Hank’s Tavern & Eats

Sad news — after 5 years, Hank’s has closed and is selling its liquor license to another restaurant operator. They used to be great!

Maybe I went on a good night, because all these horrible reviews are throwing me for a loop. I went on a Friday night with a party of 8 after we found out the wait at Carolina kitchen next door was less than desirable. There was a moderate number of people (this could be bc HH just ended on too of normal Friday crowd) but we were still seated pretty quickly even with our large party. The people seemed like a mix between middle aged folks without and with smaller children there and a few college kid date night as the evening got darker outside.
Once seated we were quickly greeted by our server who have us just enough time to check the menu before ordering. I got a Hank Burger with Fries and others at the table got that as well as Chicken Tenders, Crab Cake sandwich and a Fajitas with plantains type dish. Everybody was satisfied except the fajitas dish in which she said was lacking and the ‘plaintains’ in reality were banana chips, smh.
Overall I would say it’s a solid choice if you’re looking for some grub after/​before catching a movie in this area. Honestly I’ve passed it before but the way it’s set up from the outside directly facing it, I always got the deserted/​closed down feeling from it lol.

NOT family friendly and NOT customer oriented. Went to Hank’s last night for a happy hour Hank Burger. However, the few booths in the «happy hour section» were full, but there were lots of tall tables open. I have two very young kids, so tall tables are a no-​go. The restaurant was completely empty otherwise.
Even though we could have been seated in the happy hour section, but for kids, they refused to give us the happy hour price for the burger. Luckily, I checked before we even got settled and we left. The «manager» was rude and petty about the whole thing. Whining that his hands were tied by the «policy.»
We live in Hyattsville and have been coming to hank’s for two years. Well, we walked out last night and won’t be back. Had a great burger at five guys.
Hank’s, you have alienated yet another customer because you value your arbitrary policies over your customers.

If i could give NO STARS, i definitely will! I lived near this place for 5 years and went in their once. Since i didn’t remember why i never went back, i purchased the groupon and tried them again.
Horrible, from the time walking in. If you have Happy Hour from 3pm to close and no one is there and its located right next to college student apartments you know its a problem.
The hostess didn’t know there was an empty booth and told we would have a wait, in an empty restaurant mind you. After i said i would wait, she recalled there being an open booth. What a coincidence.
The Happy Hour menu has only 3 food items Nachos, Fish Taco (singular) and a burger which is all over 6 dollars. How is that a happy hour price? I didn’t even bother with a drink because i didn’t want to send it back and the people already there didn’t like theirs.
We ordered an appetizer, the wings, that tasted watery (the sauce) and horrible. My boyfriend order the popcorn shrimp and I the cajun chicken sandwich. The popcorn chicken tasted horrible that we sent it back.
All of this horrible food and the service wasn’t any better. The waitress brought three different refill drinks. She though i had sprite, probably because my ginger ale was completely finished by the lack of service, then an ice tea??? SMH!
Never will i go back. I should have saved my time, money and energy. I have had better food, service and cheaper bill at McDonalds!

Yes the drinks are WEAK!!! Food was ok the chipotle aioli was really good. Not sure if it was good enough to come back though. Staff was friendly but slow. Nice atmosphere. FYI: happy hour is in the bar area only even though the «dinning room» is two steps you pay regular prices. Happy hour only consists of 2 or 3 different drinks and 3 different apps.

Went last night after a disaster of a waitress happened to us at Old Dominion.
Hanks has a pretty good chicken quesadilla, the chili was pretty good but not spicy enough for my liking. and the Liter of Dale’s Pale Ale was reasonable at $ 12.
Great service by Ryan; he not the most attentive on refills and whatnot, probably because there was a holiday party was happening at the time. Regardless he was very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful.

The Unilocalers really nailed this spot. Slow service, mediocre (at best) food, and dirty conditions. My fiancée’s veggie sandwich came with the wax paper separating the cheese still inside the sandwich! The nachos were stadium quality and bare-​bones. Not much in the way of beer selection, and a too-​sweet margarita, but at least the happy hour prices are good. Every time I needed something I had to ask the server to come to our table.

Seriously, we knew better. But after an 18 month hiatus we hoped for a miracle to save our impression of this shithole. Not happening.
Minus 1 star:
1. Getting as wet ass from a poorly wiped mess from the previous occupants.
2. Asking for an IPA on tap and getting and $ 8 bottle instead.
3. The condom on the salt shaker. (No kidding)
4. The hair on the beer glass
5. Subpar bar food.
6. Marginal service.
Yes, a condom ring on the salt shaker.
Plus one star for the dude who brought our food and set it in front of the person who actually ordered it.
The buffalo chicken sandwich had zero buffalo sauce. When requested, it was mayonnaise based. (No thanks) also, expect the chicken to be fried and overcooked in nasty, old oil.
Marginal service: we had to ask for water refills.
Hardly anyone comes here even with happy hour. The dining area was completely empty.
So much potential, yet so terrible.
Again, go to Franklin’s or BusBoys. We won’t be back. This time I pinky swear.

Loved the turkey burger with the green chili salsa. Unfortunately they forgot the appetizer until after our food came out

LMFAO this place is a joke. I believe the Quesadillas are made with a mixture of fish and chicken. The nachos were still and my friend and I have come to the conclusion that all the food either comes out of a can or jar. An AMAZING amazon deal brought us here for the first and last time.

Ok. I’m over it. The last time I was here with two other people. I have had nothing but bad experiences at Hanks the last three times I went. Get in your car and drive to Franklins. You owe it to yourself.
Oh, and it is decidedly NOT good for groups. They were very un-​accomodating when I came with a large group of work people.

If you go to the movie first and show your wait staff your movie ticket, you’ll get a discount. Unfortunately, I am always hungry before I go to the movie when I am in Hyattsville, MD so I eat here first and then go to the movies. Please note, if you stay beyond 2 hours (free parking) you will pay the difference in the parking garage. I’ve been to this location 3 – 4 times and each time it’s been a pleasant experience.

Hanks!!!
I stopped at Hank’s to have dinner with my family after a Sunday matinée next door. We ordered the Tex Mex egg rolls. Tasty.
I ordered the Shrimp Po’ Boy sandwich with fries. Holy shizz do you get what you pay for! The portions were huge! The fries were pretty good. Next time I’ll try them with Old Bay. The shrimp was lightly breaded and fried. Not heavy or greasy at all. The ayoli was okay. I started to fill up on egg rolls, so I pretty much ate half of the bun, all of the shrimp, and some fries.
I see myself visiting Hank’s until I’ve tried most of the menu items, and definitely for happy hour.

I come here every so often to meet with «the Guys» for The Guy’s Book Club. I am always a little disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong. The place is nice. A pretty bar, Plenty of space.
But there is the deal with parking (you have to pay in the lot across the street — 1^st two hours free but still…) and then there is the deal with the food.
No matter what I’ve ordered at Hank’s it’s been a big let down. The appetizers are «meh» to «yuck» and the entrees are pretty tasteless and pedestrian. I’ve ordered the «Blackened Caesar Salad» and the «blackened chicken» was simply salty. The salad part was your typical iceberg lettuce and the Caesar dressing was pretty grim.
I’ve had the Shrimp Po’ Boy and that was the worst «sub» I’ve ever had. The popcorn shrimp appetizer is deep fried glop dripping with oil when it arrives at the table.
I could go on and on.
I’ve never seen it crowded which is actually good for my purpose since I’m there to talk with friends. Someone once told me it gets hoppin’ during football season. I hope they make enough because they have to be struggling if Friday night was any indication.
Bottom line: Nice, clean place with a decent atmosphere but lousy food.
One more thing. The waiter came back every 5 minutes to ask if we needed anything. Normally, I would take this as a sign of great service but, after awhile, it just became annoying. It was obviously because he didn’t have anything else to do (i.e., very few other diners to wait on) so he constantly came around asking if we needed anything.
The upside is that when we asked for the check, it came. My biggest pet peeve with restaurants, in general is that the waiter or waitress comes around a lot during the meal and then vaporizes when it’s time to get the check and let us leave. At Hank’s the check came when we asked and ws taken care of right away.

I went there for lunch on a Friday. It was very quiet and I sat at the bar. Service was fine and the food tasted ok but nothing spectacular and seriously overpriced given the quality /​quantity you get. It seems like you get ok deals at happy hour but $ 14 for a few fried calamari on chopped romaine it ridiculous and the $ 9 small hummus with 5 carrot sticks and 5 celery sticks and a few pita wedges was equally overpriced.

During my UMD days, Hank’s was a often a nice change of pace from Route 1. The cheap happy hour and multiple televisions made it a cool place to hang out after exams or catch Terps games.
When established businesses offer Groupons, it usually means customers aren’t coming in anymore. I was hesitant to buy one but I figured what the hell, it’s only $ 10 for a lunch deal.
Right off the bat, I can tell you I had good food and good service. It’s a strong possibility that’s it because I arrived at around 2:30 by myself and sat at the empty bar so I had the bartender all to myself. I ordered a hand-​pressed lemonade, which wasn’t very sweet so I liked it. My pet peeve is when lemonade is loaded with sugar!
Lunch was the shrimp po’boy and it was great! The shrimp was lightly fried, the bun was toasted, the remoulade was somewhat spicy, and the accompanying Old Bay dusted fries were delish. I’d definitely order that again!
I’m a big fan of the Hank’s burger, especially during HH when it’s dirt cheap. Stay away from the nachos though. They don’t use melted cheese; instead it comes with that gloppy orange movie theater nacho cheese and funny tasting chili.

I have been to Hank’s four times, and it has consistently had the worst service I’ve ever experienced.
Of course, you may be thinking that anyone who continuously returns to a restaurant she views as having horrible service a bit suspect. Hank’s proximity to the movie theater is the reason. I go to the movies fairly often and, when it is a last minute decision, Hank’s is the most convenient as it is literally right next to the movie theater.
First, let me get to the good about Hank’s (I had to really think hard about something that was positive). The happy hour prices are great. You can get draft beers, even quality pale ales, for great prices, and appetizers and burgers on the bar side for a fairly reasonable price as well. The food is not terrible; it’s slightly below average bar food.
So why is this a one-​star review? The service, plain and simple. A few of the times I have gone, my husband and I were one of maybe two or three other tables at the restaurant. The last time, there were only three other tables filled in the whole place. It still took us forty minutes to receive burgers and fries. In addition, we both ordered beers. The beers sat on the bar for ten minutes before our waiter brought them to us. WE were considering just getting up and getting them ourselves, but wanted to see how long it would actually take. Seeing as how the waiter was standing around with nothing to do (literally right next to the bar), you would think he could take the 30 seconds to walk our beers over to our table. Eventually we pointed our drinks out to him.
It takes forever for the wait staff to get to you, they rarely check up on you for drink refills, and the food takes a long time. I used to believe that Hank’s was a good timesaver because it was right next to the movie theater. I now believe I could drive a little further to a different restaurant and still be back in time for my movie, because Hank’s does not save you any time. Unless I am planning to drink only, I will not be back to Hank’s. Life’s too short to throw money down on pitifully slow and unresponsive service.
The poor service has spanned across multiple waiters. It seems the management does not care. AVOID!

What a let down. Terrible service is an understatement. I truly have not had service this bad for as long as I can remember.
When we got there, the décor impressed me. It’s a modern looking place and comes off as extremely clean. The menu got me jazzed. MACARONI AND CHEESE? Immediately hooked. And the rest of the American food selections tickled each of my fancies. All fancies tickled. The tickling stopped after we ordered.
We waited for well over an hour for our food to get to us. This was especially bad since we were trying to catch a movie at the neighboring theater, which we eventually missed. I’m not throwing out one of those exaggerations on waiting, we looked at when we checked in on Unilocal to see how long we waited and it was legit over an hour. The waitress actually came to our table midway realizing we never got food and then asked what we originally ordered.
Anyways, once we actually got the damn food I personally loved my Chicken Penne dish. It had a creamy tomato sauce with some bacon and parm. Absolutely delicious, I drove through it with reckless abandon.
The side dish of mac & cheese could have been a larger portion for the six dollar price. Even so, it was absolutely delicious. The breadcrumb toppings were fantastic. The cheddar was groovy.
The rest of the experience was utter crap. Not coming back!

I’ve been to Hanks a few times with my boyfriend, who teaches at UMD and has some friends who live close to there. I’d compare Hanks to an Applebee’s. It has a pretty standard menu: burgers, salads, etc., a pretty big bar area, and lots of TVs. We went recently to watch some football, and it was a really good decision. There are so many TVs that no matter where you sit, you can see a game. They can also play every game that’s on at a time. Also, if you sit in a booth, there is a personal TV to put on a local game (no DirecTV on these tvs).
As for the food, the burgers are very good and the mac and cheese is also very good. I always like to start with the sweet potato fries. Try the steak sauce as a dipper, as they don’t have a dip specific to the fries.
Last, the wait staff at Hanks are great. They are very friendly and always do a great job.
Oh– one last tip is to go to the movie theater to validate your parking ticket.

Hank’s has a nice atmosphere, I’ll concur with other reviewers on that.
$ 1.99 cans of Buds and Natty Bohs at happy hour are very much welcomed. Happy hour on this past Tuesday consisted of me and my friend at a bar table and two girls at the bar. The $ 5 Hank Burgers are now $ 5.99. In fact, all the other drink specials mentioned in the other reviews have also gone up $ 0.99 each. Our waiter did say though that happy hour last all night long on Thursday and Friday, something not mentioned on their webpage.
We split their Crispy Fish burrito which was large, but not as large as a Chipotle burrito. it was $ 10.99 and not memorable. It wasn’t bad, it is just that it did not blow me away. However I am a fan of their sweet potato fries. For $ 3.99 there are plenty to share.
I’d come back again just for the atmosphere and for the fact it is a good meeting point for me and my pal from College Park. Monday nights they have a poker tournament for anyone to play with free poker chips. I don’t recall all the details, but if you keep winning you can go on to win real $$ in a tournament with others from across the states!
Another thing: You can still print out a $ 10.00 off coupon from their website. It includes alcohol purchases too when you spend $ 30.00. Plus, you get two FREE hours of parking everyday in the garage across the street.