| Address | 5031 Connecticut Ave., Washington, DC 20008 |
|---|---|
| Hours | Open Tue-Sun 5pm-10pm |
| Phone | (202) 364-0777 |
Two stars because it is overpriced. Details:
►Bread was outstanding.
►Fries were likewise excellent.
►Fried oyster appetizer was also very tasty.
►Steak (the smaller "Camp Steak") was w-a-y undercooked--I asked for medium rare, but it came to the table just barely seared on the outside, and completely raw in the middle; had to send it back, and didn't see it again for quite some time. It came back medium rather than medium rare, but that was an improvement. Whoever is grilling their steaks needs more practice--or training.
►Cole slaw portion was tiny, and the dressing flavorless. A TIP: If you like good cole slaw, order the celery root remoulade instead--it tasted like a pretty decent cole slaw.
►MORE VEGGIES! Vegetables are clearly an afterthought with this chef. She needs to rethink her menu, especially when it comes to vegetarians (one of our group is quite strict). With only one main vegetarian entree, what is going to keep vegetarians coming back for repeat visits?
Thank goodness we had a Groupon to take the edge off the high prices.
Buck's is high on atmosphere, small on portions. The fried green tomato and smoked mozarella/tomato appetizers were well executed and tasty. Bread crusty. Things going swimmingly. We ordered an expensive wine which was properly delivered with the food. We were just beginning to become restive about waiting for our entrees when they arrived. My friends had shrimp and sausages and fried oysters which they devoured happily. The softshell crab was delicately battered and crisp but sadly there was only one on my plate. None of the side dishes on the menu were offered, and our meals were accompanied by litle metal cups with corn and beans in them. Tasty but the prices indicate more.
The atmosphere is hunting lodge cozy and romantic but the meal was less than desired.
The green salad was average. The fish was both burnt on the outside and undercooked on the inside. It took three hours from being seated to dessert. Service was not just slow but poor. I would never eat here again.
Is it really like fishing and camping? Well, it is sort of possible to imagine being at some sort of mountain camp mess hall if you can keep from looking out the front windows at Connecticut Avenue, and if you can also forget that you are going to be wandering over to Politics and Prose to browse a bit after dinner. The food is not mountain camp mess hall, but mountain lodge: good, big meats; real food. It's different and worth the visit.
In 35 years of dining in the Washington area, this was the worst dining experience I have ever had. I had read rave reviews about it. But it was small and crowded. It had lost our reservations and we had to sit at a communal table. The other people at the table looked like they had just come in from a softball game; informality is one thing, grunginess is something else. The menu was very, very limited. The food itself was nothing special. The service was abysmal. Neither my wife or I could think of a single positive thing to say about it.
Carole Greenwood is a truly talented chef - if she weren't, then I doubt anyone would put up with the location (inconvenient), service (inconsistent), portions (dwindling) and prices (creeping up). Words cannot describe how good the mussels & steak are. I was sipping mussel juice like it was a fine wine. I hope the mussels make a comeback on the menu soon. Please. And the steak is a generous portion of delicious dry-aged sirloin, I am not a steak person but I will make an exception for this. Other crowd pleasers are the homemade mozzarella w/beet salad, the whole sea bass, the venison sausages...Really, the only disappointing things I've had are the desserts. The red velvet cake was dry & couldn't be redeemed by a dollop of creme fraiche. The apple tart was entirely forgettable. Please bring back the Chocolate Icebox cake: 2 slices of intense flourless chocolate cake, drizzled with chocolate. The service is often less than friendly, depending on who waits on you. Buck's is one of the most visually pleasing restaurants in DC, it's unique, mysterious, warm and avoids many of the design cliches many places suffer from.
This is a great restaurant! Interesting decor and fantastic food! My one complaint is that they don't take reservations. Therefore, on a Saturday night, you end up with too many people crammed into a very small (yet, admittedly very hip, bar space). The crowd seemed to get a little cranky (and a mirror even feel over on one cramped in patron). I think taking reservations might also be helpful to the chef...allowing the kitchen to have a better idea of the number of entrees that might be needed for the evening, instead of having to "86" dishes as early as 7:45pm on a Saturday night.
My companion was a little confused by the miniscule beer selection...it seemed like a place that would have a larger variety.
But, overall, it was a fantastic place, the waitstaff and host were extremely nice and helpful and the food was definitely worth the wait! I'll definitely add it to my list of favorite places...but probably consider it more of a "weekday" venue...to avoid the wait.
Kudos to Buck's Camping and Fishing for being a place that is actually worth the wait!
Maybe Buck's was having a bad night, but I was having a bad meal. First the wait was INTERMINABLE, and the host got annoyed every time we checked in -- during our spare 2+ hours -- to see if perhaps we'd missed our name amidst the general din. Our prolonged stint at the bar gave us ample time to observe our surroundings, and the place is cool, I'll give them that. Too bad that's about all that's good about it.
Once finally seated, the list of things they were already out of was quite a recitation. This, perhaps, was not that surprising given that it was already after 10 p.m., and most people had already eaten and gotten home to bed by then. I got the whole fish, and it was the highlight of the meal (crispy skin, cooked to perfection) along with my companion's perfectly done french fries. Otherwise, not much recommends this place. The portions are so small you want to laugh when they set them on the table. The combinations of ingredients are an example of just trying way too hard. They're going for trendy, and missing by a mile; these bizarre and far-fetched combinations just don't work. Side dishes were left to the server's discretion -- presumably they were out of those too, and decided that substituting, or eliminating, them without comment was perfectly acceptable. We got dessert, which may have been good, but by that time, my judgement was clouded in a dense haze of aggravation from this whole disappointing experience.
Wanna know what the best thing about Buck's Fishing and Camping is? The kickass bookstore, Politics & Prose, next door. And if it takes you remotely as long to get a seat as it did us, you'll have plenty of time for browsing.
Buck's has very good ambience and friendly service. The menu is changed almost everyday. Buck's is a kind of neighborhood restaurant where you can just come and relax with a decent meal or drink. Considering the location and the size of portion, the price is a bit over-priced. This is not the restaurant you wished to spend more than $20 for one-casual-dining-out. I needed to fill myself up with beverage due to VERY small portion of food. And I'm not a big eater.
If the price was about 3/5 of what it is (c. 18 to 20 per entree and much more for some), and if the staff were more attentive, and if the portions were a little bit bigger and if there wasn't that darn slab of wood along the center of the communal tables that makes your wine spill if you're not careful and if there weren't light fixtures dangling over the table at eye level between you and your friends -- then this would be a very good restaurant because they do know how to cook fish and can make a clever salad. But the chocolate cake was about as good as a sheet cake from Safeway.
A friend & I visited Buck's for its $20, three-course Sunday meal.
There were 4 appetizer choices. I had the iceburg lettuce salad w/ blue cheese and bacon. The blue cheese was delicious and the dish worked perfectly as a starter. My friend had the beets/sweet potato salad which was marvelously presented - I can't speak to how it tasted.
Of 3 entree choices (fish, chicken, sausage), we both had the blackened chicken breast, mainly because we both wanted red wine and didn't want sausage. The chicken was tasty, very tender, with a slightly crispy outside, served over a mass of mashed potato and garnished with a leaf of romaine lettuce. We washed it down with an inexpensive French syrah/grenache blend ($19/bottle), which is also offered by the glass.
We both had what the waitress described as "chocolate birthday cake" for dessert. It was very moist chocolate cake with a fudgy top and a large dab of creme fraiche on the side. Satisfying.
The atmosphere was very cozy, even though we sat right by the front door. As others noted, the service is a bit on the slow side, but it wasn't overly so for us last night. When we arrived about 7 PM, it was full, but we were seated in under 10 miniutes once a table opened. As the evening progressed (by 8 PM), the restaurant began to employ a rather odd policy of seemingly turning away a number of customers by telling them of "an hour wait" even though it was only half to 2/3rds full. Other customers waited 30-45 minutes for a table even though many were open. I'm not sure what was going on, but I'd suggest arriving early on Sundays to avoid being turned away. That said, the bar seems like a rather relaxing place to hang out.
Overall, this is a cozy neighborhood restaurant that I'd certainly be willing to try again for its full menu or again for an affordable Sunday dinner.
The pan roasted mussels are the showstopper here - so good that my girlfriend who dosen't even like seafood at 1/2 of my shellfish. And this could be one of the best strip steaks in the city - so juicy, and the crust is amazing.
