Fine Dining - I Hate Garfield Because of Buffalo Wild Wings GO

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

🐃🔥🍗 Buffalo Wild Wings GO: Garfield, Barbed Wire, and the Blazin' Knockout 🍗🔥🐃 This week, Shannon Bengston (@SSBengston) returns as we finally taste the chaos that is Buffalo Wild Wings GO. From an earnest-but-overwhelmed employee taking our order to a blaring Garfield cartoon that won't stop looping, this meal tests not just our patience, but the limits of the Chili's Test itself. 🥤 Mountain Dew Legend: Terrible 🍟 Desert Heat Fries Are Incredible 🍫 Chocolate Chunk Brownie = The One True Winner 🍗 Mango Habanero: The GOATed Sauce? 🔥 Golden Fire Wings: The Exclusive B-Dubs GO Flavor 🥵 Blazin' Knockout Wings Make Shannon Cry 👾 Pokémon Shouldn't Look Like People (Apparently) 🌵 Shannon's Worst Meal Ever Involved Barbed Wire 💀 Will Buffalo Wild Wings GO Surpass Chili's, or Fail the Test? 💬 COMMENT BELOW: What's the worst dining distraction you've ever experienced? 📢 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 dive into the whimsical nostalgia of The Old Spaghetti Factory with returning guest VyVy Nguyen to dive deep into trolley lore.

Is Buffalo Wild Wings Go a worthy spinoff of one of the top hot wing chains in America? The mango habanero sauce consistently proves to be one of the goats of the condiment game, but being a wing's place that has run out of napkins is actually literally crazy. The limited time brown sugar heat was a surprise win and very yummy. However, Garfield Christmas special being played at max volume made me want to violently exit my body. The pre-packaged chocolate chunk brownie shocked me with how fresh and chocolatey it tasted, but the Black Mountain Dew flavor in the soda fountain felt like something I'd be charged extra for at AutoZone. What used to be my go-to wing chain has been falling more and more off my radar.

Is this because I'm finally a big boy in need of adult wings that no chain restaurant can actually measure up to? Or has Buffalo Wild Wings merely thrown in the towel now that they are under the same corporate umbrella as Arby's and Dunkin' Donuts. We'll answer all that and more. 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'm a little baby boy. I was going to say, just a little bebe. A little baby boy. A little baby wings. Hello and welcome back to fine dining, the quest to compare all restaurants to Chili's. I am your host, Michael Ornellis,

and this is the show where I use what I've definitive found to be absolute restaurant mediocrity, Chili's, to measure whether all other chains are good or not good by comparison. By the end of this episode, we will be able to answer the question we all asked ourselves after the series finale of Lost. Is Buffalo Wild Wings Go better than Chili's? Tell me in the comments whether you've even heard of this Buffalo Wild Wing spin-off. Today, we're going to tell you everything that was good, not good, and just there about our meal at Buffalo Wild Wings Go before we give it a special. score at the end of the episode. And joining me today to discuss Buffalo Wild Wings Go is an actress you've seen in

Zach Snyder's Netflix series Rebel Moon. She's someone I used to give tours with at Paramount Studios. And she's the only person I've ever successfully taught how to do a Rubik's Cube. She's the human equivalent of conquering your fear of the dark. It's Shannon Bengston. Hey. Hello. Hello.

Do you still know how to do a Rubik's Cube? I do. I do actually. Heck yeah. Have you done it recently? Any time recently? Um, like six months ago. Okay.

And I'm definitely, I think it's step seven. It's one of the, like, almost the second to last step. Yeah, yeah. That every time I'm like, wait, what did Michael say to do? And I'm like, wait, wait, guys, no, wait, I got it. Yeah, keep watching me. I got it. Is this like your party trick?

Yeah, and everyone's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways, we got to talk about the things that we liked. Yes. Because there were some. I kind of went in here expecting full on mediocrity. But it is Buffalo Wild Wings food, which at a time I had a special place in my heart for it. So we're going to talk about all the things that are good. These little, I called them the condoms, but the little wet wipes that they give you that have like the Buffalo Wild Wings.

They should call them WEC wipes. I love the sound of like the struggle happening inside of your mouth right now. Like, yeah, there was a goblin speaking through you in that moment. But yeah, little branded wet wipes. And I've got to tell you, this was a game changer. I agree. Largely because of a huge negative that they had that we will bring up.

This was the one solution they had, which I will say is not a foolproof. Way around it. No. But we will get to that. But I like the packaging. I like the packaging. It's cute. Yeah.

It's so much better than just getting like just a standard like plain white wrapper sort of thing. It has what's his name Frank? Hank. Hank. Hank on it. Yeah. And I I love branding. Like I love like branded stuff.

It's just like, oh, they thought about even down to the wet wipes. I like that kind of stuff. So attention to detail, you get a thumbs up from me. 10 out 10 on the details. All of the good that I have are food items. Yeah. Which is kind of a detriment to the atmosphere and service. The service was, we'll get to the service, but boy did I want it to be good.

I was rooting for him. I was. I was, too. So let's start with the thing that I think we kept going back to, the desert heat fries. Yes. So I'm just going to lay out our. entire order for everybody. Because we got a lot of food.

We got a six bone in, six boneless wings combo that came with a drink and a side. We got fries for the side. And I didn't realize that you can get seasonings on the fries, which is fun. So they listed a bunch. And Desert Heat was the one that kind of felt the most Buffalo Wild Wings to me. So I went with that. And for the wings, we got a Buffalo Wild Wings go. exclusive flavor that was called Golden Fire, and we got that on the traditional wings.

And they had a limited time only sauce called the brown sugar heat, boneless wings. And then we got a ultimate sampler, like the pick four sort of thing. And with that, we got onion rings. We got the chicken dippers. We got the crispy chicken dipper and the spicy chicken dipper. The spicy one came with mango habanero sauce. The crispy, non-spicy one was lemon pepper rub. And then onion rings.

And because we wanted to kick our own asses, or rather because I wanted us to suffer. We're feeling crazy. We got the blazon knockout boneless wings, which is their hottest flavor, the one that they have a challenge for, and a chocolate chunk brownie. that was the entirety of our meal. Four of the foods ended up in the good category. Yeah, I was surprised. Which is not the best ratio. It was higher than I thought it would be, though, Michael.

And I thought that the things that were good, three of them were really good. I agree. So these desert heat fries and the B-dubs dip. Yes. Which was like a little dip in sauce that was kind of reminded me a little bit of Dave's sauce from Dave's Hot Chicken. Yes. Yes, he does.

Which is like Thousand Island adjacent. It's not Thousand Island, but it's reminiscent of it. It had that energy. We kept going back to these. We did. Yeah. We ate all the fries. We ate all the fries.

They were good even after they cooled off because they just had like the right amount of crispiness on the outside. Yeah, what did you think about the fries and the sauce? I really like the fries. I thought the fries were excellent. I was very surprised. nice crispy. They remind me a lot of McDonald's fries, which are my favorite fries. I will say they reminded me of McDonald's fries, but McDonald's fries tend to get soggy if they sit out and these did not. These did not get soggy. So whatever they're putting in these. I don't want to know what

ingredient wise anything in this. But it was a winning combo with the dip. It was. And then the heat on them. The desert heat was only a plus. Yeah, I agree. There was no part of me that was like, I wish I could have some of these without the thing. No, I thought it was good seasoning. And it was a good amount. And they were well seasoned. Like each fry had a nice amount of seasoning. Yeah.

Yeah. I went eight out of ten. Yeah. So to me, I'd call that great. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I've always liked Buffalo Wild Wings fries.

I didn't know. Yeah. It's kind of my go-to order is usually boneless honey barbecue, boneless mango habanero and fries. But we didn't do honey barbecue today because I wanted to differentiate. myself from the last time I went to Buffalo Wildlings for the show. I really liked the, what was it? The brown, uh, the brown desert heat, um, little dippy chicky.

The first chicken that we had. That was a boneless wing. Yeah. Yeah, the boneless wing. The brown sugar, uh, brown sugar, excuse me, brown sugar heat. I actually didn't have that in the good category. Interesting. I didn't have it in the not good, but I didn't have it in the, the good.

I was surprised. I just thought it was like a nice crunch, little pop. I like their boneless wings. They're very, from a texture standpoint, they're a very satisfying little nugget. And maybe it was more of a texture situation, but I very much enjoyed the mouth feel of it. That's my least favorite way to talk about food, too. I could tell you're in the back of your brain. You're like, please don't say it.

It's like, it's coming out, isn't it? Yep. This is the goblin speaking through you again. The mouth feel. The mouth feel. The mouth feel. This is wonderful. Weck.

Yeah. Yeah. I gave it. I'll bring them up in the just there later. Yeah. I gave it. What did I give it? I gave it a six out of time.

Okay. So it wasn't like a strong good. No, like I need to have these again. But I thought for my expectations for what I was going to receive, I thought I was like, oh, I'm pleasantly surprised with these little nuggets. And they were the first thing you tried. So it did set a good tone. Yes. Exactly.

Yeah. So I got to give it to them there. I have the lemon pepper crispy chicken dipper. So many words to all these things. Lemon pepper crispy chicken dipper. Lemon pepper crispy chicken dipper. Lemon pepper crispy chicken dipper. Overseasened.

Yes. The lemon I thought was a little too strong, but the chicken quality I thought Excellent chicken. Felt the best on this specific wing. It was like a nice white meat chicken breast, sort of like it just tastes very fresh. It didn't seem low grade. I agree. It tasted like

it wasn't terrible for me. Yeah. It probably was. Oh, 100%. It will kill me later. But I went six out of ten. I think with a little I gave it that too. A little bit more reservation on how much lemon or just the overall seasoning. I think that this could have gotten a full

extra point and a half. I agree. But I didn't finish it. Yeah. Like I got to a point I was like, I've had my fill. The first bite was the best bite of it. Yeah. And as I progressed, I was like, too much seasoning. Yeah.

I wanted less of the thing that it was. Yes. Which is not a great sign. No, but I did. I liked the seasoning. It was just too much. Yeah. Yeah.

I will say wing stop does have a very good lemon pepper wing. So compared to Buffalo Wild Wings, Wingstop does have them there. It's actually an ad for Wingstop. I've not done an episode on Wingstop, and I have only been once or twice in my life. Oh, I've never been to a Wingstack. I didn't even know there was a Wingstop. Well, there is.

Next to GameStop and sushi Stop. Have you never heard of Sushi Stop? No. It's the thing. And they are stealing the GameStop logo. It's so weird. It's just like the white and red. Oh, that's not nice.

Same font. Yeah. All right. Next thing I have in the good is the Mango Habanero Spicy Chicken Dipper. So this one was like a double whammy in that the lemon pepper one was a non-spicy base chicken before you even put the seasoning on. This was a spicy chicken with an even spicier sauce coating it. It was spicy. It was a lot.

But I think the mango habanero at Buffalo Wildwing specifically is one of the great sauces out in the world of chain restaurants, in the world of casual dining fast food. I love the mango habanero sauce here. you're smiling in a way that's like oh it's nice to see he's in love and I'm like I'm talking about a sauce look at him he's found love that like that seems so like yearning like oh I hope I hope I have what he has one day maybe one day I'll love a spice that much I'm really really good and wish it with the purest heart I think that was the plot of like at least a couple

Disney movies absolutely yeah yeah it's a sauce goat it's a sauce goat yeah I really liked it it was too spicy for me yeah to like fully enjoy the whole flavor. But I did think the initial flavor was really good. It just built too much for me to fully consume. I think it's a little bit more palatable on a boneless wing. Yeah. And I honestly, I think that the spicy chicken part of it was maybe a little like, it was like a hat on the hat.

It was a double whammy. It was a little too much. Not even in terms of the spice, but just in terms of like the flavor. That was the only detraction for me. So I went eight out of 10 on this as well. I think I gave it a six out of ten. Okay. So still in the good as well. Just because I was like, I can't finish it. Yeah. Because it's too spicy.

Yeah. But I did like it. Yeah. I really liked, and we both, I think, agreed on this, the presentation of the samplers. Yeah. I didn't write that down, but they had a very neat box. It was a box that I would enjoy picking up and bringing to the events that, like, I am going to with the sampler play and like presenting it in said box. It was like a collab between Buffalo Wild Wings in the container store.

Yes. It was like a cardboard box on bottom and with a plastic window that you could see through. I like to peek on my food. This was like I'm standing on the roof of a limousine. Yes. And I'm looking down at the party goers inside. They don't know I'm there because it's tinted. And then on the outside of the box.

And then it was compartmentalized. Yes. And I love that. Which was great. There were little dividers, little partitions. Nothing touching. Separating the fries from the two different types of wings. And then even better, when you look at the front of the box, there's stickers that correlate to their placement in the segments, which I think that attention to detail was the cherry on top. Excellent organization. I'm glad you brought this up because I cannot describe how satisfying it was in a way that will. convey it to listeners, but I'm passionately enjoying this. Like the closest thing I can relate it to is like it feels like almost like a board game that we were discussing that we like when you a board game has the thought process to have like the little how to put it back away.

Yeah, how to store it in a satisfying way that's not messy. They have the little baggies. They have the like it's easy to do. It's so satisfying. If you've never played the game Dice Forge, it is the all time best game in terms of just storage. Just storage. It's also a fun game. But like, the storage of it is just like everything has it's like, it's like something will be just depressed just enough to fit exactly the number of cards in the deck.

I will play a game just for the organization. Yeah. I will be a loyal gamer. It scratches an itch. It does. For sure. I don't know what itch. Probably like OCD or something.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it scratches it. It literally scratches your brain. 100%. My brain is like, yes. Play this game. Endorphins. And that's how this container made me be.

Yeah, it did. And by the way, we had two things that came in these containers. One had three items. One had four. And there was a four-way divider and a three-way divider. Which I liked. It's classy. You know, it wasn't like they just put a four-way divider and everything and one of them goes to waste.

No. No. No. And so the other one had our onion rings, the blazing knockout. The blazing knockout. And then the two. And then the lemon. Yeah.

Go to Buffalo Wild Wings. Go for the containers. Stay for the little else. Yeah. Oh, one more thing I liked. Oh, okay. Pomeranian? Yes.

Not allowed to factor into the score of the restaurant, but as we're just sitting there. But also 100% factored into my score in the restaurant. The cutest little squishmallow Pomeranian with a little Dodgers jersey came in. We are literally the day after the Dodgers just won the world's series. And he's just like laying just like sploot on the ground. Literally just like flat, just like my belly needs to touch this tile. The cutest and just the little face of like ha. Yeah.

Like just the happiest little grimlin little drummer like loved him. Would go to war for him. Would die for him 100%. Sign up for the draft for him. Yeah. If he needed me, I would go. Yeah. Who are you fighting? Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Yeah. I don't care which side of history I'm on. I'm on his side. Yeah. Dog's actually a Nazi. They have to rethink. They have to make some choices. It had some interesting tattoos. They have to be like, ooh, a little buddy.

His views are a problem. Mr. Cuddlepants, no. Put the hatred down. You're better than this. And then I also have the chocolate chunk brownie. This really impressed based on the fact that my expectation plummeted when I saw that it was packaged. Yeah.

I had no hope for it. And usually brownies like this, they taste like they have like a lot of like filler bread in it or leavening or whatever the ingredient is. This was dense, rich, eight out of ten. I liked it a lot. If you'd brought that to me without the package, I would have thought you made it. It was very moist. Don't stare down the lens. Very moist.

Moist. Headwhip. stare and then you raised your eyebrows. I don't like it. I don't like this isn't okay. But it was very good. It was yummy. I would like it.

It's not like, oh, I have to. Like, I'm not going to crave going to this place for this item. Yeah. But if I go back to this place, I will get it. Yes. Yeah. I agree. And it was Girodelli.

It was made with Girodelli chocolate. They advertised that. They had like a little like stamp of approval. stamp of credibility. Yeah. The moist Giradelli store. Stop it.

And then because I didn't write them down, I guess, I mean, this wasn't that long ago. I can just make up a score,

but the golden fire bone in wings, I would put in the good. I liked the flavor of these. This was like right at the cusp of you found it

a little too spicy and I was like, this is comfortable for me. Yeah. Yeah. This didn't register on my radar as like a thing that I'm like, oh, this is hot. This was very much on my radar of hot. My brain was like, you should stop now. Yeah. But no, it had a delightful flavor for something that was exclusive to them.

It kind of tasted, it was like peppery in terms of like it tasted like a hot, like a hot pepper was like the primary thing for it. When I think gold as an adjective, I'm thinking like a Carolina barbecue sauce, which this wasn't. Yeah. But that's what I expected. It was just, it was, it, it tasted like a variation of a buffalo sauce. But I don't really love buffalo sauce. I'm not a big buffalo sauce girl. And like this tasted like they fixed buffalo sauce. I thought it was going to be more buffalo-y. Yeah. Again, it was too hot for me. So I had, I could only eat half my wing. Yeah. But I did think it was really good. The initial taste is then I had to wait a little bit and then I'd have another bite and then I had to wait a little bit and then I'd have another bite.

It was edible though. Yeah, I went seven and a half out of ten on those. Yeah, I think I gave it a six out of ten. Yeah. Six out of ten only because, again, it's just too hot for me. Wimpy. I'm a little wimp. Yeah.

I was raised in places with no flavor. It's not my fault. We don't believe in seasoning where I'm from. I believe it. Yeah. I believe it. When you say that, do you mean Washington or do you mean? Oh, both.

Washington and Belgium. Yeah. But, man, we have good fries. And waffles. And beer. Oh, okay. All right. We're going to jump into everything that is not good.

This is not so good. I'm not quite sure about. It's something that brings down the moon. Okay. I didn't like the water. And that was honestly my first really big concern about everything I was going to be consuming. You just got a free cup of water. I got a cup of water.

I mean, was it free? Because at what cost is water going to bring me? You took a sip and you just like shot me a look of like, this is strange. So I figured because it was in the little, it was in the soda box thing. The fountain. The soda box. The magical soda box. And, you know, sometimes when you first click it, it has a little bit of the residue from whatever soda it's like paired with.

Yeah, yeah. So you're like, okay, it clearly just got paired with whatever soda. Starry. Yeah, starry. Yeah. Which isn't that like Sierra Mist? Yeah. I didn't know.

And I figured it was that. But then I got more water and it wasn't and it was weird. Yeah. It just had a strange flavor. And it wasn't. I didn't have it. But after your lack of endorsement, I was not going to. It was a, I wouldn't say concerning, because it didn't taste necessarily dirty.

But it was like something that they did scoop out of the top of the toilet tank. It did not taste like water. Okay. And for me, the thing right next to the water, Mountain Dew Legend. Now, this thing had the most like gamer appealing logo. It was just like cool with like a gold gilded legend. you know, stamp on it. You're a punk unless you drink this.

It felt like that. It felt like it was like calling me name. Yeah. This actually took my lunch money. Like Hulk Hogan would come out and be like, ooh, drink it. Yeah, that's, he's dead. Oh, God, is he? Yeah.

Oh, man, I am behind on the Times. 2025, too, he paid. Did he? Yeah. No, you don't need to feel bad. Okay, never mind. He's a racist. Oh, no.

Man, I am behind on the Times. Yeah. That was a whole ray of emotions. Like you can't say the N word in your sex tape. That's a sentence. That's a real true thing. What? I'm moving past it.

Anyways, Mountain Dew Legend, I don't think like a black soda is like the color. Like, I don't want a drink that looks inky. I don't like drink that I know are like dyed to be dyed. Yes. And so it is just, there was nothing naturally. occurring in this earth that was in this product. It was 100% concocted in a lab. It was the Mew two of sodas.

I love Mew too. I don't. I don't like any Pokemon that looks like a human. I don't want anything that stands on two legs and it's like high. Like Mr. Mime, get out of here. I don't like Mr. Mame, but he's scared me. Guard of War, why are you so sexy? Lucario, you started the furry movement.

Like, no. Hot takes. Hot takes. Pokemon, stop looking like us. You know, do your own thing. Be like Klefki, the Pokemon that is just a keychain with keys on it. Stop. That's a thing.

I'm not as familiar with my Pokemon. You don't need to be after a certain point. Be like Fan Rotum, which is just a fan. A fan. A fan. Stop. I was like the chandelier one. Chandelure.

Yeah. Yeah. No, there, Rotum has like five forms and they're like a refrigerator, a lawnmower, a fan, and other things. Stop. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Anyways, two and a half out of ten on this Mountain Dew legend.

Oh, it looked nasty. You were trying to get me to try it. It was not happening. It was not the worst drink I've ever had, which is why it had a two and a half, but like, it was not good. Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry to do this. The cashier.

We said we were rooting for him. I was rooting so hard for him. But my God, was he just not getting the process of his job? I'm hoping it was like his first week. It felt like it. Or his first hour there. Yeah. Everything I said, everything I ordered, felt like he had like 10 to 12 button.

And I was like, you're just lost on the machine. I ordered the two, the six boneless, six bone in wings with a side of fries. And it was like probably a real time three and a half minutes. Oh, at least. To five minutes. Which is a long time. It was a long time before I even said the next thing. And then, boy, did that confuse him.

And I got like messed up. And he was like looking in the thing forever. And then eventually went and got someone else. He was like, I can't find this for the life of me. And I felt bad for this because he was a sweetheart. He was nice. But I want to see what the screen looked like. That's what I want to know.

Because for all I know, maybe it is really complicated. It was actually hieroglyphics. He had to interpret like symbols. You need to understand ancient Egyptian to work at Buffalo Wildways. Something we all know. Obviously. Look, don't put it on your right. resume if you can't follow through.

You know, I know we all lie on our resume, but if you can't read hieroglyph, Buffalo doesn't play. Buffalo doesn't mess around. I just, I was so bothers. Like, I'm a patient person in the sense of like, I'm not going to let on to him that I'm like, come on. But we were also the only people in there. And then it got real crowded.

and it was like if I How much of this is user error and how much is Yeah and I felt like I would believe that maybe he wasn't like properly trained by Buffalo Wings too Yeah and also the line did start backing up The woman with the Pomeranian was sitting there 30 to 35 minutes

We timed it We were there alone for a while And then she was there as the only other person for a while Long time So to still be there when we left I felt bad for her. Well, and everyone that came in there, like, solid, like 10 minutes, it got super crowded. And we left and all those people were still waiting.

They were picking up orders. Yeah, there were 10 orders on the screen when we came in. So I understand the, like, comments of being like, I ordered food. I still had to wait 45 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Like from the Yelp reviews. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. The other obvious negative Garfield. Oh, my God. The only, it's a sports place. They push sports. And it was screaming. They had one TV and it was the loudest. Loudest.

And this is like old school Garfield where like the animation quality looked like the comic book. As old as old as Garfield can be. We realized Garfield's mouth doesn't move when he talks. Which is disturbing to witness. It's like, is he psychic? I didn't like it. Is he telepathically communicating with us? But why does the dog not talk?

And I know I'm getting into Garfield lore here. So it's a different. Let's do it. Let's talk Garfield. Why isn't the dog talking? I think John is hallucinating. I think John is not. Yeah.

I think he's imagining the things his cat says. I think his dog's just a big dumb dumb. And I think he's lonely. And I think he's sad. John. I know. So that is the Garfield lore that I subscribe to. Yeah.

I was also curious to why the Christmas special played twice. Yeah. Yeah. Also, there were Christmas decorations around. the top of like it was like wings, fries, drinks or whatever up top. Which it was just Halloween. It was Halloween two days ago. It is too soon for that.

Too soon. Some places start selling Christmas decorations before Halloween has come and gone. It is too soon. You need to respect Halloween. You need to respect Halloween. You need to respect Diades Maritas. You need to respect Veterans Day, I guess. You need to respect Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is whatever. Thanksgiving is like the transition holiday, I feel like. So I think you should, that's when you should start embracing Christmas. To me, Black Friday is Christmas is coming out party. Yes. That is what it should be. But now it's just become the middle of the Christmas season. Exactly.

And it's, I don't like it. Change.org needs a petition to legally ban. It's a war on Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. Another great. All right, I had so many passionate negative things. No napkins. No napkins is insane.

At a wing place. At a wing place. This one per person and one third floater, we had three napkins for two, three wet wipes for two people. Did you, because you asked for napkins. I asked for napkins and he said, oh, we don't have any. You're a wing, you are the ultimate finger.

And I know you're takeout focused. Yeah. And they could not have made it any less hospitable. But I have still, every takeout place I go to has gives me napkins. Yeah, to go even. Like, bring these home with you. Well, you might be eating them at a park or something. Like, you may not be going home.

I might be picnicking. With my Buffalo Wild Wings go. The no napkins was definitely the wild in Buffalo Wild Wing. Yes. It was insane. Crazy choice. But you asked, did they give you more little whitebees? or were they like, no, we have a policy.

They just said, we're out of napkins. That's why we said, we're out of napkins. That's why we gave you the wipes. Oh, okay. He didn't say it that sassy. But the subtext was there. He's going down in my rating now. Yeah.

And then I asked for like, can we get plates? And they just brought us extra to go boxes because, again, we're not meant to eat here. But there are tables. And I did call a few days in advance by like, Can I eat there? And they're like, yeah, that's totally fun. They should have the accommodations to eat. I get not maybe wanting to present it because they don't want to maybe encourage people to eat there.

Right. But they should have the flexibility that should you choose to stay. Yeah. It can still be an enjoyable experience. I thought that the loud TV was specifically designed to make you not want to stay. I completely disassociated during most of the loud team. You said you were like, I'm in Maui right now. I was on a beach in Maui.

I was sitting on my phone. I had a big hat on. I was reading a book. The waves were coming in. And I'm suffering. I have a lone tear traveling down my cheek. It was beautiful. Y'all should visit.

The weather's great this time of year. Garfield singing a Christmas song full volume in my ear. You had like three Hawaiian men just rubbing your shoulders. I absolutely did. Yeah. So many palm fronds. It was uncomfortable in there. You know like they, what is it?

Hostile architecture. I thought you were going to say hostile the movie. No, no. But have you heard of hostile architecture? No. It's like places that design park benches or stuff like that to be uncomfortable. Yes. To try and make it so unhoused people don't like linger.

It's called hostile architecture. I think it's inhumane. I think it's inconsistent. Like people, just let people sit places. Jesus, you know? Not the whole point? We're people. We're all people and everyone needs to sleep.

everyone needs to rest and you don't need to make it harder, I guess. And so this felt like the hostile architecture version of, you're not welcome here. This absolutely was. Garfield twice loudly. Yeah. Which whoever chose Garfield to, hats off to you because that was awful.

Yeah. And then now after all that passionate bitching, the onion rings didn't impress me. I don't feel that strongly about it. I definitely don't feel as strongly as I do about Garfield. But I was not impressed. I wouldn't get the onion rings again. And the water.

Yeah. And the yeah, they were underbattered. Yes. They were just disappointing. They're kind of mushy too. They were mushy. Yeah, they just. They're soggy.

I didn't want them. And they came out looking unwontable. Yeah. Oh, that's how I was described when I was born. My parents are like, give it back. Do we, we have the receipt. We have the receipt. Can we return it?

Yeah. Just two out of ten onion rings. I agree. Definitely two out of ton. I can't rant about them. They weren't like they weren't abominations but you know there were parts of it where we picked it up. It was like, oh, there's no batter on it. It's just I see onion. I would say they were the worst onion rings I've ever had.

Really? And I don't get a ton of onion rings. So it's not too crazy of a statement. But I just feel like they've always been well. That's the basicness of the onion ring. Yeah. Full batterization. And then yeah, a bunch of people backed up at the.

end. We had like, there were 10 orders on screen as we walked out. And it started feeling hectic. It started feeling like a mob would break out. Yeah. That people were getting mad. No one was getting their order. It said four orders were ready. Come to locker zero. They had like a pickup. Nothing. Nothing. No. It was like, see the cashier for your order. And the cashier's gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Absolutely gone. So. I also think there were two people working there. Yeah. And, uh, not very visible. No, they were hiding. And honestly, I would too. Yeah. They were crying. And Honestly, I would too. Yeah, they were crying.

That's all the not good for me. Do you have anything else in not good? This might be a hot take, literally. Oh. I did not like the blazed heat. The blaze and knockout. The blaze and knockout. Yeah.

So the spiciest wing. Okay, yeah, if you didn't like it. I did not like it just because, and again, I think we've already established. I'm a little weenie when it comes to the heat. So I will take that. However, I didn't like this. And we kind of talked about it at the place, but I felt like it was more of a challenge heat than it was edible. Like no one's getting this.

Yeah. Because they're just like, this is my preferred thing. Yeah, like even the taste before the heat started because it took a minute for the heat to kick in. Yeah. I was like, it doesn't taste. Like I don't. And the other two, I was like, oh, this tastes good. And I'm going to put a video of your bite.

My bite of being like, I'm not convinced that you actually bit into this thing. 100% bit into this thing. I know, but you took such a tiny little. I took, oh, because I knew it was going after the mango and the other one. I was like, oh, these two are middle range. Yeah. And they like physically assaulted me. Yeah.

So I know this one is going to absolutely destroy me. Yeah. But as a good podcast invitee. Thank you so much, by the way. I took the bite. It's so pleasant having you here. It's nice reconnecting with people that it's like I worked with you so long ago. It's so good to see you too.

Yeah. That's nice. But my. point on that one is that it wasn't enjoyable. It was purely for like a contest. It felt like if I was like a little teenage boy, I'd be like, man, you got to eat this. And that would, that would be me. The thing that I never bought into, speaking of like just dumb teenage boys, anytime someone goes, oh, smell this. Never.

Why? Never. I never got that either. Follow your gag with being like, oh, I want to experience that too. It tastes so bad. You need to try it. No, I don't. Why?

There was a kid who would like put like straw wrappers salt and pepper into chocolate milk and like mix it up and be like doing me to drink it. And I'm like, no, you psychopath. I don't want you to. Also, if you want to drink it. And they're doing life in prison now. 100% are. I don't know that to be fact, but I know that to be fact. That's the kid where it's just like, how many skins of animals do you have that you acquire?

At least 10. A few. Oh, 100%. Yeah. No, those were, you always know the kid. Yeah. And like some of it's their own. Like they've just been like, oh, yeah, I got really sunburn.

And I just kept that part of me because one day there will be two of me. I had a kid that would like cut his finger and then drink his blood. All right. That's everything that's not good. We need to now just talk about all the stuff in the middle, everything that is just there. For me, the spicy. spiciest wing. The blaze and knockout wings are just there.

And I'll tell you why. Yes, it exists as a challenge, but I thought it tastes fine. The heat kicks your face in, but the flavor really isn't bad. I also ate a whole wing. Okay. Showing off over there. And I've got to tell you, this appeals to my shallow masculine urge to just prove that I can with things. You know, prove that

My smart female urge was like, this is going to destroy you, Shannon, only take a small bite. I feel like men in a nutshell are like, I think it proves something to show you that I can put up with arbitrary discomfort. I'm a man. Yeah.

I eat spicy food. It's just like a feat. And I did it. And I will always have that urge. And I'm so impressed. Thank you. And literally, Anytime when I'm dining with somebody new, that hasn't seen me eat something spicy, I'm just like, I can do this.

Like, it. I mean, we all have talents, though, that we're like, I want to show this off. It's not a talent. No. I have IBD. If I don't know, Michael. I have inflammatory bowel disease. I was going to say, if I had like a magic trick, I would be like, come like, ooh, pick a card.

It's like Rubik's cubes. Yeah. Yeah. See? Yeah. You're just like being like, oh, this is a cool. thing I can do that I want to show people. Hey, you want to see me pay for something later?

That's what this was. Yeah. Want me to blow up your bathroom? Which you did. As soon as you came in, I heard through the door. It was crazy. Absolutely insane. I'd give that a couple minutes.

It's been fanning out for all the food. Just all the fabric. It's like, that was a full bottle. Oh, and I will say, it didn't. I did draw a mild tear out of me. Yours also drew a tear out of you. I've never eaten something so spicy. You told me you can cry and commit.

Can I just, can you recreate it real quick? No, not like. You have to like reach into a like emotionally uncomfortable place to cry or is it more of a physiological thing? No, it's more of a like, I mean, sometimes it depends on what it is. I don't want you to summon trauma or anything. I love to summon my own trauma and just bring it up casually. You did tell me that.

You were like, I bonds through trauma dumping. I do. I share too much. And then I'm like, oh, is that not normal for everyone? I'm sorry. That's my social currency. You like me now, right? Yeah.

We're closer because I told you something terrible. Yeah. Yeah, I do do that. A lot of people. Hey, he said, do too, yeah. Anyways, there was a Jason Kelsey standing. Or Kyle Kelsey. Jason Kelsey, who people tell me I look like.

I could see it. And I do see it. Especially with that poster specifically. We should have taken a picture of you in front of it. No, but I did take a video of it and I can put that next to my face in this video. But I would have liked to have taken the picture. Okay. If only it was one of those things where like you put your head through a hole and it's like, I am him.

I would be probably one of the more convincing people that could fill in for. Where does the picture end and where does Michael begin? Yeah. He just has like more beard and like squinty your eyes than me. Yeah. It is a squinty your eye. Yeah. and it just just way more like follicular density on his face.

I don't too much more beard. Really? I feel like his beard goes up higher. That's fair. Yeah. Like I think we both have solid beard. Yeah. I'm not.

Oh, you have a nice beard. I'm not here to like downplay that I'm like I'm gifted in the face. Amazing facial hair. All right. I want to pivot to maybe my favorite thing that was just there. The bag text. We got a to go bag because of course they're not giving us.

anything to eat at the table, right? They're like, hey, leave. The bag is the place. No, we'll be here. Respectable as a word choice on this bag is wild. There is a to-go bag at Buffalo Wild Wings Go. And it reads, think of this bag as an air freshener that makes your whole car smell respectable. No.

I will not join you on that journey. I don't agree with the sentiment. I felt shame. I have never gotten fast food in my life and left it and like leave my car and then think, oh, this smells good. Like people will be proud of me when they enter this car. Yeah. Yeah. Ever.

No. Ever. I will. Here's the effect of fast food and chain food has on me. And I say this as someone who loves the stuff. Obviously. What happens is my car smells like it. And then I leave my car.

And then the next time I go in my car, I'm still reminded of my recent choice. Why is the smell still there? Why is it lingering? It's such a lingering smell. Yeah. And it feels oily. It feels oily. It feels oily.

Yeah. My face like starts to swell. 100%. It's in my pores. Yeah. Um, so, uh, respectable is such a wild adjective to put on that bag. But you know what?

It amused me. It did. I mean, we kept the bag. Yeah. So in one sense, they did the right marketing. Right. Okay. I had the brown sugar heat boneless wings in just there.

Yeah, that's fair. I thought that the brown sugar was too understated. I could see that. Like, it was more the heat than the brown sugar. And I think I wanted maybe a little bit more of that sweetness. The heat was nice. I thought it was a really good. There wasn't brown sugar in the brown sugar.

Yeah. Like I kind of wanted like the physical texture of the granules of brown sugar. I agree. And because it didn't have that or at least not enough of it if it did. It was misleading. They brought it down a little. I went four and a half out of ten. The wing quality on this one specifically, I thought was underwhelming, but not awful.

Yeah. I thought that the bigger the tenders got, the higher quality meat it felt like. So this batch of boneless wings, I know you said that it said a stand. for you based on low expectations. For me, it didn't live up to slightly higher expectations. So I went four and a half out of ten on those. And I went five and a half out of ten on the blazon knockout. Do you have anything in the just there?

I don't think so. I think we hit all of my just theirs. Yeah. All right. That is all of the elements of the good things, the not good things. the just there things, all the food, the atmosphere, the service. I will add one element to atmosphere and it does fit in just there. This place was clean, but not impressive.

Yes. It was like it just felt like a place where they know that there are not people eating here often. And therefore, they are able to stay on top of the hygienic maintenance. Yeah, there's nothing. There's no extra little spark of welcome. There's no soul. Yeah, it is very soulless. It is there's no, there's no good atmosphere there.

You don't really want to, you want to go. You want to bust the logo. You want to, which by the way, I thought was going to be like a mobile app like Pokemon Go, but you're catching different wings like sauce flavors. That would be adorable if they have that. It's a waiting game because you're waiting for so long. Throwing a polka ball at like 26 different flavor bottles. Right.

Got to catch them all. Got to catch them all. I would play it. I would. And then I'd collect the shinies and I would have a complete collection. And then you get a free wing. And then you get one free wing. It's a terrible tradeoff.

The amount of the time suck for the reward, not worth it. Just like the real Pokemon Go. Hey. All right. That's everything. We need to put all of this together into a score. But Shannon, this is your first time on the fine dining podcast. You haven't been on this full adventure that I've been on.

I have my zero in 10 to find hometown buffet, the worst restaurant I've ever had. Chisbaca, the nicest restaurant I've ever dined at. We need to define the ends of your scale. So we're going to head into this week's Calibration Station. All right, Shannon, you're zero, you're ten. I want to hear about the worst dining experience you've ever had as a customer at a restaurant. and the best dining experience you've ever had as a customer at a restaurant. You can start with whichever one you'd like.

Okay. So I'm going to be a bad guest. And I'm going to say I can't remember the names of either restaurant. That's fine. If you can describe the experience where the chains are like one-offs. One-offs. Okay. Then, yeah, you don't need to remember.

One of them was in Bellevue, Washington. Okay. And it's not there anymore. And this is negative. Good riddance. Good riddance. And the food was a solid okay. It was a Mexican style, which I mean, immediate Mexican food in Washington State is not good.

Yeah. It's bad. Yeah. It's not. You're so far from Mexico. There's black olives and everything. There's no need for it. Yeah.

But it was a solid. Dolphin sound? Yeah. Yeah. But I was eating my chicken. And I had this, like, weird metallic flavor suddenly. Oh, no. And there was this, like, metal barb in my food.

What do you mean barb? Like a bokey. Like, like, from barbed wire? Yes. It wasn't, like, barbed wire, but it was, like, very much looking like barbed wire. Like, it was, like, metal ball about, like, that big that, like, somehow was disguised in my chicken. And it had all these little pokey prongs sticking out. I have no idea what it was used for.

Okay. I pulled it out and I was like, huh, that could have been really bad if I would have bitten down on that. Or swallowed it, even worse. Yeah. And the waitress gave us like so much attitude about it. Like you brought that in and planted it in your food. Well, the thing was she saw me pull it out of my mouth too. So it wasn't even like a, hey, this was like it was a very obvious.

Right. I did not. And I was like, hey, this was in my food. And she was like, okay. Okay, I didn't put it there And I wasn't even asking for anything Like to have the meal be free or anything It was just like, hey, there might be more of these

You might want to check your chicken Like you might want to go back there and check And she was like, yeah, I know what I'm doing, thanks And I was like, okay, I'm so sorry I exist That's crazy And I will say later the manager must have witnessed this experience And came over and was like, hey, the chicken is on us And so I did just get

Just the chicken. Okay. But we didn't really want to eat anything else after that experience. Understandable. That was probably the negative, just the craziness of finding something so gnarly in my food. But then the also weird waitress response. Yeah, I was like, did you like create this restaurant? It was like a very weird defense.

Took it personally. Yeah. Where I was like, it's not a fit. Like people mess up. That's okay. I know what I'm doing. Yeah, that was the energy. And it was, it was set.

I don't mess up. I was like, I don't think you made the, it's okay. This is your shortcoming. I think I know what I'm doing. So how dare you? Yeah. Take that out of your mouth. Like a mom asking for your gum.

They've been looking for that. Spit it out. Okay. And you're 10? My 10 is, okay. So it's this little tiny, well, it's not that small now, but it's this pizza place. Uh-huh. Everyone disagrees with me on it, but it's like my favorite pizza place.

It's in Belgium. It's in Antwerp. Okay. And it's like they have this like spready sauce that is so good that I would as a child would. What does spready sauce mean? I don't know what it is. It's like this cheesy, spready, yummy goodness. Okay.

And you just like spread it on bread. But I was obsessed with this thing. Obsessed. Like I'd clean a whole little pot of it. Yeah. And I went back as an adult. I'm like, there's no way this is going to live up to my standard.

Aren't those the best things when you go back to like. The best thing. To like confirm like, I was biased before. And then it's like, wait, I wasn't. I was not.

It was so good. I made everyone in there like, okay. I have a burger place in Austin, Texas. It's literally just like a fast food burger. Yeah. I grew up loving it.

I've been having it since like sixth grade. I would get it on the way to piano lessons because it was. just out the direction of my teacher. And it would be like my weekly, I'd go to dance hamburgers. And I'd be so excited. And every single time I go back to Austin to visit my parents, I'm like, it's just like, it can't be as good as I think it is. And every time it lives up to it. Oh, I love that.

You know, I've probably been there 100 to 150 times in my life. And it's probably lived up to the hype in my mind, 147 of those. Like, it is that consistent. I understand. So anyways. Oh, and this is just like, this isn't even a thing you order. Like this just comes up the table. Oh.

Yeah. So it's like a complimentary, like a table bread. And they're also like very nice. Like we'd bring our dog there and they'd give our dog like parma ham on a plate. Amazing. So love the whole vibe. Yeah. Love the energy.

Amazing. Well, somewhere between torture implements in your chicken and feeding your dog a with amazing spready sauce lies today's meal at Buffalo Wild Wings Go. We need to determine how it scores. We're going to put it to the Chili's Test. It's not to set scale. Is it the worst? It's the best.

Let's put it to the Chili's test. So when I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for the first time on the second episode of this podcast, I was like, Buffalo Wild Wings is a regular for me. It's in my rotation. I love Buffalo Wild Wings. I go often. And I went and something about just everything. There was like a weird drip overhead coming down.

It was freezing cold in there. The music was way too loud. There were so many little things about dining there where like kind of the, what's the term? The bloom is off the rose where it's just like, you know. Yeah. Yeah, it's all thorns. And it's all thorns. And they're in your mouth.

And you eat it. And you're like, oh, what's this? It's a metal barb. That was one time. It happens all the time with you now in my land. I understand. And so it kind of like lowered my opinion. And it bummed me out.

Yeah. And so Buffalo Wild Wings, the original, scored a 3.56 on the Chotchke of Mediocrity. I gave it a 4.61, but it's an average of two scores. And I thought it would be a plighton. place that was like comfortably in like the sixes. I thought it would be better. So for me to have an excuse to give them another shot. What's the big deal?

While technically not repeating a restaurant because I've been very like I'm doing each place once. The only exception I might make in the future is if a place has such a distinctly different breakfast menu from like I've done McDonald's and McDonald's breakfast. That is my only double dip. Yeah. That's different enough. But I've done Denny's dinner food. I haven't done Denny's breakfast food. So I might do that, you know.

This was my second chance. And I was excited. Because I love me. Nope. I loved me. Some Buffalo Wild Wings. Buffalo Wild Wings go by every metric is just not as good. Yeah.

As Buffalo Wild Wings, which is. is not as good as Chili's. So this fails the Chili's test from my perspective. I went 3.08, much lower. And, you know, there's so much that just that one employee could have done more competently to make this experience go up. If they're not blasting Garfield, the score here goes up, the food was honestly fairly comparable. to Buffalo Wildlings, but it just falls short in every other way.

They would have just given us like one more wet wipe too. Weck wipe. Weck wipe. One more weck wipe. Weck wipe. I'm pretty close with you on that one. I will say I did feel like knew what it was in the sense that it was like we don't want you to stay here.

We want you out. Take your food and leave. However, if that's their motto, they need to have their food ready at a reasonable whole time. Because you're forced to spend time in there. Because there was like. And they make it unhospitable. A lot of people when we left that have nowhere to really said. Yeah. Which is fine because it's a go place. But if it's not go, it didn't, they missed the go. They had all the mark on go. They had all the aspects of like you grab and go. By the way, it wasn't ready to grab. They nailed the wild part. They nailed the Garfield

screaming at you. I thought the food was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I will give it that. But the overall experience was a downer. It was a downer and it was kind of a bummer. It was sad. And the Garfield, the water, the napkins, it felt like it wouldn't take a lot of work to really up it in just easy ways. And yet it also felt like it wasn't that far from totally falling off a cliff. Yes. It felt like they were waiting to go out of business. Honestly, a very sad, easy one-line summation of this whole experience. Yeah, like they didn't want to put in any extra effort to spruce it up, but they also weren't dead yet. Yeah.

But honestly, the food was not bad. Like, I would, I would go if it was the only option at the strip mall where I seemed to be at. Right. But I would never seek it out. You're out of town. It's late. It's the only thing open nearby. You're hungry.

You just got off a flight. But I wouldn't. be like, oh, man, this is, I'd be like, okay, I'll do this. Yeah, yeah. Like, this isn't going to be bad. Yeah. And so for that reason, I've decided to give it a 2.84. 2.84. When you average your score with my score, Buffalo Wild Wings go. Oh, that was way more impactful than I meant for it to be. I felt the impact. Goes up on the Chotchke of Mediocrity at a 2.96. Oh. Oh. I feel like that's fair. Which is honestly pretty close to Buffalo Wild Wings.

It's 0.6 less than Buffalo Wild Wings. And it's kind of holding that wall where you have Subway, KFC, Gattie Town, medieval times, Jack in the Box. Shakey's, Papa John's, and Buffalo Wild Wings go all within a pretty narrow score range. There's just like a vertical line on the Chotchke right, hovering right around the three score. That feels like a good grouping. It does not feel like a good grouping, but it feels like a congruent grouping. Yes. But what this does mean is Buffalo Wild Wings Go is definitively not as good as chili.

Not as good as Chile. So that's it. Next week, I'm going to continue the bridge season. Bridge season. I'm bridging the gap of like, I'm revisiting. places I've been doing their history episodes. So those first four restaurants I did in the beginning of the podcast, which Buffalo Wild Wings was one of them.

I'm like, I want to cover these. So next week, I'm going to do another history episode on the old spaghetti factory, which was the third restaurant I ever reviewed on the podcast. Where does that rank? It's like right there. 6.26. It's fine. I'd give it.

You know, it's not crazy good, but it's like. You're not upset. And it's like, it's a nice atmosphere. It is. It's cozy. There's a train car in there. There is. So.

There's no Garfield. There's no Garfield. So yeah. So next week, Vivi Nguyen, my friend, my resident for the bridge season will be back. And we will be covering the old spaghetti factory eat deets. Shannon, thanks so much for being here. It was such a delight hanging out, eating with you, not being cursed, all those Thanks. Not that you know of. Not that I know of. Yay. If you could just look into that camera and tell people where they can find you on social media. Yeah. You can find me at S-S-B-E-N-G-S-T-O-N because Bankston is hard to spell and that's on Instagram and TikTok and all the things. Great. And you can follow the show on Instagram and TikTok at Fine Dining Podcast or Blue Sky, fine diningpodcast.B-Sky.com. You can go to my Discord and chat with me there and you can catch exclusive episodes of the podcast.

on my Patreon. That's patreon.com slash fine dining podcast, as well as the extended Yelp from Strangers segments and occasionally themed promotion tastings. Like when Wendy's is like, we're doing the Wednesday Adams thing. Did you do that? I didn't, but like that.

Stuff like that. I did do the How to Train Your Dragon Meal from Burger King. Oh, cute. And, yeah, and I posted an interview with the composer of the show's music. That's awesome. Because I do. way more with that than I most podcasts do, I guess.

And I'll do other stuff like that. So it's just a place where you can directly support the show because I try and keep it low on ads. And yeah, I appreciate any and all of you that are able to pitch in anything for my Patreon. Yeah. So that I can continue to go eat dumb food. Anyways, that is another one in the books. I will be back next week talking about the old spaghetti factory. Thanks so much for listening.

I'll see you next week. Have a fine day. to be the lock for what we use when we put things up on the charge game there's another one in the books yet there's another one in the books and we will see you next a week and next a week baby