On Sunday evening around 6, EVG reader Laura shared the above photo, showing a backup of Super Bowl deliveries outside Atomic Wings on First Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street.
According to several angry Yelp reviews, tweets and eyewitness reports, there was some kind of breakdown at this Atomic Wings that several people have since humorously compared to the disastrous Fyre Festival.
An EVG reader shared this Super Bowl experience via Atomic Wings:
Those delivery guys standing outside were still there well into the evening as the store was completely overrun with orders. I had a delivery [set for] 5 p.m. — made the order days ago. I came at 6 p.m. to see absolute chaos. I ended up leaving since the game started, but people were missing their own parties, etc.
They had no directions as to what to do. People were furious, delivery guys were angry, and police were ticketing and towing double-parked cars outside. So you’d hear people scream “who has the gray Nissan?! They’re about to tow it” every 5 minutes.
I ended up never getting my wings — which I preferred over getting them at midnight — and will be calling for a refund ...
The reader shared this photo from inside the shop about 30 minutes before the kickoff between the Patriots and Rams...
People took out some frustrations on Twitter...
@AtomicWings I ordered 100 wings from your East Village location that were supposed to come at 4pm and still have not been delivered. I have called and the line is constantly busy, I’ve emailed and no one responded. Can you help please??
— Alex Cirillo (@MissCirillo) February 3, 2019
@AtomicWings I ordered 100 wings to be delivered at 17:30 est and I haven’t received my order nor been able to get in contact. Can someone who works there please #dm me. I’ was on hold for 20 minutes #CustomerService #USA #SuperBowlLIII
— JSL Jr (@realmynameisjsl) February 4, 2019
@AtomicWings is the new Fyre festival #FyreFestival #bust #FailedtoDeliver
— Danny Brenner (@dbrenner7) February 4, 2019
And then there were the 13 one-star reviews on Yelp that came during and after the Super Bowl Wing Debacle. Most people said that they pre-paid for their wings, which never arrived. One example:
I ordered over 100 wings for my super bowl party a week in advance. I prepaid and even called the restaurant the night before to confirm the order. Not only were the wings not received but they unplugged their phone line so that no one could get in touch with them and have not reconnected it as of 12:30 P.M. the following day.
There were several more comparisons like this: "This is the Fyre Festival of wings...."
Atomic Wings has been around now for 30 years, with multiple NYC locations selling their Buffalo-style wings.
I reached out to the Atomic Wings home office for more information on what happened at the EV outpost during the Super Bowl. Will update if I hear back.
Updated 7:30 p.m.
Here's the word via the Atomic Wings HQ:
The franchisee at the First Avenue location ran into an equipment failure that hampered his ability to get orders out in a timely fashion. He has already reached out to customers to offer them full refunds and store credits.
24 comments:
CHICKEN KARMA
Chicken wings don't exist in my world, I had no idea that they are the "thanksgiving turkey" of the Super Bowl. I guess this is how mainstream America has a party.
It’s not the Fyre festival, it’s the Revenge of the Wing Nuts. I’m laughing my ass off at all these lazy entitled Patriots fans who didn’t get their finger food delivered to their door on time, and now want to destroy a successful business with their 1 star Yelp reviews.
One guy on Yelp says: “Should go out of business and lose their ability to be a business in NYC after fiasco that happened yesterday with hundreds or thousands of customers without wings. I mean what else are you supposed to eat for the super bowl? ” How about eating something else? In a city full of food delivery options, these people are acting like they had no other options.If anything, most food places were slow since native New York’s had no interest in watching the Patriots again, so there were many other options out there.
Ok, so they’’re upset, I get it. They deserve a refund, But to take to social media to hurt a business like this is to show too much privilege and entitlement. Many of the Yelp reviews say their party was ruined. How about ordering a few pizzas? Or learning how to cook? The game was boring. Go down to the grocery store, get some supplies, and have a cooking party. Problem solved,
I love the Patriots fan tweet that uses military time to precisely identify his requested order delivery time (17:30 — thats 5:30PM for all you draft dodgers out there) and hashtags his tweet with #USA — what the hell does that have to do with it?
This is how capitalism works, supply and demand. Atomic Wings had a wildly successful promotion and ran out of food. If they dont like it, they can go back to Ohio, where you have to kill and skin your own chickens and forage for your food, especially if you live in Cleveland or Cincinnati.
I get that people hosting a party would be concerned that a food delivery did not arrive.
Still to see these complaints and the entitlement is depressing.
In the meantime, the delivery people are no doubt underpaid and working long hours, not to mention people starving all over the world...
Dan and John are laughing.
I guess I'm missing the entitlement part of a customer being pissed about pre-ordering catering and paying Atomic Wings days in advance for a special event and then they do not deliver on the contract. Then Atomic Wings failed to communicate with their pre-booked catering customers about whatever the issue was.
If a business cannot follow through on their promises - especially after taking the customers money - they deserve the social media shredding. Atomic Wings got greedy - and their greed ruined the night for many now ex customers.
Lemmings seeking wings. What a pathetic commentary on the lack of imagination and self-entitlement. I thank God often that I'm closer to the end of my life than the beginning of it, so I won't have to deal with whining twits like this for decades to come. (75 years ago kids this age were flying B-17s over Europe and the Pacific and fighting to keep the world safe for democracy, now they're online whining about s**t like this. Sigh.)
Especially like the post showing the plea of the poor woman whose order hadn't shown up two hours, 42 minutes after it was due: yeah, after phone calls and email don't work, hit 'em with a question on Twitter!
That sums up the folly and peril of 21st century expectations perfectly.
Then Maroon 5 began playing.
Being pissed off is one thing. Going on Yelp and claiming that “Hundreds of thousands of customers” were left without wings is ridiculous and makes these people sound juvenile and entitled. Trying to ruin a business because you didn’t get an order on their busiest day of the year is beyond entitled, and saying they ‘ruined” your whole day makes you sound like a 5 year old who dropped their ice cream cone.
This exact thing happened to us a few years ago. They wouldn't answer the phone like this time - so we were in the dark about if they would ever be delivered and they never were.
I love how just last week this comment section was bashing Commodities because promised services were delivered, but without a smile. Now, this same space laughs at people who are bashing Atomic Wings because their promised service WASN'T DELIVERED AT ALL (smile or not).
The double standard applied to millennials -- the World War II fighter pilot example is particularly ridiculous -- in this comment section is really a stain on an otherwise great blog.
I see the entitlement part not necessarily in the justified complaints, but in the tone and manner. You can also read between the lines and assume these are not life long east villagers. Otherwise they would have known that this store, although presumably part of a chain, is a not too busy, not too functional franchise, that have closed and reopened once or twice. Of course they didn't have the manpower and capacity to answer all calls and had to take the phone off the hook. And for that girl to complain that no one even replied to her email... Have you ever been inside that hole in the wall?
You see, it's the midwest gentrifiers mindset, that an all American brand corporation they know from back home, will be fully functional at a tiny NYC store. Matter of experience living here, I guess.
Also, the deliver anything to my doorstep had become another form of entitlement in the hands of our dear millennials. With a huge order of 100 wings, times for the specific kick off hour, I would've gone there an hour earlier to pick it up myself.
These are not too smart people, as well reflected in their different postings. The fyre festival, a routine cliche by now, is a stupid comparison. And anything not going their way is always promptly declared as a scam. So midwest, so millenial. In the timeless words of the prophet: Go back to Ohio!
Spot on 10:30am and 11:30am!
Haha awesome! She should keep a postal pigeon under her hand for next time.
@1:34pm: Sorry you are so ill-informed that you can't understand that young people were WAY more mature and selfless, serving their country in World War 2.
You think people risking their lives then was "ridiculous"? All I can say is that if, heaven forbid, this country ever has to provide a LOT of troops to defend itself, we are TOAST b/c the average 18-year-old would be useless. If World War 2 occurred now, we'd roll over and start taking German lessons.
I wish they'd bring back the draft, b/c then the vacuous young people of today would get a tough reality-check.
Umm...They ordered wings, paid for said wings, and did not receive the wings. How many stars would you give, long comment guy?
Maybe these are different commenters than on last week's.
But young people are serving our country right now, too.
I dont understand how anyone could compare military with not getting the food you ordered, thats why I called the comment particularly ridiculous.
How is it entitled when you’re just asking for the food that you paid for to be available to you? Actually. That is entitled. In the right way. They are entitled to their food.
These people can all get a refund from whatever credit card or app they used. mBut a small business cannot survive with ridiculous, over the top 1 star reviews from every disgruntled customer. It's obvious these customers all really wanted to get their hands on the food that Atomic Wings provides, some said it sells the best wings around, and now they are trying to get the place shut down. So next year if the business is gone I guess they won't be able to get the chicken wings that they claim they are so upset about not being able to get this year. It's this kind of entitled behavior that gives all Millennials a bad name.
I for one had a GREAT time at the Fyre Festival.
FWIW they did this last year too but was not nearly as bad. I prepaid and ordered in advance and could not get in contact with them day of when order was 2+ hours late. Walked down there and was told would be another 2 hours.
The franchisee is not very good. They should shut down ordering if they can’t handle the demand they have received.
What on Earth is going on here? Many of you people that are apoplectic about the "millennials" and others you are attacking here are just as bad as the people you are criticizing. This nonsense where people are immediately attacked from being from elsewhere and thus don't belong is exactly what a lot of people move to NYC to get away from. On top of that, do you really think it's unreasonable to criticize a service oriented food business for both not giving service and not giving food? If we want small business to survive we as consumers should hold them to reasonable expectations and they should expect to live up to them. If you ordered food for a party (perhaps not even the super bowl, but pretend you care about something enough to want to have a good time) and they did this to you you'd be rightfully upset.
I’m just waiting for the Netflix Atomic Wingmageddon documentary. It’s just like the Fyre Festival doc, only this one features the sad story of countless Bros who were trapped helplessly inside of their own apartments with nothing to eat.
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