "well our prices have gone up." They are laminated paper menus, charging $2 more for meals you could easily print more menus with correct and current prices. I didn't even know this was allowed in the restaurant industry. I'm not one to argue so paid without bringing it up, but definitely noticed. Also charged extra when asking for more tarter sauce. Server didn't mention it was extra, but they simply put it on the check.

The last thing that troubled me was before leaving, overheard the server talking to another table saying they sent 2 employees, including one cook, home around 6pm because up to that point they were slow on a Saturday evening. We arrived around 645 and didn't get out til 845. I work at a place were payroll is a focus and productivity is important, but don't sacrifice the experience for anyone who may come in by not being able to serve them properly. I know most places are having a hard time finding good employees in the past few years so am normally more forgiving when it comes to not as great of service or longer wait times due to staffing issues....but to find out the business did this to themselves by sending people home didn't sit well with me or my experience there.

Overall I would go back due to taste of the food, but before ordering food would kinda get a feel on how long...

One star because I couldn’t give zero. This was our first time coming and it was a huge disappointment! We followed the signs to be seated by an overwhelmed server, who told me who she’s never had a wait time that long. We got there and took 20 minutes to be seated. After waiting 20 mins to be seated by the same overwhelming server without menus, said she would come back and wipe down the table, overwhelmed server comes back after 15 mins of seating us and forgot to give us menus comes back with menus, then attempted to place the menus on the table until we said it wasn’t wiped down she finally wiped it down and left. Our waitress didn’t come take an order for drinks for about 10 minutes then finally brought our drinks back and placed our food order. Keep in mind we arrived at 5:45PM. Everything we ordered was fried except two burgers and a wrap. We waited 30 mins for some cheese sticks come out and assumed our fried pickles would come out as well. We didn’t get our table of food until about 7:45PM and it was a huge disappointment when you order the seafood platter you assume you get the same amount of each item but that wasn’t the case. This was the first and last time we will ever visit this place they need Gordon Ramsey badly. It doesn’t take 2hrs to get fried food. Pictured was seafood platter but had 4 shrimp, 7 pieces of fish while the whole plate filled...

Somehow it seems that people expected a 5 Star Restaurant....it's not. It's a great local spot to stop off for a drink and some pub grub and enjoy the view. We have been twice so far this year and both times we have had excellent service, the food was very good, and we saw dolphins both times! If you want fancy, this isn't it. If you want some good bar food, then give them a try. The Fish, the Chicken Tenders, and the Wings were all good (and we are from Wing Country NY). Wings were crispy, not slimy, and the sauces were tasty, honestly one of the best we've had in the 15 yrs we've lived in Florida. The tenders were hand breaded tenderloins, not fake frozen ones, plus they make their own honey mustard to order and it was very good....and you can't beat fresh fish. We've had 2 different servers and they both were excellent and they worked as a team to ensure we had great service. I just wish we found them sooner! All these years just up the street and we never saw it there! We love the outdoor seating, which is properly spaced out and all the servers wore masks. Apparently that's too hard for some people. 🙄 We are immunicompromised and feel very comfortable eating there during the pandemic because they are doing their part to mininize the risk to their customers. Definitely give them a shot next time you are looking for some simple, but...