Buckets Sports Pub & Grub

This is a nice place to go and watch games. There is lots of room and plenty of TVs. The food options is typical of a sports bar and everything seems to be good here. Beer prices are decent. Our waitress did a good job especially considering how busy they were.

Bucket's is easily one of the best sports bars on the Southwest side of Fort Wayne. They have really good pub food from wings, to loaded fries, to pizza....pretty much all the fried goodness you would want while watching your favorite sports team. They have a bar side and a family room both of which have ample TV's. The bar room is much nicer than BDubs because they have backs on the chairs at the bar and at the tall tables. During the week and on the weekends, they often have bands play...a lot of acoustic stuff. It's a good time. If you can go when Goodnight Gracie is playing, you are going to hear some good tunes!

I took my two kids to Buckets on a Saturday night around 7:00pm and we were able to walk right in and find a table. It is self-seat in the dining room, but I didn't see a sign that told me that, so I wasn't sure at first. It really wasn't too busy, even though it was college basketball conference tournament weekend. No "local" teams were playing. First impression is "average sports bar," and overall cleanliness isn't stellar (especially the bathrooms and lobby). I had been there once before, several years ago, but it was the first visit for my two kids, 6 and 8.

Service was very attentive and pretty good overall. (The table next to us arrived a few minutes after us and waited nearly 30 minutes for their food to arrive.) Our food came in less than 10 minutes. Our drinks never came close to empty.

I ordered 12 "medium" wings, with celery (addt'l 75 cents) and ranch, with a side of waffle fries. My son ordered mac & cheese with fries and my daughter got the mini burgers and fries, both off the kids menu.

The wings were large and slathered with sauce, with a fair amount of meat on the bones. The breading wasn't too thick and they seemed to be cooked perfectly. The sauce had just about the perfect amount of "heat." I was really craving some good wings and these did the trick. The half-basket of waffle fries that I ordered was huge...and they were very tasty.

The mac & cheese was hot when delivered and was very good. He said that it "was better than we make at home." My daughter also approved of her mini burgers (2). The kids ate almost everything they had, so that's a bonus. Overall, the kids really liked it and they want to go back.

With three giant projection displays of sports on TV and dozens of other televisions throughout the dining area, there could never be a shortage of distractions. That probably made the short wait for our food, seem even shorter. Free wi-fi for my smartphone was a nice surprise. We will definitely be back.