Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & Bar — Restaurant in Glenarden

I was really excited to try this new restaurant. I was seated immediately and the atmosphere was reminiscent of Friday's, which isn't a bad thing. So let's get to the meat and potatoes! It took forever to get a drink. I arrived maybe 20 mins earlier than my friend who was meeting me at 7 and I got my drink right before she walked in at 7 something. Not a problem, things happen, but my waitress didn't seem bothered that I had been waiting for my drink for so long. My friend arrived and we were ready to order. We decided to share a $65 meal, thank god we did because the it was a lot of food. Anyway, I requested that the corn be replaced with potatoes because I am not able to eat it. The waitress gave me attitude and said if the kitchen has time, I'll see. I don't think my request was unreasonable, but I am also not sure if the food is "prepackaged" or how fresh the food is. I didn't understand how not putting something in a bag would cost any time. My main concern was the waitress attitude. I empathize with the service industry and I'm not going to be difficult, so I said if you can't substitute don't bring it. Well she didn't listen to me and there was no follow up on my request. Fine. Mind you my friend also ordered a drink and it didn't come until we were basically done with our food. Actually we engaged in a conversation with the table next to us that was also waiting an unreasonable amount of time for their drinks, but their waitress was very sweet. I am not really sure who the manager of the establishment was, but I assume it had to be either the Caucasian man in a button up or an Asian man in professional attire. My friend and I didn't actually speak with either, but the group next to us spoke to the Asian man and he basically dismissed their complaints. He told them that the bar is really busy and his tone was just unacceptable. Soon after another table began to complain about drinks. I heard the sweet waitress saying that they weren't prepared for the amount of business they were getting because the holidays had caused previous Fridays to be slow. I would've accepted that from the manager and been more understanding. Again, I am not an unreasonable person, but don't dismiss a patrons legitimate concerns. Your failure to manage properly is not my problem and as the customer, to a certain extent, I shouldn't be able to tell you weren't prepared. I will never visit this place again. My waitress was rude. The drinks were mediocre, but the food was pretty good. I would've given the place another shot but, I cannot deal with terrible customer service. I will take my money somewhere else. Literally their loss cause my bank knows I will spend cash on a good spot!...

I tried this restaurant out because I seen it had good reviews... I drove about a hour from Baltimore Maryland. The server was bubbly and nice the manager talked a good game.. That’s the only reason why I gave a star...I was so disappointed .. The food wasn’t good they cooked everything in a bag I had shrimp crab legs potato corn. The potatoes was over cooked as if I asked for mashed potatoes the corn on the cob was also over cooked. The server told me and the people in my party that you get about 8 jumbo shrimp or maybe a few more. I asked her because I ordered the pick three I was once again disappointed because I ordered two orders of the shrimp because of how many she said I would get. They wasn’t jumbo they was large shrimp and I had about 40 shrimp when I’m thinking I’m going to have about 16 I couldn’t ordered something else other then shrimp because like I said I ordered the pick three they put the season in the bottom of the bag so my food had no flavor... Again I was so disappointed.... The sad part was the manager came over to our table and said she was Observing us a notice that we didn’t seem too happy with our service. I wasn’t going to complain but been associates I gave her my true feelings about the service she said she would be a minute and she would take something off of our bill mind you they charge two dollars per order of shrimp’s to take the heat off it was three people in my party we all had the same thing shaking my head she came back with the new check and only took seven dollars off of our bill I was like wow she could’ve save my time so before all this said the hook and reel is not what it’s all cracked up to be. I wasn’t going to complain but being as though she ( the manager)asked I gave her my true feelings about the service She would be a minute and she would take something off of our bill mind you they charge two dollars per order of shrimp to take the heads off the shrimp it was three people in my party two of us had the same thing..None of us was happy..... shaking my head.... She ( the manager)came back with the new check and only took seven dollars off of our bill I was like wow she could’ve saved my time... So with this said Hook&Reel is not what it’s all cracked up to be. To me and my family...I feel like I just made a donation to this restaurant.. “The meal my gas...

I visited this restaurant location for lunch today and left rather disappointed.

For starters, there's no substitution for the "happy hour meal"deal. I asked if I could get a soda rather than alcohol since I do not drink.The owner responded with no. Obviously, $ (dollar) figure was the priority as not adhering to happy hour deal your seafood bag would cost more. A soda loss cost a restaurant less then alcohol beverage.

2nd, The service was terrible. The server knew what I had ordered. The information was relayed over to her from the front end.How do you expect to extract the contents of a crab cluster without a cracker. At most, I was able to get some out by manual bend or crunching down on the exoskeleton.During my meal, I was not offered a refill until the end of the meal (rather late). It was very apparent that the restaurant was not that busy, but rather, the server was in another state of mind, but I felt as a minority during my visit here leading to lesser service when compared to the other table I had observed from afar.

3rd, The seafood bag boil was off, extremely hot some proteins like the scallops was cold at the center and the crab cluster as if they had microwaved the bag then rushed out to serve it. You're better off going to McDonald's if that's the case, eww. Prior to sitting down, I asked the owner/manager if I could sample the boil seasoning I was declined. I had mentioned that the Gaithersburg locations provide this upon request due to myself not recalling the seasoning option I normally select at that location (Cajun vs. Hook real blend) He dismissed it, stating the cook would not accommodate this. Instead, if I had requested the seasoning o the side, I would have to pay an additional fee (again, sales are priority here, not the service or customer satisfaction) . I had just decided to select the house blend special at the heat level of spicy (2/3) Once I did receive my order the flavors was very lacking (washed out) and spicy was non existent. 1/2lbs shrimp seem about right, the scallops 1/2 portion seemed way off found nothing but 3 pcs. Guess the high heat must have melted the scallops similar to tendon when exposed to high heat. Could it have been surimi instead??

In sum, I would venture into other options for seafood it is not worth the value you're...