Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & Bar — Restaurant in New York

It's a shock that this place has so many sparkling reviews. This is hands down the worst seafood restaurant I've ever been to. Everything - the food, the drinks, the service, was absolutely abysmal. Allow me to explain:

I ordered a dry rub crab boil but got plain steamed crab (the waitress admitted that she was new, and thought that "dry" meant "plain". No problem). I ordered 2 clusters, and only got 1 (second one came over 20 minutes after I reminded the waitress). The waitress brought out 2 forks for a table of 4, and said she'd be right back with more utensils. After waiting around for over 10 minutes (with no way to eat the pasta) I finally decided to ask the guy at the cash register for utensils, and got plastic ones.

Back to the crab mixup, they "corrected" the waitress' mistake by bringing me a container of Old Bay seasoning to pour onto the plain steamed crab. I poured it into the bag, shook it up, and gagged at the very first bite. They had given me way too much Old Bay seasoning (I don't make crab for a living so I just figured they'd given me the correct amount). My meal ended up being totally inedible because they couldn't be bothered to take the food back and fix their own mistake themselves, or at least give you the correct amount of seasoning.

Don't even get me started on the "butter" at this place. If you enjoy a nice drawn butter with your crab, forget this place. They give you some kind of oil instead. I told the waitress that I thought there was a mistake and they gave us oil instead of butter. She smiled, and told me "No, this is butter" I felt like I was being gaslighted. There's no way that what they gave us was butter. I wouldn't call myself the most intelligent, or cultured human being on the planet, but I do know the difference between oil and butter.

The drinks were awful. $14 for a rather small cup of Long Island Iced Tea that tasted like bottom shelf booze and water.

Went in with kids, and had other customers being rowdy and shouting profanities right next to the kids.

With all that said I see no reason to ever give them my...

I decided to check out this seafood spot called “Hook & Reel” after a friend suggested it. We were there to celebrate my oldest son’s upcoming kindergarten graduation on June 7, 2024. As we arrived, I felt a bit uncertain. I really enjoy seafood—actually, I love it—but my kids are pretty picky and typically stick to chicken nuggets and fries. I thought, well, it's dad's celebration, so I might as well treat myself to some crab legs while they play on their phones. I promised to take them to McDonald’s afterward.

When we got inside, I did what I usually do and let the server know that my kids are autistic. It’s just important for safety and a few other reasons. She then informed me that they charge for kids, even if they weren’t going to eat anything. I asked if she could check with the manager because I really wanted to try the food. She was kind enough to ask, and the manager agreed—though he warned me that if he saw the kids eating even a little, I would be charged.

Since it was happy hour, there were two menu options available. One option had mussels, shrimp, and more, while the pricier choice included crab legs. I opted for the basic one to see how it was. Just a heads up, they also have a rule that says you have to finish everything on your plate; otherwise, you’ll be charged based on the leftover weight. There were so many rules I didn’t know about before coming here that I might have passed on this recommendation altogether. And yes, that friend is still around, but I won’t be taking any more of their suggestions.

When the food arrived, the only thing that was somewhat decent was the wings. The seafood tasted old; the shrimp was unclean, and everything else was lacking flavor. When the bill came, I was shocked to find that for two adults, I still ended up paying over $100 for happy hour. I honestly wouldn't recommend this place—the service was just okay, not great. The food was pretty terrible, and I had to trick myself into eating it because I didn’t want to get hit with a charge for wasting food. Thank goodness I only took...

First I want to say our waitress Crystal was amazing!!!!!!! My family always talk about this establishment they come at least once a month. Since my other cousin and I came into town, the family took us here on 12/13/2024. It was a total of 8 of us. We was one table down on the same side of the DJ section. We had the long table and the small table in the corner. We asked can we have the smaller table so we wouldn’t be squished. We was told by the manager on duty..that was up front (Charisse sorry if spelled wrong) if any other customers needed the smaller table we have to move to consolidate to the bigger table. We understood and was having a wonderful time. As we was still eating my cousin and I that was facing outward can see the manager and our waitress having an issue. We had just ordered another round of drinks. Still was eating. Crystal came to our table and I can see her energy was different. I asked what was wrong. She said I don’t even know how to tell y'all this.

THE MANAGER WANTED US TO PAY SO THEY CAN USE THE TABLE……seems like they reserved the table next to the DJ and our table. (For the DJ people) We asked to speak to the manager which she was very rude and unprofessional. She was very argumentative and arrogant. She came over talking about she’s a customer also, blah blah blah..which we all were looking at her like what are you talking about. We asked her to calm down because we wasn’t yelling or anything. We were telling her as customers she is in the wrong. Never once she said let me move y’all to another table. Or apologize that we sat ya’ll here and let me compensate you for the inconvenience. No…we were given to go cups for our drinks and had to pay. If she is the face of this establishment…smh. We were flabbergasted that we got kicked out of this establishment. And when I went to the restroom before we left, there were other tables available. She could have done a better job but, I guess since this establishment make money who cares about...