Bud's Seafood Grille — Restaurant in Stockton

Update: Wednesday, March 27, 2024 pm

We started with the calamari appetizer $17. Excellent. I would order it again and recommend it! We both had the clam chowder which we enjoyed. It’s excellent! My son had the salmon fillet $35. A bit on the expense side but he enjoyed it. It comes with seasoned rice and seasonal veggies. I had the fish and chips $27. The fish was good. The fries were OK. The coleslaw definitely was from the day before and miserable. Why can’t they make the coleslaw exciting? Even if it was fresh it’s very boring! We both had fresh brewed iced tea. Hector kept our glasses filled throughout our meal! Sue was our server and took excellent care of us. Overall, we’ve had good dining experiences at Bud’s.

——————— We had an enjoyable dining experience at Bud’s tonight. It had been a while since we been there. We went specifically tonight to take advantage of the Stockton Restaurant Week special… beef medallions and shrimp with veggies and roasted red potatoes, with your choice of clam chowder or salad. $29 We chose the clam chowder and upgraded to a bowl instead of a cup for additional four dollars. We were not disappointed. The clam chowder was excellent. As a sidenote, my favorite clam chowder in the past has been from Splash Café in Pismo Beach. It’s very good clam chowder. But…the clam chowder we had the other night at Bud’s, I think Bud’s is as good or better than Splash. The clams in the Splash chowder are tough and the chowder has a fishy taste. None of those issues in Bud’s clam chowder. There were lots of clams and they were tender. And there was no fishy taste. We’re looking forward to returning soon for another big yummy bowl of Bud’s chowder! Sourdough bread and butter were good. We started with an appetizer of the deep fried asparagus. While I have had better, this was OK and did the job. $13 Hector and Valary rounded out our dining experience with great service. Hector never let our glasses go empty and Valary checked in just often enough to make sure we were doing OK! Kudos to both. We look forward to returning...

Black Family of 5 Forced to Move Tables to Accommodate Lone White Man!

If I could give this restaurant a -1 star I would! My Black family and I have never felt so humiliated in a restaurant! I made reservations over a week in advance to take my family to Bud's Seafood Grille in Lincoln Center Plaza in Stockton on Saturday, June 15 at 2:30 pm in celebration of my father for Father's Day weekend. We were seated in a nice booth in the corner by the hostess. We were served bread and lemonade and my family of five people placed an order with the Black waiter. We were the ONLY Black family in this restaurant. My 5 year old nephew said grace over the bread we were served and after more than 20 minutes of waiting on our food, we saw a waitress bringing 2 of our 5 plates to our table, but she was intercepted by our waiter and I'm assuming told to take our plates back to the kitchen! The waiter came to our booth and told us we needed to move because one gentleman who sits at this booth every Saturday at 4 pm would be coming in shortly. My father asked why they couldn't seat the gentleman somewhere else or ask someone else's family to move. The waiter said he needed OUR booth and proceeded to relocate us to sit at a hybrid booth & table situation in the BAR AREA! My family and I were totally humiliated and annoyed by this inconvenience in front of all the white patrons! We didn't want to cause a scene, so we just left the restaurant. My nephew said, WHY ARE WE LEAVING? I DIDN'T GET MY FOOD. As we were leaving Bud's Seafood Grille, we saw the older white gentleman who we had been inconvenienced for. We called the restaurant to ask for the manager but were told that he doesn't work on the weekends. They did comp us for the one plate of bread and my lemonade, I guess I should be grateful. What a lovely way to spend Juneteenth and Father's Day weekend in Stockton with your out of town family members. I will never know what Bud's Seafood Grille's food tastes like because after this humiliation, I will...

Update 03/05/2022: it was my father's birthday so my family gathered here to celebrate. The service was excellent! Our server, along with the other wait staff were friendly, helpful, and totally on top of things as they kept our water glasses and the bread and butter plates full. We were a big party, so we really do appreciate their attentive service.

The food is usually great here. The salad was good and the clam chowder was delicious as always. However, tonight's entrees seemed off. My nephew had the seafood sauté with french fries. I reached over and had a bite of a scallop. It was overcooked and had a rubber-like texture. The fries were tasty.

My hubby ordered the clams linguini. It came with a huge bowl of clams and a separate bowl of noodles. He shelled the clams into the noodles and would dip the noodles into the broth. The wait staff came by to clear empty dishes and instead of taking the shell bowl, he took the broth bowl. The noodles were bland and needed seasoning. Adding salt and pepper didn't help. My hubby wished that the wait staff left the broth bowl.

I had the Bud's Beef and 3 grilled prawns. I was looking forward to it as I had always heard good things about Bud's Beef. The meat was nicely flavored but cooked to a medium instead of the medium rare I requested. I was not impressed with this entree. The meat appeared as though it was scraps thrown together to complete the plate, like it was the last one of the night. The prawns were grilled well, but also lacked flavor. With a price tag of $30, I was quite disappointed with my meal choice.

Bud's is a staple in this community and I've had great meals here. It might have been an off night for the kitchen. I hope that the next time I go, the...