The Buck Hotel — Restaurant in Lower Southampton Township

On Christmas Eve, I had dinner at the The Buck Hotel (The Buck). Housekeeping items first: The property has plenty of parking and the building itself, very good curb appeal. You are greeted promptly upon entering and are seated quickly. The main dining room is pleasant with fire places at each end. The dining areas, fish market and bar all appear to be well maintained. The drinks, despite not receiving what I ordered, were very good. Not a big deal - it happens. Last, the host and waitstaff were both pleasant and attentive.

Christmas Eve, like other holidays tends to put additional pressure on restaurants to keep up with demand. I completely understand this as do most reasonable people . As The Buck was only accepting reservations for Christmas Eve, however, my sense was that the dining room was never overly crowded and the waitstaff was tending to diners at a reasonable pace. In other words, by virtue of the evening being reservation only, The Buck should have been in control of their dining room and the number of people they could accommodate well at any one time.

So why only two stars? Of all the things that we were served while there, the hottest were the rolls brought when we first sat down. There is no question that all the food that was presented was high quality, from the shrimp and lobster bisque, to the broiled flounder filet, broiled shrimp and the bright green beans and carrots. However, for the prices charged (which I was aware of prior to going), I would have expected food with steam to be presented, not lukewarm to cool. The up-charge bisque was cool to the point where the fats in the cream were forming droplets which happens when fats separate from non-fats. The other person with which I was dining said their broiled shrimp was tough/chewy e.g. overcooked. Additionally, except for the roasted potatoes, everything else lacked discernible seasoning of any sort. While I understand conceptually letting the food be the star, there honestly was no creativity, sauces, seasonings, anything to enhance the flavor of the food. Again, for the prices charged, I would have reasonably expected the chef to show off his/her talent(s ) in some way with the menu.

Given the experience we both had with our respective appetizers and entrees, we choose to skip desert and coffee.

So, why didn't we alert our server to provide an opportunity to correct? We had someplace to be after dinner and, therefore, didn't have the time to wait to present the problem, which effected both of our courses, then, wait for any correction. Again, given the prices charged (which The Buck is free to determine as fair based upon their costs and opinion of value) we would have expected better the first time.

So, would I go back to The Buck? Having hosted and attended catered events there in recent years, yes, I would use that facility again. The rooms are beautiful, the food and service good. I'm in an odd place, however, with the restaurant. I don't understand what might be my perception of a disconnect between the one side of the building and the other. Perhaps I would go there again for something casual and inexpensive to 'test the waters', however, I would be hesitant to make this a splurge destination until I'm more comfortable that the expected meal and the received meal are one and the same. More creativity, seasoning, sauces would also be appreciated to make for a more memorable experience. For now, the only thing truly memorable about my recent visit to The Buck...

This venue only cares about your money, they do not have the slightest bit of interest in making sure your day goes well. When covid-19 hit, we were extremely patient and tried to wait for the coordinator to contact us first with updates because we knew they must be busy dealing with tons of postponements. An update never came and I eventually had to reach out as the date grew closer. I reached out multiple times and was given vague answers such as "we hope things will be back to normal", but no response as to what our options were if things were NOT back to normal in time for our wedding. We were eventually offered an outdoor tented option, but as our wedding was in August we did not want an outdoor wedding in the heat. We were told we would need to rent the tent, but that they didn't know what the cost would be. We hoped that by our new date in October indoor events would be allowed. As October grew closer, it became clear that we might have to have an outdoor wedding. That's when Lauren told us it would cost $2500 for the tent and that the dancefloor would be in a separate area than where the tables were set up for dinner. Asking a bride and groom who signed a contract for a ballroom to pay $2500 for a tent we could've bought from walmart is absolutely unacceptable. They were clearly trying to take advantage of us. We saw pictures of the tent and tables were crammed together way too closely for anyone to be comfortable. There is no way we could have fit more than 40 people in the tent comfortable and they wanted us to cram over 100 people in a tiny space, with complete disregard for anyone's safety. After asking for a refund, they eventually offered to cover the cost of the tent. By that point, we no longer trusted them to host our event because it was clear they were trying to upcharge us. We also were not willing to settle for a dancefloor that is in a separate area than where guests eat because quite frankly it sounds depressing for those who don't wish to dance to be segregated. We asked for a refund multiple times and they kept dodging our question. They eventually refused when a court ruling changed restrictions and offered us an indoor event, however we were not comfortable with that knowing if restrictions changed back again (which they did, 2 days before the scheduled date), we would have been forced to settle for a lackluster tent wedding. While we agree they should keep the initial deposit for their time, not returning the 40% payment we made in January BEFORE covid-19 hit the US is completely insensitive. No services were rendered and they are still keeping our money. Steer clear of venues like this because you never know what will happen and they have absolutely no sympathy and will not offer even a partial refund even in a pandemic! Give your money to a venue that will make your satisfaction with your day a priority instead!

*Update in response to the owner's reply: I had already contacted The Buck Hotel via email on September 17th, September 24th, and October 4th and received no response. FINALLY received a response on 10/8 from the event coordinator NOT the owner, and no attempt was made to "discuss the situation" as the owner stated they...

Note to Management: I refuse to accept your offer, that you had listed below after my review. On the grounds that this experience I had at your business made me totally disgusted with your establishment, nothing can bring me back.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sorry to say, I had the absolute worst Crab Dinner I have ever had, here! My husband and I were so excited to learn of their All You Can Eat Snow Crab Leg dinner for $39. We came early for there last day of the AYCE Snow Leg Crab dinner, offered for the 2018 Summer season. My table was on their open air patio, right across from the chef with the big pots boiling. I watched the chef pull out some lesser grade crab legs, that were darker, smaller, tasteless and very very salty from a hidden place among his tubs and buckets full of nicer looking snow crab legs. I didn't say anything. The first plate of crab legs and oddly enough the last plate of crab legs, were these inferior terrible crab legs. I had trouble eating these very salty tasteless dried-out crab legs. I asked the waitress about them and she said that it was the salt from the required seasoning, but after I complained, she gave me some good crab legs that were fresh, bright, juicy and tasty. I was very very disappointed and plan on never returning when I saw what they were openly doing before my eyes! I am sure this doesn't happen to everyone, but I watched this chef plate these horrid crab legs and the waitress serve them to others eating crab legs there. (OH, also, on the open air patio, you end up breathing in the gas fumes from the passing rush hour traffic jamming the intersection, right in front of and below the patio. We were lucky, the breeze blew away from our side of the building most of the intoxicating fumes. I was glad we didn't sit along the front of the building, if I were there I wouldn't be able to breath.) Sorry, I have nothing good to say. Before I forget, my husband had the Fish and Chips dinner at $20, he said it was very tiny, he never complains about anything. The bill was $75, plus $15 tip for this very bad deal. The women collecting the payment was very firm and wouldn't hear any complaints of our treatment, food or the price. This is the truth,...