Buffalo Wild Wings — Restaurant in Columbus

I ate a delicious meal earlier today [9-2-2022] at the Buffalo Wild Wings at 968 W. Fifth Ave. [in the "Fifth by Northwest" neighborhood of Columbus].

I have passed that location many times [most often while riding on a #5 COTA bus] but had never before eaten there.

I want to comment before I continue with what otherwise will be a positive review that that location is not particularly friendly to pedestrians [at least those pedestrians who are walking on W. Fifth Ave. and are expecting to enter the building via what definitely looks like the main entrance.

I had taken the #3 COTA bus to the intersection of Northwest Blvd. and W. Fifth Ave. and then had walked half a mile east to that location.

While walking across the parking lot, towards the building, from the north side of W. Fifth Ave., I did not see an obvious entrance. All that I had been able to see had been an outdoor patio surrounded by a fence that initially did not appear to have a gate.

Eventually, I did find a gate in the fence but had to reach over that gate to push a "crash bar" on the back side of the gate in order to be able to open that gate. After I had crossed the patio, the door directly into the restaurant opened normally; however, it at first had appeared that there had been no one inside. A staff member assured me that they were indeed open; I sat down at my chosen table and prepared to order.

My order had been six chicken tenders with Spicy Garlic sauce and French Fries; both of these food items had been particularly delicious. I had found that choice on the Buffalo Wild Wings website and had made my choice several hours before my arrival.

This location of Buffalo Wild Wings is vastly larger than I would have expected given the width of the "storefront" that faces W. Fifth Ave. I had imagined that there would be a small dining room capable of seating 40-50 people when in fact there are two large dining rooms capable of seating several hundred people.

I learned, while leaving and preparing to walk to my COTA bus home, that the "crash bar" in the gate -- that had been the only way that I had been able to figure out how to enter that restaurant -- had previously been attached to an alarm that, several years ago, would have sounded had I attempted to enter the building via the patio.

Not everyone who visits a restaurant drives a car and needs or wants to park a car behind that building and then enter that restaurant by what pedestrians like me would call a "rear entrance" that is not at all visible...

Let me start by saying as someone who worked in food service for over ten years, I don't usually leave negative reviews.

Went to this location with my husband for a fight night. I knew they would be busy, as I used to work at BWs location. They were mostly full, but many of the tables had eaten and people seemed to just be sitting around waiting for the fight. We didn't have to wait for a booth, but were forced to snag a dirty one (there was a sign asking people to seat themselves wherever). We waited a while before a server came over, but when she did, she didn't greet us or offer to clean the table she just instead abruptly asked for a drink order and informed us that their kitchen closes at 9:30, they close at 11:00. I asked a follow-up question, "Just for future reference when does the kitchen close?" Apparently 9:30. This server then turned on her heels and stomped away to the kitchen before we could even offer up our drink orders.

Confused and after a few minutes with no return, I approached another server and explained we did want to order drinks. This other server says she'll be right over. More time passes and eventually the same initial server sulks over. No apology for the attitude or misunderstanding or whatever, but she takes our order: two waters, a soda, and a drink from the bar. Five or more minutes go by and she returns with my soda and water, but no water for my husband. She never comes back with the drink for my husband. And because I have worked at one of these places, I'm watching. Maybe the bartender is behind, maybe she is cashing out a bunch of people. Nope. She just never comes back, multiple times seemingly just walking around.

At this point my husband, who has also spent years in food service, is getting pretty irritated. We leave four dollars in cash on the table to cover the soda and a tip. I don't want anyone to think we dashed, so I let our server know that the cash is on the table and to cancel our drink order (at that point she'd been standing around quite a bit and there was no sign of his beer even sitting up at the bar). Again, no apology, just an attitude, "It's not my fault!" I just looked at her and left.

I know this is a long review, but this was awful. Leaving two stars because I have been there in the past and while I would never call the service fast, at least their attitudes weren't...

Walked in at 6pm on a Sunday. There were 6 other tables and 2 people at the bar. Sat at our table until 6:40 and still no food. Walked around the store but couldn't find any employees for another 5 minutes. Finally found another server and asked if they could let our server know to just have the food boxed up because we had to be somewhere. That was taking too long so I requested my daughter's piece of cake boxed up and I would have too take her to work while my wife stayed behind, so just bring the bill and no need to box the food up and I'll return to eat. Just the cake so we could quickly go. The bill was incorrect. We got the Pick 6 and chose a strawberry lemonade as one of the drinks, which is a $1 upcharge. The drink was on the receipt for $4.49. I brought it to the server's attention and was told that it was "cheaper to ring it up that way", but $4.49 is more than $1. I left to take my kid to work and she wasn't provided a fork, so she couldn't even taste her cake. I get back and my wife is eating boneless wings although she ordered traditional. She told me that they took the $5 upcharge off, but that's not adequate. She ordered what she ordered because that's what she wanted to eat. Also, my food was cold and barely sauced. This was a horrible experience. I asked the server to take off the $4.49 and let me talk to the manager, but the manager was cooking. The server gave me her own money and I really hope the manager reimbursed her. This was NOT my server's fault. Corporations need to stop chasing more profit every P&L and short-staffing and providing garbage service to their customers. I didn't pay $60 to have a terrible experience, eat cold food, and get ripped off. BW3 has fallen completely off and I doubt I'll ever eat there again and let everybody I know to...