Buffalo's Bar & Grill: Doomed

Kathy and I went to the new Buffalo's Bar & Grill last night. We did not like it. We had been to the old location many times over the past several years. Their signature wings were really good, and when we wanted something a little different, the quality and variety of other menu selections were good. The old place was often crowded, a combination of limited seating and popularity. We didn't mind.

With the move to their new location, Buffalo's has procured much more space, but at the expense of everything else that was worthy. Gone is the warm pub-like feel of wooden booths and tables. The new place feels like an institutional cafeteria or factory break room. [Cheripicker puts it best in the comments below: "Laundromat."] The lighting was a bright but cold operating room blue, which made the red ink on green paper menus vibrate like some kind of trippy optical illusion.

The furnishings were utilitarian, as if no consideration was given to the patrons' comfort or to creating some atmosphere; as if the primary design consideration was simply to keep one in an upright position and provide a flat surface from which food can be consumed. If you can call it food.

My chicken tenders, although a generous portion, were slathered in honey bar-b-que sauce that was far inferior to my previously favorite honey bar-b-que I used to get on wings at the old place. Too much sweetness (that tasted like white sugar) and not much else. And the texture was very weird: Mushy--more like damp paper than meat.

The only positive? Our server made quick work of adjusting our check for getting an order wrong.

Making it in the restaurant biz it tough. I'm sympathetic to "bad nights" or "getting up to speed," but the new Buffalo's is such a drastic decline from the old, I don't think it is temporary. If, in the future, I hear that things have changed, including an interior remodeling, I'll try again. Otherwise, I won't be back.