One of my favorite chain steakhouses - Bugaboo Creek
Written: Apr 12 '05 (Updated Apr 12 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good steaks, Plenty of options for non-steak people, big portions
Cons: Customer services tends to be very hit-or-miss, even in the same restaurant
The Bottom Line: While definitely a steakhouse, there is enough variety on the menu that just about anyone should find something to meat their tastes
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| jps246's Full Review: Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse |
I’ve never really been a huge fan of chain restaurants, but it seems that at least by me, the great majority of restaurants are the chains and so I’ve found the ones that I like better than others.
Bugaboo Creek is one of those that I find that I enjoy – they have good steaks, well-sized portions, and a variety of items on the menu that satisfy almost anyone I go with. It’s risen towards the top of the list when we’re considering places to eat.
The restaurant boasts a Canadian Rockies theme and never having been there, I can’t vouch for the authenticity, though I imagine much like the other ‘themed’ chains, Bugaboo Creek probably takes liberties with it. Even with that in mind though, the restaurant looks good and is a comfortable place to sit and eat.
Restaurant Basics
I’ve eaten at several Bugaboo Creeks and all share the same basic characteristics. The outside landscaping evokes a mountain cabin along a stream and on the inside, Canadian Rocky paraphernalia is laid across the walls. Amongst the pictures, the skis, and other items on the walls are scattered various animatronic creatures. There’s a moose, a buffalo, an owl and other animals that all have various ranges of motion and activity.
That’s probably the tackiest element of Bugaboo Creek and I’m sure it turns some people off. I usually laugh at it, but after the 5th time the moose starts talking, it does get old. Usually the animal is spotlighted and the sound is loud enough to be heard over the restaurant noise.
Every Bugaboo Creek that I’ve been in has a full-service bar if you are looking for a drink instead of sitting down for dinner, or want to wait at the bar while you are waiting to be seated.
The Menu
You come to a restaurant for food and Bugaboo Creek definitely doesn’t disappoint in that regard. They have an extensive menu that offers appetizers, soups & salads, steak, chicken and fish entrees, sandwiches and pasta dishes.
The restaurant has separate lunch and dinner menus. The lunch menu is much the same as the dinner menu except that it offers more sandwich options and a limited steak and seafood entrée selection. The prices don’t vary much between lunch and dinner, but lunch is slightly less expensive.
Personally I find the dinner menu better, especially for steak lovers and with only a slight price difference, it’s a better idea to visit Bugaboo for dinner instead of lunch.
Portion size is slightly oversized – most people will probably be unable to completely finish their meal and end up taking some home.
Appetizers
One of my most favorite appetizers from any restaurant is a Bugaboo Creek special. The BBQ Chicken Nachos are a combination of grilled chicken, BBQ sauce, melted cheese, tomatoes and jalapenos. We order it without the tomatoes and the peppers and while it might sound like an odd combination, the taste is great. The portion size on the BBQ Chicken Nachos is big – it’s the kind of appetizer that would be big enough for a group of 4 to 6 people – if you’re there with only one other person, I’m sure you’ll be bringing some home.
Besides the nachos there are several other appetizers that include a seafood dip, a fried onion, a cheese and spinach dip, buffalo wings, shrimp and chicken fingers. The sizes on these appetizers all seem to range around the size needed for about four people and if you order them on their own, they are more than big enough to make a meal out of.
The prices start around $6 and go up from there depending on the appetizer. The average price is probably around $8 or so dollars.
Salads
Beyond the basic garden and caesar salads, Bugaboo Creek offers several ‘meal’ sized salads for people. These include an asian chicken salad, either a grilled or fried chicken salad, a chicken caesar salad and a sirloin caesar salad.
I’m not a big salad fan so I’ve only ever had the basic garden salad that comes with the entrees. However one of my good friends often gets the sirloin caesar salad and really enjoys it. The salad comes with about six or so slices of sirloin and the salad comes in a big bowl that at least for her, is hard to finish, especially if we have those BBQ nachos.
The smaller garden and caesar salads that are available with meals are probably slightly over-sized for most people. I find myself barely touching the salad if we have gotten an appetizer. One word of advice for people who don’t like tomatoes or cucumbers on their salad – ask ahead of time when you order your salad because the tomatoes and cucumbers are diced and it’s very hard to pick them out of the salad.
The Steaks
Bugaboo Creek presents itself as a steakhouse and it does a good job at providing a wide selection of steak cuts, from filet mignon to prime rib and steak tips. The steaks are seasoned with Bugaboo’s own seasoning and are quality meat.
My favorite steak on the menu is the black magic steak, which is available in an 8 ounce and a 12 ounce size. The steak is seasoned with a special seasoning blend that gives it a distinctive flavor.
Another good steak is the mountain-man strip steak (either 11 ounces or 14 ounces) if you have a hankering for NY strip-steak cut.
There’s also a t-bone steak, a filet, a ribeye, prime rib and steak tips. My least favorite of the group is a toss-up between the prime rib and the steak tips - the tips because they are cooked and served with mushrooms and onions and the prime rib because I’ve just never had a really good cut of prime rib at Bugaboo Creek. I’m not much of a fan of ribeye steaks and while the filet is quite good, I lean more towards the black magic steak or the strip.
The steaks all are served with a choice of salad (garden or caesar), bread, and a choice of side (potato, rice or steamed vegetables). You can create your own combo by adding shrimp, ribs, scallops or salmon with any steak.
The prices on the steaks range from about $12 to $18 dollars. The filet and the strip are the most expensive steaks and the ribeye and the black magic are the least expensive ones.
Other Main Courses
If you’re not interested in the steaks at Bugaboo, there are still several options for you to choose from. They have a salmon, trout and shrimp dinners for seafood people (I’ll admit it, I don’t like seafood and I’ve never been out to dinner with someone who’s gotten either the trout or the salmon, but my Mom has raved about the shrimp dinner), along with chicken meals, pork chops, ribs, and some combination meals that pull together either seafood and steak or chicken and ribs.
The pork chops (called the Wild Boar Chops) for me are one of the stand-out meals in this section. You get two good sized chops along with the smashed potatoes and baked beans. If I’m not in a steak mood, this is what I usually get.
My partner (the one that can find chicken fingers on any menu) often gets the snowbird chicken platter, which is fried chicken fingers and fries – you can either get BBQ or honey-mustard dipping sauce for the chickens.
Just like with the steaks, you can add shrimp, ribs, scallops or salmon to any meal to create your own combo meal (though that would add up to a lot of food if you add another item to the already-exiting combo meals).
The prices on these meals run from about $12 to about $16 dollars.
For those of us who aren’t too afraid of carbs, there are also three different pasta dishes available; a chicken and broccoli alfredo, shrimp scampi and jambalaya. The chicken and broccoli alfredo is served over linguini and the few times I’ve ordered it, there’s been way too much pasta for me to finish – but it has tasted very good.
Deserts
The only real letdown at Bugaboo for me is the desert menu. I almost never order a desert, even if I am still hungry after my meal. Nothing on the menu is that good and usually if we are eating at Bugaboo and want a desert, we head elsewhere afterwards.
The basic deserts include a big chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, bananas foster, apple and cranberry crisp (why ruin apple crisp with cranberries?) and a brownie pie with a scoop of ice cream.
Drinks
Bugaboo Creek offers a full-service bar and the full-range of alcoholic beverages. There’s also the regular coffee and tea, along with Coca-Cola products. There are free refills on the soda and the coffee.
Service and Ambiance
Like I said, Bugaboo Creek tries to invoke a feeling of being at a mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies. It can be a somewhat tacky atmosphere with the animatronic animals talking away at times, but overall it’s not a bad place to eat.
The seating layouts are typically tight, but you won’t be sitting right next to someone else, even if you’re at adjacent tables. The lighting tends to be subdued within the restaurant and I’ve found at some seats is almost too dark to read the menu (I have asked to be seated elsewhere a few times because it has been too dark).
The only other annoying aspect to Bugaboo for some people is what seems like the constant stream of birthdays that occurring. If you want, the staff will come out with a moose puppet and sing happy birthday. This is funny the 1st or 2nd time, but one night we literally sat through 6 different sing-alongs for different birthdays.
The only aspect of Bugaboo that really makes me take pause is the hit or miss customer service it offers. Generally the host or hostess does a good job with either seating people or working out waiting lists for seating, but the waiters and waitresses are all over the place when it comes to service.
I’ve had both excellent and awful waiters and waitresses at Bugaboo Creek (some so bad I’ve spoken with the manager about it) and in general when I go there, I am only expecting mediocre service. We’ll get our drinks filled and the food will come out, but beyond that, I don’t expect anything else.
When I have had a serious problem with the service and talked to a manager about it, the problem has been taken care of and I do realize that sometimes the kitchen just simply gets backed up and it’s not always the fault of the server. However, it doesn’t seem that Bugaboo really puts a big effort into making sure its servers have customer service as their first and foremost concern.
Overall
Bugaboo Creek is a good restaurant if you’re looking to get a decent steak. The other meals options are also good, but the trademark of Bugaboo are the steaks and for the best meals there, I’d stick to this section of the menu.
You’ll find the portion sizes to be more than adequate for most people. Personally, I almost always end up taking some leftovers home because I can’t finish everything we had gotten.
The restaurants are well maintained, clean and the Canadian Rocky ambiance that they try to present doesn’t come off as that tacky. You might not like the talking animatronic animals or the birthday chants that go off through the restaurant, but in general you should expect comfortable seating in a relaxed atmosphere that almost anyone should feel welcome in.
Customer service when it comes to the servers seems to be hit-or-miss, but if you check in with the manager, they are more than willing to take care of any problems that you may have.
Depending on appetizers, drinks and the exact meal you end up with, you should expect to spend anywhere between $14 to $20 per person on an average meal at Bugaboo Creek.
Final Thoughts
One of my more favorite of the chain restaurants, Bugaboo Creek offers a good meal for a decent (if slightly higher than average) price.
While definitely a place for steak lovers, there is still enough of a variety on the menu that just about anyone should find something to meat their tastes.
It won’t knock your socks off, but you should enjoy your meal at Bugaboo Creek.
The majority of my experiences have been at the Milford and the Natick, Massachusetts Bugaboo Creek locations, though I have eaten at various Bugaboos throughout the northeast.
Looking for another Northeastern steakhouse? Check out the Ninety Nine Restaurant and Pub.
Recommended:
Yes
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