Uncle Buck's Brewery & Steakhouse

allengarvin

Texas

3.83/5  rDev +2.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5

This is probably the best of the current brewpubs in the DFW area (let me add a small lament for the departed Routh Street Brewery). The atmosphere borders on over-the-top, with antlers abounding, some deer taxidermy in the main hall, furniture that reminds me of some very touristy places in Colorado and Wyoming, etc. It's located right next to a hunting gear store. The very tall vaulted ceiling is neat; there are ceiling fans about about 30 feet above the tables. I don't know what good they do up there, but they look cool. There's an upstairs sport bar, and a large restaurant dining area. I like the dining area best for the low noise level, but when I go with friends they always want the noiser, though fairly cozy, bar area.

The selection of locally-brewed beers is good, though fairly typical of American brewpubs. There's a blonde, an amber, an IPA (which is very good), a hefeweizen (which is decidely not great, being thin, undercarbonated and watery), a stout (which I haven't tried but a friend of mine swears by it). They have a seasonal Belgian quadruple that is very strong, and very tasty. Their current special offering, a German altbier, is oddly sour and acidic. Prices are medium-high: $3.75 for a US pint, $5.75 for a 23 oz glass. Generic American macros are also available.

The food is somewhat pricy. Sandwiches and burgers run around $8 to 10. The Po'Boy is a good choice. Other dinner entrees run from $10 to $20, and can be disappointingly small for the cost. Most are fairly tasty, though. There are some affordable small dishes (stuffed pepper, nachos, buffalo wings, etc), which are affordable during happy hour. Twice I've ordered steaks and have been disappointed both times. The first time, I ordered a rare porterhouse (price: $28), and it arrived cooked medium or medium well. I had no problem getting it taken back and another prepared, but by the time it was done my dinner companions had finished eating. The second time, I had a new york strip ($19), which was cooked right, but had too much gristle. There are many places in the Metroplex where much better steaks may be had, though unfortunately few offer a good beer selection. I knocked the food rating down a notch because of the price and my bad steak experience, but if the cost isn't a big object, it mostly beats the other brewpubs in town.

11-22-2004 07:05:09 | More by allengarvin

dauss

Colorado

3.79/5  rDev +1.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3

I visited the brewery recently and it is definitely a big place. The theme of the restaurant is hunting based, probably not a coincidence because it is located right next to Bass Pro Shops. I haven't had the food, but I have heard it was subpar. The bar is located upstairs, and it is a good amount of stairs, probably a bit of a hassle if you've had a lot beers. At the other end of the bar is a big projection screen, hardly viewable during the day and behind it are 4 copper fermentors, quite an impressive site, but only if they had impressive beer. I've only had one beer so far and it wasn't even that good. Their "hefe-weizen" didn't even taste right. Watery, sour, and no banana or clove flavor to it. I might come back to try it again, but it won't be on my top list to come back to.

03-18-2004 20:34:28 | More by dauss

Quaffer

Nevada

3.73/5  rDev 0%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

I went to Big Buck on a recent business trip to Dallas. I ate and drank at many places during those two weeks, and BB falls into the middle-of-the-road, average catagory of all those establishments.

This is a big steakhouse, with vaulted ceilings that top out easily at forty feet. It is decorated to go along with the whole Bass Pro Shop theme. Not my favorite type of decor, but I can't fault the place for it; I knew exactly what I was getting into when I walked in.

The food was good, but just good. Nothing that I had did much to impress me.

As far as the beer, I tried the sampler platter which included eight, five ounce glasses of the brewery's beers. While the food did little to "wow" me, the beer did even less. The stout was okay, though one-dimensional, and I enjoyed the IPA. But everything else was bland and without character. That is, except for the hefeweizen, which had lots of character. (A chemical and medicine character. Not good.)

If I happen to be in the neighborhood, I might stop in at Big Buck again, but I would not go very far out of my way to do so.

03-09-2004 01:34:55 | More by Quaffer

dpkpr

Texas

3.7/5  rDev -0.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

My wife and I have been amazed by the IPA here and we have been disappointed by the IPA here. And that's the problem. Their brewing is inconsistent and, as Forest Gump says, "You never know what you're gonna get." If you keep it simple, the food can be very good. I recommend getting the chili and salad combo. They can't mess that up too bad and it goes good with one of their brews. Despite the fact that they work in a place that has the word "brewery" in the name, most of the service looks at you funny if you ask if a particular beer is "hoppy." No clue. The most you should hope for is that they get your order right and check in every once in a while. I recommend sitting at the bar upstairs rather than the cavernous "lodge," although it can be unpleasantly smokey at times.

06-20-2008 23:53:50 | More by dpkpr

ddarden

Alabama

3.66/5  rDev -1.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

Visited bar on a Monday night and the crowd was pretty thin in such an enormous place. The brew pub is attached to the Bass Pro mega store and Big Buck is in the same fashion. The restaurant is massive with a huge vaulted ceiling and you go up stairs to the bar. It is like a sports bar with a large projection screen t.v. and a bunch of smaller ones scattered around the rest of the place. Not really my ideal beer bar, but it was the final game of the NCAA tourney, so it worked out well. I did not try any of the food, but did try the IPA, Stout, and Barley Wine. The IPA was really good and the stout was very average. The seasonal brew was the barley wine clocking in at 9.1% abv and did not sit well with me. I had high hopes after drinking the IPA, but was disappointed. It was very hot and did not have any malt or hops to back up the warmth of the alcohol. They did have a good selection of beers to choose from. I tried to get the Wee Heavy but they had just run out....I guess that is a good sign of its quality? The barteneder did not seem to be into the beer, but was attentive. All in all, the beer was above average, but the atmosphere was a little (well a lot) overdone. I felt like I was in a Sam's Club brewpub due to the scale of the building. I would go back to drink beer though.

04-03-2007 04:11:18 | More by ddarden

tttaff

Texas

3.63/5  rDev -2.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 2 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I went here expecting that I might take home some beer for our neighborhood 4th of July get together, but went home empty handed as I just was not impressed by any of the beers on hand this time. I had their beer sampler - 8 5 ounce glasses of each of their brews. Most were just too hoppy. The IPA was good - nice hops without being overpowering. The Scottish ale was too hoppy and masked the malt flavors that I was expecting from this style of beer. Likewise with the red and amber ales. The "amber" ale was actually darker in color than either the red ale or the Scottish ale. A German kolsch was so-so. None of these beers had a taste that made me want to take them home. Disappointing.

The food was very good, however. Some excellent beef and buffalo selections. I enjoy the atmosphere at the bar.

07-03-2008 14:55:39 | More by tttaff

deereless

Colorado

3.55/5  rDev -4.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

A very interesting place. Uncle Buck's seemed to be more about the steak than the beer but they certainly don't shy away from broadcasting the fact that they are a brewpub as evident from the large fermentation tanks along one of the restaurant walls. You enter into a massive open space that is the restaurant, but since I was less interested in the restaurant I wandered upstairs to the brewpub to a sizeable crowd. Even though there were quite a few people I had no problem getting a seat at the bar and service was quite attentive. I order an IPA and a red ale and though they didn't knock my socks off I thought they were decent interpretations. Selection was somewhat limited but they did keep a decent variety. Though I had original visited for the beer, the steak stood out as the specialty of the house. I'm not sure if the Bass Pro shop next door is under the same management or not, but they seem to have some sort of partnership. Plus it makes for an interesting experience to walk past a dozen and a half different types of hunting stands all perched outside the place. After a little under a week in Dallas, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better place in this area of the city. That's not a ringing endorsement but a point that Dallas is short on brewpubs. Visited in April 2010

09-21-2010 01:07:29 | More by deereless

dirtylou

Washington

3.44/5  rDev -7.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

i am in town this week working at a nearby resort - stopped here on the way back from dinner in dallas.

this place is a monstrosity (everythings bigger in texas?) and is attached to a bass pro shop. As i walk through the parking lot, expectations are at an alltime low.

when we enter, we notice a massive cathedral-esque dining room in a northwoods motif. we make our way up the stairs towards the main bar area to watch some monday night football.

i order the oatmeal stout and its actuall not that freaking bad. the scotch ale was kina bleh so i went back to the stout. my travelling partner enjoyed her APA but it wasnt hoppy enough - the kolsch was quaffed with nice speed.

i couldnt possibly suggest going out of your way for this, but if you're in the grapevine area, why the hell not? they have a huge projection TV - go grab a few and watch a game

09-15-2009 04:59:09 | More by dirtylou

kkoz

Illinois

3.33/5  rDev -10.7%
vibe: 5 | quality: 3 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3 | food: 3 | $$

I was really impressed with the size of the place and the decor. We chose to site in the sports bar, which sits up high and overlooks the main dinning room. It had a nice lodge type atmosphere, and looked exactly like a place you would expect to be connected to the Bass Pro. My co-worker was extremely impressed by the TVs over each of the urinals in the restroom.

Our waitress was extremely friendly and checked on us often. However, she didn't seem to know much about the beers (yet, the first thing she highlighted after greeting us was the fact that they brew their own beer there).

I had a buffalo burger, medium rare. The taste was very good, but it didn't seem to hold together while I was eating it. It kind of fell apart as I ate, making it a bit messy. The serving of fries was pretty minimal, but the burger covered most of the plate.

Their IPA had a nice creamy head and was very hoppy. It was a unique, caramel/earthy hop flavor I was unfamiliar with. I didn't mind, but my co-worker, who normally enjoys IPAs, didn't like this one. Next, I had their Brown Ale, which was not good at all. It had absolutely no carbonation in it, and had a full malty body, which made it a bit like drinking beer syrup. Finally, I tried one of their seasonals, an English Pale Ale, which was nice. It was pretty standard for the style, and much more drinkable than the brown ale.

Overall, the burger was OK and the beers were so-so. The service was pretty good, and the atmosphere and view from the upstairs sports bar was incredible.

12-19-2010 22:20:36 | More by kkoz

assurbanipaul

Texas

3.25/5  rDev -12.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 2.5

The Big Buck is sandwiched between the Outdoor World shops, another smaller bar and a larger hotel, all literally within sight of DFW airport. The restaurant opens up into a Nordic-esque Great Hall with a strong woodsman/outdoors, almost hunting-lodge decor with mounted game lining the walls and faux-antlers supporting the chairs and tables. This review reflects the brewpub and bar, a smallish loft-like area upstairs toward the front and next to the brew kettles.

The bar is in the center with a 360° service to a few long tables with a small waitstaff. It keeps with the hunting motif but includes more televised sports, including a huge screen for the game. Noise level was quite low, although I imagine that can vary depending on who's playing what sport that day.

Full bar, macro and local micros in bottles plus 6-8 offerings brewed on-location, including rotating seasonals. The samples I've tried have ranged from poor to excellent, so this place is capable of good beer but it can be hit-or-miss at times. Consistently, the best I've found are the IPA and the (medal-winning) stout.

Food was average pub fare but I would hope the steak and dinner dishes are of better quality. The waitstaff is fairly clueless but the bartender is generally the most knowledgeable of the bunch, if the brewmaster isn't running around that day. Worth a visit if you're in town overnight but make it a low priority if you have more time.

05-09-2004 21:55:19 | More by assurbanipaul