Bugaboo Creek

Bummed this place is closed… It was the most family friendly chain out there.

CLOSED! Now maybe something good will go in this space

Finally stopped in for dinner after 10 or so years of just driving past it. I was shocked to find the décor is beautiful. Very woodsy-​cabin-​with picnic table feel, totally dig it. It made me want to grab my fishing rod from my car trunk. The apps, entrée and the Pineapple Moose juice were great. Driving in and out of the garage is a little tight with all the structure poles.
_​Beantowns Finest_

I tried to give you a 2^nd and 3^rd chance, but it just further verified the fact that this place is a complete disaster and it has lost me as a customer for good.
Went last night for the boyfriends birthday with his family. Firstly, we were seated almost immediately BUT after 15 minutes of waiting, a hostest came over and told us, UM SORRY, but we sat you ithe wrong section so if you want someone to come serve you, you need to move over THERE. hm.strange. Whatever, no biggie, we all got up with out complaints and sat some where else. I would have thought that we would have gotten someone to approach us right away, but we waited another 5 minutes until someone showed up.
1ST STRIKE.
Secondly, we ordered apps, and the manager came over to apoligze for moving so she gave us one of apps for free. nice touch.
Apps came out, we ate. Okay. fine.
We ordered dinner. One of our guests had to leave early, so we asked our server if we could have his food come out first whenever it was ready so that he can eat quickly and leave. It did come out until 30 – 40 minutes after we all ordered. ugh. Annoying, but whatever.
Someone had ordered a medium steak. It came out medium WELL.
I ordered a combo meal with chicken and shrimp. My shrimp was supposed to come out with pineapples and some sort of yummy toppings. but it didnt. Completely flavorless.
2ND STRIKE.
Also, at the begining of the meal we told the host about the birthday boy and asked if they could do anything special. She said yes no problem. She even wrote down the description so she wouldnt get it confused.
Of course, no one came over to surprise him with a talkin moose or a special dessert… so disapointed. I was lookin forward to embarrasing him.
STRIKE THREE.
Overal, terrible restaurant. I still have no clue how its still standing.
1 star for the manager giving us a free app and giving us a free meal for the over cooked steak. Oh yea. the buffalo chicken nachos are somewhat decent.
DONT GO TO THIS ESTABLISHMENT. Go to Longhorn’s instead…

I don’t know what it is about this place exactly but it has firmly cemented itself as my least favorite chain restaurant in greater Boston. I think it was a few years ago when I ordered a burger and was so disappointed to bite into it and to have that experience where the meat is just melty and flavorless. They do have a gluten-​free menu so we’ve been back a few times since and I’ve just never had a good food experience. Apparently I’m in the minority since when the in-​laws visit from NYC they always suggest this place. I think it’s more for the talking Buffalo and rustic wilderness decorations than the food, but who am I to upset the inlaws.
Save yourself some time and money and go elsewhere unless you’re planning to embarrass a friend by having the waitstaff bring out the giant singing moose puppet for a lovely rendition of Happy Birthday

My husband and I stopped by for dinner on Friday night.
We were very impressed that we were seated immediately and our service was quite quick.
The had just brought bread to the table and about 5 minutes passed before our food arrived. (2 snowbird chicken salads.)
The restaurant was buzzing with families telling their kids to «look at the talking moose/​buffalo» which cracked me up.
If you’re going to drive here, avoid parking in the garage, if you can, because the poles in the parking area make it really difficult to maneuver your car.

Went in for Easter dinner. Parmesan/​garlic encrusted prime rib was to die for. Smashed potatoes were excellent, salad was delicious. A bit pricey but I have always loved this place!

The food is ok here. It’s not the greatest, but it does have good steak (good, not great) and it’s a steakhouse. I used to come here as a kid and it was my favorite place because of the experience it brought, but they have completely destroyed that experience.
They used to have a tree talk to you as you walked by it (motion sensored tree) and as a kid, I would get a kick out of that. The tree is still there, but it doesn’t even move now.
To keep this review short, I won’t go into more detail as to how they destroyed the experience, but it’s not a special place anymore and it’s a shame.
Since the experience is gone, and the food is only ok, there really is no point in going here.

The food is excellent. As with many family style restaurants, it is always better when you know what to order and how to have your steak cooked. If you want medium rare, then you’d better order RARE. Beyond that, it is great food.
I was a little disappointed recently when I had a «two for twenty» coupon. My wife and I brought our daughter and asked if we could make it three for thirty. I thought that was a reasonable request, but we were rejected by the waiter saying «ha funny no».
The talking moose needs a new script and it is just a little too dark in there to comfortably read the menu.

The first time I had their prime rib here, it was delicious. Perfectly cooked, seasoned, etc.
The second time I ordered the same prime rib, but it was over cooked and the au jus was overly salty. :(
If they were consistently good each time, they’d get 4 stars.

Love the talking moose. He’s got his MBA– Masters in Bison Administration from guess where? The University of Buffalo. Cracks me up every time.
Yes, this chain is probably Outback for kids but I love it. The food is so-​so but who goes to a chain expecting gourmet cuisine? I always order the bourbon steak with grilled onions. They may not cook it right the first time, but eventually it will come out cooked to perfection. The bread is hot and delicious, salads are satisfying, and sides are huge. If you sign up for the Creek Club online Bugaboo will send you coupons that make the meal even more of a deal. So go and have fun. And listen to the talking bison. He knows what he’s talking about.

Kid-​Friendly. Good Food. Generous Portions. Lucrative e-​mail list.
The food is good and reasonably priced. Our daughter loves all of the talking characters — she wants to go to this place constantly, so we joined the e-​mail list, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the coupons they send you. Portions are large, so we usually just split things, which makes it even more reasonable.
If you are a foodie, I suppose you’ll scoff at this place. If you are a parent who wants to get the family out of the house and have a good time for a reasonable price, then give it a try.

So far we’ve only ever gone here because its the closest, fairly inexpensive steak place we’ve found near our home.
The staff was friendly and competent. I have found that 9 times out of 10: what you give is usually what you get. If you are polite, very clear about your needs and desires, and reasonable you can usually coax even an initially disinterested/​cranky waitstaff to be of pleasant help. (Of course there are times when even compassion and clear communication don’t solve the issue!)
We always get pretty much the same thing: Black Magic Steak. A sirloin blackened with Chef Prudhommes’s special blend of seasonings. The seasoning involved a lot of small, oval basmati-​rice-​sized herb on the top of the steak. I didn’t enjoy the squishy maggot-​esque shape of the herb, despite being 150% sure it was ONLY an herb… so I scraped that off and enjoyed the steak never the less. It was lean, tender, juicy meat. I loved the flavor and it seemed like a great cut.
I had some other seasonal specialty steak that was a longer, thinner cut which was firmer and filled with a lot of «weird» pieces and was supper fatty. Since then I’ve stuck with the Black Magic sirloin but I’ve had other entrees.
The BBQ ribs were pretty good. Better than average chain ribs are, but certainly nothing to write home to Mother about.
My friend said the burger was pretty good– not stand out in any manner. It came heavily topped including mushrooms but he was said it was such a small amount of them they imparted no flavor.
Their sides are some of my least favorite chain restaurant sides. Having been raised in the Midwest though, the baked beans were a yummy welcome.
Their fries are quite good for chain restaurant fries, but not spectacular in any way.
The mashed potatoes were pretty good. Very rich and buttery. Chunky and with a bit of skin in them. A mild garlic hint really brought it all together.
I loved the baked potato, but how can you go wrong with that?
The steamed veggies were really flavorless and over cooked, but that is standard chain steamed veggies for you, eh?
The garden salad was great. The peppercorn dressing was tasty.
I’d avoid the wedge salad which was only a quarter of bland iceberg with a bit of bacon and crumbled blue cheese.
The mushrooms side was a bit on the bland side. They lacked any real effort and had no depth of flavor. They were nothing like «fresh» either. I’d skip these little guys.
The BBQ chicken nacho appetizer was delicious. A bit sweet, but spicey and tangy too. A really great combination and well assembled with a huge portion. Could easily be a meal with leftovers to a light eater.
I have to say— I’ve only eaten in at the restaurant location one time. The rest of the time its better to grab it to go, save on a large tip, and watch a movie with loved ones at home. The interior design is wretched and repulsive. I think if they took a formal survey they’d find its costing them customers at this day and age.
But if you are looking for a decent steak at not toooo high a price, and you can stand the interior: go for it. There are lots of tasty foods to find on their pretty standard menu. If you are in the mood to blow your mind with food, or to experiment you’d better move on.

Birthdays are fun here if you like embarrassing the birthday boy or girl. Your server grabs the huge moose puppet head and a free chocolate birthday dessert and serenades the birthday person with a gaggle of other servers, while waiting for the focus of all that attention to kiss the moose. (Yuck!)
Speaking of servers, ours was great. When a certain filet arrived sans portabella mushroom cap and blue cheese, the fellow who delivered it offered to go back to the kitchen to grab the missing ingredients, but as soon as our waitress spotted the naked steak, she swept in and plucked it off the table, and brought it back all dressed and melty. Servers often remember to refill the ice water, but she even brought refills of our hot water without being asked to.
The kitchen was a little off its game though. In addition to the missing steak toppings, one of the four Kobe beef sliders arrived topless ala open face sandwich. And my prime rib, ordered medium rare, arrived medium well. Fortunately it was still moist and tasty, and really yummy when dipped in the au jus. The sweet potato fries were pretty good, although the cut looked really funny to me — the ‘crinkle’ cut made the fries look like worms! The mixed veggies was a bit dried out (sitting too long?) but with bright colors. The rice pilaf was fine. They have a great version of honey mustard which I requested as a dipping sauce. And their basic salad looked pretty good, while the caesar was good but a little over dressed.
As always, I loved their honey wheat bread which we happily consumed spread with the softened scoops of butter. And from past memory, they are very child friendly, not only with all the mechanical moving animals hiding here and there (but be careful if your child is timid… they might scare him!), but with crayons, and a kid’s menu that includes a dessert treat (Hoodsie ice cream cup?).
Reservations are taken, but only for groups of a certain size… I’m not sure what size though, except they told me for 8 definitely, but for 4, no.

We drive by all the time and had never been to one of these places so we decided to eat lunch there in Saturday. We weren’t expecting anything too great. But it was worse than we thought.
The talking tree and the talking moose were creepy. The place had a pretty negative vibe. Most of the people working there seemed miserable. Both of the meals we ordered were wicked nasty. I farted a lot soon after leaving.
The good things were, we liked the fire place and the waitress was very nice and and was good at what she did.

I would really like to give it 3.5 stars.
I have no problem (save for the talking Moose) with Bugaboo. You just have to know what to order. The bread is great, the Charlie Morgan Ribeye is pretty decent, and the ribs aren’t too shabby.
As for sides, I do love good smashed potatoes!
Stay away from the flat iron steak. And to REALLY get all of your value at Bugaboo, and this is important… drink the Moose Juice. That is really why I go here. The pinapple infused vodka is insanely delicious… and I don’t even like liquor that much! But I find myself craving Moose Juice… at 10am… is that bad?

If you are hungry and drive past «Bugaboooo», do yourself a favor and keep driving. Snacks at a gas station not unlike No Country for Old Men would be a better option. Believe me! My Papa attempted to order and eat the chicken. It was bright pink and COLD (probably was frozen) in the middle. We went years ago and will never, ever come back. He’s 90 now and lived, thank God! Anytime we drive past that place he has to regale me (and anyone who is in my car) with the story of how they almost killed him there. I can tell you this place still blows, drive by if you don’t believe me or even walk in and I guarantee once that talking thing talks to you, you will walk the eff out.

Oh fer Jiminy’s sake, shut the Moose up! I’d groove on it if he said something cool. They should hire Eddie Izzard to write the moose palaver. Then, I’d be entertained, at least.
It used to be a kinda cool place to bring the nieces. Kid’s dig talking stuffed animals. I personally think it’s gruesome. I keep expecting the moose to utter «Say your Damned prepositions», in Truman Capote’s voice («Murder By Death» reference). Actually, I’d pay real hard currency to have the moose talk like Truman Capote. That’s Entertainment!
Now, all the animals need some serious dusting off, and the place is careening towards a haunted house feel. Which, quite frankly, scares the nieces. Which, for me, negates every reason to go there.
The food is getting progressively worse, too.

As a person who knows way too much about Bugaboo, I offer you the following advice:
Never order the steak tips (way too many people do, and they’re terrible!)
Never order the bourbon flat iron (bad cut of meat, strange flavor)
Always put any coupon on the table as soon as you get there.
As for the rest of the menu, everything is quite good, but some stand out on top:
Apps: Snowbird chicken, bbq chicken nachos, shrimp
Salads: Blue Mt. Steak Salad, Alpine Chicken Salad
Steaks (in descending order): Ribeye (amazing), Mt. Man Strip, Black Magic, Filet.
Entrees: RIBS (They are award winning, hard pressed to find better anywhere!), the Salmon is also pretty good
Desserts: Peak Cake or Bigfoot Chocolate Cookie.
Drinks: Can’t go wrong with moosejuice.
If you desire great service, Bugaboo has a good chance of satisfying, but to guarantee it, request to sit in the 20s or 30s, you’re guaranteed to have a server who has been there a while and proven him/​herself. If those are full, other good bets are the 50s or the fireplace.

Food be damned, boring but on-​par with your boring national chains like Applebees or Chili’s. This place breaks the Schlock-​o-​meter in ways that boggle the mind. You may ask yourself why everything in the restaurant either talks like a cracked out hooker or makes creepy vaguely animal-​like noises, but why bother? It’s not even the best part.
The best part is tricking your friends into coming here for their birthday party. I suggest the following steps:
1. Find extraordinarily good-​natured friend or a friend you no longer want.
2. Clandestinely inform a waiter that it is your friend’s birthday.
3. Enjoy as the most simultaneously hilarious and depressing thing you’ve ever seen involving a giant moose puppet.
It’s even more satisfying than dropping pennies into the tip jar at Cold Stone Creamery.