Review Hooking Bar&restaurant - Kew East

We ate here so much in the last 5 or 6 years, visiting Connie and her wonderful team. However, the last couple if times we have been here, the food has severely diminished in appearance, the serving sizes have reduced and extra charges have been added to the menu (extra $.50c for sauces etc that would have been included before). When the blandness of the meal was bought up with the waitress, the waitress shredded it off and walked off. On another occasion, the waitress stood at the door, waiting for us (and one other couple) to leave. Such a shame a great spot like this hasn't been able to keep running at such a delicious pace. What would have been a 5 star review is now a 1 star review. We won't be back.

We came here 2 weeks ago food was fresh and tasted fantastic. We went back tonight and from lemon chicken that was fried perfectly and served in plastic takeway container tonight's was greasy batter served in a hot take away box and tasted terrible. Ordered prawn cutlets, dim sims & wontons & squid & special combination fried rice. The lady who took the order with very little english skills still managed to read it back to me so thought all should be fine. Waited 25 minutes to walk away without prawn cutlets or wantons but with six dim sims instead of just one serve and squid that was just as poorly made as the chicken. The woman blamed me for not giving her right order even though we went over it twice on phone. When I went back in thinking it was just honest mistake that the wonton's and prawn cutlets had been forgotten the woman kept looking through the menu trying to find what I ordered and had no idea what I was saying. In the end they cooked the prawn cutlets and told me they had no wonton's to start with, so by the time I got back to chicken it was even greasier than when we got it ten minutes before. We got home hoping the fried rice was at least going to be ok but it tasted so disgusting and we still can't figure out why but I spat it into the sink as it was inedible. After that too scared to even try dim sims. There was something else in order floating in container and we don't even know what that could have been. $66.00 would have been better spent at the pub across the road. My aim on Monday will be to ring council to get food inspectors out there to go through the kitchen. I never leave reviews but I am so disgusted & shocked by the difference in experiences I don't want anyone to waste their time or money

After coming here a couple times in July and October of last year with tremendous service then. Went there tonight, and what has happened!!. New management is an absolute let down, non friendly inexperienced staff member, food wait was ovef 40 minutes. And bill was given before meal was even completed. Bring back the old owner, wont be returning

Came last saturday, new customer. Service was fast, waitress girl was sweet, food was beautiful... but took long to make and quite pricy for its serving size!! Good chinese place to dine at but watch your spend

Outstanding! Had a few hours to fill in between local work. Very friendly staff, accommodating and a great menu choice. Such spring rolls entree were excellent, as was duck San choi bow. Mongolian beef main was delicious, a little spicy, but fantastic! Washed down with ice cold beer and a very decent coffee. Well worth a visit. I'll certainly be back with family. Well done folks, you have an excellent restaurant with really friendly staff, a winning combination!!

Was a regular to this great gem for 7 years. Recently changed hands........no service, menu changed and food was very bland......no colour or interest. Could have cooked just as good or better at home. Won’t go back.

Delicious... staff are friendly and elegant... would love to try it again

food’s delicious, service very good... although sad to see the old owners go, the restaurant quality is still stellar.., I recommend the salt and pepper squid!

First class service complemented a delicious menu and wine list. The Mongolian lamb was extremely tender and served with a very nice sauce and vegetables while the honey chicken was superb. We were four adults yet two mains supported by rice and some entrees was plenty. We will be back!

Food was awesome the size of the meal was fantastic we were even able to take home what we weren’t able to eat would definitely go back five star service

Delicious food and excellent service! Great local spot!!!!

Best sweet and sour pork you can buy. Excellent food, service and atmosphere.

I come here regularly with family and friends and am never disappointed. Only the highest quality ingredients are used and it shows. Highlights are the rockling fillets cooked with ginger and spring onion and the Cantonese beef. Definitely a step up from your average suburban Chinese restaurant.

Chicken ribs were undercooked and the kuey teow noodles had no flavor. Overall it was a disappointing experience.

Very good food, great selection of dishes and well priced. They have good service and clean restaurant. Dumplings and fried rice were very tasty - highly recommended!

Delicious beef with black bean and dumplings! A+ for a suburban Chinese restaurant. Will definitely be going back to try some of the seafood...had hardcore food envy of the table next to us who had ordered the lobster noodles

I highly Recommended the salt and pepper rockling, has a crunchy delicious batter and the eye fillet steak is cooked to perfection which melts in your mouth!!

Nice local Chinese, catering more for the Aussie clientele. Great duck San choi bao, otherwise nice but quite forgettable usual staples. Mango pudding dessert not too good. <br/><br/>Quite busy for mid week, most people seated right near front door complete with frequent cold breezes. <br/><br/>Not terrible. But plenty of better Asian around.

Food was reasonable. Spring rolls n wantons were mainly fried pastry - little taste or ingredients. Entree Singapore duck was better. However the service was very good.

Amazing! Favourite place to eat, the food is always so tasty and well cooked! The chicken spring rolls are my favourite spring rolls in Melbourne. The service is amazing as well and the workers are lovely :) come here every few weeks

We love Hooking. Great Chinese. Food’s great, it’s a nice space and the service is terrific. We had a fantastic meal here today. Beautiful crisp duck spring rolls, an assortment of lovely dumplings, duck San Chou bou, spring onion pancake and other dishes. Service from the lovely Connie was fantastic. A great place.<br/><br/><br/>22 October 2016<br/><br/>Solid four star Chinese. They were good enough here to take us in around closing time on a Saturday afternoon, and didn't rush us at all. The space feels good and comfortable. The food was really lovely. Not fancy but extremely tasty. The standouts for me were the spring rolls, the chicken skewers, the scallops and ginger and the white bait. The salt and pepper squid is also good. A special thank you to the young woman - Connie - who served us throughout. She may well have had a right to be a bit surly as we dined away when the restaurant would normally be closed. But, she retained a happy affable air throughout and served us impeccably and very politely. Good on her. She has that special customer service gene. All in all this was a very pleasant experience. It's a lovely restaurant which deserves to do very well.

Booked A Sunday lunch for my dads Birthday and I must say the customer service was outstanding - opened especially for us on the day and we were welcomed with a smile, nothing was too much trouble. The food was great. I recommend this restaurant whole heartedly.

Wonderful discovery - attentive service - great food we look forward to returning. Clean white table cloths, water on the table, hand towels were provided for prawn dish, the Chinese tea was no charge. We had the $44pp banquet & it was fabulous - from memory it was 5 or more dishes including duck San Choy bou, prawns, a Peking duck crepe, by the time Mongolian beef arrived we could barely manage the lychee & ice cream dessert, my partner had banana fritters. The dishes were all served individually so no need to share it was great! More than enough. Started off with some strange frenetic Hungarian polka music but the waiter changed it when I said it was a little challenging eating in time to it. He replaced it with something more mellow suitable for dining. Just discovered they also deliver http://www.hookingrestaurant.com.au/<br/>

A perfect place for a function or birthday.  The peeking banquet is very reasonably price. Big tables allows everyone to chat to each other.

I ordered the Cantonese fillet steak and it melted in my mouth. We ordered medium rare and it came back quite rare but, it was delicious. It's a little pricey but, the servings are sizeable.<br/>We also had combination noodles. Good quality food.

Great local restaurant. Excellent food and very friendly staff. We especially loved the Mongolian beef and the fried ice cream. Will definitely be back!

Wow...this place was a pleasant surprise. We bought a groupon for this place, which I'm a bit dubious of as we've not been too impressed with other groupons at restaurants. <br/><br/>We started out with duck, minced with lots of herbs and spices, topped with plumb sauce on a piece of lettuce. <br/><br/>Next were vegetable spring rolls that were just lovely and not overly oily. <br/><br/>The main was a beautiful, tender beef stirfry with a really nice tasty sauce through it and lots of veggies. <br/><br/>I'm not one for dessert but my husband had the mango pudding and said it was delicious. <br/><br/>The service was really good the atmosphere was very friendly, warm and welcoming. we will definitely go back.

Nice place to dine. We have been to Hooking a few times now. Food is consistently very good. Service is excellent and they aim to please. A refreshing very nice place to dine. Can't fault it.

Diner from Melbourne TOP RESTAURANT. Had Dinner here Saturday night with friends. We all had Entrée, Main and Dessert. Could not fault anything. <br/>Food was delicious, Service was excellent and good décor. Will be back. 10/10

Hooking bar and restaurant 627 high st kew east. Hi went to hooking chinese restaurant last night with a couple of friends .my many thanks to allen and connie who served us,this is a very serious restaurant fantastic modern chinese cuisine we had prawn and chicken dumplings superb followed by awesome peking duck pancakes then to top off yes real eye fillet in cantonese sauce cooked to perfection,this is a really class restaurant if you live around the area you must try hooking it is fantastic very nice and helpful owners and nice decor try it you will like it garry r my rating 9/10

Lovely pan-fried dumplings. Pork pan fried dumplings were delicious!

Entree where nice but unfortunately the beef was over cooked tough and cold .and the fried rice lakes flavour and wasn't nice , it was also cold , will not be ordering again and upset I have wasted my money

Nice meal. Food was nice. Liked the crockery. Staff very attentive. Also liked the ambiance the dark walls gave to the restaurant.

The food was fantastic - arrived delivery early - ate nearly all until I saw the leftovers of someone else's food in with my rice ........ Stopped eating immediately -maybe someone used a dirty spoon ? But then I started separating the rice and realised there were 3 different piles of differently cooked rice so I'm a bit hesitant to order from here again

I came here on a groupon and was wonderfully surprised with the quality of the food and service. Very nicely cooked non greasy and tasty food. A lovely place for the family. I'll definitely be back!

The way it should be. Usually with Groupon vouchers I find you get sub-standard food and service even if it's not the norm for the restaurant, but this wasn't the case with Hooking. The service was friendly, attentive and food was delicious. We regularly have Asian food in Preston and Box Hill and as most Asian know it's all about the food and not the décor or service, but with Hookings you get it all. Thanks and we will definitely be back.

No Hooking us in again.... We ordered a couple of entrees and main dishes. All very bland and lacking in any flavour. Very disappointing.

MS. Jan Berger. Had dinner here using my Groupon voucher for two.<br/><br/>It is easy to make a reservation here...unlike some others whose phones are never answered.<br/>The lady was extremely polite ,helpful and obliging.<br/><br/>To my service, we had 3 entrees:<br/> San choi bow...excellent combination and taste<br/>Spring rolls...freshly fried and crunchy , delicious<br/>Peking duck...tender and good"...<br/><br/>Main course:<br/>Stir fried beef with vegetables<br/>Special fried rice<br/><br/><br/>Dessert<br/><br/>Mango pudding...lovely and not too sweet<br/><br/>Wine to complement meal was great choice.<br/><br/>I highly recommend this restaurant.<br/><br/>Bon appetite.<br/><br/>Regards<br/>Jan

Very nice vegetarian singapore noodles and satay chicken noodles. Inexpensive, large portions and quick service, highly recommended!

Nice Xhineewe good , good quality I recommend the black been beef with noodles

Where do I even begin. My flatmate and I ordered from here after seeing good reviews and were utterly disappointed at the service and food. The delivery time was well over an hour, the delivery guy got lost twice even though we provided directions whilst on the phone to him and then when the food arrived all the soy sauce had leaked onto our food. The spring rolls were terrible and I can honestly say that I've had better ones from the supermarket freezer. The duck dumplings were no better, they were bland with no flavour at all. <br/>I'm now sitting here looking at half eaten food which isn't so cheap for Chinese and quite annoyed I even bothered giving this place a go! I won't be ordering from here again!

Way too underrated. Delicious food and great, fast take away. Ordered online and the food was here in less than half an hour and tasted great

Delicious food, fabulous service. Will be back again soon.

Amazing food. Very fresh and authentic. Casual yet sophisticated dining experience with great customer service

Very yummy,and good environment

The best Chinese food in kew!! Highly recommend!!