I have been to Big Buck in Auburn Hills about 5 times and the one in Gaylord 2 times. Obviously, the place is good enough to keep me coming back for more. The atmosphere is busy but fun at the huge Auburn Hills location. It looks like a big sprawling hunting lodge with a main dining floor that could easily seat 500. The main bar is away from the dining area and features a large brew kettle with deer antler tap handles. They also have pool tables and big screen TV's in the bar/waiting area. The food is almost always outstanding. The fresh seafood of the day is always a good bet, showing great creativity and very fresh fish. I have had hickory glazed salmon, rainbow trout florentine, soy-ginger whitefish which were all great. I have also had their nachos, veggie burger and pasta as well as a few of the appetizers and deserts. The only dissapointment was the walleye sandwich which was packed with bones and very greasy. The beer varies a bit with the wheat, buck naked, boyne amber, red and rasberry wheat all being on the light side. Good beers for people new to micro but not to my liking. The stout, ESB, and unfiltered IPA were all pretty tasty beers with the IPA being my favorite. They do offer at least 2 seasonals at all times which is very nice.
My review covers only the Auburn Hills location. I've been to the Gaylord site but it was over a year ago and my memory of it isn't that fresh. The decor at Big Buck is an excellent northwoods lodge style. You'll find lots of stone and wood with trophy game on the walls. The only downer here was the ghastly bare particleboard ceiling. I'm not sure why they went with this look which makes this high ceiling look like a shelving unit for a giant. Other than that, it's really nice and the unique chairs are a nice touch. The menu is rather unique also, it's almost like getting a newsletter rather than a menu, as it is newsprint rather than heavy paper stock laminated in plastic. I've tried the venison reuben, cheese soup, seafood chowder, and a chicken breast with venison prosciuto and linguine. All were excellent dishes even though some prices are a tad bit high. As for beer, I've yet to be sold on them. I enjoy wheat beers but their raspberry wheat was not at all what I expected. Chuck ordered a brown ale but we suspect that he was served the Bohemian Pilsner instead. That beer had some promise. I also have sampled the Black Cherry Soda and Vanilla Creme Soda that they brew and both of those were quite tasty as well. I was disturbed by the fact that they had a large board listing many of appealing beers only to find that a number of them weren't even available yet.