In defense of the Royal Oak Buffalo Wild Wings

The second installment in a series where Lee DeVito defends things that are kind of awful.

If you went to one of metro Detroit's more hotly anticipated restaurants the night after it opened, you'd probably be looking at, what, a 40-minute wait to be seated? Not so at the new Royal Oak Buffalo Wild Wings which opened Monday.

While we were initially bummed to see a Barnes & Noble (OK, yes, a chain bookstore) turn into another area B-Dubs, it was after 9 p.m. on a Tuesday and we were hungry. We breezed right in.

The first thing we noticed was how bright the interior was — not the feeling of a dark sports bar. At first we thought the brightness might be due to the myriad TVs playing the game — all of the games, actually — but then we remembered it was part of the chain's new family-friendly "stadia" design.

We'll leave the "should you be bringing the kids to the bar?" debate for another day, mostly because it was kinda of nice to actually be able to talk at a reasonable volume. But also, look at those faux-brick walls. B-Dubs isn't billing itself as an authentic sports bar. It's the simulacrum of a sports bar. So?

As we were looking around, trying to remember what all the bookshelves looked like, we felt a little gross — but that was probably just because our fingers were covered in buffalo sauce. As for books, check out John K. King Used & Rare Books or Book Beat.