Hooks Sushi Bar & Thai Food

Great sushi! Amazing staff highly recommend this place song hesitate to stop I know it’s small but well worth the wait

On the way back from the beach we decided to stop for sushi and found Hooks on google maps. I read the reviews prior to going and the reviews ranges from mediocre food/​sushi to best food/​sushi on the planet. I did notice A LOT of complaints about the wait staff. It seemed like the slow wait staff was during peak dining times, so since it being late on a Sunday I figured it might not be that bad.
Hooks was empty with the exception of another couple who was at a table near the door. Now the place is very small to begin with and the tables might have less than ½ foot between each other. I figured I didn’t need to ask to be sat somewhere quiet because of how empty they were, but we were seated right next to that couple. Even with music on we could hear their conversation word for word. We felt like we had to whisper to each other to have come privacy.
The food was really nothing to rave about. We had a small salad with a pretty good dressing on it and miso soup since we ordered a dinner meal. The salad and soup came out very quickly along with our appetizer. We also ordered The Shaggy Dog sushi roll which also came out quickly. The wasabi was dull and didn’t have any spice to it and the ginger was sliced so long I cut each slice in half and found it to still be too large for the sushi. My husband ordered the Pad Thai and I ordered a Korean dish to try something different. The description was «sweet potato noodles with veggies and beef or chicken in Korean spices.» What I received was a HUGE blob (enough for 3 – 4 separate servings) of pale orange noodles with an extra huge blob of raw bean sprouts on top. The only «veggies» on the dish were the bean sprouts and about 4 pieces of green onion. The chicken was cut so small I had to search inside the dish for it. The entire dish also tasted the same. There were no different flavor notes to it and the color was just unappealing. My husband said his Pad Thai was delish and didn’t have any complaints.
The waiter never gave us his name or any introduction at all. When we were sat he ran right over and asked what we wanted to drink and eat. He was not personable at all and I almost felt like we were a bother to him. He always kept my water glass full, which I appreciate greatly at any place I go and eat at.
All in all the sushi roll was mediocre at best and a tad on the warm side. My food was a huge let down as well as the wait staff. The only upside to this visit was our appetizer of steamed dumplings.
I won’t be visiting Hooks again

Love this place, always packed, amazing sushi, and amazing Phò. I’ve tried sushi at several area places and none of them beat Hooks for freshness and flavor. Still my all time favorite Sushi spot in the area.

My boyfriend and I stopped here during a beach trip after reading the wonderful reviews. Upon arrival, the host was less than friendly when seating us in a tiny corner near the door. Our server didn’t introduce herself before asking what we would like to order, though we’d had no time with the menu. In fact, I didn’t see one smile from an employee the entire time we were seated. HOWEVER, the rolls (TST, St. Pete. & No name) were yummy. We also ordered a Krab salad to split that was okay but nothing to write home about.
In conclusion, I agree with my fellow Unilocalers that the sushi is decent quality for a great price. I also agree that the seating is too close together and the staff is iffy.
Pros– good sushi, cheap price for quantity
Cons– bland atmosphere and mediocre staff

We got up and left. They had fake crab in half the dishes and no real crab. How do you have a spider roll with fake crab? It was premium pricing for low end sushi.

I was originally headed to another Sushi place in St. Petersburg, but it was closed on Mondays (boo). I’m glad we tried this place — it’s very small, so seating is quite limited. The wait staff is incredibly friendly (even though they goofed on a few of our things — but gladly corrected the accidents!). The sushi was very fresh, nice big sizes, lots of options. I will definitely return.

I ordered the spider roll and green tea mochi ice cream to takeaway — my gosh both were so good. Even when we picked up the order staff were lovely and made me want to go for a sit in meal next time.
They have tons of choice so I had a tough time ordering but was very happy with the sushi which had soft shell crab in it. Mochi was soft and matcha flavour was lovely! Would definitely go back.

We found @HooksSushi tonight while in St Pete after I finished working — we were looking for sushi to please #SheWhoMustNotBeTagged, who’d rode along for dinner. I’m not an independent sushi eater, so I wasn’t sure where to go. Of course I used Unilocal in my hunt, but avoided downtown since I’m still on crutches. And after an inadvertent drive by, Maddie was all-​in. She was attracted to the smallish size of the restaurant. And, indeed, the ambiance inside was warm & familiar. Plus, I’d heard good things from friends who live nearby.
Wednesday night is $ 1 sushi so we ordered some Crunchy, TST, & Salmon Sashimi. And Madd & I both ordered Miso Soup. I really enjoyed the taste of this: salty, but not overly. I also had the LA Roll, which arrived with delicious baked Krab & scallops on top — this was my fave dish tonight. Madd had the Florida Roll, which I also thought was very good. Howard had the California Roll & an order of Gyoza. The California Roll was good, but I didn’t care for the Gyoza. The Crunchy Roll was also very good, but I didn’t try the Salmon Sashimi or TST.
Service was fair… with 3 of us at the table, we only had 2 sets of chopsticks. Immediately after he brought our food, we couldn’t get our waiter’s attention right away to request them. Not a deal-​breaker for me — IDK how to use chopsticks anyway — I just used my fingers. Hubs later let me borrow his while Madd tried to show me how to use them. Other than that, our waiter was decent: he kept our water glasses full & made himself available when Howard wanted more $ 1 sushi. And the bus boy was super-​quick to remove empty plates.
Overall, we enjoyed our meal here, and we will definitely return!

My husband and I are pretty much in love with this place!
We live within walking distance and come here at least twice a month. Usually we sit at the bar because we love to watch the chefs. He’s into $ 1 Wednesday’s and all of the creative yummy rolls they offer-​the St. Pete and Tst are favorites. He also swears the crab Rangoon is the best he’s had! Mine is pretty standard-​but amazing! I love the seaweed salad and the veggie roll.
The atmosphere is nice, too. The girl in the front usually remembers us and is super sweet.

Solid sushi place. Good specials on Dollar Sushi day (Thurs I think.) only two small complaints:
–Ordered unagi nigiri and it was lukewarm at best. Unagi is only good piping hot, so they should serve it when it’s piping hot.
–my roll was falling apart while I was trying to eat it. The chef didn’t use enough rice as you could see the seaweed all across the bottom. I’m guessing there was a less experienced chef that day as we were there for lunch.
Flavors were all good, service was good. I’ll definitely go back.

Popped in last night for dinner, gyoza (fried) was delicious!, TST roll, Florida Roll and No Name rolls. All were delicious!

Hooks has really good super indulgent fried sushi rolls. Hooks serves traditional rolls and Thai food as well but I go for the specialty rolls. Most of the specialty rolls are Hooks creations and can’t be found elsewhere. The fried rolls are huge and priced very well. My absolute favorite fried roll is the TST and it only cost $ 10. Most of there specialty rolls are between $ 10 and $ 12, they are huge and are all excellent. I highly recommend!

3 stars because of the delicious sushi yet bad seating
Let me start by saying that I’ve been to Hooks at least a dozen times over the last few years and it’s always been the same. The sushi is really really good but the tables are WAY too close. I understand profit and how a restaurant loves to pack the patrons in but it’s just way too close. If you choose to dine at Hook’s expect people sitting next to you to once in a while glance over at your phone or accidentally eavesdrop on your conversation. If the couple sitting next to you is REALLY bored then you can expect them to just listen to your whole conversation. It’s that bad. Anyway, the prices are pretty decent and again, the sushi is really fresh and presented artistically. 5 stars for the sushi — 1 star for the ambiance. The service was ok…

It is easy to understand why people love Hook’s. The rolls are about $ 3 – 5 cheaper than any other sushi place in town, and also much bigger. Just one specialty roll at Hook’s is an entire meal. There is absolutely no way that someone can eat two, just too filling. For example: A massive, deep fried specialty roll will run you about $ 9.50 (not $ 14 like most places) and have 10 massive 2-​bite pieces of roll.
We visited on a Wednesday night, not even their busiest night, and the dining area was full of happy locals that have obviously been eat at Hook’s for years. It was also nice to see many happy families with children as well, not common at sushi restaurants this close to downtown.
While I really like the location and the old St Pete atmosphere, I will probably not return anytime soon. The quality of the ingredients is very low standard. For example, the tuna looks like sliced Thanksgiving ham, but tastes like fish. So wrong.
The scallop nigiri was loaded with mayo, and we were not expecting it. Didn’t even touch it and the scallops went to waste. Gross.
It was good to try, so now I can check Hook’s off the list and move on.

My wife and I went with another couple based on their recommendation and holy crap, they were right!
The place looks like a hole in the wall. Valet parking was available and once inside, found the place to be welcoming and very busy.
We ordered a bunch of stuff. Started with sushi nachos. Sounds gross, but it was amazing! Don’t freak out, no melted cheese here. 2 types of tuna on a crunchy bread with a great sauce. Didn’t even see it on the menu, but it was unbelievable.
Also go tuna and salmon Tataki, Sunshine roll, tri color roll, no name roll (yes, that’s the name of it), New Years roll, and a couple others I don’t remember.
If you’ve read some of my reviews before, you know I would review each, but I won’t in this case. Why? BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL ONE BETTER THAN THE OTHER AND MADE ME ALMOST PASS OUT WITH JOY EVERY TIME I TOOK A FREAKING BITE OF ANYTHING! THIS IS INSANE!!!
If I absolutely had to pick a favorite, maybe the Sunshine roll, but holy crap this place is good. Never needed to use any sauce, as it would have taken away from it.
Oh yeah, you better believe it… we will be back!!!
9÷11÷15 Update
Well, as expected, we’re back and nothing more to add as everything was just as good as the first time. AWESOME!!!

Yes, I am a fan. This place is great. Given the competition in St. Pete for sushi, you’re either great or you’re out. There is a wonderful selection of sushi on this menu. Many of the standard items we all know and a few unique to this place. All of them were excellent. Great selection of cold beer or Saki to go with your Sushi as well.
Sushi can be just seafood and rice with some unusual packaging, but Hooks enjoys presenting this common set of items in some really nice formats. In addition, you will find their portions a bit larger than normal also. Not hard to see why so many come here over and over.
My only negative here is that the tables/​seating was more than a bit cramped. And the place doesn’t look like someplace you want someone handling your uncooked fish. But looks can be deceiving… and over all I am always impressed with the cleanliness and professionalism I see. I believe in the small family business. So, snobs beware, we like these kind of restaurants in St. Pete.

They aren’t joking with the rolls here– they are huge! I though they seemed a bit pricey (thinking of the small 6 piece rolls I am used to) these rolls were about 12 pieces and not for the small stomached! They have mostly specialty and fried rolls. I wish they had more options for traditional raw rolls.
We also started with miso soup which was just okay. It came out lukewarm and didn’t have a lot of flavor. Wasn’t worth the $ 3 price tags. The fried gyoza were yummy with a sweet dipping sauce.

I’m ashamed to say I only recently (with in the last year) started adding Hooks to my restaurant rotation. I had always heard of it and everyone else seemed to like it, but for some reason I’m stubborn and wanted to wait.
I usually get sushi, because sushi is awesome, but last night I went a little crazy and ordered the bibimbap. What in the world is that? Its an experience, that’s what. It is a rice dish with thinly sliced meat, broccoli stalks, bean sprouts, and an EGG! The best part is its served in a crazy hot stone bowl so it continues to cook your food a little bit the whole time you enjoy this magical concoction. My recommendation: let everything sit a while. The flavors come together so much more. And do not forget to add the slightly spicy, but super yummy, bbq-​like sauce. It is delicious without it, but you wouldn’t be giving yourself the whole experience without it. This is becoming one of my favorite things on a rainy day (which we have had plenty of).
Honorable mention: Never Say Never roll, just do it. Thankfully someone at my table ordered this so I was able to sneak in a piece so I didn’t feel like I was missing out.
Just a warning, parking kind of sucks. So you usually have to park on a side street in the neighborhood behind/​beside the building. DON’T LET THIS STOP YOU! And larger parties are not the easiest to accommodate during prime hours. I would suggest calling ahead.
And if you can, ask to sit with Jose. He is great, and he keeps the sake coming.

I work near here and have for years. I always have heard how awesome this joint is and how amazing this is… and how amazing that is… I went. Now those people that told me about the lore of Hooks and its slices of Heaven are in the pool of «questionable taste» friends.
First off, we were met by a rude waiter. That always sets the mood for the rest of the time spent. Secondly, the rectangular soy sauce containers were dirty. This was all before we even ordered…
The sushi: Better than Publix but not as good as other places. Particularly Sam oh Jung in Bradenton. The tuna was milky white and tasteless. Their roles are honestly nothing to write home about. I am just not a fan at all. Sorry Hooks.

Very pleasantly surprised at the quality and creativity of the sushi and the crisp and friendly service. I had the night’s special– spicy sushi nachos, which sounds absolutely horrid, but it was executed beautifully and the different tastes and textures were a lot of fun. (I’ve uploaded a pic of it.)
Also had the Shaggy Dog roll– which was playfully conceived and also a blast to eat.
One aspect that I found unique here was that the two rolls I had arrived fully realized, finished with spicy or sweet or tangy sauces. So, unlike the average sushi joint, you won’t find yourself drowning your sushi in murky puddle of wasabi and soy just to add some flavor. Here, you can just relax and entrust your taste buds to a skillful, creative, and talented sushi chef.