Fine Dining - Buffalo Wild Wings: The Fourth Jonas Brother, Hank the Buffalo, and The Lost "W"

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

🐃🔥🍗 Buffalo Wild Wings GO: The Fourth Jonas, Blazin' Heat & a Fightin' Manager 🍗🔥🐃 This week, Shannon Bengston (@SSBengston) joins me to trace the wild story behind Buffalo Wild Wings GO: from its roots as "BW3" in Columbus, Ohio to its modern takeout-only spin-off. We cover Hank the Buffalo, the forgotten Weck sandwich, and the Jonas Brothers ad campaign (yes, including the mysterious fourth Jonas). Plus, Shannon dreams up her own spooky restaurant concept, The Raven, while we cover some of the craziest Yelp reviews including one where the manager challenged a customer to a fight. 🏈 What the Weck? Sports on Kummelweck 🐃 Hank the Buffalo: Mascot or Menace? 🎸 The Jonas Brothers (All Four of Them) Join the Ad Campaign 🌶️ The Blazin' Challenge: Heat, Headbands, and Disappointment 👻 Shannon's Haunted Dream Restaurant Pitch: The Raven 🗣️ Yelp Review Drama: A Manager Threatens to "Take This Outside" 🍗 Why Buffalo Wild Wings GO Exists (and What It Means for the Brand) 💬 COMMENT BELOW: Have you ever done the Blazin' Challenge, and did you actually survive it? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🎉 Patreon (Bonus episodes, full Yelp segments & more): patreon.com/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Food talk, memes, cursed Yelp): discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes: youtube.com/@finediningpodcast 🔗 All links: linktree.com/finediningpodcast 🎤 Guest: Shannon Bengston | IG: @SSBengston Patreon Producers: Sue Ornelas & Joyce Van Patreon Subscribers: David Ornelas, Kellie Baldwin, Jeremy Horwitz, Herbert Amaya, Simone Davalos, Scott Bennett, Amy Reinhart, Josef Castaneda-Liles, & Travis Langley Free Patreon Followers: Joe Warszalek, Lauren Cummings, Grace Krainak, Keri Estes, Robert Duran, Patrick Elliott, Michelle Elmer, Dave Plummer, Nicholas Volney, Michael Gerard, Tracy Molino, Phuong Duong, Tyler Robinson, Brandon Gully, Mason Cruz, Michael Milito, Mez, & Aaron Hubbard 👉 NEXT WEEK: We actually review Buffalo Wild Wings GO. The food, the lack of service, and why we now hate Garfield the cat!

Is Buffalo Wild Wings the top hot wing chain in America? From a desire to bring a slice of Buffalo to Columbus, Ohio, to collaborations with the Jonas Brothers, Buffalo Wild Wings has truly arrived as a powerhouse in the world of chain restaurants. But have they abandoned what originally brought them to the dance? Believe it or not, there used to be a third W in their name that stood for a very specific sandwich popular in Buffalo. But they got rid of it once they really started to take off, like a saucier destiny's child cutting its original members. But unlike Destiny's Child, Buffalo Wild Wings is not too booty-licious for you, babe, as B-dubs has found its voice pushing sports and humor over the allure of the female form,

the game plan of its main competitor, Hooters. The only breast Buffalo Wild Wings is selling is the white meat chicken and their boneless wings. This week on the podcast, I'll Caribbean jerk my knowledge directly into your lemon pepper of curiosity so that you too may know everything I've learned about Buffalo Wild Wings. Then we'll direct our attention to the people of Yelp to see what they're saying about the very Buffalo Wild Wings Go we just experienced. Stay tuned. This is the Fine Dining podcast. Your table's ready.

Take your seat. The flavor of the day is mediocrity to try. I was like overstimulated with so many fun facts about Buffalo Wild Wings in that open. Which one drew you in? I'm going to go with the first one that got me was the collaboration. with the Jonas Brothers. Yeah. I mean, I didn't know they did that.

Like recently. I think it was like this year or last year. I am out of date with the Buffalo Wild Wings News, clearly. I'm pretty sure it included the fourth Jonas Brother too. There's a fourth one? Oh, man. I don't know anything. Yeah.

Hello. And welcome to the fine dining podcast, the quest to compare all restaurants to Chili's. I am your host, Michael Ornellis. And in this podcast, we learned the history of our favorite restaurant chains one week before seeing how they compare to Chili's in week two. This week on the podcast, we're talking all about the story of Buffalo Wild Wings, and more recently, Buffalo Wild Wings Go, their fast casual takeout-focused spin-off. As someone who used to love B-dubs but has seen it slowly fall out of my usual restaurant rotation,

I'm going to see if there's anything in its illustrious journey that might have caused that. And joining me to talk all about it is an actress you may have seen in Zach Snyder's Rebel Moon, one of my favorite coworkers from any past job I've ever worked, and probably the person I'd most believe if they told me they knew how to curse somebody. It's Shannon Bengston. I do know how to curse somebody. I believe it. That was totally off of like vibes, but just to hear you confirm it is kind of nice. It is. Thank you.

Please don't curse me. Don't give me a reason to. Do you have a history with Buffalo Wild Wings? Had you eaten there before? No. I've eaten there once before. Okay. And I was not intrigued to experience it again.

And yet here you are. And here I am. Was there anything noteworthy about it or was it just mediocre? No, I think that was it. It was just a solid like, oh, that's about what I expected. There's a lot of sports happening. Yeah. And it was good.

No sports in this one. Which we'll get to next week, but no sports. No, there was a TV, but no sports. No. And their choice was the wild in wild wings. Yeah. And I mean, like I said, this place used to be in my rotation, not the go version, but just like sit down buffalo wild wings. Used to be a place that I would go to pretty regularly.

I feel like for most people, like when you talk about Buffalo Wild Wings, everyone has been there and talks about. I don't, I'm out of the loop with like fast food change because of Belgium. Because of Belgium. Well, I just never grew up with. the American basketball team. Are you from Belgium? I grew up in Belgium. Oh.

And so I like in college, that was my ever, all my friends were like, we got to take you to the experience Americana. And all these things you're like, they're all just okay. You know, I really liked Carl's Jr. Okay. Carl's Jr. I think was above average for my show. But I've only ever had it once. And that was in college. Oh, no.

Oh, no, it's not. It's 4.6. I also tried KFC then. Ooh. Yeah, you're looking at a lot of average places. Carl's Jr., I like the burgers. It was the burger. It was good.

But like the experience of eating there. We watched a disgruntled customer throw a milkshake at an employee. So that's why that experience is a little bit lower. See, I didn't leave the car when I had Carl's Jr. Yeah, that's the right way to do it. Awesome. Well, that's my history with Buffalo Wild Wings. That's your history with Buffalo Wild Wings.

Do you want to hear the history of Buffalo Wild Wings? I'm so excited to hear the history. All right. We're going to jump into this week's Eat Deep. It's Eatery D-D-D-A. Buffalo Wild Wings was founded in 1982 by Jim Disbrough, Disbrough, Disbrough right here, and Scott Lowry in Columbus, Ohio, after the two friends, relocated from Buffalo, New York,

couldn't find authentic Buffalo-style hot wings locally. The first location opened near Ohio State's campus and was originally called Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck, BW3, Weck referring to the beef on Weck sandwiches, it also served, which is basically a roast beef sandwich on Kumulweck bread with a side of aujou, usually served with a potent horse radish, popular in Western New York. What is Kumowek? Kumulwak, K-U-M-M-E-L-E-C-K. So it looks like it's like a German word or something like that. Kumul-Wek, Kamelwek. I have no idea what type of bread it is.

It looked like it was like a seeded. It looks bagel-esque, but it's not. In my mind, it's a bun. It's seated, but I have no basis to go off. Yeah. But it's basically, if you've had like a roast beef sandwich, like what Arby's does or whatever. Never been to Arby's. You don't need to.

Okay. It's fine. But it's that kind of like a roast beef, au jus sandwich. That energy. Yeah. Which, Weck just sounds like the kind of word that doesn't belong near food. No, it sounds like wet.

Like I'm having a moist meat on my sandwich. I hate this. I feel like you did just curse me. Is that how you do it? It's so subtle that you don't even know. You just make people uncomfortable like it sounds moist. During the 1990s, the chain steadily grew via franchising and it officially standardized its name from BW3 to Buffalo Wild Wings by 1998.

The company went public in 2003, raising over $50 million, and kept expanding aggressively. By 2004, it hit 300 locations, and by 2013, B-dubs, as fans call it, had opened its 1,000th store. Wow. So it took 31 years to get 1,000 stores. It's not bad. That's not bad. They're doing pretty good.

Most places we'll never see a thousand stores. No, that's good for them. Yeah. I think it was smart to cut the W to the WEC. The WEC. The WAC. genuinely I think castrating the weck off sounded like it makes it sound so much more appetizing I don't want a whek I don't want a wild whack whoa whoa that's the Will Smith song right that is that is that is dumb we're going straight to the wild whiwick yeah or something I don't know honestly I would love that for them they should collapse someone needs to like edit just a

sandwich in Wilson's hand for they really do if I had a large audience I'd be like get on it someone send that to me but come on internet do your thing come on internet give me wow wow what dumb buffalo wild wings began venturing overseas in the 2010s opening franchised sports bars in canada Mexico Panama the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region as of 2025 the company boasts over 1,200 restaurants across nine countries, bringing its wings and sports bar experience to an international audience, though it has exited some markets like Canada after limited success. Interesting. I think Canada is the weirdest place to fail, given Buffalo's proximity to it.

It just feels like culturally it would have maybe a little Canadian influence. Right. I'm surprised that it didn't work in Canada. Yeah. I do find it interesting that, like, Mexico, Panama, the Middle East doesn't surprise me because American chains are like there's a lot of Americanization or at least the optics of Americanization going on in the Middle East right now. I wouldn't think Panama. I wouldn't think Panama either. Yeah.

Like if they only, if they're only in nine countries for Panama to be one of them feels very specific. It does. It feels very targeted marketing. Although they do have a pretty interesting international array of sauces and flavors right now. Like they have the Caribbean jerk. They have like Asian zing. They have Thai curry.

Yeah, they just have like a bunch of different influences from different cultures. So for, I don't know how authentic there. I was going to say for our next episode, I think we should go to Panama. To the Panama beat up. Yeah, maybe we should try the different ones. I don't want to know. I don't want to know. It could spoil it.

Like, this is so much better. Honestly, it could be. Yeah. Because different countries have different food safety and like quality standards and stuff. So a lot of people claim that food overseas tends to taste better or at least fresher. I remember when I was in Europe, when I was like a teenager, I got McDonald's in Germany and I was like, I think this is trash. But I also have grown up on preservatives and poison. That's why we don't age.

We just die. We just dropped that. Yeah. In late 2017, Buffalo Wild Wings agreed to be acquired by Arby's parent company, Rourke Capital Group, in a deal valued around $2.9 billion. The merger completed in 2018, folded Buffalo Wild Wings into the new Inspire Brands, alongside Arby's Sonic Drive-in, Jimmy Johns, Duncan, and other sister chains under the same corporate umbrella. They're a little siblings. Something about Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings, being under the same umbrella, is what started to turn me off of Buffalo Wild Wings.

Did you notice a change in flavor when that happened? I don't think I did. But I think there was a moment where I was just like, I always felt like Buffalo Wild Wings was like, yeah, it's like a fresh place to go. And then I heard that they had the same pairing company as Arby's. And I was like, you know what? I should reevaluate my tastes. Interesting. And I think I started noticing like, oh, you bite into a wing and there's something chewy in it or it like doesn't.

It just, I saw through the illusion. Yeah. It no longer felt fresh. You saw how the sausage was made in a sense. Yeah, I saw how the roast beef was made. Yeah. The roast beef and cheddar. Yes. And then like Duncan, I love donuts.

It doesn't feel like high quality like bread. So it just, given the other things under that same umbrella, I'm now doubting the quality of ingredients used across the board. And that's not the case for all chains. There are some chains that I think taste very fresh. And even if they are under an umbrella with like other other chains or whatever, it doesn't necessarily gross me out or strike me as like a problem. Yeah. But I do think it is a tendency when there's like a capital group. I agree.

I think it's nice to know. Buying your food. You know they're not like, oh, crap ingredients for all these guys. But these guys like we're going to up it. Right. It's like you're probably doing the same thing across the port. Yeah. In 2020, the company launched Buffalo Wild Wings Go, a fast casual spinoff designed for takeout and delivery orders.

These smaller 1,500 square foot locations have limited seating and often no in-house bar, but offer a streamlined menu of wings, tender, sandwiches, and sides with the full range of 26 signature sauces and seasonings, catering to customers who want B-Dubs food on the go. I do think that timing is obvious. Oh, yeah. 20 were doing a to go only thing or a takeout only thing. I think that's a very good pivot for 2020. Oh, it was a smart move, I definitely think. Because so many companies didn't pivot. No.

And they're either hurting or gone. Yeah, 100%. And that's, I mean, everything was to go. Did you lose any of your favorite restaurants during the pandemic? I lost a couple. So I went up to, so my family lives in Washington. Yeah. I'm just outside Seattle.

And I went up there for COVID. Okay. And some of the little local restaurants that are near the island where my parents live on is were wiped out. Make it sound like a tsunami. Yeah. I lost my favorite diner in Burbank. And they gave up a week into March 2020. Really?

They, like, they were just, I think they were so ready to. call it quick. Because they had already gone from being a 24-7 place to like, okay, now we're up until like two, then they were up until midnight, then they're open until 10, and then the pandemic hits and they're just like, you know, and it's still a boarded up building now. Like, they haven't even used it for anything else. RIP, Harry's Diner. Oh, Harry's. Yeah. R.I.P. Mo's Pizza. Hmm. Harry's had a server that had to be 92 years old. Harry. Oh, my God.

Love him. Harry's not the one who's 92. I assumed, yeah. Yeah. But Harry, I hope you're doing okay. Make me breakfast again. You were so good at it. I hope you're still okay and make me food.

Yeah, what was Mo's deal? Mo's, it was just like this cute little pizza place, but honestly, they had like the best Italian sausage pizza. And it was so, like, it was, it was really good. Like all their ingredients were really well sourced. And it was just lots of love and care in their pizza. I had a couple places where I was just like, I'm going to order from them every week because I need to do my part to make sure they weather the storm. I ordered so much most pizza when I was there. Yeah.

And now they're a sandwich place. And they make pretty good sandwiches. The brand's advertising often leans on humor and sports enthusiasm. In 2023, Buffalo Wild Wings introduced. a new mascot, Hank, a CGI animated Buffalo with wings, a literal take on the logo, voiced by Saturday Night Live alum Beck Bennett. Hank's goofy antics, including singing a quirky jingle about a new wingsauce, gained plenty of attention, though some viewers found the character more annoying than amusing. The offbeat singing buffalo ad sparked online complaints despite their

tongue-in-cheek style. I hated. Not the concept of those ads. But I struggle so hard listening to bad singers sing badly, confidently. So I will say, in my defense, I have not seen any of these ads. And I did not even know there was a little buffalo named Hank until right now. Yeah. But I love the concept of a cute little buffalo singing. Not little. It was literally, it was the big buffalo behind Jason Kelsey in that stand-up poster.

That's Hank? Yes. It's like a realistic CGI buffalo that just has wings. That takes it away from me a little bit because I thought it was like this cute little buffalo. Like a hello kitty buffalo. Yeah. Like more CGI but like big eyes and like big wings. It's just like trying to do a good job with his, you know.

And I'm mad at the way he sings. Do better. I'm like a dance mom. Exactly. You're like my baby buffalo is going to make it. I swear. I'm like, you don't have what it takes. I do, Paul, I swear.

I'm going to make actual buffalo wings out of you. No, please, Bob. Yeah. No, it was. I created that whole narrative. You invented that, which honestly would be a good commercial. I would watch that. But just hearing, singing off key is so hard for me.

Yeah. Particularly for a national commercial. Is it supposed to be that way? Like, yes. Okay. Yeah. It's supposed to be like, oh, he's kind of obnoxious. I would, it was a commercial that for a while, I would literally always reach for the remote and try and hit mute before it got to the part where he sank because I was just like, this is nails on a chalkboard for me.

Music is too important to me to let the art form of music be butchered by Beck Bennett's bad singing. I won't allow it. I won't stand for it. I need to watch this commercial after this man. Yeah, I will not watch it with you. I'll watch it. I just won't listen to it. Got it, got it. Yeah.

Buffalo Wild Wings frequently partners with celebrities and pop culture figures in its promotions. For example, in 2025, the Jonas Brothers starred in a Buffalo Wild Wings campaign video, playfully debating which appetizers to include in the chain's new ultimate sampler platter. That same year, actress comedian Heidi Gardner of Saturday Night Live and rapper Dave Bird, aka Lil Dickie, appeared in a series of ads along. side Hank the mascot, rapping and joking about a special pick six game day meal deal as a way to connect with football fans during NFL season. A lot of, yeah, they like football and they like Saturday Night Live Alam and funny people. I'm still caught up on the fact that there's a fourth Jonas brother.

There is a fourth Jonas brother. That was what I learned during this podcast. Just because three are famous does not mean that the parents necessarily stopped having kids. That's also fair. Yes, that's completely true. Yeah. I just didn't know. No, you do.

But, yeah, I'm pretty sure he was in the ad. And he, oh, God. Because it's a pick four. You know? I see what they did there. Yeah. And it's a great way for him to like get on the radar. It's like, hey guys, I'm going to pick the onion rings.

I'm the new Jonas. And everyone's like, boo. You weren't in the band for a reason. Bring Hank the Buffalo out. He is the forest. Can you imagine if he sings with them? Oh, it could be cute. Just butcher all their songs.

Why are you encouraging this? I like chaos, Michael. That's true. Buffalo Wild Wings became famous for its range of sauces, from mild to insanely spicy. Its original tongue scorcher was the blazon sauce made with ghost peppers, which was later upstaged by a 2021 reformulation featuring even hotter Carolina Reaper Chili's, over two million scovil units of heat. The chain's notorious blazon.

challenge dares brave customers to eat 10 of these ultra-spicy wings in five minutes or less with no water or napkins. Participants must even sign a waiver, and many end up sweating, crying, or regretting where they are in life as they chase glory for a spot on the wall of fame. They are not allowed a bathroom break. They must remove all meat from the bone, and they can't even have celery. Dang. I also find a funny.

They have to have a blazon rewards account. which is just silly red tape. But they can also win a black blazing headband. You win like a headband that's like, I completed the challenge. That's not worth it. I agree. Not even a t-shirt?

No. Man. But like I do think a headband is like good marketing because it's like sweat. It's cute for the marketing. But like I do a lot for a t-shirt and I would not do a lot for headbands. Not going to dive into that. I'll leave that one be. Yeah.

No bathroom breaks, makes sense. No water makes sense. No napkins is annoying. No napkins is very annoying because it just gets sticky. Yeah. I guess maybe they're thinking like you have to lick like your, do you have to lick your fingers? I don't like this. Like you have to eat all of it.

Right, right. I don't think that's the case. So like people could strategize like. No. I'm also wondering like are boneless allowed and then I can do it with a fork. Or does it have to be bone in? Interesting. Yeah.

Because there's strategy there, too. Yeah. And the boneless are usually a little bigger. I think boneless would be easier, though. I think it would be easier to just kind of like fork them all down. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I would.

I wouldn't build as quickly. Yeah. Yeah. I would just try and do what I did today, which is just like consume the whole thing. So if I could do like two at a time to consume, suffer. But I also do feel like what these heat challenges. look, if you eat one, the heat's going to build anyways. To me, the quantity isn't necessarily making it hotter.

Yeah. It maybe makes the duration. Yeah. But once you're at max heat. I think after you've had two, it's not going to get worse. Worse. You are in the danger zone. Yeah.

Or once you've had a small nivel like me. Yeah. You were just like a little bird. I was. Not a baby. You were not being baby bird. food. I did not, I did not chew your food for you. It was not a baby bird moment. Nor did the employee. That'd be. Oh, God. That would lower their score for me. You think?

Yeah. If he came out, he's like, okay, number 37. You're ready. Like, wait, we ordered a lot of food. Yep, I got it all on here. Well, I've been uncomfortable three times so far in this episode. This is the curse. Despite its success, Buffalo Wild Wings has faced a few controversies. In 2019, the company came under fire after staff at a suburban Chicago location asked a group of black customers to move tables to appease a regular patron's racist request, an incident that went viral and led to the employees firing and company-wide bias training. They were even asked by the host during check-in what ethnicity their group was and that they were going to try and find them a different place to sit because the current setup was. near the racist customer. The group refused and didn't want to offer the racist any satisfaction. After they were seated, an employee spoke to the racist customer and then came over and asked the table of black patrons to move.

They decided to leave and went to Hooters, where they were eventually welcomed. Man, I wouldn't have known Hooters would be our hero in disguise in this story. Yeah, tops off for Hooters, you know. I've never been. I hear they have good wings. too. Yeah, they're not bad. They're not bad. Yeah, I just think it's crazy to be like, uh, we're going to make the racist guy comfortable. Yeah, that is, that is a wild thing. Everyone's, everyone's welcome to eat here. And if you don't like it, go elsewhere.

I cannot imagine being like, oh, this is a bad person. Let's make everyone accommodate them. This is a bad person, but they are here often. So let's prioritize that. Yeah. That's crazy. No, that's, you don't want that person there often. Especially because you get stories like this where then there's a lot of publicity on your restaurant. Yeah. And even on that, on the brand at large. It's just so rude. Like, it's just like not nice.

Yeah. Yeah. No, that's awful. I can't believe that they were that blatant too. Yeah. I think it's crazy to be like, oh, you're going to, right now you're scheduled to be near that guy. So we're going to try and find you somewhere else. And they're like, no.

And then they go and then they check in with the guy. Like, is this okay? That's what. crazy to me. Like I would just go there and be like, sir, you have to leave. Yeah. If you're not happy, either find a different table or leave. Or look in the mirror.

Yeah. Look at your life. Look at your choices. Do the work. Sir, we can't help you. I'm sorry. You have different problems. Or ma'am.

I don't know. I think it was a guy. And that'll do it for this week's Eat Deats. Shannon, I hope hearing the ups and downs of running a major restaurant chain has stuck with you because now it's your turn to create a restaurant establishment of your very own but before you can talk about it we have to create a theme song for this segment give me a song style um oh ah ah like emo super early 2000s email i'm going to sing the first line and stee oh no you're going to sing the second line i'll sing the third line we're

We're going to sing the fourth line together, and the fourth line is just the first line. This is immediate regret. This is the restaurant of your dreams. It doesn't taste as good as it seems. Time with further. To fund it, you might have to sell your spleen. This is the restaurant of your dreams. Great. Nailed it. Crushed it. All right. Shannon, I want to know what you have come up with to fill the void of not currently being able to go to any restaurants you've created by telling me about your very own dream restaurant concept, something that if Harambe were still alive, he'd learn sign language just to ask to try it. It must be practical, delicious, and memorable. Three, two, one. Go.

Okay. So when I think about the restaurant that I would not. absolutely make. It would definitely be a wonderful collaboration of adorable, but also am I safe here? Wait, you want the uncertainty or you want absolute certainty? No, I want the uncertainty. Oh, crazy. I want, like, I love this, but like, should I leave? Is it like an alleyway? Like, is this like a men are the danger type of uncertainty or is this like a horror themed restaurant? We don't want that. We want to like, is there a ghost that's going to follow me home? Okay. And murder me.

It's like a cute, very cute, but very like. I love how cute is your bounce back. Because I love, okay, I love a like haunted energy. I love a, but like good, not Ouija board status. Like cottagey theme. And I'm thinking Pacific Northwest just because I'm from that region. And there's coffee in the morning. There's lots of used books and little bookstores.

And of course there's a stage because I'm shameless. And some of the books are dusty and open themselves. Yes, exactly. And like you might have a little spell that you find in them. There's absolutely a cat that like hates everyone. A very angry little cat. This cat just has his hissing down. There is a sign.

That's like, please don't pet me. Yeah, yeah. And all the like customers, the repeats are like, oh yeah, you don't want to touch Charlie. It's like the cat scene and let the right one in. Yes. Yes. That is exactly. Like there's two cats.

There's a Charlie and a George. Yeah. George is friendly and Charlie's not. And they look identical. You never know which one. You don't know. They're both little black cats. Yeah.

You have to approach and you will find out. You will find out within the first. Like, hey, they're a little gut. That's. Mm-hmm. So you've got breakfast, coffee. He got breakfast. What breakfast?

We got coffee. You know, I'm not a huge breakfast person. Crazy to open a breakfast restaurant. No, no, no, no, no. So it serves coffee and some like cinnamon rolls or something cute in the morning. And then it reopens later. It closes in the middle. I have zero business sense for this restaurant.

So we are just surviving of good vibes and maybe selling one soul. And donation. Exactly. There is no, I don't want any comments. Like, that's bad business practice. I know it is. This is the dream restaurant. This is a dream.

Okay. It can be a fever dream. That's fine. Yeah. It's not a nightmare yet. Yeah. And there's absolutely... This is a sleep paralysis demon dream.

There are so many secret passages. There's so many. Like, don't knock on anything if you don't want to go down a slide. Yes. Oh, my God. If you don't want to rotate into a bookshelf, don't pull books out. And it does. There is a rotating bookshelf.

You're asking for it. If you pull on the spine of a book and you expected to stay where you are, that's on you. There's a sign. Yeah. Don't leave your children unattended. Yeah. You will not see them again. Yeah. They're in the walls now. And they work here now. Exactly. They will become the ghost.

That's how we can afford our bad hours. How? And child labor, child ghost labor. Oh, okay. I was like, are you selling the kids? No. I don't know. It's still cute. Okay. Little hands washing the breakfast

to the cinnamon rolls. Hands, just little Victorian hands. Oh, they're Victorian children. They're Victorian children. Definitely a speakeasy in the basement, 100%. And of course, the whole thing has some weird, I haven't thought of a name yet. It's going to be like the Raven or something or the Calder. You know, it's got to go into that energy.

There's outdoor seating. You're pitching this like you would just be bombing on Shark Tank. I do feel that. Yeah, but not here. Thank you. I'm. Thank you. Not all in, but I'm in.

I mean, you'd be like, we got to check this place out. Yeah. Like, secret passageways, tunnels, slides. Yeah. A bubble room. You got a bubble room. A bubble room? What's a bubble room?

I was just thinking a room. They're just like, oh. Thanks for going over all of that with me, Shannon. I now have a better insight into what you dream about. One last time. This is the restaurant of your dreams. All right, now let's bring things back to reality and see what other people think of the Buffalo Wild Wings Go that we visited in this week's Yelp from strangers. We need a little yelp, a little yelp from strangers.

A one star, two star, three star, four or five y'i. So get a little yelp, strangers. A little yelp, a little yelp. Give us those complaints while you literally All right, this is Yelp from Strangers, our segment where we turn to Yelp and read out our favorite. One, two, three, four, and five star Yelp reviews of the very restaurant that we went to.

Shannon, do you mind if I read the first Yelp review? Not at all go for it. One star review. All right, this is a one star review. This is from Christina K from Northridge, California, written April 30th, 2023. We placed an order, days prior for a pickup on Saturday at 4 p.m. for 240 wings. Christina came with numbers,

and I love that. This is the time. This is the number of wings. She's like, this is factual. This is how many days in advance? Yeah. The order was placed on a Thursday and paid in full. We arrived at 425 for the pickup, and the cashier seemed confused as he looked at the receipt. He then said, Um, let me get the manager. Never a good sign. Never a good sign. And also may have been the guy we had today. The manager came out immediately with an attitude who refused to tell us her name and just kept saying, my name is the manager.

Stop it. That's like an S&L skin. That's crazy. And said, I told the man who placed the order it would be ready at 445 because it's such a big order. If we placed an order 48 hours in advance, why would it take 45 minutes after our pickup time? That's a great point, Christina. Right? Yeah.

Two days in advance, this should be a layup. And by the way, this is two days in advance, middle of the day. It's not like they had to come in early to do it at like an open pickup. No. Like they're not picking up at 10.30 or 11 a.m., you know? She then told us, I am short staff today, so you're going to have to wait. manager attitude

if that is your real name which honestly excellent career choice right you fulfilled like her parents were like this is what you're going to be

you're going to be a manager unlike your brother doctor who we're disappointed in we decided to leave and come back the manager then called us and said are you going to pick up your order now it's ready and then hung up crazy

this person is just Oh, I'd be mad. So annoyed. I don't blame you, Christine. Christine or Christina, I don't blame you. Yeah. Our family member who placed the order decided to go there and pick up the wings

and only when we looked, the bags only contained 100 wings. I loved a picture of them like counting them. I, and I would too because I would be that petty at that point. Well, 100 wings is also so different from 240 wings. Well, you would know as soon. as you see it. Yeah.

We went back to say, we only got 100 wings. Where are the rest? And she then said, I gave it all to you. But if you want, we can take it outside. Do yourself a favor and do not go here unless you want cold small wings an incorrect order and to be threatened to fight. Wild. Wild.

That is definitely on the wild side. We are already raised. raising it up to the general manager, but apparently the general manager is her dad. So it's highly doubtful he's going to do anything about it. So we are raising it to corporate. Good for you. Fight the good fight. Insanity.

That is insane. That is a level though. I'd be so mad I would raise it to corporate though. Also, I might want to try the fight. I was going to say at that point, I think I'd be like, okay, Christina, let's go. Hold my earrings. Yeah. Real quick.

Yeah. I'm a scrappy little fighter, though, because I have no upper body strength. So I'm just like throwing your whole body into elbows. Yeah, I'm a biter. I'm a claw. Like, I fight nasty because I have nothing else. Do what you got to do. Yeah.

Or I just verbally berate you. It's a real 50-15. Or a curse. Or a curse. You got to have curses. Three-star review. This is a three-star review from Kimberly H. From Hanson Hills, Los Angeles, California.

And she also has a very cute picture of her in front of the Disneyland or Hogwarts. Castle? You know, good for her. Yeah. I already like her vibe. Living her truth. Love her truth. Love her. Um, so she writes, I'm keeping this nice and simple. Wing stop is better. The employee at the register himself was hinting to us to run and shop that wing stop. That is so good. That is so merciful. It also feels like a hostage situation of him being like, are you sure? You don't want to go to wing stop. He's like, it's too late for me. Are you okay? Yeah, you can still get out.

If you stay here, you will work here for 25 years. Exactly. No, I remember when I went to Jersey Mikes, I asked the employees, I was like, so where do y'all get your sandwiches? And one of them said Subway. And I was like, I don't trust. Jersey Mikes is so much better than Subway. It's so much better. So I don't know.

I'm just saying the employees are not always right. That is fair. Well, maybe it was a really good subway that was nearby. I'm not giving them that credit. Okay. The food is too pricey for what they serve. Also, the bathroom stinks. Oh, excuse me. Might I remind you I'm dyslexic at this point? Also, the bathroom sinks. Key difference. Don't even work. The lady making the food has me wash my soapy hands at the soda fountain. Crazy. What? Yeah. How do they have an A rating? I don't know.

Because that means the employees are doing that. Oh, well, no, the employees have their own bathroom. Do they? Okay. There was a bathroom that was exclusively employees only. Got it. Okay. But then why wouldn't they let poor Kimberly H just use that bathroom? Does she work there? That's a good one. Does she work there?

I just, I would not make someone wash their hands in the soda bottle over. I know. That's crazy. You can use the employee bathroom. They have, I have used the word crazy so many times already this episode. because I think that's the only word to describe it. Honestly, this is making me like the place better. Because they're taking some initiative. Yes.

Yeah. Like they were. Threatening to fights. Wash your hands in the soda machine. They would have secret rooms. I relate to that. Yeah. There's ghost children at that.

There's 100% ghost children. They told me to just press the water option. First and last time here. I do appreciate the employee. He's honesty, though. You got to. At that point, you're just looking for the positive.

Go to Wingstop. Wash your hands next to Mountain Dew legendary or whatever. It was. And also, might I add, the water's strange there, so I don't even know if I'd wash my hand. Great adjective. Yeah. I don't know if they would be cleaner.

I don't know. But they're certainly wetter. Weck. Or lecker. They're wecker. They're wild and weck. I don't like this. It feels like I'm saying a word I'm not allowed to say.

It 100% does. It feels like I need to put a quarter in a jar every time I say it. Weck. Weck. I heard you like Yelp reviews. Well, you can get three more over at my Patreon. That's patreon.com slash fine dining podcast. You can get the full Yelp from Stranger's segment instead of just those two.

You can also get an exclusive full episode of the Fine Dining podcast that's only available there. Nowhere else. This month I will be doing the Popeye's Thanksgiving dinner, specifically a full turkey frozen that you can get from Popeyes and take home. They season it for you. All you have to do is cook it. I did that last year and I'm excited to finally release the episode about it. I'll also be doing tastings of exclusive limited time offers at restaurants similar to the How to Train Your Dragon meal at Burger King or the Wednesday Adams meal at Wendy's. stuff like that. So if there's anything exclusive that you want me to try, well, go try it out.

I'll review it there and put it there. This show is supported by listeners like you. So if you've got a little bit to support, I'd always appreciate you going to Patreon and checking that out. And whether or not you do, I love and cherish you regardless. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. Thanks so much. Back to the episode. And that is part one. Tune in next week as we tell you what we thought about our meal. at Buffalo Wild Wings Go. In the meantime, Shannon, where can people get more of you online? Oh, you can find me on Instagram at S-S-B-E-N-G-S-T-O-N.

I say that because my last name's weird to spell. Bengston. Bangston. I know people always want to put an A in it, which is fair. As a dyslexic, I do want to put an A in it. Most people are like, which I don't understand why are they, and you're just like, I get it. I get it. It makes sense to me.

Yeah. It was one of those Swedish last names that just got totally changed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. And you can follow this show on Instagram and TikTok at Fine Dining Podcasts. Or go to find diningpodcast.byskye.com to connect with me on a platform I don't really use Blue Sky. You can also chat with me on Discord. I'm very accessible. The link for that is in the description of this episode or you can go to my website. But I would love to have you in my Discord. So if you're a Discord user, come chat with me. Come say hi. Come post food pictures. Come post dog pictures. or feet pictures or feet pictures maybe not

and you know you can find some fun review like if you want to post your own Yelp from strangers that are like that you find when you're reading Yelp that you're like this is crazy if a manager challenges you to a fight I want to know about it

and did you win and did you win anyways we are going to be back in one week to talk about our experience at Buffalo Wild Wings go. In the meantime, we're just going to be sitting here waiting on our table. Thank you so much for watching the podcast. I love and appreciate all of you. Yeah. In the meantime, have a fine day. Waiting on our table, waiting on our table.

Step is done and we had some fun now. We're waiting on our table. Wait us next time we're stuck in line. Waiting on our table, waiting on our table. We're so hard. for mediocrity