Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & Bar

It was my anniversary, and due to a back injury, I was limited how far i can drive. I looked up reviews of restaurants i have not been to, and this one popped up. So I took the family. The result: I like this place the best so far out of the boiled seafood places we visited in Austin. Atmosphere is alive and fun. Service was excellent, and the food came out super quick. It was delicious and we left very satisfied. I recommend 👌.

I’ve been looking for a spot that reminded me of good times I’ve had in Atlanta! Good food, good people, GREAT MUSIC, and an amazing vibe! I went in and unbeknownst to me, they had a happy hour! The amazing bartender, Kandie made me one of the best lemons drops I’ve had since Atlanta! I end up ordering 4😂🤷🏾‍♀️ they were that good! Now I had to wait in my car for about 40 minutes before I could leave the parking lot, but the drinks did what needed to be done! Now the food. I wasn’t impressed with the way the fish looked, but I gave it a try anyway, and I’m glad I did! It was very flavorful and tasty! I’ll definitely be back!

We saw this place in passing and decided to stop on the way back. And unfortunately, it wasn’t all that great. We ordered the Cajun boil, fried pickles, and calamari. The calamari wasn’t very good in our opinion, but the fried pickles were fantastic. So that’s a great option for an appetizer. The Cajun boil was also not hitting the mark for us. The crawfish weren’t very flavorful, and it seemed that they may have been overcooked. The food was brought out extremely fast which makes me wonder if it had already been made. The shrimp weren’t bad and the muscles were okay. The corn was the only part that really had a lot of flavor. It honestly seems that everything was boiled in regular water and then the sauce was added to try and flavor the food. There was one major complaint that we had. The menu said 1/2 pound of crawfish, 1/2 pound of muscles, and 1/2 pound of shrimp. There’s no way that’s what we were given. There was not much food brought to us which was honestly disappointing. There’s no way the 5 crawfish weren’t had made up half a pound. Especially since we are from out of town, we will probably not be back to this place. I hope that we just came at a bad time. I don’t think I could recommend this place to anyone.

Always excited to try new places but sadly this visit was disappointing.. my bf and I spent a lot of money here and we were both disappointed.. Forgot the actual name of our orders but we had lobsters, snow crabs, shrimp, and clams.. he did like their house sauce but my seasoned garlic sauce was very salty and it was hard to enjoy my food.. the snow crabs were perhaps overcooked because they were hard to eat.. the meat was stuck and hard to get out the shells even with using the utensils/tools provided and at some point I just gave up and just ate the rest of my food.. The crab balls were good though..

They play the best music, the food is good and everyone is friendly. Great spot to get clam chowder and seafood pasta. I add the muscles which are huge. Looking forward to Tuesday’s 6-9 line dancing.

I ordered 4lb live crawfish then I got 1lb live crawfish and 2lb sucked dead crawfish and 1lb corn, potatoes?? And hostess named Vivian doesn’t even know how to figure out?! Never get such trouble experience！

Absolutely Terrible Experience on 04/08/25– Don’t Waste Your Time From the moment we walked into Hook and Reel, the unprofessionalism was loud and clear. We stood at the front for about 5-6 minutes without a single greeting or acknowledgment from the staff. Not one “hello” or “we’ll be right with you”—just blank stares and people walking by like we were invisible. Eventually, we were seated, and things only got worse. Our waitress, Stephanie, rushed over—not to greet us or take our orders—but to hand us to-go bags before we even had a chance to sit down and look at the menu. The message was clear: hurry up, eat, and leave. Throughout our meal, no one cleaned our table, we were never offered drink refills, and our oysters came out cold. Cold. Oysters. Gross. We were practically rushed through our entire meal, and before we could even finish eating, the bill was slapped onto our table. Talk about being shown the door. Now here’s the part that really deserves attention: the gratuity policy. If you come after 9PM, there’s an automatic 18% tip added to your bill—regardless of service quality. On top of that, if your bill exceeds $150 (which isn’t hard to do with seafood), 18% is tacked on. So if you come after 9PM and have a large bill, you’re getting charged 18% no matter what. And get this—they split the tips among the staff, so even if your actual server does nothing but act like you’re a burden, they’re still getting paid. No incentive for quality service = lazy, careless staff. And when I asked a staff member about gloves, her response? An eye roll, a rude attitude, and a finger point across the room. No words, no effort. The only reason I’m giving even two star is because the food itself was decent—but good food doesn’t make up for horrible customer service, a rushed dining experience, and mandatory tipping policies that reward mediocrity. Do better, Hook and Reel. This experience was downright disrespectful!!

food was a 10/10. service was okay, i will say the food came out relatively fast compared to other places. the waitress we had didn’t check up on us until we were basically done with our meal. otherwise my experience at this location was amazing.

Great place to eat as much food as possible, and as messy as you'd like. The service was great- it was almost like our server Lani knew the perfect moments to come ask if we needed anything else (aka, when our mouths weren't stuffed with food). The coconut shrimp is going to be on my mind forever. The sauce that came with it was phenomenal- I'd drink it. I'll definitely be returning soon! Thank you for the service, Lani! You're amazing :)

Service was great food was delicious !!! Came on a Friday afternoon got seated quick no wait at all thank so much to the gm on duty great experience I'll be backkkk!!!!!!

Jason was our wait person tonight. He's extremely polite and patient....and extremely tall.. The place is bustling tonight. Unfortunately, we haven't seen much of Jason because it's really busy tonight. When our catfish baskets came out, they were piping hot. Three fillets each. I got the French fries and the hubby got onion rings. The panko crust on the catfish was crispy the way we like it. The fries were delicious but needed an extra few minutes in the fryer for my taste. The onion rings were really delicious. Crispy and sweet. This place is really hopping tonight. I think it's a mixture of locals and tourists. Nonetheless, we have really enjoyed the vibe tonight. My hubby got to do a couple of quarter magic tricks with a young child that was on the brink of becoming a disruption... lol Come and enjoy this place. Great seafood and a very energetic atmosphere.

Food was alright me personally I probably would not come back. Service was ok could have been better The chicken wings were ok some did not have enough meat, it was to dark and the ads on the tv was annoying But overall I would rate it a 3.2

My Mom and I were hanging out. We went shopping in Austin and worked up an appetite. My Mom loves a crab boil place and was surprised to see Hook and Reel show up on my map. She was excited. She's been to crab boil places in Dallas but hasn't tried any in Austin. It was July 4th, late lunchtime. I was worried it would be busy, but it wasn't too bad. We were greeted by the friendly host and seated immediately. We decided to create our own boil. There were so many to choose from. We went with the small snow crabs, scallops, and shrimp with no head. For our seasoning, we went with Lemon Pepper. To start, we ordered some hush puppies. A few weeks later, we returned with my Dad. Another great and delicious experience. We created another boil. Of course, we got some hush puppies to start. For our boil, we got king crab legs, shrimp, mussels, clams, and scallops. It did not disappoint. This place is appropriately themed and decorated. Lots is cool beach decor.

We went here because we were both craving some Cajun food! I got a boil with crawfish and shrimp and they were great! I tried the Hook & Reel sauce for my boil, but if I went again I would probably opt for the garlic butter, but I always want to try a restaurants "signature" option during my first visit. My husband got the fried flounder platter with sweet potato fries and they were both great, but the sweet potato fries really stood out to us, they were delicious. We had also ordered an appetizer, fried pickles, and our only complaint was that the meals came out too quickly after we got our appetizer, but we were also there at 5pm on a weekday, so of course service was going to be quick. I would definitely recommend Hook & Reel, and my husband and I definitely plan to go back!

Soooo...for our anniversary we were feeling lazy and decided to order in and have a movie night. We ordered Hook & Reel bc it was close and we love seafood! Well, this food was a disappointment to say the least. Please look at the crab roll, where's the meat! It was basically a lettuce roll garnished with crab. I was not impressed at all. The only reason they get 3 stars is because my spouse enjoyed the shrimp.

The Yelp wait list feature is not connected to this location. We joined the list only to be told upon checkin that their restaurant is not connected so we have to sit in the long wait line instead. Not a great way to start especially since we have the confirmation

Good "boils" are hard to come by but hook and real Blew it out of the water ! I had 2lb of crawfish and 1/2 lb of head off shrimp. - I added extra potatoes and 2 boiled eggs. I went with the Waitresses recommendation and got it spicy, lemon pepper mixed with garlic butter style with a side of hook and reel sauce. I can't thank her enough for her service and recommendations through out our visit! My friend had crab which was really good as well and cracked perfectly which made the meat easy to get to. She did get raw oysters which she usually loves but said these tasted a little off- however I didn't try them so can't say much else. Protip: while crawfish are in season, if you order the premixed deals they have its only a couple dollar savings And the premixed are smaller/ previously frozen crawfish vs. if u order by the lb , they are fresh /live crawfish (the fresh are a good size too). The restaurant was pretty empty when we went but we came after a morning hike and they were just opening for the day! It was perfect ! The area was pretty decent size with lots of tables /booths and a bar area. Menus on the table were quite dirty tho which for the type of meal I kind of understand- they should probably be laminated for easy wipe down after each table. Happy hour was everyday from open until 2 maybeee 3pm offering drink specials and half off apps. (Not sure on cut off time, Sorry this menu was the one on the table & dirty so didn't grab it to take a pic) I'll definitely be back a few times through the crawfish season!

Absolute nightmare experience after I ordered chicken strips. I thought they looked slightly off - but I've ordered from here before and trusted them. Big mistake by me as I've sat here for the last 4 hours throwing up, with the worst bloat of my life. I unfortunately will never order from here again. I don't trust this place or for them to properly cook food to not kill their customers. I will update if I end up in the hospital - but I HIGHLY recommend avoiding this shit.

I've been here twice and I think it's a solid casual spot for Cajun seafood. The bogo shrimp deal they have from M-Thurs really good and the 1/2 off appetizer happy hour is nice. I've had the Cajun Boil and the Perfect Storm which I thought were good values but don't come with a lot of corn or potatoes. The crab bites appetizer was really tasty too. The ambience is fun and overall service was pretty good. They do provide bibs, gloves, cracking tools, and receptacles for eating the seafood.

It's always a hit or miss with this place. I don't know where my last review went but be careful during crawfish season. If you order "to-go" they give you frozen (the employee admitted that they were told to do that because "by the time the customer gets home they'll assume the ride home made the difference" chiiiile my husband is from New Orleans and we can tell the difference between live vs. frozen. So if you're not dining in make sure to specify that you want LIVE CRAWFISH. Unless you don't mind. As far as flavor; I'd give them an 8.5/10. The poboys are usually really good with a nice amount of the protein of your choice. This last order was 90% lettuce. The lobster bisque use to be good but now it's trash, I'll stick with the clam chowder. The calamari was perfectly fried, we liked the fried pickles... honestly all the happy hour apps are delicious and a great price. I'll still continue to go and recommend you check them out. But just proceed with caution, be specific, and check your food!

I came here during happy hour, and got the calamari appetizer which was half off. That was pretty good for the price. I also got two seafood boils. From Monday to Thursday, you can go buy 1 pound get one free shrimp, which makes it much more reasonable because I wouldn't buy it at its regular price. I got there a special seasoning and it was pretty good but nothing super special about it. Overall service was good and the inside was clean. I would probably come back again during happy hour to try some other items.

COCONUT SHRIMP SO GOOOOOD !!!! Also lani is so sweet and informative about the menu ! Also of course the main event THE BOILLLL I always get snow crab as an east coast girly but dang you can't go wrong either anything. I will say go spicy on the heat, it wont be too much unless ur a literal granny lol

Absolutely! Here's a Yelp review draft: Hook & Reel gets 5 stars! If you're a seafood lover, Hook & Reel is a must-try. We got the boil with shrimp, snow crab, and crawfish - everything was cooked to perfection. Get the house special blend sauce - it packs a punch of delicious flavor! Messy, but SO worth it.

Pretty cool place for Cajun style seafood boil. Did not feel like cooking and wanted to try something new so found this place and ordered for pickup. Got 2 lbs of shrimp and 2 clusters of snow crab for decent price. Ordered ahead of time and it was ready when I got there. You can also opt for different seasonings and spices. The bag comes with potatoes and corn too so that was cool. Only real complaint was the shrimp seemed a bit mushy and I would've like some lemon or lime to cut the saltiness a bit but overall not a bad place!

I love hook & reel. Best seafood boil in Austin and great margaritas. The food is wonderful and the service is great. It's a wonderful restaurant.

Not only has the service lack in quality they now have these ridiculous store policies. I will never come here again. This is getting ridiculous with the entitled sense of forcing money from your patrons. This money grabbing through force tips is going to cost you in quality service and customer not returning. If our employees want more money then pay them more or they can go get a real career.

Walking in(6ish), the vibes were definitely seafood resturant vibes. Fish and boats all over the walls. I think it always adds a fun vibes to the restaurant!! (Also the music choice was fire) We did have to wait a little bit for our food to come out. But I would rather wait for good food than bad food! My Bf got the shrimp basket and he thought it was great! I got the mix&match boil. With Dungeness crab and shrimp, with Spicy Cajun Seasoning. Oh. My. This was spicy and buttery and AMAZING! This was the best seafood boil I've had in a LONGGGG TIME! I would be mindful of the wait time for seating, while I was eating the dinner rush definitely hit at 7. If you want a table get there early, or be ready to wait! ITS WORTH IT!!!!! I will definitely be back!

I love crab legs and boils. My wife and I were so disappointed. The smallest puniest crab legs and crawfish I have ever had. No meat at all. The shrimp were not cleaned. The special hook and reel sauce was not good. The place seemed clean and ambience was not bad. We also had drinks and they were good. The service was also fine. But the food was so bad esp for the price. Regret spending 100+ dollars there. Complete waste. Ppl listen. Drive 10more min to get to Boiling Crab. SUPERIOR. That's where we usually go. Never any complaints. So much better that I am going to write them a positive review right now. Hope this helped

Driving by after an appointment I stopped in here looking for Cajun food. The menu is a bit different like not enough Cajun dishes per se but full on boils. You can order a po-boy but the real treasure is on the other side of the menu. Since it was just me, I got the 24$ boil seafood combo with corn and potatoes at the spicy level. You can order a bigger order if you're with more than one person or multiple. I'd been craving crawfish and was pleasantly surprised. The price was just right for all the food I got. The flavoring was amazing and done right with big crawfish and shrimp. My waitress was quick and attentive. I had lemonade and it was so yummy. A nice complement to the spicy seafood. If I'm in the area again, I'll be back.

Delicious food and good environment! Those crab fries are a 10/10!! Just be ready to make your pockets hurt

No wait on a Friday evening but does require entire party to be seated. Has the seasoned garlic butter, which wasn't too flavorful, especially for the crawfish. Snow crab was great though. I actually loved the super crispy fries more than anything.

This place has one of the best boils in town. It comes with potato's and corn but I like to add sausage. It's $7 to add sausage but they give A LOT of sausage. I usually get 2lb crawfish and 1/2 of scallops with the hook n reel special blend in spicy. Crawfish is one of those food that's meant to be spicy. The restaurant itself is decorated to be like a boat/underwater theme. Very cute. The waiters give you bibs and gloves as well for the splash that's bound to happen when eating boils.

I visited this establishment while in Austin with some friends. It was a nice chill vibe and family friendly. Our server was very nice and attentive even though he was busy with multiple tables. The boil was good but could have used a bit more seasoning. I will definitely like to visit again.

My favorite seafood boil in Austin. I know that there are more authentic places around, like places that focus on crawfish and Cajun cooking--but honestly, I enjoy having a variety of options for my seafood even if it's not all "fresh." This place has very flavorful sauces that they cook their seafood in and sometimes that's hard to find because so many places are afraid of making food too spicy. I got one step down from the maximum heat and that was a comfortable heat level that still had my nose running by the end of the meal. Tip: always worth getting the potatoes! Cheap and also quite tasty!

I travel an hour just to come eat here. Restaurant always has specials on seafood boils. Good appetizers and I heard they have good drinks. Staff really go out of their way for you. Good environment.

Service was eh. The food was hot but lacked taste. 1.5 pounds of headless shrimp hook & Reel style with extra potatoes. The boil sauce wasn't tasty, the corn on the cob was old and so was the shrimp. Ambiance seems more like a bar than a family restaurant and they have the tvs/music loud and obnoxious. 6/10 for sure. Won't be back.

First off who dose not love a good messy crab boil ??? This place was super clean, not too busy during late lunch and attentive friendly waitress!! Great start. The boil I got was with crab and muscles potato's and corn. Omg the portion per price point was actually very impressive! Tons of delicious muscles and more then generous crab. I have been back 2 times since the initial visit and will continue to come in !

Hook & Reel, you checked all the boxes for me! Quality, great service and by far the best cajun seafood boil I've had in the Austin area. Recently came here with the hubby and spoiled ourselves a bit and ordered from their Mega Boil and got their Double, Double Boil & Trouble in their Hook & Reel special blend sauce ...sooooo good!! I also highly recommend this place for large groups, the restaurant is pretty big. I'll be back in a few weeks so looking forward to it.

Came with a group of 3, but had an automatic 25% gratuity added?? .... 25% Tip for a Group of 3? Food and Service were solid, but we were disappointed with the additional fee that wasn't initially disclosed. Can get the same service, but more affordable experience elsewhere. Will not be coming back.

You get a lot of bang for your buck and the drinks are excellent as well surprisingly. the boil bags are great.

I might be biased because this was my very first seafood boil but it was amazing! I did the mix and match with a cluster of snow crab, half a pound of black mussels, and the garlic butter sauce. The crab was delicious as well as the mussels and the corn and potatoes had me wishing I'd gotten extra added in. Next time I would definitely get the special blend for the sauce though! My friend got it and it was incredibly delicious. Additionally, service was great. Our food came out incredibly fast and our waitress was awesome :) Would definitely come again.

One of my top favorite seafood places to visit we always get the crawl in love? I believe that's what's it's called but it's a special and we always have a hard time finishing it between the two of us. The service when you eat inside is always great but sometimes they can get your order wrong when you get it to go. The restaurant is always packed and lively

Customer service: A Food quality: B- Pricing: A Atmosphere: A The HH specials were right on time as we weren't really hungry, but we wanted something to nibble on. Half price appetizers and half-price margaritas were ahhh-mazing!!! We ordered fried calamari and mozzarella sticks, and our friends ordered two seafood boils. Plus, various flavors of margaritas frozen and on the rocks. It's definitely a place to go hang out and chill. Ivie's bday

The food never disappoints! This place I highly recommend to anyone wanting a good seafood boil. We always get the mega boils that always come with a $15 gift card.

Went here for a quick bite with some friends and had a good time! The server was really nice and gave us recommendations for menu items. We got the calamari as our app and it was okay, could've been fried harded. Came with a basic marinara sauce. For my meal, I got the catfish basket. It was delicious! Seasoned and fried almost perfectly. The fries that come on the side were also delicious and nice and crispy. I did also get a cocktail that was recommended by the server but I was not a fan of it. I ended up sending it back and opting for their version of the rum punch. Will definitely be returning.

The food was awesome, all of it. We stopped in for crab legs and got a load of so much more. Jaden was our server and went above and beyond and we are so grateful. The vibe was live and everyone was happy. Highly recommend.

I absolutely love this Hook and Reel! The service here has been great every time I've been. My favorite thing to get here is the clams and dungeoness crabs. I love the hook and reel blend in hot. Their hot isn't nose burning but it definitely packs some spice!! This is one of the few boil spots that have specials such as buy a pound get a pound free! What a steal! Their happy hour is great too! Half off appetizers and $4 drinks. Even outside of happy hour their cocktails are some of the best priced! They don't skimp on the alcohol either. Enjoy!

Can I start off by saying, I came here a few months ago and wanted to rank this place 0 stars. My friend wanted us to a "Do-over" for the food. We went back for an experience on 8/17 and I was ready to spot anything I hated for the 2nd time. SURPRISE, The restaurant was very clean, very tidy, very demure (LOL) and it actually smelled really good. It felt different from the first visit, we were greeted and seated. The vibes were so good, it felt like I was on vacation drinking a margarita. [We had the frozen Margarita Pitcher, so yummy btw!] The music was phenomenal. Everyone was enjoying the music selection. My favorite was watching a man dance with his crab legs or the older lady bouncing to the bathroom. Our server, Emilo gave us selections and recommendations and we order just that, we had 12 oysters; 6 were Seasoned Garlic Butter and other 6 Hook and Reel Special blend. I could have ATE THE WHOLE TRAY. DELISHHHHHHH. Little hot sauce and cracker, YUMMY! Next Mega Boil, "Off the Hook" ITS JUST THAT. The crab legs to the broccoli to the sauce to me ordering rice to eat the sauce. Was 100/10, it was a euphoria feeling to be able to have good seafood in Austin, TX. My favorite sauce is the Hook & Reel Special sauce. It's 1000x better than it was a few months ago. I really honestly can't believe this is the same place. It's sure a complete 360 turnaround. The manager, Tommy, was making his rounds around the restaurant. I originally assumed, he was another server and just going beyond and above to helping the other servers. Turns out he was the manager, he asked us if we were returning or 1st timers. I gave the rundown of my 1st experience. Then explained how I feel embarrassed cause the 2nd time was 360. I enjoyed everything from the moment I step into the door. He also told us about the check-ins on the app! I will be going back again this weekend.

Service was great. Food was good. I had the shrimp basket which was really good and the shrimps are jumbo.

Had lunch and ordered the #5 lunch seafood boil. I substituted in dungeoness crab instead of the snow crab for a fee. I also ordered the calamari appetizer. Both came out very delicious. Our waitress was super friendly and very attentive.

The service was ok but the fried chicken wings were so delicious. On the other hand the catfish was very thin and it was mostly batter the French fries were old and hard and cooked in old grease. I most definitely did not like my first experience but I will consider getting the lemon pepper wings again. I hurt my self they were so good.

The place was very nice and clean, it was a little too dark for my liking . I ordered the seafood boil with crawfish, crab legs , shrimp and added sausage with the hook and reel special sauce. Everything was bland. I asked for Cajun seasoning to give it some type of flavor, my cousin added salt and pepper. The service was great and she was very knowledgeable about the menu. This my second time coming here and I will not be back . I didn't $45 and left hungry

The food here is consistently good and served nice and hot. The restaurant has a festive atmosphere with tvs over the bar. But the service is always lackluster. The servers seem to just be going through the motions and don't care to interact with the customers. Pay attention to the spice levels because they can get pretty caliente! The bibs and gloves they provide really make it easy to stay clean while you munch your way to seafood heaven.

This place is good, affordable, and the service was great too. The crabmeat roll wasn't bad. Honestly, the crab meat on top of sweet potato waffle fries would be bomb. The clam chowder was good, plus a good portion since it was a side with the roll. The oysters on the half shell were large and a bit bland without adding horseradish/ hot sauce, but I'll chalk it up to them being farm raised since it's not oyster season. The rest of my party loved their food which included the flounder po boy, catfish po boy, crab/shrimp boil. The potatoes and corn come with the boil, you have to add sausage, but it's not worth it, nor does it need it. Lots of different draft and bottled beer. Definitely check this place out.

We went back on Wednesday before Thanksgiving to celebrate my Brother's Bday and we had such a good time and food. They allowed us to stay without any pressure for a while because eating a delicious boil takes a minute. We had the Poppers, calamari and mozzarella sticks which were all delectable. I had the boil which was amazing and my family had some of the baskets...no complaints here. The best though was our server who was just delightful; Kelsey was attentive, funny and you wanted her to sit down and hang with you, just really likable and pleasant while incredibly efficient and polite. Absolutely recommend this place, and look forward to going back soon.

Decided to try the seafood boil here this week. I was impressed with the overall experience I had. The food was very delicious and cooked just right. Not overcooked nor undercooked. The crab was large and easy to shell with lots of crab meat. The shrimp were large as well and had the head already removed. You do need to remove the shrimp shell. The muscles were on the half shell and large too. I added 1 sausage and there was plenty of it. The corn was not a lot but there were lots of potatos. They have a happy hour time as well. I had a $3 yungling beer. The best news is the bill was only $55. That's a pretty good deal. There was plenty of parking and the restaurant was clean. They give you a plastic apron, plastic gloves, crab eating utensils and a bucket to throw away the shells. The server was nice and visited us several times, always with a smile! So stop by the Hook & Reel sometime and have dinner. Bon Appetite!

This place is my new spot! I love it. The service is excellent. The food is great! The drinks are affordable and delicious! Try it out!