The Hook is a seafood, grill and bar restaurant at 306 Jackson Street, Petone, in Lower Hutt, close to Petone Beach. It describes itself as specialising in seafood, steak and stonegrill dining, and it holds a Google rating of 4.2.
### Cuisine and drinks
Seafood is the core of the offer, with the venue stating that its list rotates according to what is fresh while keeping house classics such as yellowfin tuna, scampi and Ora King salmon available every night. The steak side of the menu uses grass-fed Angus beef aged a minimum of 28 days, which guests can have cooked in the kitchen or cook themselves at the table on a stonegrill heated to 400 degrees. The published menu is organised into entrees, mains split across seafood, meat and burgers, sides, desserts, a kids' menu and, notably, a group friendly category. Five local craft beers are poured on tap with further bottled options, alongside a wine list and cocktails, and the venue runs a happy hour.
### The space and hours
The Hook operates as a restaurant and bar with both indoor and outdoor seating. Lunch runs from 11.00am to 2.00pm and dinner from 5.00pm to 9.00pm, seven days. Reservations are taken through an online booking system on the website or by phone, and takeaway can be ordered online through the site's own ordering system.
### Functions and group dining
The Hook actively markets itself for functions and states across its site that it caters for Christmas functions, birthday parties, group dinners and lunches, and wedding functions. Its function page states seating for 120 guests across indoor and outdoor areas, which is a substantial capacity by Jackson Street standards and makes it one of the more viable restaurant venues in Petone for a sizeable corporate group.
The venue offers a function set menu as an alternative to a la carte for group bookings, with the function menu supplied on enquiry rather than published online. Function enquiries and bookings are handled by phone or by email to the venue's reservations address. The dedicated group-friendly section of the standard menu also gives organisers shareable options for a table ordering together. Minimum spends, deposit terms, exclusive-use arrangements and per-head pricing are not published, so these should be confirmed at the enquiry stage.
### Suitability for group dining and events
For MICE purposes, The Hook is one of the stronger Petone options for corporate dinners, end-of-year functions and delegate dining, chiefly because of the stated 120-seat capacity, the existing function set menu and the venue's established practice of taking Christmas and group bookings. The seafood and stonegrill format also gives a hosted group something more distinctive than a standard set dinner. Its Jackson Street position is convenient for Petone accommodation and a short drive from central Lower Hutt and the motorway to Wellington. Organisers running conference programmes requiring plenary space alongside catering should still compare it with purpose-built Wellington venues.
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