Bud's Place in Apalachin, New York: A Review

Bud's Place in Apalachin, New York is a family style Italian American restaurant that is especially popular on Friday and Staurday nights. Bud's Place has a clean and cozy atmosphere, a perfect place for a nice family meal, to celebrate a special occasion or to take a date. The restaurant is small, which can contribute to the long wait on the weekends, and the wait staff are efficient but also do not rush you through eating just to turn the tables quickly. Owner Bud visits typically every table to inquire how your meal was, which is a nice touch, if not somewhat creepy for those who do not like to be bothered when eating.

Bud's does not have a huge menu, but it does have many good selections and the quality of the food is excellent. Hearty pork chops can be ordered plain for $12.95, or Milanese style for two dollars more. Steaks are excellent, good quality cuts and cooked to order. You can choose from a NY Strip for $15.95 or an open faced NY Strip served on a toasted garlic loaf for $9.95. Both are excellent. Chicken selections include chicken parmesan (chicken is moist and covered in delicious red sauce and mozzarella) and the marinated chicken is my personal favorite (grilled chicken with a bit of zip to it from the marinade served on a bed of rice).

Bud's also makes excellent pizza. The white garlic pie for $7.50 is awesome, particularly loaded with black olives or onions. The pizza crust is delicious, thin and crispy. The signature salad is unique to Bud's. A hearty and large salad is topped with chicken and served with a bottle of house dressing so you can add as you wish for less than nine dollars.

Entrees are served with salad and warm, crusty bread, which comes out on a cutting board with a knife and butter. Choice of salad dressing is either house Italian (very good-nice zest and flavor) or blue cheese which is about 50 cents extra. Chicken, pork, seafood and steak entrees come with a choice of a side, such as baked potato, rice or vegetable. Bud's Place does not serve fries which can be disappointing, but the baked potatoes are actually pretty good and served with both butter and sour cream.

For those who like seafood, Bud's offers an orange roughy stuffed with crab meat and broiled with a Milanese sauce on top for $14.95, sea scallops for $14.95 and shrimp scampi for $13.95. My mother loves the stuffed orange roughy. As most Italian places do, Bud's offers a large variety to choose from such as cheese lasagna for $7.95, manicotti for $6.95. You can add 2 meatballs or sausage for two dollars more to your pasta selection. Fetucine alfredo (I find the sauce a little thin), white clam sauce, stuffed rigatoni (rigatoni stuffed with cheese, which is pretty good), gnocchi (on the heavy side and more like flour balls) and cheese ravioli are other pasta selections. A meatball dream is Bud's version of the meatball sub-meatballs served on toasted bread. You can also order either homemade or imported spaghetti dishes with a variety of toppings such as meat sauce, garlic, butter or olive oil. Veal parmigiano in either queen or king size is also available from $10.95 to $15.95.

Bud's Place provides good and efficient service from its wait staff and the restaurant is clean, cozy and dimly lit, which adds to the homey, cozy atmosphere. The food is very good, quality is high and consistent. Bud's is a great place to take the family for an affordable and delicious dining experience, and while the options are not many, what is available is very good and cooked with care.

Bud's does not accept reservations, so if you go, you may end up waiting 20-30 minutes for a seat on the weekends. Be sure to bring cash as well, as credit cards are not accepted.