My wife, our toddler aged son, and I visited the Rusty Bucket in Rookwood for lunch over the weekend. I had visited this restaurant at least once before, though it had been years since my last visit. I remember enjoying the food and thinking the service was adequate, so why hadn’t I visited more often? Well the location in Rookwood leaves a lot to be desired. The parking lot section in front of the restaurant is really small, and Rookwood itself can be tough to navigate.

We arrived on this visit just before 1 in the afternoon. A hostess immediately took us to a table in the back of the restaurant, a booth just as we had requested. You have to walk past the bar area to reach the dining area, which is kind of awkward and tight. However the dining area itself offers plenty of space.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

For lunch I went with the buffalo chicken sandwich – panko crusted chicken breast slathered in medium wing sauce, topped with crumbled blue cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato and mayo ($8.99). The piece of chicken was very large for a sandwich, appeared to be freshly battered, and was very tasty. The fries were also pretty good.

All Jacked Up Turkey Burger

My wife ordered the “all jacked up burger” substituting a turkey burger for the standard beef. This came topped with spicy red and green chili relish, pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo ($9.79). I did not sample the burger but she really seemed to enjoy it.

Kids Cheese Pizza

We choose the kids cheese pizza for our son, along with a side of fruit ($4.95). They also offer a variety of hand tossed pizzas on the regular menu, so this wasn’t just some frozen and microwaved pizza. I was able to borrow a slice from our son and I was pleasantly surprised. The dough was actually a little chewy, which I wasn’t expecting at all for the thin pizza. After sampling this, I would not hesitate to order a pizza from the main menu.

The Rusty Bucket is definitely a place we should visit more often and we probably would, but the parking situation stinks. Perhaps the experience would be a lot better if we just walked there, like we do for many other Rookwood establishments.