FOOD

The seafood selection is deceptively more exhaustive than may appear at first glance. The buffet may advertise more than 120 items, but the meal has a clear center: snow crab first, the Calabash fry line immediately behind it, then the steamed and boiled shellfish, baked seafood and Southern supporting cast. Trying to treat every pan as equally important misses what the restaurant does best. This is a crab-and-fried-seafood buffet with enough variety around those anchors to keep a mixed table happy.

Snow crab legs are the most compelling draw. They are included with the buffet every day without a separate crab surcharge or stated limit, served with drawn butter and replenished through the meal. The same steamed section can broaden into peel-and-eat shrimp, crawfish, clams and mussels, with blue crab and stone crab claws appearing seasonally. For anyone who comes to a Myrtle Beach seafood buffet specifically to settle into a long crab dinner, this is the station that draws the most attention.

The Calabash fry line is where HOOKS becomes more specific than a generic seafood spread. Its breading method uses buttermilk, egg and baking soda, and the kitchen keeps the seafood pieces relatively small so they can cook quickly before the coating becomes heavy. Fried shrimp is the obvious starting point, but flounder, scallops and oysters give the line its range. Hush puppies complete the classic Carolina plate, and the quick-fry approach is the detail worth noticing: crispness and a lighter shell matter more here than an armored layer of breading.

From there, the buffet moves into seafood that changes the texture of the meal. A Cajun seafood boil combines snow crab, shrimp, crawfish, andouille, corn and red potatoes. Raw oysters on the half shell and seasonal Oysters Rockefeller offer a brinier counterpoint, while baked Atlantic salmon, shrimp scampi, shrimp and grits, crab imperial and stuffed seafood make it possible to leave the fryer behind for a plate. She-crab soup is another useful Myrtle Beach note when it is on the line: rich, creamy and distinctly coastal rather than simply another chowder.

The non-seafood side is not filler. Weekend prime rib gives the carving station a substantial centerpiece, joined by BBQ baby back ribs, pulled pork, fried chicken, pork loin and other rotating hot dishes. The Southern vegetables and starches are more important to the identity of the buffet than fries alone: macaroni and cheese, collard greens, corn pudding, sweet potato casserole, green beans, mashed red potatoes and cornbread turn the seafood into a full Southern supper. They also make HOOKS easier for families whose enthusiasm for shellfish is uneven.

Dessert has its own point of view because HOOKS maintains an in-house bakery rather than ending with a token soft-serve machine. Banana pudding and peach cobbler are the most natural finishes after fried seafood and crab, with red velvet cake, carrot cake, coconut cake, key lime pie shots, brownies, cookies and soft serve expanding the final pass. The strongest route through the buffet is therefore not to chase the 120-item number. Build around snow crab, make a deliberate Calabash plate, add one steamed or baked detour, give the Southern sides real room, and save enough appetite for something from the bakery.