Bud's Place — Restaurant in Town of Owego

Just tried Bud’s Place for the first time. My first impression on walking in was that the place was so cozy! Warm wooden interior, lots of pictures and (for lack of a better word) knick-knacks on the walls, stained-glass hanging lamps, and festive holiday decoration. We arrived shortly after 6 on a Thursday and were seated right away, but it kept getting busier after we arrived and I think there was a group or two waiting when we left. But our waitress was very nice and didn’t rush us at all! Food was excellent! The salad and bread was a good start - the house Italian dressing was very vinegary which I like, and although the bread didn’t look like anything special, it was fresh and warm and soft inside, and delicious soaked with that dressing. I had the Orange Roughy for my entree. The fish was flaky and the crab meat stuffing was tender and rich, and with the sauce, every bite seemed to melt in my mouth. So good! Everyone’s entree came out freshly cooked and piping hot. Finally, I finished with the Homemade Cheesecake with strawberry sauce, which was also mind-blowingly good. The texture was uniquely both fluffy and creamy. The crust was angel food cake which was really cool! With the strawberries it reminded me of strawberry shortcake. Also it was a huge slice, you could definitely split it two ways and still get a good serving. I had to get some help from my parents to finish mine even though I was tempted to just keep going. The prices here are really good value for the large portions and quality of what you get. The food could have been from an upscale place and we all left very full. Note that if you’re not a meat-eater, it’s definitely possible to get a good meal here, but you’ll just have to be careful. Their signature pasta sauce is made with pork (which is explained in their story on the front of the menu but not inside with the item descriptions), and the salad contains pepperoni(?) slices by default (which the menu does not tell you) - so choose something without the red sauce, and I’d recommend letting your server know you want to avoid meat. When I asked my waitress about meat in the sauce, she went to the kitchen to check, but I didn’t ask about the salad because I didn’t know, so my salad did come out with meat, which was okay because my dad wanted it, but I wish there was a note...

So in this visit, I tried five different dishes, and the salad. The salad was fine, and the ranch was tasty but runny, i don't mind a runny ranch so i enjoyed it! But i also yried the creamy bluecheese which was giod with some crumbly blue on top but they charges $1.50 for the tiny bit of crumbly blue that they put on top of the small salad. For.my entree i had the meatball dream and the sauce was similar to tomato paste.The roll they used was delicious.And I believe they used mozzarella on it, which was good.But the sauce was overwhelming, and the meatballs were just small meatballs that were cut up into little chunks, so it was a cup of sauce with little meatball chunks in it in a roll, and far from a meatball dream. The next thing I tried was the chicken fettuccine alfredo, which didn't have much flavor and the broccoli was huge chunks and it was served in a bowl that was too small, and the alfredo sauce was separating and just unappetizing. The next thing I tried was the New York strip and it left a lot to be desired. It had no flavor it was asked to be cooked rare. It was medium-rare And it didn't have any flavor to it.There was no taste, it just tasted like a whole lot of nothing. The baked potato that came with it however, was delicious. We ordered a cheese pizza for our two children.And they love pizza but refused to eat it.They to it smelled weird and upon inspection, and tasting it myself it didn't taste good.The sauce wasn't good.The crust was good!!! but the cheese was like a stinky weird cheese and my kids were not about it. The last thing I tried was the pork molonase and that was absolutely amazing, but I was 28 dollars. Don't shoot the messenger, Im just trying to give an accurate review. This is my opinion amd the opinions of the 5 other people that I went with. ALSO, ITS CASH...

Party of 5. No wait for a Saturday evening at 4:30pm. Ordered garlic “bread” and it was flat crust pizza like. Flavor not bad for garlic powder and cheese was melted to a caramel color. All of us ordered blue cheese for our house salad. Lettuce crisp and mixed with iceberg and spinach, small slice tomato and two slices pepperoni. Mine had no onion but partner’s had two large slices white onion. Dressing creamy but no chunks of blue cheese. There was enough for the whole salad without drowning it. I had ricotta gnocchi with added meatballs. Gnocchi cooled quickly which made it sticky. Average taste to meatballs (2). They were not dry nor too tender they would fall apart. Simple spices. The red sauce was average. Not many spices detected but it was not offensive like some sauces that taste like a tin can. Partner had rigatoni with meatballs and mushrooms parmigiana. Plenty of pasta but the mushrooms were from a can - not fresh, 2 meatballs and again the sauce was average. Dish had quantity not quality. One prime rib special which was plentiful and not tough. Side of baked potato was excellent in portion and taste. The pork chop Marsala was a hit. Plenty of meat, lemon sauce not overpowering but the canned mushrooms were a disappointment. Last meal was chicken with mushrooms over bed of rice. Chicken tender, rice plentiful. Three of us shared a bottle of red wine. It was average in taste. One person had Sam Adam’s Oktoberfest beer and complimented how...