Big Buoy's LLC — Restaurant in Kimberling City

Not sure how this place has so many rave reviews. Is there a lowered standard in this neck of the woods? 1st the drinks. My husband & daughter’s cokes smelled & tasted like aquarium water. No joke; exactly like it. We politely & gently notified the server & he quipped back, as if we were stupid, that it’s because the sodas are made with the local water that is high in sulfur and they only boil the tea water not the soda water. The water smelled of fish, not sulfur. I think he meant it’s lake water & they’re too cheap to filter it. Looking now at reviews here, I see others have the same complaint. Restaurant states they’ve done EVERYTHING possible to remedy it to the best of their ability. No, no you haven’t. Common sense says, use canned drinks & forgo the fountain drink dispenser using the local water. They don’t want to spend the cash, clearly. You have been WARNED.

Guac was simply mashed up avocados, fresh ones, but guac has seasonings, tomato and onion … even a few shakes from the salt shaker would have made a huge difference. But the kitchen seems mediocre at best. We ordered the shrimp tacos. My husband & I both were not fans at all. The cabbage & shrimp make for a terrible duo to the pallet. And the sauce they put on them tasted a bit soured or something. 11.5 yo Daughter ordered a bean & cheese burrito. We were told we’d be charged full price for an adult Chicken burrito and they’d make it for her, as there was only 4 things to choose from on kids menu, non being a burrito. She was starving and so we agreed to it. They gave her a can of unsalted black beans, rolled in a tortilla with some queso on top. The queso was ok to her 11 yo pallet, but it was fairly bland and there wasn’t very much of it. Server never came back to check on us after the drink replacement request. Then he proceeded to litterally hover over my husband as he paid the bill w/ handheld credit card machine. My husband said he could leave the machine with him, as he was planning on leaving an “on point” for our visit 15% tip, and the server said “no, I have to see that you sign and leave the tip.” As if we were going to leave and not pay. We’re 50yr olds w/ a child. We’re not dare-devil teens… know you “audience.” Husband looked right at him and said ,”um, ok.” He tipped him $0 as the server watched and handed him the machine back. We got up and left as he watched us. We have never left a $0 tip in our lives. Food was bad; it happens, but you still tip for the service. This guy did NOT deserve anything, nor did the kitchen. Will NOT be returning. Will NOT be recommending. Will not be believing all of these reviews are real. Will not be quiet about...

I stopped in on a Saturday night to check the place out. They have a cute outside area with games. My freinds and I just wanted a couple drinks and wanted to listen to the band. We sat at the outside bar where there was 2 bartenders. Neither acknowledged us. We sat there for quite awhile without anyone acknowledging us. There were only 3 other people sitting at the bar, 2 were eating and 1 was waiting to get drinks. Finally the boy bartender asked us what we wanted. 3 of us got beers which was easy enough, my man ordered a mixed drink. Crown and coke and The bartender/ order taker did not know the difference between Crown and Crown Apple. He started pouring Crown Apple and I caught him and corrected him. He looked lost. Picking up serveral bottles and asking which one was regular Crown. Instead of dumping what he had poured and started over he just poured regular Crown on top of the Apple. No apology no communication, absolutely no sence of urgency. He finally got our last beer set on the bar, not even opened and started to ring us up. This whole time still never acknowledging the other man waiting on drinks. In the meantime serveral more people had walked up to order, no one acknowledged them either. The girl bartender had left and came back not speaking to a soul, no smiles no interaction from either worker. After watching them fumble behind the bar, not interacting or even acknowledging people I started to have a panic attack and had to leave. Worst...

Still Disappointed – New Ownership, Same Old Problems

This was my second visit to Big Buoy's. I came back after being told it was under new ownership and that things had improved, but sadly, that wasn’t the case. I am not sure how this place has so many good reviews. I am just disapointed.

The service was slow from the start. It took 10 minutes just to get drinks, and over 30 minutes to get our appetizer. When the food finally arrived, it was just not good.

We ordered the Not-So-Skinny Dip, and it lived up to its name in the worst way—absolutely no flavor or seasoning. The cheese curds had potential—the breading had decent flavor, but they were mushy and lacked the crispness you expect.

I ordered the fried shrimp platter, and it was honestly inedible. The shrimp were buried in so much breading you couldn’t even tell what they were. I removed the coating on one just to see, and even the shrimp itself was bland. The mac and cheese no seasoning or depth. The fries were crispy but also lacked flavor.

I let the waitress know my food was awful and barely touched, yet all I got was the check. I only managed to eat three of the so called "shrimp."

A $152 bill for four people with no alcohol, and what we got was subpar food and slow, careless service. The only bright spot was the atmosphere. Beyond that, this place still has a long way to go. I would not...