"The Big Game" 2023: Breaking a tradition (by choice)

For years and years I hosted a Superbowl party. We used to go all out and plan a huge menu with themes, etc. Over the years it got pared down and actually it became a rather efficient process where it wasn’t massive stressful situation running around to prep. The main food items were basically the same, but we would just theme the desserts to whichever teams were playing. The first year I wasn’t able to host was 2021 due to the pandemic. I wasn’t even in NY so I couldn’t host. And last year? We got very lazy and didn’t even cook. It was quite a process of choosing a place to order from, only to have them cancel the order, forcing us to choose a different place. It was quite a mess. This year maybe only 3 people would have attended and I did not have the energy to host, so for the first year ever we decided not to do it. Perhaps next year I’ll have motivation to do something a little bit more fun. Regardless, this year’s choice of ordering was Korean fried chicken (Drunken Chicken & Burger). However, I seem to be cursed with issues when I order in on Superbowl Sunday. The wait time was already over an hour, and when it passed 15-20 min beyond the delivery window, I decided to call the restaurant. The lady seemed extremely confused about the order and after nearly 5 minutes, I was informed the order was on its way “soon”. So of course, after another 30 minutes (in total nearly 2 hours after placing the order), our food finally arrived.

We chose this place since it was highly rated on Seamless, but so far I wasn’t too impressed. When the food arrived, it wasn’t very hot, so my assumption is that they DID prepare our food in time, but just didn’t send it out for delivery for whatever reason. It’s very possible they were slammed due to it being Superbowl Sunday, but I don’t appreciate being the victim of the chaos. I had the honey garlic drumsticks and a side of onion rings. While the chicken was well fried and still quite crispy, there was definitely not enough sauce and thus lacking flavor overall. Similarly, although the onion rings were fried well, it felt like there was no seasoning whatsoever, so without any dipping sauce (they only provided ketchup), it was rather bland. And then randomly, maybe due to the very late order, we ended up with a complimentary order of mozzarella sticks?

Funny enough, these had the most flavor of anything we ate that night. Well fried and lots of seasoning. However, it suffered from being slightly cold already and so the cheese was very solid. So, overall, I was not impressed at all and although it was a very very busy night for restaurants, especially those who sell chicken wings, I don’t find that should be a reason to let quality slide. I want to say I’d give them another chance, but it seems unlikely.