Woman orders crab soup at Myrtle Beach seafood restaurant, gets more than just crab, suit says

A Myrtle Beach seafood restaurant has been named in a lawsuit after a woman claimed she choked on metal hairpins found in her crab soup.

The lawsuit targets Hook & Barrel and Heidi’s Corner Restaurant Group, which owns Hook & Barrel.

“We reject the allegations in the complaint,” owner Heidi Vukov said in an email. “Hook and Barrel has always been committed to ensuring the safety of its customers and staff.”

Vukov said that due to ongoing litigation, the company was unable to comment further.

Tiffany and Kevin Buddington claim they were eating at Hook & Barrel, 8014 N. Kings Higway, on Sept. 21, 2023, when Tiffany felt a “sharp, painful sensation” in her throat while eating a bowl of crab soup. Tiffany began choking, and Kevin administered the Heimlich maneuver to his wife, causing her to spit out a metal hairpin, the lawsuit alleges.

A second identical hairpin was later discovered and surgically removed from Tiffany’s stomach, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, filed on Aug. 29, 2024, claims negligence against the restaurant and restaurant group for serving the soup with a foreign object inside and failing to notice the object before serving it to customers.

The complaint demands a jury trial.