Oaks Buffalo Wild Wings Opens Tomorrow, Others to Follow

Buffalo Wild Wings opens for business tomorrow, 22 September. BWW is offering one year of free snack wings to the first 100 customers. I wandered over to Oaks Shopping Center to see what kind of activity there was at BWW. To my surprise, there was not even one car in their parking lot.  No line. No one in sight. Nothing going on there. 

I drove around the lot for the remainder of the center.

I spoke with someone working in Pure Cleaners. Expect them to open within two or three weeks.

As seen on the signs in the windows.
Expect Moe's to open Thurs. 16 October.

Work was in progress at Can Tho nails.

Also coming soon is American Dental Care and

                                   Hand and Stone.

Opening in November will be Happy Vision Eye Clinic.

I hope I can hold my excitement in check.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Oaks Buffalo Wild Wings Opening Special

I stopped by the soon to open Buffalo Wild Wings on Wed this week.  My intention was to see if BWW had any opening specials for new customers as did Uno last winter. Uno handed discount coupons to anyone who visited just before opening.

I was lead to assistant manager Danielle who was obviously concentrating on getting BWW open. She told me the only opening special was the free snack wings for a year presented to the first 100 customers at 10:00 on Monday morning September 22. The conversation ended there with a long stretch of silence. I thanked her and headed outside to get some photographs of the 13 big screen TVs hanging outside on the radiant heated patio.

The TVs are arranged in three groupings. As seen in this photograph the nearest has 3, the middle 6 and the farthest 4. Because of the orientation of the patio many of these TVs will have glare on them in the daytime. The TVs facing Egypt Rd and Wendy's suffer with occasional headlight glare at night.

The radiant heater can be seen on the open side of the covered patio facing in and down. A friend was wondering if there would be any temporary rain curtain on the open side? I think plastic curtains may be too close to the heaters.

It will only be one week before BWW opens. Then we will see the end results.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Oaks Buffalo Wild Wings Opens 22 Sept 2014

If you are driving on Egypt Road, west of US 422, you can't miss the Buffalo Wild Wings at the Oaks Shopping Center in Oaks, PA. The yellow exterior of the building jumps up like a flagman wearing a traffic yellow jumpsuit. The exterior seems complete. The interior of the building is still under construction. If you have been waiting for this place to open, take a deep breath because the anticipation is nearly over.

Job applications are currently being accepted. Employee training starts on Wednesday, 10 September 2014.  Buffalo Wild Wings starts serving Monday 22 September 2014.

Here is an interesting fact as printed on the banner shown above: The first 100 guests receive a coupon book for free snack wings for a year. That should create some excitement.

I can see the line forming now. Friday night a few stalwart wingsmen begin to gather. It's not long before a line takes shape at the door. Aluminum lawn chairs squeak open, nylon pup tents pop-up, acoustic guitars are strumming and singing fills the air. 

No wait a minute that was the Philadelphia Folk Festival a couple of weeks ago. Replace the pup tents, guitars and singing with sports talk radio, plastic ponchos and mobile phones.

Almost two days later, at 10am, Buffalo Wild Wings opens for service and the first 100 guests receive the coupon books.

There will be no turning back after that. Hot wings, cold beer and exciting sports pumping out of nearly 65 big screen TVs, inside and out! What more could a guy ask for? Well maybe the men's room.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Uno Is Open in Oaks

The sign was lit on Monday night announcing the opening of Uno/Chicago Grill in Oaks.

All the lights were installed and working and the exterior of the building looked like a cross between a diner and any national chain restaurant.

I stopped by on Tuesday, their second day open, for lunch.  I was greeted at the door by three employees. Each welcomed me. Each waited for my acknowledgement. A bit much for me. One, even two would have been sufficient. I was led to a table. A menu was placed on my table and I was wished well. I removed my jacket and hat (it was snowing) and sat down to read the menu.

I arrived after 2:20pm and I was afraid I might have missed the lunch specials. I scanned each page like a pubescent boy looking for salacious words in Mandingo. I flipped through the multi-paged menu several times, back and forth, looking for the lunch specials and the time lunch stopped being served.  It seemed I was scanning and searching for a long time. Too long. I was pondering leaving and stopping for an Italian shorty at Wawa in Audubon.

I looked up from the menu and was finally greeted by my server. She introduced herself and asked if I wanted to start with a drink. I, figuratively, threw my cards on the table. I stated I was on lunch and had only thirty minutes remaining to be served and eat. I asked where the lunch specials could be found. She directed me to the specials listed on the reverse of the menu. The only place I neglected to look. She advised me that any lunch special ordered was guaranteed to be served in 10 minutes. Great! That would leave me 20 minutes to eat.

Not letting my server leave, I ordered a $7.99 lunched size Classic Cobb Salad and All-You-Can Eat Soup. I chose Chili. I added an unsweetened iced tea and my server was off to place the order.

Within a ten minute span I received my lunch, as ordered. Served with a side of Cobb Salad Avocado Ranch dressing.

I began with the chili soup. The soup included tortilla chips of both yellow and blue corn, onions, cheese and two types of beans. There was a whiff of vinegar that probably came from the hot sauce they used to add some heat. Very little heat, I must add. I should have brought my own Sriracha sauce. Overall, the chili was just one level above that of a canned chili available in any grocery store. I wasn't satisfied with the soup.

The salad was much better. Fresh ingredients of greens, chicken, avocado, tomato(nothing like home grown tomatoes), gorgonzola cheese and bacon. The creamy avocado ranch dressing was perfect for this salad. One teaspoon more dressing would have been the icing on the cake. Included was a bread stick seasoned with coarse salt. The salad was good. No, better than good. Whoever made the salad did a great job.

I ate everything and I was sated.

As for the atmosphere, the room was hard. The floor, oak and stone walls, furniture, everything was hard. I can only imagine the sound level when the room is full. Visually contrasting was a gas fueled fireplace with a raging fire. There were several large screen TVs in the room I dined. Two in the back and one mid-room, over the fireplace. Three too many TVs for me.

Overall I liked my lunch and the price. The staff was obviously newly trained and it showed. I will definitely return for lunch. I will choose a different soup next time but I will return. I will eat at the bar, next time. I felt uncomfortable by myself at a table for four in the middle of the floor. The bar will be more comfortable. Although, I won't like those big screen TVs directly in front of me. Silent bright visual distractions that hinder conversation. Even with strangers. Especially if your not interested in sports, as am I.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved