The Rusty Hook Tavern

Great food. Fresh seafood and very friendly staff. Two of our party had the blacked grouper. The chef also featured fresh grilled prawns. Awesome.
I had the RH Burger really tasty with the homemade chips.
Coming to Pompano Beach a must visit.

My wife and I agreed on five stars for this place. Five stars are awarded for exceptional service and outstanding food. When my wife tasted her steak for the first time, she let out a sound like the first time she tasted a Krispy Kreme donut. That is high praise especially for my wife who is not a big meat eater like me.
The food taste was amazing. I also liked the view from the table. We looked out over the water and watched the soft rain fall. Thanks to Unilocal for helping me find this gem on my vacation to Pompano Beach.

Seriously impressed with this place! It overlooks a marina with large boats and docks, and there is ample parking across the street. We showed up an hour before closing on a Saturday night, only to be greeted by the manager and seated immediately.
Our waiter came over, was extremely friendly efficient and knowledgable about the menu and specials, and was fast on his feet both in checking on us and taking requests.
We had the ceviche to start, which was OUT OF THIS WORLD, and then my friend ordered the shrimp tacos and they made tacos for me with mahi as I’m not a huge fan of shrimp. Absolutely phenomenal food.
Lastly, a small detail that truly impressed me, the bus boy very politely asked if he could remove dishes before touching them or taking them. There is nothing worse than when they reach in front of you unexpectedly, taking a plate of food that you were still picking at.
Very reasonably priced for the service level and quality. Don’t pass this one up!

This place was EXCELLENT! I had the ceviche for my main dish and it was light but plenty of food. My husband had the hogfish prepared how the waitress suggested, fried. She was correct, it was some of the best fish we have ever had! It was light and had a wonderful chili sauce. Definitely recommend this place. Service was superb!!!

It’s always a delight to stop by and have great food with awesome drinks. Kareem is the best. Thanks again for all the good times!

Me and my girlfriend wanted to go out to dinner. I found these plce on Unilocal and with such high ratings couldnt resist! We started with the clam flatbread, graham cracker crusted calamari, and the tuna nachos all very delicious! We also had the RH burger, a burger with short rib on top. The service was amazing, very kind and attentive. We had Gladys and Randi as our servers and they were both very personable and awesome! Definitley recommend this to eat delicious food with great service.

Excellent seafood! Between 5 of us we had coconut shrimp, portobello mushroom and ceviche as appetizers. The ceviche is outstanding and the mushrooms are very very good as well. One of us got the ahi nachos as an entrée (which were awesome) and the rest got different catch of the days. The Hog fish was the star of the meal. Just outstanding! Whahoo was excellent as was the swordfish. The chef really outdid himself. Everything was seasoned and cooked perfectly! Prices were reasonable, low to mid 20’s for the fish. The key lime tart was a bit disappointing but maybe only because everything else was so fantastic. Don’t hesitate to go here, you won’t be disappointed! We didn’t get any but Wednesday is half price wine day and the options looked good.

Inadequate, unimpressive selection of craft beers. Intrusive, annoying servers need more training. Fish was fresh but flavorless. Good Moscow Mule, but quantity too small. Very disappointing experience. Will not return.

Had the portabella mushrooms and cauliflower to start. Both dishes came our piping hot delicious.
Ordered the unicorn fish blackened with the mango salsa — off the hook! (Get it?) Also came out piping hot and soft.
Will be back very soon to try everything else on the menu.

Walked a mile from the hotel… Had my doubts waking up, but once I tried the food, it’s a little gem in the sleepy beach town!
Ordered the ceviche and charred octopus… Excellent! Ceviche was very fresh, wahoo in citrus with coconut. The octopus was awesome. Not chewy at all, perfectly complimented with the beets, edamame and potato salad. Excellent service and experience overall!

Still great a year later. Limited on the fresh catch but we sampled unicorn and local wahoo. Wings were great with three sides with the variety of sauce.
Kids enjoyed sitting outside and listening to live music.
Half off wine night too? Yes please.
Mother in law and wife enjoyed a Pinot Noir. Cairdean from Sonoma County.

Came here on a Saturday night and was rushing like crazy to make it here for the late happy hour. Made it with 30 mins to spare and realize the happy hour specials were only at the bar. What a bummer… but guess it’s like that every where. Not really familiar with the rule since happy hour is a luxury since we have a little one.
Anyways, the happy hour specials were not that great. There were not much selections for appetizers and the drinks were very limited. I ended up getting a glass of prosecco (1 glass each) and made our way to the table. We decided to sit outside since there was a very nice view of the water and the yachts… very nice. We ended up ordering from their specialty drinks menu which was delicious by the way! I ordered the spicy jalapeño (sorry forgot the original name) and my husband ordered the Mr agave… just as good as mine. Regretted that we only ordered 1 drink each from the menu since I wanted to taste the rest!
We only ordered a bunch of appetizers and everything was simply amazing. The wicked tuna nachos was a pleasant surprise! Love the fact it was tuna tar tar with the crunchy nachos chips. The crispy pork belly was another fantastic dish. Loved the crispy of the skin and the meat was tender and juicy! That was by far one of my favorite as well! The mussels and coconut shrimp was also amazing. I don’t think we ordered 1 bad dish.
Forgot to mention our server (Kristen I think) was very attentive and had a great sense of humor. She always checked on us and made sure we were ok. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone in town or around the area. We will be back very soon.

Came for dinner and it was great. Restaurant is attached to a hotel. There is seating on the outside porch, outside patio by the pool, inside at the bar, etc. It is right on the intercostal next to a marina. The south parking lot is a little tight. The atmosphere was lively and casual.
Our party had the ahi tuna appetizer, lobster bisque, pork chop dinner, Mahi dinner special (both Mediterranean and Lemon style), and shrimp caesar salad. Everything was excellent. A Limited wine by the glass menu made selecting a good glass of wine very easy.
The service was very good. We were greeted promptly by the manager, who also check on our experience towards the end of our dinner. The wait staff was knowledgable, professional, and friendly.
This place is a solid choice amongst the vast amount of places to eat in the area.

When you can’t stop saying YUM at every single dish that comes out, you know you have a winner! I had this restaurant bookmarked for a while and we happened to be nearby, and it just blew us away. Maybe because we weren’t expecting much from this random hotel in a random area, but the food was definitely delicious.
We tried the fried seafood basket (so much for trying to eat healthy!), the shrimp flatbread, the poke nachos (must try), and the brussels sprouts, and all had wonderful flavors. Service was great, and it was a really nice touch when the owner came by to thank us for coming.
Like another Unilocaler mentioned, the restaurant is surprisingly nice inside, which you wouldn’t expect from the outside. And a big plus: the portions are generous and the prices reasonable! We ordered tapas-​style and it came out to around $ 60 – 70 for two with a couple beers, and we left STUFFED. Loved it, can’t wait to come back!

Cheers to a new year!
If it wasn’t for the lovely Cherine, a group of us would have never had such a fine time enjoying happy hour and appetizers last night. The tavern is located off of the inter coastal and it has quite an outside view. It’s suggested to park in the lot next to the tavern or in the hotel lot that’s on the other side. There is metered parking across the street that is $ 1.25 per hour and it’s honestly not worth it if you are hitting up this place for a couple hours. Since we were there to take advantage of the happy hour deals, we had to sit at or near the bar to get the specials. There was a group of 10 of us and we were able to sit at a high top table together enjoying drinks and munchies.
Happy hour is from 5 to 8 p.m. and they have a Wine Down Wednesday deal, which is 50% off bottles. You can actually bring your own wine and there is no corkage fee for it. Oh yea! I decided to bring a bottle of Chardonnay that was sitting on our kitchen shelf at home and it was put to good use. They had a few options for the appetizers and I went for the margherita flat bread. I shared some pieces with whoever wanted a piece and it was delicious. It wasn’t too greasy and the tomato, mozzarella, and basil was nicely flavored on the flat bread. I also had a bite of the truffled potato chips and they were good too.
Our server was awesome with the service and splitting everyone’s checks up. I got lucky and ended up only having to pay half of what my appetizer was originally supposed to be, so I ended up paying 7 bucks in total for a fun happy hour. I gave our server a bigger tip for that since it was a honest mistake made because it somehow got it mixed with a drink instead of an appetizer and it was charged improperly.
If happy hour isn’t your thing, then there’s a larger menu available around the clock for the ones that want to get their feast on. I didn’t look at it, but there were some that ordered off the regular menu and their food looked delicious. I would be willing to go back to give this place another shot to try some of their other menu items. It’s fairly reasonable and worth checking out if you’re in the area.

Finally made it back to The Rusty Hook, and I can now bump them up a star :)
Cherine A. was gracious enough to put together a New Year Happy Hour celebration for myself and some friends and chose to do so at The Rusty Hook for happy hour. Despite having come here before for dinner I did have to ask the hostess where the bar area was since I didn’t remember seeing it during my previous visit… she showed me the way and I was surprised to find the bar area wasn’t actually in the restaurant itself (no wonder I didn’t see it before!) but instead located in the lobby area of the hotel in which The Rusty Hook shares it’s space. So yes, the décor in this section isn’t quite as swanky as the restaurant, nor will you have killer views, but trust me, heading to the bar for happy hour (you must drink/​eat here for happy hour pricing) is worth it.
The bar area is small, maybe ~7 can sit at the bar itself, and then there are high-​tops to fit another ~15−20 people? so don’t plan on inviting everyone you know here. We managed to take over the table area and a server and the bartender (Danielle and Courtney?) stopped by frequently to take our orders. They both REALLY great, and also did a good job splitting checks at the end!
Happy Hour here is from 5−8pm, so you won’t be rushed. Most of our group took advantage of the ~5 items of food on happy hour pricing, and a few of us ordered off the real menu as well (menu has changed quite a lot since the last time I was here). As this is a restaurant with prime waterfront access you can expect things to be a little pricey, which is why happy hour is such a steal, with all items in the ~$ 7 range.
On top of happy hour we happened to come by on a Wednesday which means no corkage fees, and half off their bottles of wine, which ended up being a good deal for the wine drinkers in the group.
Since I arrived first and was pretty hungry I ordered the calamari to start. This was so-​so in my opinion and despite the squid itself being larger than normal, it turned out to be slightly chewier than normal. Still edible, but not quite what I’m used to.
I also sampled some of the truffle chips (great smell, great crunch, not much truffle taste) and both the margarita and shrimp flat-​breads which were decent.
Because my eyes are bigger than my stomach I just had to order the fish tacos which are describes as Cheeto encrusted. Last time I checked Cheetos are orange, but the fish came out red? Though whatever initial concerns I had went right out the window with my first bite — THESE ARE AMAZING. I couldn’t eat all three (sadly) so I would advise skipping an appetizer and just focusing on these babies. Again, at $ 17 they are pricey, but oh so worth it!
Danielle made sure to stop by 2 minutes before 8pm to ensure we got out last call on Happy Hour which I thought was awesome! Seriously, the service here was great!
I’ll be more than happy to come back here again now :)

They have some really incredible food here. However, this meal was accompanied by the largest amount of mistakes and issues that I’ve ever experienced at a restaurant.
Elizabeth and I took my parents here for dinner while they were in town. This was based purely on Unilocal reviews.
I ordered the fish tacos. They were grouper, encrusted in cheetos and fried with the typical accouterments of a fish taco. They were the best I’ve ever had! The only issue was that it took 45 minutes plus for them to arrive.
The waitress called my mom ‘sweetie’ and treated her like a decrepit old woman, which she is not, by any means. She poured my father’s Guinness wrong so that it didn’t have any head. She was rude and condescending when we inquired about the whereabouts of our meal after waiting for 30+ minutes. We noticed the entire restaurant’s tables changing while we watched in slow motion and waited patiently. They neglected to tell us that Elizabeth’s cheeseburger came with chips, when they dropped off the extra fries she ordered with the chips, the waitress said smugly, «let me know which one you like better. «Elizabeth did not intend to order an extra side. They also brought out the wrong salad for my mom.
To wrap it all up, they overcharged us on the check $ 1 for my mom’s salad, even though all of the salads are the same price, and had to correct it.
I’d like to chalk it up to it being a bad night for them. Because those fish tacos were phenomenal. The waitress also mentioned that she was new. I’d like to give it another shot some time.

For a first time visit I was pleased with my experience overall. I dined here after I had driven by on way in and also after getting a reco from my server at the Marriott Resort down the way.
I chose to sit outside for once as the weather was cooperating this evening. Rarity for me. I sat at a two top along a skinny boardwalk with a view of the sound and the pool deck from next door’s business. Adequate.
Strange but at peak dinner time the place was empty inside but had a half dozen tables out.
My server was Ryan I believe and he was very good. Friendly, knowledgeable and spot on with checking back and taking care of me.
I tried the graham cracker calamari and overate on it but it was the rings and had a slightly spicy red aioli type dipping companion. Got one of their signature cocktails, the Thai Basil, basically a vodka based martini with basil and some other goodies in it. Nice libation. They had four rotating beers on tap as well.
For entrée I chose the Blackened Unicorn on a Brussel Sprout Slaw. Also atop a mild yogurt based sauce which I largely ignored. The fish is very mild, sweet and flaky and went well with bites of the slaw. Nothing else came with this dish but at $ 22 I thought it was a pretty good value.
I could not order dessert but they appeared to have a couple of good choices in that arena as well.
Would certainly visit again. Recommend giving them a try based on my one visit.

We went to the Rusty Hook for two reasons. We love restaurants and bars on the water (Le Tub, Two George’s, Hudson’s…) and had heard of this restaurant in Pompano. Also, I heard of the fish sandwich covered in cheetoh crumbs and had to make the trip to try!
We arrived early (about 5pm) and had the place to ourselves. We sat outside. Unfortunately, they do not have a lot of patio on the main waterway. Most of their seating is on the side of the restaurant which hurts the view. Overall, the restaurant (in and out) and the attached hotel is pretty laid back and casual.
We had a couple cocktails, which were very good, but on the smaller side once you consider all the ice. My sandwich was great, but again, the portions were only so-​so. Generally, everything we had was pretty pricey, so you somewhat expect larger portions to feel the value is there.
All in all, a great addition to our waterside favorites!

I dined here a few weeks ago with a group of eight friends. We were looking for a local place to grab dinner and this restaurant was running a Unilocal deal for the Summer of Steak promotion. We arrived at just about five-​ish and the small parking lot was full, so we all parked across the street in the public parking lot. No big deal since we all found parking rather quickly.
Rusty Hook is located in the Sands Harbor Resort which is situated on the intracoastal waterway. We dined inside because it was just so hot outside and we wanted to take advantage of the a/​c. We arrived during happy hour (Wed-​Sun from 5 to 8pm). Our server informed our group that happy hour is only in the lounge but gave us the option to go to the bar ourselves and bring our drinks back to our table. I didn’t participate in the happy hour special because I was drinking water. Boring I know, but healthy. :)
I really wasn’t impressed with the menu. I thought the prices were so-​so. I did find it annoying to pay $ 8.00 for a side Caesar Salad. It was tasty and fresh but just not worth $ 8.00 in my opinion. I enjoyed it but would not order it again.
I tasted Sue & Michaels Whole Fried Hog Fish. It was the first time I tasted Hog Fish and I liked it a lot. For my entrée I ordered the Blackened Unicorn ($ 21.00). I never heard of Unicorn so I asked our server what type of fish it is and what his thoughts were. I learned that Unicorn is a tropical fish usually found throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Unicorn is also a cousin of the surgeon fish. He said he thought it was good and I have to agree, since I did enjoy it. It was prepared with kimchi brussel sprouts, peach salsa and a hoisin chipotle sauce. The peach salsa was very sweet and I pushed it to the side but the hoisin sauce was good. I thought the dish was good but I have had better fish dishes elsewhere.
Throughout the summer they are offering a three course dinner for just $ 25.00. The dinner includes a choice of salad, entrée and your choice of two desserts. The entrées were limited to a few chicken, fish and pasta dishes. Nothing exciting.
They open nightly for dinner:
Wed-​Sat from 5 to 10pm
Sunday from 5 to 9pm
Closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Outside seating on the intracoastal is gorgeous and could be very romantic with the right person. The dining room had a nautical theme and was cute. Nothing overly impressive but cute.
The tiny on site parking lot, $ 8.00 for a side salad and the food not being overly memorable is what brought me to only give three stars. The website for the resort claims that this restaurant has an upscale atmosphere. If they are promoting Rusty Hook as upscale they definitely need to remove a menu item. I’m sorry but I feel it is in poor taste to put a pitcher of whatever on the menu so the chef’s can partake in drinking on the job. Who thinks of this? Not a smart ownership /​mgt decision. They want the guests to pay for their employees alcohol consumption, really? That is not upscale at all, in fact it’s rather classless.
My Unicorn fish was good but I probably will never go back. With an overabundance of local restaurants, I simply see no reason to return.

Un lugar increible, el hambiente espectacular, la comida esquisita, exelente servicio. Solamente imaginese de frente a una entrada de mar, rodeada de yates, botes y la tranquilidad, la caida del sol como de pelicula.
El menu para todos los gustos, el chef es muy creativo, he disfrutado una cena completa y quede mas que satisfecho, solo queda por decir «regresare muy pronto».
Me he deleitado con un postre que lo llama «White Russian Cake», que manera de finalizar una cena exquisita.