Uncle Buck's Brewery & Steakhouse

TXHops

Texas

4.47/5  rDev +19.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4

Big Buck has hands down, the best local beer available in the metroplex. For a while, they ran neck and neck with the Addison location of Hoffbrau, but since that place's sad closure, Big Buck is definitely the reigning king. I don't drink the Buck Naked Lite, the flagship Big Buck (both of which are ales, not lagers by the way), or any of the fruit beers, but their more serious beers are amazing. Howard McMurry has recently added a cask-conditioned beer to his lineup and last time I was in, he had the most intensely fruity ESB I've ever encountered. The food is pretty good too (though the steaks are a little thin for a steak restaurant) and the atmosphere is as intended, if a little contrived (antlers everywhere, but cool vaulted ceilings). My only real complaint is that on my brewery tour with Howard, he offered no free beer. They have a good happy hour to mitigate this a little bit, but a brewery tour with no free beer is like a honeymoon with no sex: disappointment city...

10-25-2002 10:24:44 | More by TXHops

LarryKemp

Texas

4.4/5  rDev +18%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4

The Big Buck beer selection is the best in the Metroplex. They always have beers ranging from a lite ot a wee heavy or stout. The quality is good and the beers taste as their styles dictate. The food was pretty good. I am not much of a red meat eater but I was able to find plenty to eat. They even have buffalo burgers. The brewers are always willing to take you on a tour of the brewery and will talk to you at whatever level of brewing you can carry on a conversation. My work had a training session at DFW Airport and we brought the students over to Big Buck's for drinks and eats. The brewers took all our guests through the brewery and never treated any of the questions as too stupid to answer. My only complaint is that the bar is upstairs and in a fairly narrow choir loft like area. You either sit at the bar or crowed into tables surrounding the bar. When the big screen TV is going, it is hard to carry on a coversation. BUT the beer is great and so is the staff. I highly recommend this pub to everyone.

03-13-2003 18:20:20 | More by LarryKemp

DoubleSimcoe

New York

4.25/5  rDev +13.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

The wife and I were driving back from Tulsa to DFW and looking for a place to kill some time before our flight. A museum in Fort Worth? A beer bar in Dallas? Let’s check BA… and we found a brewery in Grapevine called “Uncle Buck’s”. There we went.

What a weird place! This is a seriously gigantic dining hall located within the Bass Pro Shop complex in the outrageous sprawl of Dallas-Fort Worth, hard by the tollway and the airport. There is a dining area downstairs as you enter and a bar by the brewing tanks on the second floor. There we sat, and I was surprised by the 11 taps of house beers.

Nice or what? We both had a pint of the IPA, which was great and well-priced at $4.25. I also got a five 5-oz sampler for $6.00, with Saison, Belgian Golden (7.7%), Foreign Stout (6.5%), Red Head Amber (an American hoppy amber with a Belgian yeast) and Big Cedar Brown. All of them were real solid-good, surprisingly so.

The place was almost completely empty and a little eerie on a Wednesday at 2:30 pm, "The Shining"-style, but really, could you ever fill this whole place up?? Also, it is January 31st and it is 81 degrees in Dallas County…

We had some food from the pricey-but-nice menu: a side of wild-mushroom risotto, another one of whipped Yukon gold potatoes with chives… I also saw scallops. So much better than your average pub grub! The wife had a quesadilla she really enjoyed.

$35 dollars and a lot of beer later, I am in love with this odd establishment. A great stop before boarding a flight at DFW!

02-04-2012 17:06:22 | More by DoubleSimcoe

RBorsato

Virginia

4.08/5  rDev +9.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Overall a nice big bar upstairs to hang out in but very standard set-up.. Bartenders were about average but it was an NBA playoff night so things were pretty busy...

Many different house brewed beers on tap - I counted 9. Beers are of good quality considering the wide range of styles. They have many different beers on tap for people that want to expand their horizons.

They had 2 special beers on when I was there: Pale Bock and Belgian Brown. Both were pretty good, esp. the Belgain Brown.

Of the regular beers, the Antler Ale, the Stout, and the IPA stood out above the others. The IPA is a stellar example of Grapefruit hopiness !

Well worth a visit and exceeded my expectations for Texas.

07-14-2006 14:43:38 | More by RBorsato

paigertx

New York

4.05/5  rDev +8.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 3 | $

Very impressed with the ambiance and the upstairs location of the bar with huge TV's which was critical for an NFL Sunday. Two 'seasonal' beers were flowing and they were a scotch ale and a english pale ale. I enjoyed everything I tried but none of them were above a B rating. Would definitely return if in the area and being connected to the Bass pro shop was a plus for kid entertaining. Service was great and food was ok but only tried two appetizers.

Very affordable especially for growler refills($6).

01-16-2011 19:39:17 | More by paigertx

unit555

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +7.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4

I was traveling on business (again) in Texas but at least I got a good meal and decent beer out of the trip. The place is connected to a Bass Pro Shop so that alone makes it worth the trip if you are into the outdoors.

The main dining hall is huge and set up in a large triangle with a peaked roof that must extend 30 feet above the floor. As you would expect, the atmosphere is very much in the theme of the outdoors with many taxidermy trophies and everything built in wood.

The service was good and our server had a pretty good knowledge of the beer selection. I invariably order a beer sampler when I go to a microbrewery so I can decide what to enjoy with dinner. The glasses the samples came in looked like miniture pilsner glasses and easily held 4-5 ounces. After the six samples I was done with dinner and never got around to ordering a whole pint.

We tried the appetizer sampler and found it all to be good. The tsteaks were good but not excellent so don't go expecting a Mortons quality entree.

Overall an excellent experience.

03-01-2005 18:02:30 | More by unit555

bigalinbigd

Texas

4/5  rDev +7.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Had Scotch Ale seasonal, only sold in pints because its high ABV. Nice example of style. Malty, sweet, thick enough.

Sampled Pale Ale seaonal, OK.

Had seasonal Brewer's Reserve Aged Brown with Rasins. Only sold 10 oz. Nice. Rasins came through. Much darker, bigger than New Castle, my favorite brown.

Menu has wild game, steaks, Wall Eye. Taxidermy as decor.

Free Grapevine shuttle stop. Free parking if you're going to event, like Grapefest, in down town Grapevine, or Gaylord. Shuttle also goes to Grapevine Mills shopping center.

Decent local brew pub. Some place I stop when I'm in the neighborhood, just to see what's seasonal.

01-21-2011 07:29:15 | More by bigalinbigd

BeerSox

Virginia

3.9/5  rDev +4.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

When you enter the restaurant you enter a large dining area which isn't divided into rooms or anything like that. It's a large dining area, divided into boothes on the edges and tables in the middle.

There are generally five beers available at any time, each of them pretty good. The food is decent, mostly American style eating at a reasonable price. Beers range from hoppy American style Ales to darker beers like Stouts or Porters. There is a beer for just about anyone (at least anyone who enjoys a craft brew).

Recommended if you're in the area, especially if you are staying at the Embassy Suites next to Bass Pro Shop.

04-06-2008 04:00:46 | More by BeerSox

pentathlete

Virginia

3.88/5  rDev +4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4

I've been to the Big Buck a few times over the course of my travels to Dallas. It's worth a visit for two reasons: the Bass Pro Shop attached to it and the ceiling height. Most Dallas places are dark and cavernous, but the BB ceiling peaks at 40+ ft. As others have said, the decor is a taxidermist's delight of stuffed fauna. Food is pricey, but they're catering to a business clientele with expense budgets. The brews made at BB are fine, nothing really standing out, though the IPA and the stout are worth another round. After you get past the BB brews, it is a typical selection of other beers. If you have folks that have never been to a "big" steakhouse, then BB is nice cliched introduction. Have your steak, then head on over the Flying Saucer for some real beer.

03-20-2005 02:36:27 | More by pentathlete

rgrholmes168

Texas

3.88/5  rDev +4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

A pretty good place to go for a meal if you have beer drinking company. We hit this place with a few of our out of town friends. The food was really good, but while reasonable prices could be found, it did seem a little bit expensive. Had to try the sampler and the waiter brought it, but was a little bit slow. Overall, the servers knowledge of beer was not great. Anyone can tell you that a very light yellow beer is going to be light.
However, I really did like the beer. You can take home growlers and we invested in a couple.
Not only is a decent place to eat, you can always find something in Bass Pro shop for the kids. My eight year old had a blast.

09-13-2008 23:41:43 | More by rgrholmes168