Hook & Ladder Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Wayne Township

First, some context: we live on the far west side and are incredibly liberal with our restaurant ratings, often rating places above what they might normally be because we want passable food - and even good food - to grow and thrive. We want that for restaurants especially that are on the west side because we want to have regular go-to places for a long time.

But we can't write that review and won't.

First, the location: it's a beautiful spot right next to Family Park and the lake. We chose the patio and we both commented that the furnishings and dining area were nice. It set expectations.

Our server seemed nice enough, but the experience started to fray pretty quickly. We asked about the drink menu and she directed us to a QR code separate from the menus. We had a look when the server left the table and saw that the drink options - based on the online menu and what the server shared - appeared to be beer and wine. Fine enough - not every spot has a full liquor license. But it turns out that they have a full bar because we overheard that conversation at another table. We also noted that the online menu said that beer and wine after 8 p.m. on Saturdays were 2-for-1 (Happy Hour!) but our server said that wasn't the case. To be fair, she checked and we did see that reflected on our tab.

Instead, we ordered red beers. Our server seemed perplexed about what a red beer was. We explained and eventually conveyed we wanted a red beer with Grain Belt and one with Michelob Ultra. She didn't, however, know which beer was in which red beer when she brought them to us. She seemed a little embarrassed that there wasn't a marker, but the right thing to do is to take both beers back to the bar, ask the bartender to make new ones, and have them labeled with different coasters. We think we sorted out which was which, but we shouldn't have had to do that.

The food. Well, we heard great things about the sweet potato waffle fries and those online reviews suckered us in. Don't trust those reviews: the fries came lukewarm and slightly shriveled. Seasoning was modest at best. And we asked for two cups of ranch dressing. Not that we thought that we'd need them, but we did. And it took 10 extra minutes to get them after our half-warm fries arrived and after asking a second time.

A few moments later, our Hawaiian pizza with hot honey arrived. It wasn't clear where the hot honey was. But that's another story. The pizza came really quickly. Suspiciously quickly. As though the dough was coming out of the freezer (it had that flavor) and with canned pineapple. It wasn't hot, the cheese wasn't melty, and your average frozen pizza OR Casey's up the road would have been better and cheaper.

At the end of all of this, we just felt lousy: we wanted to come out of the meal with an overinflated four or five star review on a new place that we hope could be around for us and others nearby. The place is near a lot of great neighborhoods, and if people have good experiences there, it stands a fighter's chance to make it.

But not tonight and, we worry, maybe not ever. The staff needs training. There needs to be transparency about what the drink menu looks like (or doesn't). The food needs to feel and be fresh made, hot, and appealing. And the staff needs to have a broader understanding about potential customer asks. Without that, we worry that Hook and Ladder will be another place in that corner's short life that won't make it despite a lot of personal capital and probably hope and passion tied up in it.

It's not too late, but let's hope that the team and ownership see this as constructive criticism that help them earn that 4-star or 5-star review we hoped to give...

$15 burgers will win me over anytime especially when they still come with fries. Build Your Own Burger [BYOB] options is also always great to see on any menu. As a person who loves dark beers, stouts, bocks..etc it was a pleasant surprise to see New Belgium 1554 on tap. Made my night. Maybe the next time they will have those fancy beer mugs with handles instead of Coors Light glasses. Speciality beers deserve special mugs.

Bourbon Bacon Burger - Great flavor and juicy. The camarelized onions fit perfectly with the overall vibe of the burger

Station 10 Sandwhich - Midwest version of a Philly. A little on the spicy side but we later figured out that there were a bunch of jalapenos at the bottom of the sandwhich. You honestly don’t need this since the sandwhich was amazing by itself but we also had Au Jus on the side.

The seating area at the bar looked very inviting so the next time we visit, we will...

The Hook & Ladder My husband and I were in Sioux Falls and I had seen reviews on this restaurant and bar. We arrived 5:30 on a Saturday night and immediately were greeted and we chose to sit inside. The patio looked great with the fire pits going very nice.

The inside was so clean and cozy loved the blue lighting under the bar and bartenders were very professional and our server was great

We ordered the pretzel bites with queso dip that dip was very good not runny like some are had a little kick

Ordered the dry rub Cajun wings just the right heat and crispy on outside

Had the chislic and fries also delicious We enjoyed our meal and will definitely be returning to try other items on menu

The food is higher quality bar food definitely drive 50 miles one way to visit again

The dueling pianos WOW what a nice treat!! Definitely recommend this place...