That's sad. I love BW3, too.

Really sad, when something goes wrong once and you NEVER go back again.

I can understand that if something incredibly bad went wrong, like food undercooked or something was in the food.

But each person to their own.

I've never heard of Buffalo Wild Wings, but that does seem very stupid. I work in a restaurant and I can understand if the "naked tenders" didn't exist on the menu that they wouldn't substitute it, but it seems so stupid that the cook wouldn't substitute two of the virtually same items...

Odd, seeing that I was at one in Florida just last week and substituted their fries for onion rings...

Not surprising. The local BWW just closed after a couple years, during which the common complaint from my fellow diners was poor service.

@full.tang.halo: I have done that many times as well, at a few different BW3 in Illinois. This must be a store/shift policy, and is not representative of BW3 at large.

Stupid, but as others note not a huge surprise. Considering the ribs are probably glazed in carbalicious BBQ sauce you may be better off overall.

It seems unlikely this is offical corporate policy and more likely pissy server/cook refusal to be helpful.

B dubs has excellent food, but their service really does suck. Waiter/tresses never check back in at your table and don't seem to make any conversation.

I once was waited on to what I believed to be a mute. I think he said like 4 words to us the entire hour my group was there.

I'm going to be in Indy in August, maybe I'll try this myself to see if they have changed their tune by then...

Kudos on the photo! 5 Easy Pieces is great. Best customer dissatisfaction scene ever!

Well, one of two things had to have happened...

1) The cook may just have been in a bad mood and wanted to screw over as many people as possible and you just happened to end up on the wrong end of his misguided rage

2) Or they may have a policy against it (Even if it is a ridiculously stupid policy) and he didn't want to end up in trouble over some guy's carbs

Regardless, its pretty lame he couldn't get some naked tenders...

I just wanted to mention that BWW isn't related to, or owned by, any entity in Buffalo. They're a corporate franchise out of Columbus, Ohio, and I would invite anyone to come to Buffalo for real wings and great service. It's too bad that you can't trademark a city, because they are doing a disservice to our name.

@exkon: He did say the chicken didn't even taste good so there's that too.

I'm probably too biased to post a worthwhile comment here. My wife has never, ever, once in the 5 years I've known her, ordered something as presented on the menu. Of course, this greatly increases the chance of her order having a mistake (or a big fat booger in it for that matter).

yeah that is pretty stupid... from the corporate profile on their site:

"Our award-winning food and inviting atmosphere, combined with our guests' ability to customize their dining experience, drives guest visits and loyalty."

@mmcnary: There's a lot more than one BW3 in Indy.

That's really, really bad, especially from a chain that specializes in chicken. I'll definitely avoid the place.

@winnabago: Trust me when I say that noone confuses bdubs w/ buffalo. At last anyone sane.

Least* dammit

This happens in a lot of industries a lot of times, and I think here's why:

Most restaurants have switched over to the automatic order entry systems, they're all computerized. The waitress may not have known how to program in a substitution, or there may not even be a function in there for it. This leads the wait staff to develop a sort of laissez-faire attitude for going beyond what's on the screen, or for them to believe that the hard set rule is that because it's not programmed in there, they're not allowed to do it.

Also, it may be that they have very tight regulations on food wastage and inventory, and if they sub in naked wings for the breaded ones, there'd be one less set of naked wings and one more set of breaded ones. Doesn't sound like much, but multiply that over 20 customers a day and it messes up inventory pretty bad, which also may be controlled by computer. These days most places get their food from the same few suppliers and often they come prepackaged and maybe even serving-wrapped depending on the company. It sucks but it's a slippery slope to start down, so they might just make a hard line and say "no" all the time.

I know these are all "not the customer's problem" type issues, and they're weak anyway, but that's probably what's going on here.

This is what happens when a bunch of hippies from Kent State U want to get into the restaurant biz. Friggin hippies.

BW3 is like hooters without the boobies - crap. I've been sick from their food before AND had a separate annoying but not horrible 'no nuts' on a salad experience there (see, I gave them TWO chances.)

Anyone impressed by their array of sauces need to reexamine their standards, and perhaps raise the bar a smidge.

@testsicles:

I hate to say this, but I would be scared going to restaurants with her.

Sad to say, I've got alot of friends who work in restaurants, hearing some of their stories and pet peeves always scares me when I eat out, and yes, they do "stuff" with the food of customers they get annoyed with.

@DeeJayQueue: Clearly, the chef is also a robot, unable to accept substitution orders it isn't programmed for.

I, for one, welcome our robotic chef overlords.

Mmmm. BW3.

Better for one's health not to eat there: everything on the menu is fried or contains alcohol.

That's pretty silly that they couldn't substitute the unbreaded tenders for breaded tenders. It was probably just a combination of an unexperienced (and unhelpful) waitress and a pissy cook.

On that note, tonight is wing night! Horray for $0.40 wings! (though they used to be $0.35, but that's a complaint for another day)

Dan's complaint is not surprising in the least. That place is horrible, from my experience. They consistently have unenthusiastic and inattentive waitstaff serving low-quality, lukewarm food. i have had the same poor service whether the place was packed on a football Sunday or practically empty on a lazy sports-less afternoon. They have been BANNED!! since last summer in my book.
BTW, what's BW3?

@nffcnnr: BW3 is what they used to call themselves (Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck). In areas where they've been around for a while, it's still pretty common to hear them called that.

What is "weck?"

I once wecked my Volkswagen Wabbit. It was a weally big mess.

Weck is short for Kummelweck (or kimmelweck). It's a type of bread popular in the Buffalo region. I'm guessing it used to play a more prominent role in their menu.

@foghat81:

Thank you vewwy much!

@mindshadow: Wing night in America! Woo hoo!

I got pretty bummed out when they replaced the local BW3 here in Austin w/ a locally owned wing place in order to "Keep Austin Weird" (a mentality here that anything local is better than everything chain). In the switch, they got rid of the spicy garlic wing sauce which devastated me (although, I'm told the real travesty was when BW3 themselves discontinued their lemon pepper wings in some markets).

Of note, our BW3 had an 'order at the counter' set-up so the only time you had to deal with the waitstaff was if you were too lazy to go to the bar for your drinks or just felt like flirting a little with the better than average looking waitresses.

Man, i cant believe how many people are doggin' on the b-dubs! I love that place! I've gotten bad service from one restaurant occaisonally, but they've always made up for it with free food, etc. The other ones ive been to have been amazing.

I hate to play devil's advocate, but I believe the naked tenders cost more than the chicken tenders. They are sticklers about only serving their lunch menu during lunch, too. But .50 boneless thursdays more than make up for it in my mind.

Personally, it's just not a place to go where you are concerned about the healthyness of the food. I go there from time to time to get tasty fried food, and they've always delivered.

This many posts and I am the first one to wonder why you didn't ask to speak with a manager?

How many carbs do you really think you can save by not getting the breading? More than the amount in the soda/lemonade/ice tea you wash it down with?

You shouldn't even bother with waitstaff at a BW3 anyway. Go to the counter and order the mini corndogs instead. Mmmmm....

@winnabago: As a Buffalonian, I'll second that notion.

@acambras: kimmelweck is essentially a salted roll. Fantabulous with roast beef. and horseradish. Mmmmm.

The food is yummy but the service is almost universally terrible from my experience.
My biggest gripe with BW3 is that I always seem to get a craving for them on cheap wing night, which really means even worse service night.
I'd like to see a double price wings with good service night.

Im in Columbus and have been to way to many BW3's, including the late original one (R.I.P). I never have problems with substitutions. THey always have a load of specials from drinks too food. I normally enjoy them and go there a little too regually. Not to say they are with out fault but every time I have a problem a mgr takes care of it, or my bartenders. I have even had the bar manager go to the liquour store more than once for my choice beverage. (There Head Mgr like to keep the books low. Dummy)

I took my daughter out to eat a couple weeks ago. On the left sife of the menu they had a variety of sandwiches listed, among them peanut butter, nutella and bananna. My daughter, naturally, wanted that one. We tried to order it and the waitress informed us that sandwiches were only available during lunch. Nowhere on the menu did it specift. Since my daughter is a typically picky 9 year old, I asked her if she could check with the kitchen. Supposedly she did and they told her they would not make it. Apparently nightstaff cannot spread peanut butter on bread or cut a bananna. Needless to say, we will not be going back there. As a sidenote, this is a locally owned restaurant and the owner of the place works in the kitchen.

Yeah, Buffalo WW has done some crappy things to me as well. They have deals on Tuesday and Thursdays on regular wings and boneless wings, respectively.

So my friend and I ordered wings on Thursday, thinking that it would be assumed that it would be the special of the day. Yeah, it wasn't we got boned wings.

We asked the server about it. He just said, yeah it is X deal today. We mentioned that's what we had intended. He just said, Oh. Nothing else. We ate the wings as it was, no biggie, but he didn't even give us the lower price.

We went back a few weeks later and asked a different server about the situation and she said that she would have at least asked.

Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that this was more of just an issue of a bad server.

More likely they premake the stuff and didn't want to custom-cook a batch for the customer but didn't want to admit it... or maybe the waitress was having a bad day and decided to not let the customer have their way.

Disappointing. Unless the menu said "no substitutions" in advance I wouldn't go back either -- and I make mild changes like this all the time too.

I have a friend who is a cook in a restaurant, and he agrees that mild changes like this are just fine as it's no real problem for the kitchen. Weird dishes that they don't even have ingredients for are another matter, but asking for something that is already on the menu or can be EASILY made from ingredients from other menu items is a legit request -- especially if you are really polite and let them know that if they can't do it it's no big deal.

Obviously no of knows the full story, but I can't help but think the guy could have been better about this.

As a former waiter, it's the difference between a customer who feels "entitled" to something and someone who is considerate enough to realize that a server would be doing them a favor by doing something.

Is it a huge favor? no, of course not, but it's nice for people to recognize that someone is going out of their way to do something for them.

(like Richard vs. Tommy in "Tommy Boy")

Not to defend these grease buckets (I love them like any other blocked-arteries American) but the meals all probably come pre-packaged from Sysco or Sodexho or some other mega-food business.

Shame on BWW for not being able to make a simple substitution. When these places are all trying to turn a buck, they'll cut as many corners as possible to maximize earnings.

They don't score too high in my book. It would be one thing if their wings were bigger than my pinky but they rarely are. They are accompanied by the standard "all chickens are different sizes" disclaimer. Granted, I used to only go on Tue/Thu for the discount but it seems that those are the days they serve the shit wings.

Dear lord, this place can be a little frustrating at times.
Here's how to get what you want in a situation like this. I'm not sure why consumerist can't figure this out, but with most of the public being ignorant to how to get what they want (within reason) from a restaurant, it is not too big of a surprise.
Here's the deal from a former restaurant server, bartender, manager, and general manager....
Ready?
The waitress is a nobody. The cook is a nobody.
The way to get them to make a susbstitution is to ask to speak to a manager.
Having been a manager, it would take just one thing for you to get what you want in a situation like this - be nice.
That's it!
Instead of trying to talk a waitress into breaking what she perceives to be the rule, ask to talk to the manager. Explain it to the manager and they will 'get it' or else they are too stupid to qualify as human.
Servers do what they are told. Cooks too. But a manager can make exceptions.
It's very simple and for some reason people want to punish the unit or the server for stupid, inconsequential nonsense.
Had you asked a manager and he refused, then I'd agree that they've lost a customer. But in this case, you asked the wrong person for an accomodation.
One of my favorite things to do as a manager was 'wow' a customer by accomodating them.
And if you get bad service, don't like your food, or have a bad experience in any way - TELL A MANAGER. Your waitress likely doesn't care much - servers are at the job to make money. If the restaurant fails, they find another job. managers are paid to care.

Why is this a big deal?

I mean, is this all this guy has to complain about in his life? Seriously consumerist. Shame on you for posting something so small and trivial.

As a long time waiter i can tell you that cooks are a bunch of whiny losers who couldn't care less about customer service. I don't know if it's because they are jealous of waiters' tips or what. Maybe it's because their job is so unglamorous that they cling to the minimal power they hold.

Over the years I've seen several cooks punched and even strangled by waiters because they refuse to make basic substitutions for no reason other than "because i said so". The cooks spend more time pouting and refusing than it would take to just frigging do the request. Then when the manager makes them do it anyway, they grumpily comply and do a half-assed job.

the waitress in this case probably knew the cook was a dick and wanted to avoid having to plead with him or elevate things to the manager, so she told the customer straight out that there are no substitutions, regardless of the logic.

@SugarRob: ""Keep Austin Weird" (a mentality here that anything local is better than everything chain)"

Honestly? Sounds good to me. This isn't to say there's no such thing as a good chain restaurant, or a bad local one. But really, sounds fine to me.

Personally, I've noticed a mix -- the "local chain" -- usually works out well. Like Cluck U Chicken and Surf Taco. Usually it means their food and service is good enough to keep them profitable, but they haven't yet gotten huge and impersonal.