Wings and Rings — Restaurant in Omaha

I'd been to BWR before and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd go again to see if the experience could be duplicated. I lined up a 2:30 p.m. late lunch with a friend on a Tuesday afternoon (read: a time when it should be pretty dead; it was) to get a read on just how attentive the staff was and to get what should theoretically be some pretty fresh food.

We were welcomed with a sweet smile from a young lady who opened the door for us and welcomed us to sit where we pleased. Right after we found our seats, Samantha (our waitress on this adventure) swooped right in and took our drink orders.

Now, here's where I'm going to guide you a bit on how to approach a first time trip to make sure you get the most out of it. The company has an e-mail list called Club '84. If you sign up for it on the main website, you get a coupon good for any appetizer except the 12-13 dollar sampler. Essentially, this saves you 7-8 bucks out of the gate.

However, that money gets you a large portion. We went with the garlic aioli fries (because yay garlic and yay fries!). Tackling this plate requires at least two people or one enormous appetite. I almost want to advise you to eat light if you're going to order a starter as by the time your entree gets to the table, your stomach's going to start to swell. No, this isn't to say that there's a long wait, but we'll get to that in a tick.

Along with the fries, we put in our order for wings. I highly recommend coming in on Tuesdays because they currently run a special for 89 cent traditional wings.

A brief aside: When dealing with foods that are presented to you with a wide array of flavors, there are always old standbys. For example, with a number of products, if you can't do "chocolate" properly, you're doing it wrong. With wings, I find this to be the case with teriyaki and garlic parmesan. Those happen to be my two favorites, so we went with orders of five and ten traditional wings of each flavor, respectively.

The neat thing about BWR is that you can really customize your wings. Not only can you dictate the sauce/rub, but you also can choose to ratchet up the heat of said wings in addition AND if you like them swimming in sauce, that can be accommodated for no additional fee.

So, here I am about ready to lop my hand off with a hacksaw because I can't stop eating these fries when Samantha promptly brings our wings. They are incredibly fresh and hot, drowning in sticky, savory goodness.

Alright, the moment of truth.

Garlic Parmesan: There is a definite crunch as the wings suck up quite a bit of the sauce and the cheese is nicely caked on. It's almost like a wet rub and wow, is it tasty. BWR knows how to garlic up their food, so if you're a fan, I have good news.

Teriyaki: Lip-smackingly good. Rich, silky smooth and sweet. Just the way you want that flavor to be. It hits you just right as you rip the meat off the bone.

I honestly wanted to try one of the desserts, but at this point, the old nausea reflex was kicking in and my stomach was crying uncle, so I had to tap out.

These wings aren't perfect as I've been to places in Omaha that provide far meatier ones, BUT (note the large "but") for 89 cents a pop, these are a steal and a half. To be honest, even at regular price (about $1.15), they're still pretty good.

Samantha was a treat. She nailed drink refills like a champ, made sure multiple tables were taken care of and did so with both enthusiasm and a smile on her face.

So, to summarize, if you get that Club '84 coupon and go on a Tuesday, you could easily feed 4 people for about $5.50 per person. The place stands on its own merit without specials as one that I'd budget for as well.

Call me the Terminator, because...

Not so great experience today. To celebrate national chicken wing day, I decided to place an order for my family from my favorite wing place for a pick up time after I got off work. I've ordered for pick up many many times before and I'm even a rewards member so I was excited for some wings for dinner. I havent had a bad experience really until today. I placed my order online almost 2 hours ahead of time. When I arrived 15 minutes past the time for curbside pick up (a work call ran long), I had to call for 5 minutes straight to get through to someone because the line was busy just to be informed my order wasn't even started yet. The person was hardly apologetic my order was so delayed so this already had me started the bad experience. The young man then told my order would be brought out as soon as it was ready so I waited in my truck. 20 minutes later and after about 15 repeat phone calls because the line was busy again, I get ahold of someone as my order still had not brought out to me. I talked to a young lady who told me my order still was not ready. At this point, I'm very upset as now it's been 30 minutes past the pick up time and it was still not ready. I asked to speak with a manager as I felt that young girl I spoke to did not care much about how long I'd been waiting. She even laughed while on the phone like it wasn't a big deal I was waiting that long because they were busy. I spoke with a manager name Mel and she apologized to me then put me on hold to see where my order was at. After holding for a few minutes, she came back and told me my order would be out ASAP. She also said she would give me coupons for some free wings for next time for my inconvenience. I told her thank you but was not hopeful my order would be out soon since I'd been told that twice before. After a few more mins and waiting a total of 45 minutes past the pick up time, my order finally arrived. I am very disappointed in the service I received tonight. I understood it may be a busy day as they were running a wing special for national chicken wing day which is why I placed my order so far ahead of time. When I spoke to the girl who brought out my order, she apologized for my wait but blamed corporate for the website not giving accurate timeframes or info which is bs. She said they had an hour wait time even though that shouldn't have been applicable to my order as I placed it 2 hours ahead and still waited almost an hour past the time it was supposed to be ready. And to make it worse, I checked my order before leaving just to find my fries were not even warm, the wings barely had any sauce on them and weren't warm either (I ordered 20 of them). And on top of that, one the blue cheese containers was spilled in the bag. Just a total bad experience and ruined my night! So disappointing!

Online orders, curbside, and pick up orders should be the focus of businesses due to the covid19 pandemic as most people will continue to order online for pick up for the health and safety of themselves, their families, and employees. They should want to improve the experience and service. I hope they do and maybe I will give them...

On December 21st, 2024, I had the bright idea to order online from one of my favorite (not anymore) wing stops here in Omaha, Buffalo Wings and Rings. I had ordered a 15-piece traditional wing with teriyaki sauce and an order of fries. Little did I know what absolute tomfoolery would ensue.

Upon receiving my wings, I noticed my wings were fried (as they should be, right?)... but way too hard. I’m talking fried down to the bone. I’ve waitressed at other wing establishments and I understand! Some people LOVE an extra, extra, EXTRA crispy wing, but this was just not my preference. So, like a respectful patron, I called the business, told them my issue, and requested a refund.

The first time I called, I spoke to a young lady who told me that the manager would be with me shortly, as the restaurant was busy. I said okay... I then proceeded to be on hold for 15 minutes, to the point that the phone disconnected. I then tried to call the restaurant back… 8 more times. When the young lady answered again, I was obviously upset, asking why it was taking so long to speak to someone about a refund. The young lady told me, and I quote, “You don’t have to be so rude about it.” Trying not to blackout in rage, I asked for her name and to speak to the manager. The manager finally answered and told me they would refund my food items, but they could not refund me the delivery fees. Okay.

A few days went by, and we were after Christmas at this point. No refund! How ironic! So, I called back. “Well, it’s the holidays, so it might be getting held up at your bank,” they said. Fair enough, I understand that. I asked if they could check to make sure the refund was processed correctly. “Oh, I don’t know how to do that; the manager will have to tell you,” they said. Weird that you can check the status of an order at a place you work at, but okay, fine. The manager answered again and assured me the refund was processed minus the delivery fees. They said it would take 5-7 business days to process and to call back after that time period had passed.

The new year had rung in, and I still had yet to receive any refund!!!!!!!! So I called AGAIN. At this point, I had attempted to dispute the charge with my bank, as clearly, this whole situation was starting to get out of hand. My money was never returned, and every time I called BW&R, I was met with incompetent individuals who could not issue me a receipt. I even spoke with an assistant manager who could only respond with, “Uhhhh, what was your order?” “Oh, umm... I don’t know how to do that.” “The owner will have to give you proof of the refund.”

Why... on God's green earth, should an owner EVER have to be the only person able to print any sort of receipt? Complete. Hogwash.

At this point, I’m getting nowhere. I tried disputing with my bank, but they would not issue a refund without proof of a refund. I tried explaining to them that the business was being more than difficult and damn near refusing me any sort of evidence that they had done anything. But rules are rules, they said: "You can try working it out with the merchant...