Buffalo Wild Wings — Restaurant in Torrance

I've been going here for years, I think since around the time they opened, to watch my college team play. They can be very busy, but in general have always been accommodating.

In recent months they've made several changes, not for the better. Previously, the bartenders had discretion on dress code. They had to wear a jersey or some sort of sports-related gear, I believe. Recently, a change was made and they are now required to wear exactly the same thing. There's no individuality, no topics od discussion, no ability to show an aspect of one's personality.

Yesterday was the final straw for me, however. I went in to see my game, a few minutes early to be sure i had a seat in front of a tv showing it. I was greeted by both the bartender and the manager who checked the schedule, moved the game channel to the tv in front of me without even asking what team I was the to see (in other words, they recognized me and knew me well enough to know already).

The game before mine on that channel wasn't over, so I waited. And waited. It was running so long, ESPN flashed up an alternate channel where it could be seen in the meantime. So I went to the manager and asked if he could access that channel. The exchange left me fuming:

First, I very politely asked if he could get the channel. He responded that the game would be over soon and my game would be on next. (I was WELL-AWARE of this, and it was not my question).

So I politely told him I knew this, and repeated my question. Once again, he told me my game would be on "in a few minutes". It wasn't particularly loud in there. Not more so than normal, and we were both able to speak at a normal volume.

A third time I tried, saying something to the effect of "I'm simply asking if you can get the channel. " He finally said, yes, but then proceeded to tell me... again... to just wait.

At this point, my game had tipped off 12 minutes before. The game he was telling me to wait over still wasn't done, there was time on the clock AND a protest in progress. It wasn't ending soon. I told him I was well-aware the game was coming on after but in the meantime they were already playing, i was missing it, and it was on a channel he was able to show.

His response? It's only 10 minutes into your game. It's not a big deal.

Maybe to him it's not. To me it is. Not merely the game, but that this is my one time a week that I get out and away from obligations. To relax, watch my game, have a leisurely bite, chill.

I sat there for 5 more minutes. The other game still wasn't over. I left. Listened to the game in my car and went to a smaller sports bar across town.

I can handle uniform changes. But being disrespected, treated as if I'm an idiot, insulted, no thank you. I have a new place to watch games, even if it is twice as far...

We LOVE BWW. What a dream it was to find out there was one of our old favorites was down the street. Honestly, Torrance doesn't have the best service anyhow, but this place sets the bar for terrible. I have had multiple soap operas such as:

Despite a 1/4 full restaurant a year ago, not being willing to change just a single one of their TVs to the football game that was showing the defending NFL champions play. I think it was a Patriots-Colts regular season game and instead they were showing games like Cincy and Cleveland. My family, and two other groups in Patriots geared walked out. I got in to it with the manager (I believe) on this and after talking with him, the rest of the service made perfect sense given him being the leader.

Another time MNF interfered with some UFC thing. I get catering to demand (though I don't believe MNF would lose, but maybe). You couldn't get in to watch the game without paying the UFC cover and being ostracized over in a corner on one TV. Seriously?

How about a hockey game? Wishful thinking when it comes to this location. Okay, seriously, if you really work with them and it is empty, you can usually help someone to find a hockey game to put it on a screen but it takes some customer effort.

After finally writing this place off, we decided to "beat the system" by just doing take-out instead. UNTIL, we were told that orders over $30 (if I recall) had to be made in person. Of course, it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that if you are getting stood up on take-outs, which I assume is the case here, you could easily implement a charge now over the phone policy to make sure you don't lose your product due to a no-show. Of course, coming in and placing a take-out order means you get the whole wait forever experience. FOILED.

I have had a number of REALLY good servers at this location though and frankly, I always felt bad for them. It looks like it is a really hard place to do a great customer service job. Whenever we go out of town, we usually duck in to the local, non-Torrance, BWW and the experience is 400 times better.

I wish corporate would care enough to come in and turn this place around. It's such a great and convenient location. I go back periodically hoping they have changed, but no...

Why would this place be a 1 star you ask? Can it be that bad?

Yes, it is that bad.

The area outside smells like a sewer leak first off. Probably not their fault. Who knows. But I'm sure if they cared enough they would address it with the property managers.

The wait is intentional. Even though they have empty tables and booths. They intentionally do not fill them and force every one to wait at least 20 min before seating. This is to accommodate the waiter/ress.

When we did sit our waiter was very nice. He deserved a 5 star hands down. But the wait and smell and overall dirty everything puts you in a bad place.

We order simple things. Medium traditional wings. Snack traditional wings and small traditional wings. A poe boy. Three kids meal with chicken tenders crispy. Mozzarella sticks and fried pickles. 1 hour later. We get the food. We asked a few times what was taking so long. Two groups that sat at the same time as us ate and paid and left before we got anything. Not even the appetizers showed up. Food did arrive hot and fresh. So idk what to say about the delay.

The carpet is super dirty. And the seats and tables were sticky. Asked for a rewipe of the table.

The worst of all of this is the bathroom in the end. You go thinking you want to wash your hands and clean up. Wrong. Your better off with a hose out back. The sinks both are broken out of place entirely. Just flopping around and busted. The mold and mildew all over the place. A very strong smell of urine so the ventilation is probably broken. Tagging all over the place etched into the toilets. That's how bad it is. Poop on the floor besides the toilet because the toilets are so bad that people would rather poop on the floor then touch the seats. Yes the women's side was just as bad with also poop on the seats as well. We all addressed this with the manager. He said they are working on it. Hahaha. Yeah maybe on a cold day in hell you will address it.

Corporate if you are reading this. Either close this place down and renovate or be ready to deal with the Health Department soon.

Stay away my friends. Far,...