Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & Bar — Restaurant in Hartford

I recently visited hook & reel , and I must say, it was an incredibly disappointing experience. The level of service provided and the repeated mistakes with my order left me feeling frustrated and dissatisfied.

To begin with, after placing my order, the server didn't bother to ask if I would like something to drink. It seemed like a basic courtesy that any decent restaurant would extend to its customers. I had to flag down a staff member just to get a glass of water, which was far from the attentive service I expected.

But the issues didn't end there. On multiple occasions, my order was incorrect. It felt like a game of chance every time I dined at hook & reel, as I couldn't rely on receiving the correct dishes. The mistakes ranged from missing ingredients to entirely wrong meals being brought to my table. It was frustrating to have my expectations shattered repeatedly.

Furthermore, the staff's response to the errors was lackluster at best. Instead of rectifying the mistakes promptly and sincerely apologizing for the inconvenience caused, they seemed indifferent and unapologetic. It was as if they couldn't be bothered to take responsibility for their errors, leaving me feeling unimportant as a customer.

The lack of attention to detail and poor service at hook & reel is simply unacceptable. It's not only about the drinks or the order mix-ups; it's about the overall experience that a restaurant should strive to provide. Unfortunately, this establishment fell far short of meeting even the basic standards.

I strongly advise against dining at hook & reel if you value good service and having your order served correctly. There are plenty of other restaurants in the area that offer superior customer care and attention to detail. Save yourself the disappointment and choose an alternative dining option.

I hope my review serves as a cautionary tale for anyone considering dining at hook & reel. They need to seriously improve their service and quality control if they want to retain...

Eating here was like a fever dream. Got here at 7p on a Saturday. Seated promptly and then …. Waiting and waiting for at least 20 minutes just to get a drink order. In the meantime, there was a family seated next to us with kazoos. The adult male blew the kazoo NONSTOP for ten minutes straight at one of the kids. I was two seconds from just leaving when they finally left. But then I notice a man hooking up a speaker in the back. All of a sudden 90s hip hop starts blaring at club level sound. Now I love 90s hip hop, but I was there to eat dinner with my husband not be at a club. We literally couldn’t talk the entire dinner because it was so LOUD, and after it took about an hour for my ears to stop ringing. Then came the worst part. We start hearing a car horn blaring. We couldn’t tell if it was coming from outside or part of the music but soon realized it was part of the music. Next song came on- car horn blaring. Next song- car horn blaring. I finally asked the waitress what was happening and she said the “DJ” was mixing it into the songs. Let me add there was no other mixing songs happening, it was just normal song after song like a Spotify playlist, but every song had car horn noises. I told her it was driving me crazy so she talked to him and for awhile it stopped but about ten minutes later, it started again. It was the worst, weird experience ever. With that being said, the seafood boil food quality was a 4 star, the mixed drink was undrinkable (supposed to be a mix that is crushed with ice but poured over ice instead so syrupy thick and undrinkable). I will never ever return. Highly suggest...

I usually don’t write negative reviews but I am extremely upset on the service myself and family received last night 7/20/2025 from the manager Makel. My sister and our two kids ages 5 and 6 years old went to have dinner last night which we have done consistently over the past few years and have never had an issue previously. Last night my sister and I wanted to do the all you can eat for ourselves and wanted to order a 2 kids meals for our kids, we were told the kids had to order the all you eat ($20 a piece) because they are over 3 ft otall. We explained the waitress that our children would not eat all and that would be a waste of our money, we asked to speak with the manager to explain the situation and we didn’t want to spend all that money especially if our children were not going to take advantage of the all you can eat. He came over to the tab was extremely short with I us, rude and before we can say anything else he just turned away and walked away from the table. We did not appreciate his rudeness and he could have had a more professional delivery when speaking with us because we were not rude in any way and especially because we have been consistently coming here. Our waitress was understanding and apologized afterwards, but ended up leaving because we were very upset how we were spoke and treated by Makel. At the end of the day we were not trying to get over on the restaurant, we just were explaining that our children would not eat $40 worth of food and that is why we wanted to be able to order them...