Buffalo Wings & Rings - Bahrain — Restaurant in Bahrain Island

(Used to be great, now a serious drop in standards)

As a long-time regular customer of Buffalo Wings and Rings, I was truly disappointed by my most recent visit — not only because of the poor food quality, but because of how the issue was handled by the staff and management.

I brought friends who were trying the restaurant for the first time, after I had personally vouched for it as having the best wings in Bahrain and Saudi. We ordered 28 traditional chicken wings and were shocked by how bad they were — small, dry, overly crusty, mostly bone, and barely any meat. This was nothing like what I’ve experienced here before.

We raised the issue with the waitress, who simply said “I don’t know, I just serve.” That response reflects a clear lack of training and empowerment to handle customer complaints properly. When we said we were leaving and wouldn’t be coming back, she asked if we wanted to speak to the manager.

The manager did come and admitted that the U.S. wings shipment had been delayed, and they were using local chicken instead. This was confirmation the restaurant knew the quality wasn't the same, yet chose to serve it anyway — at full price. That’s a drop in quality and transparency.

He asked if we wanted the wings to be complimentary. I felt uncomfortable asking for that directly and responded: “we’re leaving to have dinner somewhere else”. He laughed, apologized, and vaguely said, “We’ll make it up to you next time.” But no contact info was taken, no clear follow-up or offer was made. Instead, he quietly applied a small discount of around 5 BD — which felt meaningless given the experience. He didn’t return to discuss anything further. He just ran from confrontation rather than managing the issue professionally. In the end, we paid 47 BD for a meal none of us enjoyed.

A responsible manager should:

Proactively waive the bill or at least comp the affected item without making the customer feel awkward Take guest contact details and offer a sincere, actionable follow-up (e.g., a voucher or complimentary visit) Empower and train staff to handle complaints with care Be transparent about any significant product changes before serving

Mistakes can happen, and supply issues are understandable. But how a restaurant responds is what defines its standards — and this experience showed me that the quality, integrity, and customer care here have seriously declined. It makes it difficult for me to recommend or return to this place again.

• Follow-Up Review * I would like to clarify my earlier review in light of the owner’s response.

First, yes — we did finish the wings. But that does not mean they were good. We ate them because we were hungry, and because we wanted to give the food a fair chance. The issue was never about being “refunded for finished food.” It was about the quality being far below the usual standard and the way the feedback was handled.

Second, I did not “raise a complaint” in the dramatic way the reply suggests. I gave feedback, calmly and directly, in the hope it would be taken seriously. Instead, both at the restaurant and now in the written reply, my experience has been dismissed rather than acknowledged with care. That’s the real frustration.

Third, the manager & owner admitted the wings were not the same as usual because of a supply issue. If the restaurant knowingly served a lower-quality product, it would have been more respectful to handle feedback with sincerity instead of defensiveness and show appreciation to long-time customers who are noticing the decline.

This is not about wanting free food. It is about wanting honesty, consistency, and genuine customer care. Unfortunately, my experience — both in person and in the reply I received — shows a lack of those values.

I used to highly recommend this place. But unless the management rethinks how they treat loyal customers, I can no...

Felt highly discriminated. I think you need to have a very fair skin to feel special at this place; especially if you want to choose a table.

Had heard about the place and decided to visit on a Friday (21.10.2022) for dinner and a few drinks. I went there with my wife and a friend (All Indians). We walked in and saw that the window side seats of a long table was available. It had 2 guys sitting on the other end so even if the 3 of us sat near the window, there would be around 4 seats empty in the middle. We decided to sit there and the waitress immediately told us that since there are people there, we can't sit there. I decided to walk across and ask the guys if they had an issue and was told by the waitress that the entire table had people in it earlier so they could possibly come back.

Anyway, we were told where to sit exactly as per their liking (which was very close to the entrance/exit). Probably they wanted us to leave quickly as well. It was a very uncomfortable seat because people (usually a bit tipsy) exiting the restaurant keep bumping into you. By this time, we just wanted to leave because our first impressions were at the lowest possible.

After our drinks had come, we noticed 10 minutes later that the 2 guys had left and the staff started cleaning the window side table. As soon as they were done cleaning, we decided to shift to the window side of the table. While we were seated there, the staff came to our table again and split the table to our left (now 4 seater). So now our side has got 6 seats and we were occupying 3 of them. Our waitress comes to me again and tells me, 'I'm very sorry sir but would you mind shifting to the table they just split (4 seater)' because they COULD have 6 customers walking in and the table we are occupying would be convenient for them.

At this moment, me and my friend had lost our cool and started pointing to other similar tables where there were fairer skinned individuals occupying tables the same way we were and none of the waitresses seems to be having an issue with them.

Our waitress responds that they have already spent 50BD which is why they are sitting there (could it sound more discriminatory?). I looked at the waitress and asked her, 'How do you know if we won't end up spending 50 or 100 or 200BD?'. No response for that but the next response was, 'Her manager will blame her for the empty seats'. So now it was crystal clear - this is pure discrimination/racism. We didn't bother calling the manager because we were pretty sure they follow a common code.

Now that we understood there is no cure for the disease they were suffering, we moved to the 4 seater table (our 3rd move). As soon as we moved, they immediately kept a Reserved sign on the table. At this stage, half the restaurant was empty. We were there for another 30 minutes more and the restaurant was still half empty and not a fly came and sat at the reserved table. It was already 10ish. At this point I was thinking probably they didn't want people walking outside seeing 3 Indians sitting in their restaurant? Maybe we weren't considered crowd pulling material?

I guess the best feeling we had was when we walked out of Buffalo Wings & Rings.

We then proceeded to another restaurant close to this one where we were given the freedom to sit WHERE EVER we wanted, wasn't picked on, yummy food, great staff and great ambience. Guess what, we actually spent over 50BD there.

Never recommending Buffalo Wings & Rings and never visiting ever again. Hope you guys...

I arrived here on June 25th, 2024, at 12:00 PM, craving wings and looking forward to the happy hour menu available on Tuesdays. My significant other and I were the first customers inside. This was our first visit, so we had high hopes based on previous experiences in Bahrain.

Upon entering, the host was on the phone and merely pointed to the first-floor area without saying a word when we greeted her. We politely asked for a breakdown of the place since it was our first time. She abruptly told us to go to the second floor to order wings and utilize the happy hour special, she seemed quite busy despite the absence of other customers. We proceeded upstairs, hopeful for a pleasant experience despite the host's brief dismissal.

The second floor had a beautiful atmosphere, and we were excited to enjoy our time there. We chose a seat with a nice view next to some plants in the far back corner, opposite the bar. The food was good, delivered quickly, and the drinks were great. Everything seemed to be going well until the second set of guests arrived and sat right next to us in the otherwise empty restaurant/bar.

While my fiancée and I were laughing and enjoying ourselves, the other guests made faces of discomfort and disgust at each other, seemingly due to our fun conversation and laughter. Then, all three of them started smoking cigarettes simultaneously, blowing smoke all over our table. We were immediately unable to breathe or taste our food. The smoke burned our eyes, filled our lungs, and ruined our meal. Forced to smell and taste secondhand smoke, we had to get up, grab our plates and cups moving back and forth, coughing, and move to the middle of the room because the area near the great view was now enveloped in a smoke cloud. The smell clung to our clothes and hair, and my fiancée was extremely upset as the group of smokers laughed and didn’t apologize.

We learned from the waitress that the only non-smoking area is on the first floor, which opens for service at 8 PM (20:00). Despite our complaints, all the waitress could do was deduct 1 BD from our 25 BD check for our discomfort. We waited 45 minutes to an hour for this adjustment, feeling like the staff was trying to wait us out to avoid addressing our concerns. Our enjoyable visit turned sour, and we couldn't laugh or smile for the rest of our time there. My fiancée was devastated, and we cut our visit short.

This establishment desperately needs a separate dining and smoking area until the non-smoking section opens. As a place known for wings, it should accommodate non-smokers who want to enjoy their meal without being subjected to a cloud of cigarette smoke. The lack of ventilation and consideration for non-smokers is unacceptable. This experience has left a lasting negative impression on both me and my fiancée, overshadowing any positive aspects...