BUCKETTA BAR & BISTRO — Restaurant in Singapore

A Delectable Adventure at Bucketta

I recently had the pleasure of dining at Bucketta, a Thai-style seafood eatery that serves up its fare in delightful buckets. My experiences were spread across two separate visits, each offering a unique taste of their extensive menu.

On my initial visit, I indulged in the set lunch featuring a crab omelette rice and prawn fried tang hoon. The omelette was a textural delight, with eggs crisped to perfection, interlaced with succulent pieces of crab, and the tang hoon was a moist, herby treat that left a lasting impression. What sets Bucketta apart is the self-service sauce station - a rarity among Thai eateries. Out of the two options provided, the green seafood chili stood out for its versatility and impeccable pairing with the seafood.

My second visit was equally memorable, with the medium seafood bucket in Cajun sauce as the centerpiece. This visually arresting dish was packed with an abundance of sea treasures, including crayfish, giant scampi, and a variety of shellfish. Accompanying the bucket, the mama stew, reminiscent of a sour tomato broth, was a nostalgic nod to childhood comforts, served with a generous portion of Maggi noodles.

While there is room for improvement in the ambiance, specifically the indoor temperature, and some have noted the service could be more engaging, my encounters were satisfactory. The staff may be reserved, likely due to language barriers, but they were competent and helpful when needed. A special mention to the kind lady with short hair at the counter whose efforts, despite the language differences, added warmth to the service.

A delightful bonus was the choice between complimentary chicken wings or a $4 parking discount, which was seamlessly integrated into the billing process. Ending the meal with self-service ice cream was a sweet touch, and one I appreciated.

In summary, Bucketta's culinary offerings are both visually and gustatorily impressive, with a commendable focus on customer satisfaction. Despite minor areas for enhancement, the eatery stands out for its generosity and quality of food. I am eager to return and explore more of their...

Dined here on Sunday 12/02 booked for 6pm 5 pax. We went for the buffet dinner with 3 pax on free flow of beers at extra cost. Per person without the beers were $59.90 each. If you wanted beers, then an extra $9.90 will be added to your $59.90. The total bill came to $397 which was not exactly good value. All these on a time limit of 90 mins with a max of 3 buckets of seafood. The mixture of seafood contains clams, scallops, crayfish, baby squids, potatoes, corn and prawns. The seafood were not exactly fresh. The flesh on the crayfish were spongy ( not fresh). To make matters worse, there were only 3 staff on shop front. The orders take forever to arrive. We asked for refill of beers 3 times and each time they nodded their head but the beers never arrive. The 4th time, I went up to the counter, only to be told my 90 mins were up and they were going to deny us our free flow of beer. That infuriated me, had they given us our beer the first time we asked, this would not have happened. All this being said, our party each had 4 bottles each of 330ml, which is not exactly excessive. To me, this restaurant is a total ripoff. We were recommended to this place because someone we knew went there when it was $49.90 with free flow of singha beer. All these is not happening, it’s $59.90 and another $9.90 for ‘free flow’ of some cheap brand beer. It is not free flow as you literally have to beg them to replenish the beers. The food is nothing to shout about, the music was awfully loud. The ambience was noisy. The restaurant is small, everything about it looks cheap and nasty. None of us came out of the restaurant feeling happy. We felt we were scammed. This is my honest opinion of this restaurant, I could see there are good reviews on this place, however, I beg to differ. The owner/s of this establishment really needs to up their game otherwise this business model will fail...

Came at 7.30pm and placed order at 7.40pm. Our first side item (french fries) only got served between 8.18pm-8.20pm; a good 40mins after the time we sent up the order. Around 8.33pm-8.35pm, our second side item (crab fried rice) was served. Only at about 8.37pm, another side (calamari) and the first bucket came out; almost an hour after order was placed. Ordered our second bucket here once the first was served.

French fries & calamari were all over-fried, looks charred and has bitter taste. Crab fried rice was not too bad, but a tad too salty for me. First bucket (garlic butter) flavour wise was okay, but seafood mostly not fresh. Only 1 prawn was passable & did not have the shell / skin stuck to the flesh. Both the crayfish & flower crabs were mushy; 2 of the 3 crabs even had this ammonia taste / smell in their pincers.

It’s 9.50pm now, and the second bucket (thai cajun) finally got served; 1h 10mins from placing the order. Personally preferred this flavour over the first, and the overall freshness of the seafood here was much better. The flower crab pincers still had the ammonia taste / smell though.

We also had one more side item - onion rings, that we ordered right from the start of the meal that never got served at all, but by now, we are too tired from all the waiting to even ask for it anymore. Overall, we all agreed that the food isn’t horrible, and the staff did apologise multiple times for the long wait, but it’s honestly not worth the price (given the quality of the food), especially having to put yourself through such a long wait time for...