Hooked Seafood Bar

The food was ok. I was disappointed when I find out here is no fresh oysters. I had the mussles and it wasn’t anything special. Not sure if I’ll come back.

This was our second trip to Hooked Seafood. We were really excited but the second trip was not as wonderful. Now before I say what I did not like, let me tell you what I did like. The fried calamari was fabulous. We ordered it as an appetizer. It was gone in a flash. It was very reminiscent of the calamares ratione one buys in Madrid mom and pop places. If I had stopped there, I would have been very happy. But, I didn’t.
I ordered the scallops with sweet potato fries. The last time, the fries were GREAT: Hot, flavorful, crispy. This time they were kinda limp and blah. The scallops were lovely. My friend ordered the fried coconut shrimp. The last time the shrimp were wonderful. This time the shrimp were overcooked. The outside breading was like a brick. She eventually just chipped the breading off and ate the inside shrimp. The last time the rice was nearly the highlight of the meal. It was nicely seasoned and we couldn’t get enough of it. This time the rice was awful: hard and tasteless. (My hubbie is half Japanese so I do know about rice, IMHO). We told the waitperson. She said, «Oh, sorry. I’ll tell him». It was obvious that there was someone different in the kitchen.
So will we be back? Yes, for the calamari po-​boy (bocadilla do calamares) and I have not tried the bahn mi yet. Here is hoping the third time will be terrific.

Good clam chowder, great big oyster po-​boy and good mussels.

Okay, me and my BF finally were able to eat here. The food was okay and so were the drinks. I’m sorry, but that’s about it. The wait staff was very nice and she made sure we had what we needed. Vince had fish in chips and I ordered the calamari. The shrimp appetizers were good. The calamari was suppose to be crispy, but they were not and I think it was because it wasn’t left in the fryer long enough — appeared to be a bit too soft and lightly cooked.
So again, I’m going to leave it at «okay» because the waitress was nice and accommodating.

They might have some great food here. I had a salad with a nice piece of grilled Salmon. Not bad for $ 8.95 — the fish was good — cooked perfectly. The salad part was nothing special — iceberg lettuce, «restaurant pink» tomatoes with little or no flavor, a little cheese. Pretty forgettable. Service was friendly and attentive. Then again, there were just a couple of customers at the time.
A lot of the menu items were over $ 10. I’m sure it’s a fair price for fresh seafood, but there are a lot nicer restaurants I can eat at for that price point. This place is very casual. A dominating part of the ambience is the back of a cooler. It reminds me of the kind of place that would be next to the beach somewhere, where rent is high and everyone comes in super casual.
If you’re a seafood lover, this is a place I’d say you’ll want to check out. If you’re like me and kind of indifferent to seafood, I’m not sure there’s a special reason to come.

Great food for a little hole in the wall type place. The fish has always been cooked to perfection (the salmon and seasoned rice is my favorite). The prices are very reasonable. There is a fantastic beer selection. The service has always been great when I’ve been there. I’ve tried their Vietnamese sandwiches, and they aren’t my cup of tea. Everyone should try this place… yum!

This is a ‘quantity’ over ‘quality’ restaurant – lots of food for the $ but wasn’t very good. Our server was also very bland – not friendly at all and only returned to our table when it was necessary for him… not us. We will not be returning.

I just stopped by to pick up vietnamese banh mi because I know Hooked is owned by a Vietnamese. And I want to give it a try. Obviously, banh mi is hard to mess up because it is easy to make. However, it was just an average banh mi. It was big and had a lot of meat but the meat was tasteless, absolutely tasteless. The price is a little bit expensive for banh mi though. I don’t think I will come back again.

I had a snobbery to this place because of that hideous ad where they said drink from the wenches leg and it showed a crotch and a martini glass, I almost couldnt even believe my husband suggested we go here, but I got over it, although I did discover that is the name of a drink there, for what its worth.
The guy working was really nice and more than happy to explain everything and make suggestions. We started out sampling stuff like gator bites and fried shrimp, that was really good. I made the terrible mistake by being an adventurous eater and getting a Vietnamese sandwich that had meat on it that looked dead, and I got like numerous meats on it, I should have started out slower, I messed up, but it really grossed me out, but thats more my fault than anything.
Cute space, I liked the aqua puffy chairs, and the staff was great, just may not be my cup of tea.

After eating at Hooked I realized how bad most other seafood I get in St. Louis is. For the money, I don’t think there is a single seafood restaurant that can match Hooked. While a few other restaurants might have the same quality, the price they charge is 2 to 3 times what Hooked charges.
So far I’ve had clams, gator bites, calamari, fish n’chips, fried green beans, scallops in miso cream, shrimp po’boy and bahn mi dac biet. All of these were great. I don’t think there is a single other restaurant in St. Louis that can match the perfectly fried quality of some of their selections. I didn’t realize until I ate here that most clams and calamari that I’ve had fried were overcooked because I’d only had them overcooked. So far they have consistently hit the correct temperature on all fried foods including the gator bites which is so rare.
The scallops kind of threw me for a loop because they are prepared in a more upscale fashion. I’d normally expect scallops of this quality and preparation at a place that requires at least business casual clothes. Yet, here these perfectly tender scallops in a light cream are served here at Hooked. Amazingly good although it does show a bit of the identity crisis this place does have.
As for the bahn mi and po’boy there is not much to say. Bread is extremely good and airy perfectly complimenting the toppings. My shrimp were cooked perfectly in my po’boy and my bahn mi while slightly higher than other bahn mi’s I’ve had was at least 50% larger with more meat as well so turned out to be a good deal.
After finding Hooked I doubt I’ll go anywhere else for seafood (or bahn mI) now. I think it can all be summed up in that I found this restaurant three weeks ago and even though I’m normally a man who loves variety, I’ve been here 5 times. It is not close or on my way home but I still keep stopping there. I’m hooked on Hooked.

Split Personalities can sometimes be a good thing and this is the case with Hooked. Does it want to be a zany bar with lots of semi erotically named cocktails and excellent priced beer? Does it want to be a Cajun style Po Boy Shop? Or Maybe it wants to be a Vietnamese Sandwich place? Or what about fine seafood dining? Some places would go out of there way not to put themselves in a position where customers were asking themselves that question. Hooked Seafood bar seems to embrace this «Cajsia» Fusion thing with no apologies and delivers some great food at excellent prices.
Location was very casual, service friendly and genuine, and the food actually delivers. We sampled the Calimari, Fried Green Beans, Torpedo Shrimp, Scallops, Bahn Mi Sandwich and a Shrimp Po Boy. They also served us each a free cup of very good clam chowder. All good! The scallops dinner came with 6 Huge and fresh scallops (could have been a little more seared) topped with a soy cream sauce with fresh veggies and some sort of Seasoned rice on the side (seemed like a cajuny fried rice with egg). We ate until we were stuffed. The bread severed with the po boy and Bahn Mi was awesome.
My take is that the owner has decided that he is going to serve food he likes and if that is his adopted love of Cajun style or his roots in Vietnamese it makes no difference. Casual, friendly place, quality food, diverse menu, good bar. So if you like seafood and drinks give it a shot.

Grilled shrimp po’ boy sandwich was excellent — loaded with well seasoned shrimp. The french fries that came with the sandwich were average. I’ll be back to try some of the other menu items — fried calamari po’ boy sounds interesting.

Bread is something that’s quite important to me and what’s made me rather sad about a lot of the Vietnamese sandwich places around here is that they don’t have enough turnover to have, well, fresh bread.
To be honest, I view Hooked more as a place that sells yummy stuff with their yummy bread, rather than a Vietnamese /​American seafood fusion spot.
Don’t get me wrong, after having the sampler appetizer platter, I was pretty happy with the calamari and coconut shrimp with the assortment of Asian sauces to be had. I wasn’t a big fan of the fried fish, but hey, 2 out of three wasn’t too bad.
In the end, I’ll likely just come here for the Bánh Mi. It was amply stuffed with pickled veges and meat and the bread… oh man the bread… crusty chewy pillowy soft… all at the same freaking time. I definitely won’t be bothering with other places for it.
They have some «po boys,» entrees, and soup, ALL to ensure that they’ll need fresh bread on a regular basis!
Smart move.
Yeah, I know it’s kind of silly that my favorite thing at a fusion spot is the pure ethnic stuff, but what can I say. Salt’n pepper squid with lime? Sure! I’ll have that in sandwich form too.
*edit: I have since come back and I’ll likely stick to the sandwiches. Had the «beef stew bahn mi» the other day and it was literally just beef stew with a loaf for dipping, which was pretty delicious, btw.

It was our first time here and the food was awesome. The clam chowder was really good and so were the scallops. The place was pretty empty, but they have only been open a month. Beers were only $ 1.50 for domestics and the scallops were right around $ 13. I’ll take a Friday night dinner with drinks for less than $ 35 bucks anytime.