Thursday, December 23, 2010

Bringing back mostly bittersweet memories

I lived in Buffalo for four years back in the early-90s (yes, during the great Bills Win Everything Except the Super Bowl Dynasty) and I know a little about what Buffalo Wings are supposed to taste like. I first ate REAL Buffalo Wings at the Anchor Bar downtown, where the things were (allegedly) invented. I've eaten at Buffalo Wild Wings. Not terrible- but not Buffalo Wings. However, this isn't a food review column, so let's move on to the commercial....

When I was a "guest" at BWW, I watched a game while consuming my food and beer, and when the game was over, I left. I mean, I was there to eat food and watch the game on a big screen tv. Not to live, and not because I was trying to avoid anyone at home.

It never occurred to me that if I didn't leave on my own volition when the game was over, I'd be kicked out. I never heard anyone call "closing time" or "last call." My assumption upon leaving was that I was making a personal choice that enough was enough, fun is fun but I had papers to grade at home, or something else to do before the weekend came to a close.

But the people in this commercial seem truly anxious that if the game they are watching is allowed to end, they'll have to leave, and they "aren't ready to go yet." (They are obviously also not fans of either of the teams they are watching.) So they encourage the eager-to-please ref to fuck over one of the teams and make an atrocious, Overtime-inducing (and hopefully investigation-launching) call. Everyone in the restaurant cheers. Yay, bring another pitcher of Miller Lite and a platter of Not Buffalo Wings, and don't skimp on the celery!

This is all very stupid- and it gets even worse later, when the ref trips a player, preventing a game-ending touchdown- but it does kind of help explain some of the truly crappy calls I've seen in the NFL this season. And why the Steelers are still in contention for a playoff spot. Buffalo Wild Wings must be really popular in Western PA. Which is strange, because the people who live there could be eating REAL Buffalo Wings if they'd just take a quick drive to the shores of Lake Erie.


  1. I've got nothing to add other than thank you for smacking this commercial around. It annoys me.

  2. You and I think so much alike it is scary sometimes. I suggested this website to my best friend and he said that he thought I was writing it under a fake name....

    Anyway, I have always assumed that Buffalo Wild Wings was a place made for the mid west where General Tso's chicken is fried chicken pieces smothered in vinegar based hot sauce, pasta with marinara is egg noodles with ketchup, pizza is Dominos and buffalo wings are those cluck-u abominations. I have the pleasure of living in the NY metro area and BWW has not place here. I was just talking about this same opinion with some co-workers because the BWW a few miles from our office closed down after less then a year.

  3. My worst restaurant experience was at a Buffalo Wild Wings -- Lawton, Oklahoma, outside Fort Sill.

    The server got the drink orders wrong, she never brought the appetizers, the main courses took more than an hour to arrive, the server got those wrong, and they were cold.

    When I told the manager -- I explained that I wasn't trying to get anyone fired or be a prick, but that I thought he ought to know that my group of maybe 6 or 8 was not receiving good service -- he copped an attitude with me and defended his inept server.

    My friends and I actually had to leave and go somewhere else so we could get something to eat. We refused to pay for the items that weren't right or were never delivered. Most of us refused to leave tips. One guy left like eight or nine cents, which I think was all in pennies. The server threw it at him as he was leaving.

    All in all, a VERY bad experience. That was my first trip to a Buffalo Wild Wings. And my last.

  4. 1st Republic- sounds like the Pizza Hut we tried to get spaghetti at back in the 80s. Two hours later, no spaghetti, even though we may have been the only customers in the place.

  5. It's like expecting to eat real Italian food at an Olive Garden; the best one can expect is that the experience is over with as quickly as possible.