Buffalo Wild Wings deserves credit for honoring Veterans on Veteran’s Day. They don’t have to do it, but they do it and I can’t say enough how much I appreciate their gesture. However, as grateful as I am, I soon realized after stepping through those doors that I was to be punished for showing up.
Our server, Almyra, ghosted the table like a bad tinder date. It took 30 minutes for her to even appear. No napkins. No refills. No apology. Just vanishing acts with sporadic appearances at other tables as if acknowledging us might end her career.
The food service was pure chaos, but disguised as hospitality. My kids’ meals arrived first; they finished and sat bored while my wife waited for hers. She eventually finished eating a full half hour before my plate even appeared. It took over ninety minutes for a basket of chicken and fries. I mean that literally and not figuratively. We sat at 6:00 PM and I took the picture of my family’s empty plates and my empty space at 7:31PM. I watched entire families arrive, order, eat, pay, and leave while I sat at a barren table like I was an unpaid extra in someone else’s movie scene.
At some point, I don’t know exactly when, my hunger disappeared and an intense headache set in.
When my meal finally arrived, after reminding Almyra that we head a fourth meal, it looked and tasted like a threat. The fries were room temperature and soggy, the boneless wings had the texture of multiple reheats, and the entire plate sadly sat in front of me, as if begging to be put out of its misery “I’ve been reheated four times, just finish me off already.”
But the headache won. Trying to chew these balls of embarrassment was overbearing for me. I managed to eat three, I think. I could not chew these rubbery bastions of reheat.
By that point, I felt insulted. I had a growing sense that this wasn’t a restaurant at all, but an endurance test to see how long paying customers could tolerate indifference.
Almyra, you dropped the ball and then you buried it. Then you dug it up and reheated it before you dropped it again. The absence of basic communication is your legacy tonight. And management, if this review finds you, read it twice. Because this wasn’t a bad night, but a systemic collapse of standards that reflects YOU.
I don’t know if Almyra had some stuff going on, but you, management, need to give her the time she needs to situate herself.
I left a tip out of habit, not respect. Respect is earned. You’ve lost mine.This place needs repentance, not retraining.