As promised, Kim, Josh and I headed to Bucky’s Homestyle Diner in Apple Valley, MN. I had visited this location when it first opened as Soups, Salads and Sandwiches and wasn’t all that impressed (see here for my previous review) but since then, the owners have revamped the menu and mission to create a nice little spot that fills a big void in Apple Valley — a local place that serves a diner style menu for VERY reasonable prices. Growing up on the east coast we were routinely at this diner or another all over NY, PA, NJ or CT especially when we were visiting my grandparents on or near Long Island. I have fond memories (that continue to this day) of many of those spots including the Nautilus Diner in Massapequa, NY, the Lexus Diner in Newburgh, NY, and my very long time favorite the Hibernia Diner in Rockaway, NJ. While the decor and setting is decidedly different, the food and prices are very similar and something I miss out here in the Midwest.
Bucky’s hours on Sundays are limited with them being open from 7 AM until 3 PM so after waiting forever for Josh to arrive, we finally headed over just before 2 PM. As soon as I walked in I was quite surprised to see the restaurant crowded. There were only a few open tables and another group walked in soon after we sat down. It was great to see so many people choosing this little local place over McDonalds next door.
We were immediately greeted by Mishelle, who has commented on the website before, and she handed us our menus and took our drink order. We all chose to go with water and looked over the menu although Josh and I pretty much knew what we were going to order as far back as last weekend. Kim, although a burger fan, decided to go with a Reuben and Josh and I chose the famous “Bucky Burger”. While we waited, I noticed that the other tables were eating various items that were loaded with large portions and what seemed to be home cooking. Plenty of club-style sandwiches and burgers and everyone seemed to be enjoying their meal, nice.
In a matter of what seemed like only a few short minutes our orders were out and on our table. The Bucky Burger, which according to the menu, is a third of a pound of beef grilled and topped with bacon, lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles and BBQ sauce which is priced (perfectly IMHO) at $6.95. Josh isn’t a fan of anything that you don’t have to kill first so he asked for no veggies and a side of mayo. I ordered mine with coleslaw and Josh chose pickles and chips. After the requisite picture taking, I took a bite and found it not only to be cooked as well as a burger in Minnesota is legally permitted to be but to also be damn tasty as well. I’m not a burger fanatic like MSPD is, but that’s why I brought Josh along. He believes that J. Grundy’s Rueb ‘n Stein in Northfield, MN has the best burgers around. I asked him what he thought and he said it was one excellent burger for sure. The only comment he had was that The Rueb’s burgers come on a toasted and lightly buttered bun that really makes it. While I found no real fault in Bucky’s choice of bread, Josh believed it would be pretty much perfect with that small change. I’m a picky coleslaw eater and while it was good, I still prefer my father’s soupy, nasty homemade mess probably just because of the comfort food factor alone. While their rendition was certainly decent, I will be going with an alternative side next time we are in. If you happen to try their coleslaw, write up what you think below!
Kim’s Rueben came out and was pretty big. The bread looked gorgeous and it was not falling apart due to over-saturation of dressing and sauerkraut. I asked if I could sneak a bite and was only permitted if I agreed to allow Kim a bite of mine (boo!) I liked the little bit I tasted and while it was definitely something I’d eat again, there are so many other choices to go with that I’ll probably be going with something completely different on our next visit (which will probably be for breakfast being that Kim saw the biscuits and gravy and almost jumped out of the car with excitement). Kim really enjoyed her sandwich but liked the burger so much that she said she’d probably get one of those next time. She’s partial to mushroom/swiss so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what she ordered the next go around.
They had a couple of specials listed on the chalk board which as of today were:
1. Monday: Buy one soup get one free
2. Tuesday: Kids eat for $2
3. Saturday: Skillet breakfast (bacon, ham, pepper, onion and hash browns with choice of eggs and toast) for $6.45
4. Saturday and Sunday breakfast served all day (maybe I won’t have to go for breakfast next time after all!)
Now, as I mentioned above we *will* be returning to Bucky’s again in the future if not for the excellent burgers, for breakfast or one of their other items instead. The menu prices seem to average (no math involved) around $6.25 with the most expensive item being the $10.95 ribeye steak with choice of potato and vegetable. The burgers are all priced at or under $6.95 and sandwiches are seemingly all at or around $5.95. You can check out their menus, on their website, here.
MSPD, check out the burger and let us know what you think. Since I’m in no position to award anyone with the “South Metro’s Best Burger” award I would like to see what you think of the Bucky Burger. In my limited experience, I would definitely give recommend this for the #1 spot but I’ll wait for your “expert opinion” :)
I give this place two thumbs up and will admit that my first review does not do Bucky’s Homestyle Diner any justice now that the menu has changed from when they first opened. Not only do I think that I will be going back, I’m sure it will become one of our regular spots. Bucky’s comes highly recommended by me, very highly!
Yum!
Address:
Bucky’s Homestyle Diner
7538 149th St
Apple Valley, MN 55124
Phone (they do take out orders):
952-891-3211
Hours:
Monday - Friday 8 AM - 8 PM
Saturday and Sunday 7 AM to 3 PM
Check out all the pictures from Bucky’s Homestyle Diner on Flickr here (camera).
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April 14th, 2008 at 8:31 am
My family and I went to Bucky’s for Breakfast one Saturday and were not that impressed; while the portions were on the larger side there wasn’t anything that really stood out. We had a breakfast wrap, hash and eggs, and an omlette among other things. I was expecting that greasy spoon experience only to be let down with just “ok” food. None of us finished our meals and we also sampled each others, it all seemed to blend together, nothing where you take a bite and say, “wow this is really good”.
The service was ok, I would have expected a little better seeing it is a family operation, a casual walk by from the waitress didn’t do much for me. It’s also not a big place so it doesn’t take many people for them to be “busy”. I wouldn’t have called it “busy” when we were there.
I do have to say that we were there around 11:00am and another table came in and ordered sandwiches and soup which looked much better than the breakfast I could have made better at home.
April 14th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Thanks for the write up, Bill! I’m looking forward to using my gift certificate that I won from Coffee News. I like the fact that the burgers are 1/3 lb (I just can’t put the half pounders away anymore).
April 14th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Roman, thanks for the heads up. I’ll still give them a try and see what comes of it.
Patti, believe me, I understand. While I didn’t have a problem putting anything away, given it’s large portion, I still felt better that I wasn’t packing down that much meat.
Let us know what you think when you use your winning certificate!
April 17th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
First things first–the owners obviously check in with your blog! Be sure to tell Josh that the buns are now lightly toasted and buttered :)
There is now the option to add steak fries to your sandwich or burger for $1. I did enjoy them–almost seemed like they were baked instead of fried (which makes them better for you LOL). I had the California burger with cheddar, which was good. I saw other things on the menu that I’d probably enjoy on a future visit.
I like the bottled soda…I wasn’t real thirsty tonight so I just put a little in the glass at a time and brought the rest home for later.
As I had tried the chicken & wild rice soup last fall (pre-diner days) and I hadn’t used up the $10 I opted to get a quart of broccoli cheddar to go. It does look good…but I’m too full to heat any up and try it just now.
Only thing I’d like to see “changed” is giving the option to add bacon to your burger for a small fee (like adding cheese). I noticed that only the Bucky burger came with bacon…either that or add a bacon cheeseburger. (FWIW I was already pushing the limits of what I was eating today so I didn’t inquire…)
April 20th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Kim and I went to Bucky’s Diner for breakfast today (she just had to get her biscuits and gravy!) and enjoyed it. I have posted some pictures of the food here.
We will definitely be back again and again.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:25 am
We tried Bucky’s for breakfast on Saturday. I had the traditional eggs, bacon, toast, coffee and my SO had the bar-b-q’d pork sandwich. The food was good and the service was pleasant. I’m always looking for a local alternative to Denny’s, IHop, etc. so I’m glad to have Bucky’s as an option. Nothing was over-salted, the toast was good (a personal metric for judging breakfast fare) and the coffee was good. My SO who is picky about his iced tea thought the brew could be a little stronger but otherwise no complaints. I didn’t sample his sandwich as it was way too early for me to eat bar-b-q.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Steve posted this comment on an old post:
May 13th, 2008 at 10:38 am
5:45 last night and I get home to a smoke spewing pan of unidentified-items-formerly-known-as-meat about five seconds short of a massive, massive insurance claim on my stove last night. I can’t remember which happened first, the last puff of white powdery stuff spraying out of the fire extinguisher or my wife emerging from the basement saying, “Honey, I have to go to my meeting. Also, I’m not sure you’ll want to eat the chicken.” You think?
Fast forward to about 20 minutes later and as I finish cleaning and peeling off my HAZMAT gloves, I decide dinner out might be in the cards. As is the usual practice when I’m solo-herding the kids (only two last night thanks to grandpa taking the older one to the Twins game), my thoughts center on easy, cheap and kid-friendly. Oh yeah…I can try Bucky’s!
As an aside, friends and family having experience with my comments on restaurants can already see where this is going. A slow-developing story that has nothing to do with the restaurant itself is the hallmark of avoiding talking about the food.
I hear it all the time: “I really wanted to love this place…but….”
The service was stellar. I wouldn’t know who Mishelle is but the super-cute redhaired girl with the brilliant smile that was our server has perfectly mastered the art of dealing with tables of little kids. Alright, alright…yeah, I’m still avoiding it….the food. It was a little less becoming. I ordered the bacon and bleu cheese burger with onion rings.
To Josh’s delight I imagine, the bun was buttered and griddled now. It was fresh and, thankfully, the non-sesame seed kind (just a personal hatred). It pretty much looked like the photo above. The meat had the imperfect, hand-formed shape so that was a plus, but lost a little flavor in being cooked medium-well. In my mind a great burger absolutely has to have pink in it. Meat needs to taste like meat, e-coli risk be damned. The bacon was Hormel-like standard and the bleu cheese wasn’t too aggressive.
Besides being too well-done, the thing that perhaps bothered me the most was a disproportionally strong flavor of char. The burger wasn’t burned at all but had an overwhelmingly smoky flavor — I couldn’t rule out that they brushed it with liquid smoke but it wasn’t quite that chemically and the bleu cheese prevented me from completely figuring out the flavor.
I finished the burger, but more because I was starving from a high-intensity lunchtime bike ride than because of enjoyment. The onion rings were very good.
I won’t be back for a burger, but all in all, I liked Bucky’s enough to return without hesitation. Breakfast is nearly impossible to screw up and the menu looks good. I’m also a sucker for hot, open-faced sandwiches and I noticed they offer a couple. Next time.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:51 am
MSPD,
You must have had a different person doing the grilling that night because I certainly didn’t have the same experience you did. How unfortunate too. I was really looking forward to what you had to say about the Bucky Burger experience :(
I have noticed a smoky flavor coming from the burger but I assumed it was done by the BBQ sauce on top and not anything else. I don’t quite remember if I tasted that with Kim’s burgers (she’s gone w/o BBQ sauce each time) though.
Not only were mine cooked well, they were actually a little less overdone than is so very typical (and apparently mandated) in Minnesota. I have been pleased with the two or three I have eaten.
Glad you enjoyed the service however… Looking forward to what you say about breakfast. While I had it and it was good, I am not a breakfast food person and have very little opinion on it other than sharing your sentiment that it’s pretty hard to fuck up.
Bill
June 9th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I am sad to inform that Bucky’s Diner is now closed.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:51 am
[...] a wife who was not so much interested in any of my quick and easy meals and suggested that we go to Bucky’s Diner instead before returning the terrible movie (Semi-Pro) and getting a card for my father because [...]
June 11th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I’m sad to hear this. I liked the place, especially the quarts of soup to go.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
[...] for the best burgers available to those of us south of the river. We’ve already been to Bucky’s, Junior’s, and the House of Coates. I have plans to get to some others but for [...]
August 31st, 2008 at 6:52 pm
[...] She didn’t bother to taste mine so she can’t say but when I asked how it compared to Bucky’s Diner, House of Coates, and Juniors she said she wasn’t sure about Bucky’s but it was much [...]
October 8th, 2008 at 8:38 am
[...] will be back.” When I asked her if it was better than the burgers at the now defunct Bucky’s Diner, she was unsure but honestly, from the two bites I had I would have to say that this burger was [...]