Hook Fish Company

Hook Fish Co. isn't a restaurant in a standalone building – it's the beer garden at the heart of the Proof Lab complex, a community hub that also holds a surf shop, a coffee bar, and a native plant nursery. The entire dining experience happens outdoors on a wide patio, a communal space filled with long, reclaimed redwood tables and built-in benches. It’s a casual, open-air setup that directly reflects the surf and skate culture of the larger property, with landscaping that incorporates native plants from the nursery right next door. The whole operation is built around sustainably caught, local seafood. They are serious about transparency, so the menu often tells you exactly where the fish was caught, by which fisherman, and with what hook-and-line method. The building materials follow the same ethos, with reclaimed redwood and even repurposed steel from the Bay Bridge. Core dishes are Californian and Mexican-inspired staples like fish and chips, poke, and burritos. The tacos are a main event, with options like grilled salmon or fried avocado. Depending on the day’s catch, you might find black cod, halibut, or rockfish on the board, and every table has a bottle of their house-made carrot-habanero hot sauce. The system is straightforward but split: you order food at one counter and drinks from a separate bar. All seating is first-come, first-served, and since it’s entirely outdoors, they bring out plenty of heaters for when the weather turns cool. It’s the kind of place where a meal is often just one part of a larger visit to the surf shop or a wander through the nursery, making the whole complex feel like a single destination.