The Buckingham — Restaurant in Greater Strathcona

I wondered into The Buck on a quiet holiday Monday, and joined the crowd of folks at the bartop. The place was fairly quiet, perhaps too quiet, but then Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Babies" came on the speakers and I was drowned out in the sonic reverberations of a legend. My pink haired and glasses wearing bartender was straight to the point, "what would you like to drink". I pondered, and despite the special on Sea Change Blonde cans, I went with my ol' standby of Strongbow Cider. My stomach was tense and tight from a full day of sloth behavior and a lack of sustenance, so I ordered a burger... "The Out N' In".. "with fries".. but i hesitated.. "yknow, can i get the sweet potato fries?". The bartender nodded yes. What soon arrived was an absolutely amazing vegan-flavor combination. It was mouthwatering, it was tasty.. I may pride myself as a carnivorous leaning omnivore. But this was no mere mortal burger, it was a bloody feast. I downed that and the sweet potato fries in record time, then was asked about another Strongbow and quickly accepted that offer. I'd secretly come to play pinball, as most establishments of such variety were closed on this "day of labor" and as such my pickings were slim.. however when informing my barkeep that I planned to head back to the small arcade section and to "keep my tab open".. i was informed the pinball machine known as Black Knight: Sword of Rage may be out of service.. i was aghast and heavy in my disappointment.. enter the other barkeep they call Matt (I can only assume he's a Matthew or perhaps his parents really did name him Matt). He offered to take a look at the machine and see if it was possibly working. And soon there was a report of success, someone had shut it off likely in error.. the glory was sweet, so sweet I lost all focus and quickly blew through my 4 credits like a Government blows through tax dollars. Swiftly I was back at the bartop for my third cider.. it was a Strongbow too far however as the third dunno made me full and exceptionally sleepy. So i bid adieu to my newfound comrades, Matt and the pink haired woman who shall remain nameless. I thanked them for their good deeds, and I'll soon be back... Food was great, service was good, A++++ or whatever people write in reviews these days.

Nah, but in all seriousness, give these people raises. Just maybe clean the dust off the pinball machine and it's playfield flag and I'll soon be back with a group of folks to play some more games, listen to great music, and have some more of that...

“Inclusive” in name only — a deeply humiliating and Kafkaesque experience

I went to Buck expecting a safe, inclusive space — instead, I left feeling humiliated, harassed, and misrepresented in ways that have continued to affect me.

I’m a former employee of this company at a sister bar, and my experience here was utterly discrasful. I was there with a close female friend and coworker, joking and blowing off steam after work — yes, we use coarse language with each other, but it’s part of how we relate, and it was mutual, consensual, and lighthearted.

Early in the evening, I used the men’s washroom (which I later learned is labeled as gender neutral — the signage was minimal and unclear). While using the urinal, a woman stood behind me and watched me urinate. Startled and uncomfortable, I reflexively said, “wrong washroom,” and was immediately berated for not understanding the space was gender neutral. I wasn’t trying to police anyone’s identity — I was reacting to a basic violation of privacy. My discomfort was completely dismissed.

Later, a patron across the bar overheard me joking with my friend and began loudly accusing me of being disrespectful to women. The staff quickly took their side without asking for context. I tried to explain — we were joking about work, and my friend was not only fine with it, she initiated much of it. But I was told I was being inappropriate and threatened with removal. My friend even tried to clarify with the staff, but they didn’t believe her.

From then on, I felt watched, judged, and unable to speak without being attacked — as if I’d been assigned a role in a story I didn’t write. It was surreal and deeply distressing. I later learned that staff at the bar now believe I’m in an abusive relationship with my friend. That false narrative is devastating — not only because it’s untrue, but because it’s being spread by people who never once asked for the truth.

This bar presents itself as a progressive, inclusive space. In reality, it felt like the opposite — a place where assumptions override facts, where inclusion only applies if you conform to an unspoken code, and where expressing discomfort (even around basic bodily privacy) gets you labeled as the problem.

If this is how The Buck treats guests — especially those who don’t fit a narrow mold of “acceptable” behavior — then it’s not truly inclusive. It’s just performative.

I left feeling silenced, violated, and erased. And I haven’t stopped thinking...

Use to be my go to bar since I turned 18 but started playing the exact same music (not even that good music to dance to) every time I went. Music that would clear half the dance floor. But the last straw was last time I went (which I hadn't been in maybe a month or two) I went to the bathroom with some friends and we shared a stall as we would always do (as would others) since the bathrooms were always crazy and when we were in there someone started pounding on the bathroom door which we assumed was just another girl being silly. So, for the next minute we would bang on the door back and they would bang back thinking it was a silly little game but then after like 2 minutes they started screaming at us saying it was security and we had to get out or else they would break the door down. As soon as they said that we were like oh just give us a minute someone's peeing and then we would got out. A woman we recognized as a long time bar tender and security starting yelling at us that we weren't allowed to do this and threatening to kick us out. We were so confused becaue us and many girls we've seen have done this and then learned that they posted the tiniest sign on the bathroom doors saying it wasn't allowed. As someone whose been there for a couple of years this was very new, and being an establishment with drunk young people it's crazy to assume that people would've seen this and fully comprehend this while drunk is wild. and then to scream at them and get mad when not announcing who you were is crazy. If we actually saw the sign (for context the bathrooms are covered in writing) or if they initially announced themselves we obviously would have never done it or opened the bathroom stall immediately. We left right after out of our own choice as we didn't want to cause problems for anyone else. But the overall experience and decline has just soured everything for us and made us feel so unsafe and uncomfortable. Wont be back and dont reccomend. There were way better ways to handle the situation like say who you were immediately. Go to O'byrnes or actually...