Buffalo Wild Wings in Olympia opened its doors May 31. I decided to take the family for a visit and see what the hype is all about.
The parking lot was full as heck as I squeezed my Subaru wagon into a "compact" parking spot - of which there were about 40, all with SUVs and trucks jammed in at interesting angles.
No doubt the place was popping. Bright colors, loud music and around 30 big screen TVs filled the main floor, which was arranged with a few booths and lots of four-top tables. The scene reminded me of a cafeteria - a far cry from the Denny's that the location was famous for before - where many Olympia residents played late night pool, crammed in homework sessions or went for a breakfast slam with the parents.
Anyway, as we were seated, the server clunked down a blue computer looking thingy - it vaguely resembled an old school Speak and Spell. She took our drink orders and then hurried off.
What was this blue machine? I honestly thought we were required to type in our own order, and the machine would send a message to the kitchen where an army of robots would dip our wings and dish out our appetizers. I looked around to other tables for clues. Three surrounding tables had the strange blue machine - all of them not in use. It encouraged my 7-year-old to investigate. He started punching random letters and numbers, prompting a message about needing a password.
About this time the pleasant, but busy server returned to take our order - oblivious to our concern over the mysterious machine. I vowed I'd ask her when she brought back our appetizer - the tablegating appetizer - consisting of fried pita chips with artichoke dip, Buffalo wings, jalapeño poppers and soft pretzels with nacho dip.
Buffalo Wild Wings' menu was basically glorified bar food, with a few choices that looked a little healthy - including some sandwich wraps. I ordered the grilled chicken ranch wrap. The kids each ordered an easy choice of mac 'n' cheese with a drink and side - a decent deal for five bucks. We didn't try the burgers.
Aha! The appetizer arrived and I hastily blurt out my question. "What the heck is this blue machine?"
The waitress explained that if you put in a random password and your email that you can play games along with other tables on one of the many surrounding TV screens. Your options are poker or trivia. "Oh and you won't get a bunch of junk emails until you log in a second time," she says.
Well, OK then.
We tried a password. It didn't work. We tried three more random passwords before it lets us log on and my kids could try their hand at poker.
Back to the food - the appetizer plate was at the most - meh. The artichoke dip was oily, the jalapeño poppers had cheddar - not my preferred cream cheese - and the pretzels were not even touched.
But the wings were good! We ordered the Jammin Jalepeno sauce, one of about 20 sauces ranging in heat and flavor that you choose with every hot wing order. You may also choose bone-in or boneless.
Wishing I had more wings, my wrap arrived. I did not take a picture of it because it was so lame looking. And although my waitress told me I had a choice of sides, I paid an extra .99 for carrots and celery and an extra .60 for ranch. The flavor of the wrap - while fresh tasting due to too much lettuce - was nothing to write home about. Was there chicken in there somewhere?
To sum it up, the only thing this place has going for it is atmosphere, wings and a full bar. If you like sports, loud music and a challenge to see if you can eat a dozen wings in less than six minutes - top score right now is 1:42 - then this place is for you.
Oh, and you can take a home a bright yellow crown that says "Sauce Boss" or "Wingman." Just remember to leave the blue machine for the next person to be puzzled over.
BUFFALO WILD WINGS, 11-2 a.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday, 1614 Black Lake Blvd., Olympia, 360.943.0718
