Buffalo Wild Wings (Battle Creek)
5775 Beckley Road #655I know. Friday night is pizza night. J and the kids still got Little Caesars but I was in Battle Creek working an overtime shift.
I didn’t have any time between my normal shift and my overtime shift to eat. I had to get out to Pennfield Township and I was already running late so I skipped it knowing I could grab something when I was done.
I’ve said it time and time again, I hate that pizza places close at 9 PM any night of the week but especially on Friday nights. I wasn’t in the mood for one of the chains and all the good places in Battle Creek were closed by the time I got done with work around 9:30.
That meant I was going to have to find something that wasn’t pizza and I had a couple of ideas.
I picked Buffalo Wild Wings because they have a deal for 20 wings and a large fry for $20. That and I just happened to be close to the one on the east side of Battle Creek.
The Buffalo Wild Wings in Battle Creek is located in the Lakeview Square Mall on Beckley Road near M-66. The restaurant is on the Beckley Road side near the entrance where the food court used to be on the west side of the property. The mall is kind of in an odd state right now. There aren’t a lot of stores anymore but there are still a couple of big ones (Horrocks, Barnes & Noble, Dunhams) and some big restaurants. There’s an Applebees right next to the Buffalo Wild Wings and Olive Garden and Texas Roadhouse just opened in the parking lot.
I used to eat a lot of Buffalo Wild Wings. When the first store opened in Peoria, IL back in the early aughts, several co-workers and I used to go there after work on Tuesday night. The special at that time was $.50 wings. We could get 20 wings and a couple cans of Hamm’s for under $15. It was pretty much a given on Tuesday night we were going to B-Dubs.
The prices aren’t quite the same anymore so I don’t eat there nearly as often. We used to eat at the one on Stadium Drive somewhat regularly but their carry-out is always a mess and 3/4 of the time, the online ordering option isn’t even available so we pass.
I put in an order for the 20 wings and fries for $20. The online ordering actually worked in Battle Creek and it told me it’d take about 20 minutes for the food to be ready.
The store has a traditional mall entrance but at 10:00 at night, the gate is pulled down and there is actually a security guard sitting in the area between Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebees, both of which were pretty busy after the football game at nearby Harper Creek ended.
There is an outdoor entrance right next to the patio. That is the entrance that has to be used during hours that the mall is closed.
You walk right in to the order pick up area. There were a few dashers hanging around waiting for food. The woman working the carry-out area was also the hostess. When I walked in, she was seating a group and said she’d be right back to deal with me.
The dining room is pretty typical B-Dubs sports bar. There are TVs everywhere. It’s a pretty open layout with the bar right in the middle of the room. It seemed smaller to me than the typical stand alone store but still pretty spacious. Like I mentioned, I was getting there right as a high school football game down the street was ending and there were a lot of groups coming in for a post game meal.
My order wasn’t quite ready when I got there right around the 25 minute mark but I only had to wait about another 5-10 minutes. I’ve waited way, way longer at the Kalamazoo store so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
When I got the bag, the lady at the carry-out counter told me to check it before I left. There were three boxes of wings and a box of fries. Everything was accounted for so I grabbed the bag and started to head home.
I opened up the box of fries when I got in the car. When I used to go to BWW on the regular, they didn’t have regular fries. They only had Buffalo chips. I liked those version of fries way better. They were a little softer but still had some crunch. The current fries at Buffalo Wild Wing are skin on fries that always come out super crispy. The outside crunch is great but it kind of makes the fries taste hollow. Those no softness inside. The large order of fries is a pretty good sized order though and the fries held me over until I got home to eat the wings.
I picked three different sauces for my wings. The first box I opened is my go-to with Buffalo Wild Wings. The Garlic Parmesan. The first thing I noticed was that they seemed to have changed their Garlic Parm sauce. It used to be a thick, mayo based sauce that had a bit of a kick to it. This was more of a butter based Garlic Parm that still had that strong garlicky flavor and a bit of spiciness to it. There doesn’t seem to be an official account of the sauce changing but these were way less messy than I’ve gotten in the past. It was still really tasty and the best way to start my journey through twenty wings.
The second box also contained garlicky wings but these were Spicy Garlic. It’s a good combination of two flavors I really like but it’s more spicy than garlic. I will say, I was kind of surprised by the size of the wings. They were much bigger than the wings I can remember getting at Buffalo Wild Wings in the somewhat recent past.
The final box was just a traditional Buffalo sauce. I like to end on the spiciest ones I order. Buffalo Wild Wings hot sauce is hot but not overwhelmingly so. It’s just a really good, classic Buffalo spiciness.
The cost for this meal was right around $22 once you factor in tax. The 20 wings and fries for $20 is a helluva deal in the present day culinary world. I yearn for the days of $.50 wings but those days are never coming back.
I have a love/hate relationship with Buffalo Wild Wings….mostly because of my experiences in Kalamazoo. I’ve always liked the food but the service has left a lot to be desired for in recent memory. I didn’t have that problem with this location in Battle Creek. The online ordering worked…even on a busy Friday night..and I got my food in a reasonable amount of time. The 20 wings were super filling and a great way to end the work week.
SW Michigan Dining 