Bud’s Seafood Grille

This place is my favorite restaurant in Stockton. I recommend the Bud’s Beef. The seafood sauté is what I usually get. The service is great.

Had my wife’s birthday dinner here yesterday after setting up a special menu with the owner Matt so that way people wouldn’t go overboard with my tab. He was a pleaser to deal with and accommodated every request I had. The food and service was excellent. Jenn was our waitress and she was very good. On top of everything and very attentive. Would definitely use the restaurant for other occasions. Keep up the good work.

Everything was awesome food was excellent, staff was friendly and accommodating. Would and will return!!! Only problem was bus person cleared our dishes a little aggressively and even shoved me to get to another dish, please be gentle with guests!

Came here last night with friends for the first time after seeing the listing for Restaurant week and are glad we did. The food was great! We brought our own wine and did have trouble tracking somebody down to open our second bottle but other than that the service was good. We will definitely be back, maybe for brunch!

Nice place for seafood. Also one of my mom’s favorite restaurants.

Reminder: don’t be a jerk just because you can.
I was disappointed the other night when the kitchen closed before 8:30 but I shouldn’t have been spiteful and snarky and posted a 1-​star review. I should’ve just let it drop.
In all fairness I’ve always had very pleasing dining experiences at Bud’s. I rarely post reviews and there was no reason to clobber them with a bad Unilocal review.

Thank you for a great meal during Restaurant Week. Your business was very busy but your servers were quick and delightful.

Been here many times but last night was the worst! Even with dinner reservations they stick 5 of us in bar area with a 7 yr old. Asked to be moved and then stick us in a back banquet room that was like my basement. Should have left but gave it a chance. Daughter ordered med rare beef and comes out burnt to a crisp. Salmon cakes average with a plain red potato plopped on the plate. Desert consisted of berry cobbler that was colder than the ice cream, not even warmed! Service was terrible and above all else the owners son who seated us was gone before i could speak to him again. Ruined daughters bday dinner. Buds has gone downhill.

The food @ Bud’s is sub-​par compared to other restaurants in the Lincoln Center. My experience however — is the reason for the 1 star review. When my mother and I went to this restaurant (3:00pm on New Years Eve) the restaurant was not crowded, so my mom requested to sit in a booth. The hostess scoffed at the request and stated that «I’m sorry! The nicer booths are only reserved for our regular guests», but we have a nice table in the bar. NOPE!
First of all, this is Stockton and anyone coming into this restaurant is a regular for a town this small. Second, the manner in which the hostess conveyed this message made my mother and I feel like «lower class». I didn’t realize that Bud’s is an «elite» restaurant. Are the ZAGAT rated? Lastly — Market Tavern, Midgley’s and Papavalo’s are some of your nicer «NEWER» concept restaurants that don’t seat you based on loyalty. Never will I recommend Bud’s to anyone — ever! I also question their cleanliness as well.

This is a good place to come if you want good seafood and your girl to get hit on. I came here with 2 others (my mom and fiancé) to treat them to lunch. We were seated in the bar and were served by the younger bartender. For a pretty packed house, he was very attentive the whole time. He knows how to make good drinks. My mom had a Mai Tai and she got buzzed and glossy eyed on it. It was pretty similar to the glossy eyed look he was giving my gal. All joking aside, he kept things pretty casual and didn’t get inappropriate. We’re around the same age range (minus my mom obviously), he used this to initiate general small talk among us.
The food came out warm and cooked well. You aren’t likely to find seafood like this anywhere else in town. It’s quite the catch (pun intended)! It’s a bit pricy, but it’s fresh and it’s Lincoln Center — expect nothing less. They don’t just serve seafood here, I’ve had their Pasta with Chicken and Alfredo sauce and it’s pretty good. Pasta isn’t their specialty (clearly), but it’s an option on the menu if you don’t want sea food. There’s nothing fishy about this place, if you have the money and can justify a good meal look no further than Buds. This place has been around for awhile. While it mainly attracts an older crowd of people, out of the couple years I’ve been dining here, I haven’t left hungry or dissatisfied.

We went to Bud’s Seafood and Grill today for the first time in search of a good seafood restaurant. We were not super impressed. The menu was over priced for what you get. The service was lackluster to say the least. We had to ASK for our straws and our bread. No one checked on us, we had to call the waitress over to ask for straws, inquire about our bread (which was cold) and ask for our bill.
It was our anniversary and we would’ve been better off going to a cheaper restaurant that had better service. This restaurant had one chance to get it right and it failed.

Best clam chowder I have EVER had! I also had the house seafood which was OK for me but not my favorite. As for my appetizer… WOW! The Bud’s beef medallions are to die for! Service was excellent.

The waitress tried but needs some training… checked on us with an arm full of dirty dishes she just cleared from another table. That was after her assistant placed my boyfriend’s glass of water on the edge of the table and the whole glass spilled on him. She neglected to apologize for this. Server 101 basics missing — right?
We’ve been here several times and honestly, Stockton needs some good cooks/​chefs! We both made the mistake of ordering the seafood sauté — crab, shrimp and scallops in wine sauce. The seafood was tasteless, frozen/​thawed and tasted boiled. Maybe a tablespoon of crab. Waitress asked and I told her the scallops tasted boiled and way overcooked. They replaced them and they were not overcooked, but still had no flavor and were gritty! I can get better seafood at the grocery store. The potatoes were ok — needed seasoning and the vegetables were overcooked — like they cooked a big batch earlier and keep serving them. This restaurant is in a good location. Some of their dishes have come out way too oily on previous visits. They definitely should take this seafood sauté off the menu since the cook can’t prepare it well — better to have a shorter menu with really great items. The clam chowder was ok — Boudin’s is better. The bread was the best part of the meal… for $ 70 that’s sad! Send in Gordon Ramsey… until then, we’ll go elsewhere!

I was pretty excited and hopeful for Bud’s after the bartender in the Hilton recommended it as a local Stockton staple. Turned out to be a pretty disappointing recommendation. We were seated immediately on a Sunday evening (moderately busy), but then waited 15 minutes before we were greeted by the server. She expected us to already know what we wanted, but we asked if she would mind sharing the specials, of which there were 4 – 5. She told us she would get our drinks while we thought it over, and immediately left without taking our drink orders! It was another 10 minutes before we saw her again. I ordered a pinot noir and my colleague ordered a merlot. Five minutes later, a red wine that looked like a merlot showed up, along with an unknown white wine. My colleague had taken a sip of the red wine and told the waitress that his tasted like merlot. She told us that those glasses were meant for another table, and took them to a table across the room (yes, despite the sip). By this point, we were pretty sure we were in the Twilight Zone.
I ordered a cup of New England clam chowder for an appetizer and the Original Louie salad with crab and shrimp. The clam chowder had quite a bit of what I can best describe as «grit» in it. It tasted like someone had scooped up a fair share of the sea bottom when they picked up the clams. Boo. The original Louie was so-​so. The greens were leafy and very fresh. I’m not a big thousand island fan, but that is apparently the traditional dressing for a Louie, so I went for it. The thousand island is made fresh, and despite how simple of a dressing it is, I was surprised at how great it tasted. The main ingredients, however, left a lot to be desired. The crab, while nice and fresh, was way too sparse. The shrimp were the most disappointing part and were scrawny, and reminded me of the cheap TV Dinner/​Bait shrimp they marketed to us poor people when I was a kid. Sure, I’m not poor any more, but that salad sure was.
On a positive note, I had chocolate gelato for desert, and it was amazing. If you’re a seafood fan, and you’re dying to try local Stockton cuisine, I guess you could give this place a try. I, however, will not be returning. Unless I want more chocolate gelato. Good luck.

OK so I’m so excited about this food place I have written this five times trying to put into words how great this seafood place is, but at the same time I kinda want to keep this place under wraps since very rarely do you find a seafood place that has fresh Fresh seafood like from the docks of SF. But I gotta shout this place out like a dirty pirate «arggghhhh this the best seafood in the barley deep me dirty mateys aarrgghh hhharrrharrr harrr harrr» Get my eye patch ON like donkey Kong!!! OK OK let’s get to the review sorry! So my husband and I went here for brunch on Sunday and all be items were $ 14.95 which is a ton of stuff like omelets, scrambles, French toast, and many yummy seafood be choices. BUT this is not all! Also included is a fruit salad, muffin or coffee cake (they give u a couple pieces) unlimited coffee and mimosas! All bks come w potatoes, some hav a half a bagel. I ordered crab cakes eggs Benedict my husband had a smoked ham and mushroom omelet. OK so the fruit salad they give u is so ripe and sweet my husband ordered a second serving, then the coffee cake and blueberry muffins are made there from scratch they were the best! I had to arm wrestle my muffin from my husband (hey it’s food don’t take that to a dark place) The mimosas are served in big wine cups, I had two and was buzzin.
Now to discuss the seafood! I don’t know how they have time to go to the bay and come back w fresh crab, but I salute there quest for excellence. If you know anything about crab cakes usually it has a butt load of breading, but as u see in my picture mine was all crab and it was clean and sweet tasting, so if u know crab lingo that’s FRESH. Potatoes were just made as well, but my Benedict sauce was perfect I could eat more like a soup but they are smart not to go too crazy with it. My husband’s inlet was super good, I usually don’t like omelets, but it was so light and fluffy I had to mention it.
OK I know this is long but bear with me! The staff was very attentive always ask if needed anything never rushed us made the brunch very enjoyable. Kept the coffee and mimosas flowing.
All this for $ 14.95!!! It can’t be beat, especially how fresh and delicious the food was a must if you are a seafood lover. They have to go meals and early bird meals from 4−6pm that range from $ 12 – 16 in price, which includes chowder or salad.
I know some people said this place was pricey, but when u think authentic seafood under $ 20 a person! COME ON DO THE MATH! I guess you could go cheaper but with bad seafood a trip to the restroom is a short stop away.

Got the fish and chips… while the fish is undeniably fresh and the potions are great, the food was bland and tatsteless. The batter had ZERO salt. We got fish and chips and catfish with french fries. I got charged an additional 1.50 to make my chips garlic parmesan (raw garlic on the fries was also a turn off) and 1 50 to make my salad a Ceasar (that doesnt bother me that thise things were an additional fee) and i paid 41.00. I will be giving my plate to my roommate when she gets home. Quantity and freshness are a 10 but overall taste is a 2 at best and thats ONLY because the food was hot.

Technically a 2.5 but I’ll round up.
My parents have been going to this place for a long time and always order the Calamari Steak. There are better restaurants in Stockton but they don’t like trying new things so I agreed to come here.
We took my husband there last night who has never heard of Calamari Steak and his mind was basically blown at the concept. I’ve had it before but of course I took a couple bites from him. The calamari was tender and flavorful and you could cut it with a fork.
The reason I’m giving a 3 though is based on everything else. The complimentary sourdough bread was served cold. Don’t people understand that sourdough bread is 100% better warm?
My order of Bud’s Fish and Chips was obviously frozen. It was incredibly overcooked and rubbery. My salad was super wet and soggy, with the ranch thoughtlessly plopped onto the plate. Thank goodness for the fries otherwise I would have been an angry pregnant lady. My meal was certainly not worth $ 18.
When our waitress initially came to our table she told us that the specials were all sold out… which is a little hard to understand because there were around 8 specials. Sounds like poor restaurant planning to me.
A small gripe but one of my pet peeves– my mom asked for Coke and they didn’t specify that it was Pepsi… it’s not the same thing!
Lastly, with restaurants like Market Tavern and Midgely’s opening in Lincoln Center, Bud’s should keep up with the times. The main seating area is dark and dingy and has an odd sticky feeling.

I want to like this place more because it is a quintessential local mom and pops restaurant and has been here for years. I have to give it sub par rating due to the food.
When I first walked in they have fake crab and fake lobster in a real ice at a buffet like station. It was weird. Then when I wanted to order the special for the day they said they ran out which was coconut prawns at 7pm on a Thursday. I guess their regulars come in way before that or they only have like 10 prawns in coconut sauce for the day.
Every entrée comes with either a cup of soup or salad. I ordered a white base clam chowder which was creamy and delicious. My main entrée was a panko crusted calamari steak. It was pretty good as it was my first time having something like this. It was a little too oily for my taste but the calamari itself was soft and tender. It comes with a side of grilled vegetables which were not bad but kind of soggy as it was drenched in too much oil.
What got me a little iffy was the «famous» fish and chips that my wife orderd. It was 4 pieces of fish that was not the best I ever had. it was actually not that good. The cod itself was ok but the outer crust did not have any taste. Actually the whole thing was bland. The fries were worse. Totally defrosted and straight out of the package before serving. That’s ok coming from Jersey because they use it in Fat Sandwiches at Rutgers but for something where they say its «famous» and «most popular» its not up to par. Use fresh cut fries it would have been totally worth it. The people who voted are probably all the retirees who go here.
What would probably bring me back here are that they are one of the only small businesses here in the Stockton area specifically for seafood, my in-​laws like it here, and the daily specials do sound good on paper but I just wish they had enough of it, and the customer service was really good.
Kind of expensive for sub par food. Please get a new chef.

I’ve coming here on the regular now for about 4 – 5 months. I usually come by on Saturday mornings. I find a seat at the bar and order me up a spicy Bloody Mary and a cup of clam chowder.
John is usually there bar tending and makes one of the best Bloodies you’ll find in Lincoln Center or anywhere else for that matter. Their chowder is consistently delicious. I used to work at the old one in the Warehouse over on Weber back in the day and the chowder is STILL good. I’m a bit of a chowder head myself. Nice amounts of chunky bits of clams and pappas. Sometimes I add a squirt or two of Tabasco but it really doesn’t need it. The bread it comes with goes perfectly. Breakfasts here are a little pricey but worth it. Good spot for fresh seafood for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

brunch. n a s t y
french toast so brown and greasy that you could not even cut it with a sawing motion. scrambled eggs. greasy. slimmy. eggs benedict cooked until the yolks were green. dont go. sorry lovely wait people.