Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & Bar — Restaurant in Midland

I was next to the Hook & Reel getting my phone repaired, and saw this restaurant. I love seafood. I asked the staff next door at Dr. Cell Phone if the food was good here, and they said no.

I decided to go anyway because I love Joe's Crab Shack, but there isn't one locally. My mistake.

BLUF: This restaurant is a SCAM. I spent $120 on my solo dinner, then went to Arbys across the street, spent $8 and got enough food to call it dinner.

I started with a couple cocktails, clam chowder, and oysters. This place charges $16 for a shot of 21% rum with pineapple juice. They don't even carry top shelf liquors. The oysters were cracked poorly, there were bits of shell in the oysters.

I get clam chowder everywhere I go. I love it. The clam chowder here? NO CLAMS! It's literally undercooked, crunchy potatoes in chowder sauce.

Then I ordered 1lb of snow crab. I'm used to ordering 1lb of queen crab at Joe's crab shack, which is ~2.5 clusters. Hook and Reel brings me out 2 dinky clusters of snow crab. I said, "Is this for real?" Madison - my bartender - says "I just work here." I ordered another $37.99 bucket on the spot and demolished the first one. The second bucket shows up...2 clusters. I googled "How much does a cluster of snow crab weigh?" Google says 5-8 ounces. That's 3-4 clusters, unless the clusters are LEVIATHAN SIZED. This restaurant doesn't have those.

I asked for a scale because I was curious. Not suspicious yet, but curious. I can math this out. The manager refused. Now I'm on high alert. Google says GIANT snow crabs are 2 clusters to make a pound. The itty bitty things Hook and Reel gave me are not GIANT snow crabs. But it's two clusters nonetheless. I asked for clarification. She said it wasn't their policy to allow customers to weigh their food.

I mean...GOOGLE. Or...COMMON SENSE. What a scam restaurant! No clam in the clam chowder, poor kitchen skills, and lying about portion size.

I was tempted to walk out (Dine and Dash) but my poor waitress didn't deserve it, so I paid my worthless $120 bill, tipped Madison well, then went across the street to Arbys, got a sandwich, had a real dinner, then went home.

I will never be back here again. If I want seafood, I'll drive to Lubbock to go to Joe's Crab Shack. This place is an obscene scam, full of false advertising, underwhelming menu lies, and a guarantee to lie to your face about...

I've been ordering boils from Hook & Reel since the Midland location opened. Over the past few months, I've noticed the quality of the food has changed, which brings me to today. I ordered a Mardi Gras boil with Old Bay & Butter Seasoning and spicy. My husband picked the order up. Upon taking the foil off, I noticed it looked very dry (pic 1). Then I opened the bag and noticed there were barely any fluids in the bag, no eggs, or flavor/spiciness. I called the store and spoke with the manager Lisa. Although she was pleasant and nice, she politely explained that the Old Bay & Butter Seasoning comes with no juice and that the eggs are an additional fee. I explained that I was told in the past that all boils come with at least 1 egg and I've ordered boils without paying $2 for 2 eggs, and my order had at least 1 egg. She offered to remake the boil with a different seasoning. My husband is taking the order back to be remade. My concern is that the boil bags should have juice and flavor no matter the seasonings. Unfortunately, it seems this is the best Midland...

I love the food here, but my last experience, I'll make sure to go to the one in Odessa instead and make sure to let my family and friends know. I've never been treated so badly by someone. As soon as we walked in, we were ignored by the host. Almost like he was annoyed. He helped the large group in front of us, some gentlemen came in after us and he sat them down, he still ignored us. After a few minutes, he finally asked us how many and said ok it'll be a while. I don't know what his deal was, we still waited a while and nothing. The place was basically empty, and obviously there was still space since he had an open table for others. I was very upset at how he treated us. Maybe he has had a bad experience with kids? Who knows, either way, they should treat us all the same and at least acknowledge us when we first walk in, just like he did with everyone else. I would've understood if he said they didn't have a big table available, but the fact is that he did not communicate anything at all. We just walked out and spent my money where my family and I...