Buck's — Restaurant in Big Sky

We had been meaning to eat at Buck's for a while, and finally got there this week. The dinner was absolutely incredible. We had the cheese and (house-made!) charcuterie board and scallops for as well as a wild boar tostada (which was meant to be an entree), for apps. The board was amazing, packed with meat, cheese, and accoutrements, everything was great but the duck sausage was absolutely mind-blowing. The scallops were beautifully seared, and the dish (Sriracha sweet potato puree and mango salsa) was perfectly crafted, when you too a forkful of everything all of the flavors complemented each other. The tostadas were great, it was four tostadas so even though it was designed as an entree, it was great to split with my girlfriend as a second course between apps and our entrees. For entrees I got the hanger steak, and my girlfriend had the duck. We also got foie gras and bone marrow to go with our meal, because if there is foie and marrow you just can't say no. My steak was perfectly cooked and expertly seasoned. My girlfriend just said "whatever the chef thinks is best" when our server asked how she wanted it cook. It came out as a beautifully rested medium to medium rare-cooked enough that the thick, fatty skin that duck has was rendered and crispy, but it was still juicy. Absolutely spot-on. Alongside the duck was confit corn and squash bread pudding, mushroom truffle broth, and a poached duck egg. Another perfectly composed dish, everything complemented everything else, and the egg was gorgeously runny and mingled with the rest of the plate when she halved it with her fork. Plus, we didn't notice on the menu, but the duck dish came with foie, so hey, more foie. The marrow portion as downright absurd, three canoe-style bones, we had enough to spread on our meat, with plenty left over to eat with bread. For some reason we were pretty full after this, but we did want a couple of bites of something sweet to "tidy up the corners" as my Poppy says. We ordered the Russian Cream, which I wasn't familiar with, that was a light custard, layered with raspberries in a wine glass. We had some cocktails along with dinner, I had a Manhattan and a citrus infused gin drink with yuzu juice (I don't remember the name)of the andrlfriend had a Thai Mule and a bacon/flathead cherry old fashioned (house infused bacon bourbon). I'm not as much of an alcohol connoisseur as I am with food, but they sure were tasty. What an incredible dining experience. I'm a chef and can be tough to please (or at least I tend to scrutinize my restaurant experiences), but Buck's really hit it out of the park. I'd go again in a heartbeat, and would recommend anyone considering this restaurant to go check it out. The hotel room was good, although it felt a little cramped-the bed was about 8 inches from the wall, then a small bedside table spacing the next bed, then in the 4-5 foot space between the bed and wall were two arm chairs and a small coffee table. I ended up stacking the chairs and table in the corner between the entertainment center and wall, so that we didn't have to dodge around them while adjusting the AC. It wasn't a bad thing, it just felt like there was more stuff than necessary for the size of the room. Overall it was an amazing weekend getaway, we went rafting with Geyser Whitewater that is right next door the next day, where you get a discount if you stay at Buck's. My critique of the hotel room is just a minor observation in an outstanding, absolutely glowing weekend with...

This place was tough to review. Overall it was is clean and acceptable but after staying there I am surprised to see it over 4/5 . I think is so high is for a few reasons||- apparently pre-covid they had an amazing included buffet breakfast. For my stay they had a takeout breakfast which was good one day but mediocre for most. It's yogurt, cereal, and 1 rotating hot item (usually filled with eggs and potatoes). ||- Big Sky is expensive and this is one of the few somewhat reasonable options that is "close enough" to the slopes at around $200. Keep in mind the lodge is a 20 minute drive from the slopes- so you are paying less to be somewhat far but also to stay in what essentially is an older motel that would normally be $50 a night.||- Despite being 20 minutes away from the slopes- there is not much you are missing out on compared to staying slope side (besides obviously easier skiing access) . There is a quickly growing town center with hotels/restaurants/shops but that is still 10 minutes from the slopes and Buck's T4. ||||The common amenities and grounds have very little charm- the lobby carpet is basically the same as those glue down carpet tiles they put in 90s offices. The hot tubs look like swimming pools and mostly just have views of tall wooden fencing.||||There is no Ski shuttle- instead a public bus stops at the resort- but looking at the schedules it does not leave often and takes forever ~45 minutes. Big Sky does have a free parking lot and an amazing parking shuttle system that runs almost every 2 minutes.||||I will say about maybe 1 out of 3 guests did not wear masks in public areas and seemed to like to hang out outside their rooms. I actually kind of expected this knowing it's kind of part of rural culture and Montana is very rural- but after concluding my trip I realized this experience was only for this lodge specifically- no where else did I ever pass folks indoors without masks. ||||If I were to do this trip again I would do one of the following||||- Stay for cheaper at the 320 guest ranch that is 15 minutes further away. While I did not see inside the rooms (I'm sure it's as basic as T-4's )- I visited the property and it just had a lot of rustic charm and better ambiance compared to T-4.||- Pay more for for a better property that is also closer to the slopes||- Stay in Bozeman for a cheaper/better hotel and better dinners in town (I'm sure this is bad idea if you want to Ski...

Terrible experience overall. Reasons:||1. Stayed there this year for skiing at BigSky. Checked in, hauling all the heavy ski equipment. The front desk person told us specifically that our room was in another building outside, top floor. We hauled the heavy ski gear (including kids') in 3-4 feet fresh snow, up the stairs (no elevator) only to find that the room was not in that building but right there next to the front desk. The person deliberately made us haul everything to the wrong building in heavy snow. Still not sure why he did that... may be since were not local and asian?||2. Room was extremely dry to the point where we had to crack open the window in the dead winter.||3. Frontdesk person (again) gave us wrong information that the restaurant right next door is closed and we need to go to the town to have dinner. We casually checked the restaurant while heading out to town and found that they were indeed open and waiting for guests. Can't put my finger exactly, but the attitude of the front desk person was to give us as much trouble as possible.||4. They told me that I have only 3 nights booking even though my reservation was for 4 nights (per expedia confirmation). Took some time to get this sorted out by expedia with them.||5. DO NOT RELY on the shuttle service. They don't come on time, they don't take you back to the hotel per the posted schedule (dropped us off somewhere completely different and we had to take another bus to get back to the hotel), they took off while a few folks were still unloading, potentially putting them as well as other people in harm's way (the hatch was open when they took off, skis dangling out)||Overall - if you want a stress free ski vacation,...