Buckeye Roadhouse — Restaurant in Marin City

TL:DR Just say NO

Expensive but not a lot of food... Understandable in what looks like is supposed to be a high end restaurant. But shouldn't the food be awesome? Maybe people just pay for the look. It's a pretty restaurant, I'll give them that. This is my first time ever being here.

My steak was decent but I prefer the Texas Roadhouse version... and even Outback, I've had better but you know, they could have had a bad day. The potatoes were interesting but nothing to shout about. The green sauce they put on top of the steak had very little flavor so I don't know why that was there. It didn't go with the steak IMO.

We had the shrimp and calamari appetizer. The shrimp were small and the calamari was rubber bands. Bad deal... For the price and the look of this place, that should have been perfect, imo! The sauce, however, was interesting. It was like a tomatillo something sauce... it was also green and they should put THAT with the steak as that's how I found the steak to taste better.

I can't speak for the other dishes but hubs said the burger was very meh. It was NOT wagyu quality. He said he's had better at habit and they don't even have wagyu... My daughter had the fish and she said it was OK. So no one had a spectacular WOW dish.

Now for the service: When we came in, they asked if we had a reservation. I said no. There was an older couple behind, leaning (kind of) against the wall behind the computer station. Maybe he was the owner because the two young people looked a little stressed. I said, we can go somewhere else, I don't want to impose. The older gentleman said no, it's OK, we'll just move stuff around. The young people were doing something on the computer and a few mins later, the young lady took us upstairs to the top floor.

I'm not sure what they moved around because it wasn't very busy when we got there but still, I was grateful they let us in. We started with a super awesome waiter who was attentive and nice. He was a tall, average weight Hispanic male. There was another Hispanic male who brought us our appetizer and bread, he was very nice also.

UNFORTUNATELY, our waiter had to leave as we were in the middle of dinner. The person who replaced him, a heavy set Hispanic male. He sounded pleasant but I never saw him back on our floor until he dropped off our dessert menus. That was after someone came by and took our plates, brushed the table from crumbs without saying a word. I've never had that happen at any upscale restaurant. They will usually ask permission first. At the very least he could have said excuse me.

Now, the dinner menu. NO prices on the desserts, only on the wines. That's weird... are they free? That can't be right. We sat for 10 mins, not a soul was nearby. Then the young lady who sat us came by with a tablet and was (I'm guessing?) counting tables or people or something. She was tip tapping on it but I don't know exactly what was on the tablet. I asked her over and then asked if the desserts were free to which she said no. Then we said that was fine, we were fine with getting our check then. We explained that we had been left stranded for 10 mins. She apologised then went to find our waiter who came over, took our menus, dumped the check (not placed it, dumped it) and was hurrying off before my husband grabbed his attention to take the card he was ALREADY holding in his hand raised so the waiter could see it as he dropped off the check.

Again, this guy never said a word. Not an I'm sorry. Not an I didn't see you holding the card. Nothing. He just took the card and the check, left us stranded another 5 mins. Came back. This man must be a mute. He never said a word. I don't know if he can't speak English, if he's rude, if he's mute, or special needs. But that soured our dinner.

The icing on the cake? It was my birthday dinner. Hurrah... Yeah, we're not coming back to this place. Go to outback, save yourself serious $$$. Go to the Texas Roadhouse if you're up that way. This place? Unless you like pretty buildings,...

Our family used to love this place. We dearly loved the food, the ambiance and the service and used to come up with excuses to go here. But sadly, all of that has changed.

The Service: The last two times we went, the service was horrible. The waitress was pushy, impatient and rude from the moment we sat down. We let it slide and figured the waitress must be having a bad day. But the next (and last) time we went, the service was the same. We had a different waitress this time, but she had the same attitude. We were celebrating my late grandfather's birthday and didn't want to have it ruined like before, so we requested another waitress. It seems they are adopting a trend of stuffy, rude customer service and the stress of having to deal with that isn't worth it.

The Food: Our absolute favorites were the Oysters Bingo and the Smoked Beef Brisket. Thankfully, the Oysters Bingo stayed the same, but the Smoked Beef Brisket has drastically changed. In the past, whenever we ordered the brisket, the meat was tender and buttery. It was smothered in a delicious savory sauce and each bite would melt in your mouth. Thinking about that version of the dish still makes my mouth water. But the last time we went, we ordered the same dish and were presented with a cheap thin steak piece that was bland and covered with a brown sauce that tasted nothing like what we had before. We couldn't believe it. So we asked the waitress if the chef had changed and she said that it was the same chef and the same recipe, which left us wondering what happened. That same night, we ordered a few other of our favorite dishes like the Braised Lamb Shank and the Bacon Wrapped Petit Filet Mignon. We are sad to say, their portions have shrunk significantly and we were left hungry. Something seems to have gone terribly wrong with the quality and quantity of their food! As former loyal patrons, we feel really let down.

For the same price range, you can go to a number of restaurants in Marin that offer better food and better service. Save yourself the hassle of dealing with rude staff and...

Over priced and I had a big old gnat floating around in the Manhattan I ordered. They did send the drink back for a new one, but at that moment I was apprehensive and constantly surveying my new Manhattan for a floating body.

Gnats fly in circles and are very noticeable if they are in your area when making drinks. How their gnat problem precipitated to my sub par cocktail left me feeling like I was paying for a facade, of which, I was. the ribs came with five ribs (children menu portion), the skirt steak came with same meagre portions, and my Chile lime chicken was unpalatable. The skin was super greasy and not crisp for a grilled chicken part, and there was a bone on pounded out piece of meat which made me unable to distinguish what part of the chicken it was from. I was very surprised when I hit bone, like it was a pork chop, or t bone, and not rib bones or thy bones.

Might I add the night was my birthday night (4/12/2024) and I chose Buckeye for its perceived quality and service, which turned out to be a facade/mirage. My mother ordered the Cobb salad which actually is good, which is akin to saying their water is good at this caliber of restaraunt. Michelin man would bye pass this establishment in a heart beat after being deflated by the experience.

To top off the experience there are no valets, and there is a VERY CREEPY lawn jockey at their front door that comes off very creepy/offensive and not an endearing ornament that you have at your entrance. I took a photo of it to creep my friends out, which it did.

I used to enjoy going to the Buckeye in my now 38 years of life in Marin and this time I feel like my family was fleeced and taken to the cleaners.

Never going again, and Perry's will be my choice for a steakhouse type dinner. They give you the whole rack for ribs and their portions/quality (I hate to say) are better. Prices are better too and the whole thing is not a pretentious affair. Creepy lawn ornament at the front door are included and please don't let them infect...