The Blue Rock | Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Buckland

We went here the second day of our honeymoon. The Hostess asked us if we wanted to sit inside or outside. I said outside and she handed us menus and said to seat ourselves. I noticed everyone else who came in she greeted, had conversation with and personally set them at their outdoor table. We are an interracial couple, and I wondered if there was some unconscious bias going on after seeing how the other guests were treated.

We ordered two appetizers: The truffle potato wedges and the nachos. The wedges were not bad, but sliced really thick for finger food. They couldn't even be considered fat for a wedge. They were sliced like one might slice an oven roasted potato you eat with a fork and knife. Because of this they weren't as crispy as one would expect from a wedge fry. For a roasted potato, not bad. A bit off base for an app. The nachos were 12 bucks and had very little cheese on them. It didn't seem like 12 bucks of nachos. Minor complaints, but still feeling optimistic about dinner.

I ordered the Grass fes NY York Strip Steak since it was a special occasion. (Not that they bothered to ask us what brought us there like they did everyone else) I asked for it medium (all pink). They asked me to cut into it and say if it was right. I said softly, "Well... It's not medium..." It came medium well (pink center gray edges). The waitress took it back and the hostess returned with it cut entirely up and asked me "What exactly is the problem with it because it's medium." I said, "Well... I don't consider that to be medium," just to not have a weird arguement. She told me it was. (It wasn't, but I let it go) Then she said they could make it medium rare. I said sure. Then she said it would be awhile and asked my husband if we were "ok with that" because "many people aren't ok with that". Then reiterated, "So, you're ok with that? Just saying people get really mad sometimes" to let me know she didn't feel any of this was the restaurant's responsibility. I felt distinctly pressured by her to say I'd eat it with no consideration from them it wasn't right. I felt that was a red flag since I wasn't sure why anyone would be THAT mad unless they do no act of courtesy to apologise for the inconvenience. After a long wait, she brought it back cooked exactly the same way again.

The hostess told me that inside the restaurant it looks so much more pink than inside. (This was the weirdest walkback). Then she said she doesn't know if the chef "could get it any better than that". This perplexed me. I didn't continue the line of conversation, because it was so weird. I thought to myself: If I asked for it rare next, you're saying it would come back exactly the same again?

I said it's not right, but I'll eat it because I don't want to wait again. It was the most expensive thing on their menu. We ordered some ice cream for dessert. The cheapest dessert on the menu: $4. They didn't offer to comp it and gave no consideration for that I just paid a lot for a meal I ate very little of and did not take home because I didn't want it because it wasn't what I asked for.

Gelato was alright. We got the check: $78 Dollars for a pretty disappointing experience, and no courtesy adjustment of any kind on the check. At the bottom of the check it requests cash to save them in credit card fees. I imagine this place is having some kind of financial difficulty since they can't get a chef who can cook a steak anything but medium well and want to gaslight their patrons about it, they didn't even do a courtesy comp of a $4 dessert, and were weirdly desperate to avoid cooking it again to be right the first time.

I am never...

This is my first Google review I've ever written, I'm writing it b/c this restaurant is AMAZING! I have not been out very much since the pandemic and was a little worried about eating out, but all my concerns were put to rest as soon as we arrived at the Blue Rock, we chose to sit inside, all the tables were spaced appropriately and everyone working there was wearing a mask, it was impeccably clean, for that, I would like to thank the owners and staff!

Blue Rock has a wonderful assortment of handcrafted cocktails (which also help make it easy to relax), such as the Ghostface Killah Margarita, Maple Bourbon Smash and Hucklberry Lemonade (I'm cheating by looking on their online menu). They also offer an extensive wine and beer menu.

Now for the BEST part of Blue Rock, the food! For appetizer, I had the Vermont Burrata Mozzarella & Organic Heirloom Tomatoes, with balsamic syrup, olive oil and sea salt, served with a warm baguette for scooping up the creamy cheese and balsamic, so good I'm drooling thinking about it! For my entree I had the Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna with ginger lime and soy glaze, seared on the outside and perfectly rare inside, I was going to eat half and take half home for my fiancé, but my 16 yo son ended up finishing it off for me. Seriously one of the best pieces of tuna I have ever had. My son ordered the cheddar burger that came with a pickle and hand cut steak fries, served with homemade ketchup. I don't eat beef but I am assuming it was good b/c he ate every bite! For dessert we shared the chocolate mouse with whipped cream, I am a bit of a chocolate mouse connoisseur, and this was one of the best!

The service was phenomenal, everyone made us feel welcome and comfortable. Our server (Daniel) was very knowledgable of the menu and was able to make recommendations. When I eat out, service is very important to me, and they surpassed my expectations.

The setting could not be more quintessential New England, with porch seating over looking the Deerfield River and the charming town of Shelburne Falls. The inside is very cool, it looks to have been an old grain mill or something, gorgeous post and beam, beautiful blown glass light fixtures and fresh flowers in vases abound. I am a foodie, I've eaten all around the world and I would consider Blue Rock one of the BEST!!!

p.s. I don't normally take pictures of food but this is one time I wish I had, the presentation...

Honestly, they need a new manager, we had an absolutely appalling experience, just because of her. My husband ordered the steak medium rare, it came out well done. We informed the server who was very apologetic, and offered to have it remade. She brought out the original and said he was more than welcome to keep eating it while he was waiting, so he picked at the sides (maybe 4 potatoes) The second one came back, and this time medium well at best. We brought it to the server's attention, who said she was going to let the manager know (I think her name was Holly?). We had been here for 2 hours at this point. Holly came out, and while we were expecting to get an apology and to at least be comped on the dish, instead starts arguing with us about how it's our opinion that it wasn't done well, and how she now will only take it off if she's allowed to take the dish away entirely and he didn't get anything else. I've been in the restaurant industry as a cook for 8+ years now, which I informed her of, so I am well aware of what a medium rare steak looks like and what should be done for this being done incorrectly now twice. She then tells me "this isn't a fast food joint" so now insulting me (I work for Best of Boston winning restaurants). Her logic with not comping the meal if my husband ate the well done steak because now he's super hungry, was "because of food costs, it doesn't make sense to comp the meal if you're eating it anyway." So we told her we were done, and ended up paying for the rest of our bill and getting pizza down the road. And from what she was telling us, someone is now getting served a partially eaten steak that was touched and breathed on by us. Also appalling, their checks are done electronically, and when it came to the tip part, she was trying to show us how to skip the tip entirely, so now she wanted us to punish our server...