Complaint Review: Buffalo Chip Saloon - Cave Creek Arizona

On March 12, 2010, my husband and I went to BCS. I researched BCS in advance to see what they offered. A co-worker mentioned she recently came across a Packer friendly establishment in the Phoenix area that had good burgers. I researched their website and decided to plan an evening into our vacation schedule. The website advertised an All- you-can eat Campfire BBQ for $9.95 (6-10pm) or fish-fry for the same. Because they had a bull riding show later, we thought it would be fun to have the BBQ and stay for the show. When we arrived (~6:15 pm), I noted a hand written blackboard in front of the register and food line. It said to eat all of it for $15. I thought this odd because I had only just reviewed the website a few days earlier, however, I paid $30.00 (in cash) thinking maybe the price had changed in the past few days. After reflecting on this, I decided to ask the lady at the check- out why the amounts were different. She had no explanation and quickly referred me to the owner. She also said it was not all you can eat when I questioned the eat it all verbiage. I went to the owner asking why there was a difference when the website said differently. In no way, shape or form was I rude when I asked him about this. The response I received was amazing. He began to yell at me claiming that I was trying to put him out of business. I found that odd considering there were only a few other people eating the BBQ fare. I explained that I had only taken 2 ribs, when he looked me up and down (Im not a size 2, but Im not huge either) and declared that Id eaten a lot more than that! (I didnt think hed count a biscuit and a few tablespoons of beans). I knew exactly was he was inferring and was floored by his response. He then claimed that he would be taking down the website (its still up as of today), that his prices were subject to change, but if I forced the issue he would allow us to eat him out of business. I told him I wanted nothing more from him (the food wasnt that good anyway), but would for my husband (who happens to be a thin man). Meanwhile, my husband had already gone for seconds (he too only had taken a couple of ribs to see whether they were good or not) and rudely found out it was not all you can after all. I told my husband what the owner said. Finding this whole thing incredulous, we decided to leave. On the way out, my husband suggested to the owner that he was using a bait and switch tactic which we found unseemly. The owner began to scream at us to get off his property and never come back. Meanwhile hes gesturing for a bouncer to physically throw us out.

At this point, I was very scared and couldnt walk out fast enough. Im not sure what he would have done if hed had a weapon. After this occurred, I began to think about what happened. I believe the website, with full knowledge and support of the owner, was set up to entice non-locals with misrepresentations and fraudulent of prices and offerings. Once there, the uninformed would feel compelled to pay whatever was asked for because they didnt want any hassle or felt they had no options. This website has been up for many months. For the owner to claim he only just charged $10.00 for an all you eat dinner the past weekend (which he claims nearly put him out of business) is absurd. Then, by this admission, it had not done so for every Friday night well before this. This comment was clearly used to intimidate us and cover up his intentions. When someone writes on a sandwich board to eat all of it tells me he was using a turn of the words to give the appearance of all you can eat. I do not go to all you can eat buffets as a rule, but what little I had on my plate did not equate to $10.00, much less $15.00. It was also $10.00 for two beverages. By this time, we are $50.00 in the hole and virtually nothing to show for it. I threw out the balance of my drink when we decided to leave this scam. Interestingly, a co-worker told me about a Green Bay Packer friendly bar in Cave Creek with really good hamburgers. This is why I looked into the place when my husband and I were coming to Phoenix for a spring training vacation. We thought it would be fun to meet other fellow Packer fans. Instead, we walked into a hostile and threatening situation when we questioned the motives of the business practice.