The battle of the sports bars has begun. And guess who is losing ”” the Dog House Grill customers! With Buffalo Wild Wings opening next to Dog House, the already bad parking situation has turned into a nightmare.

Last week, my coworkers and I decided to go to lunch at Dog House Grill. However, we were not able to find a single parking spot in the very limited lot. And as usual, all the curb side spots were taken.

In the past, Dog House customers used the Lazy Boy parking lot. But ever since Buffalo Wild Wings bought the space, Dog House customers have been banned from parking in any of the new restuarant’s stalls.

This leaves me to wonder, where am I supposed to park when visiting Dog House Grill?

My coworkers and I looked for approximately 15 minutes in order to eat lunch at Dog House and were unsuccessful. We planned to park in the Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot but were stopped by a parking security guard. He informed us that he worked for resturant chain and that if we parked there we would either get a ticket or get towed.

The fear of getting towed almost made us park on campus or at the Starbucks on Shaw Ave. and Woodrow Ave. and walk to Dog House. But we didn’t.

As we drove one last time by the cone blocked enterance of Dog House, we spotted someone leaving a parking spot. So we did what any individual hungry for lunch would do ”” ran over the cones as if they were tiny ants. After pulling into the parking space the parking security guard started walking toward our car. But before he had the chance to get mad, my coworker pulled out a couple bucks and tipped the guy.

The parking security guard took the money and nonchalantly walked back toward the fallen cones to put them back in their place.

Is this what we, as Dog House customers, have come to: driving over cones and tipping secuirty guards to get parking spaces that are not more than a mile away?

I tried to contact Dog House Grill by phone in order to get some advice on what customers should do regarding parking for future reference. No one answered the phone.

I also tried contacting Buffalo Wild Wings to get a comment regarding what led them to hire a parking security guard to prevent Dog House Grill customers from parking in their lot. But while someone did pick up the phone I was put on hold and forgot about.

Why is sharing a parking lot such a huge issue?

At a capacity of 240 patrons, Dog House only has 50 parking stalls, three of which are handicapped. Dog House needs to find a solution for the problem. I love the food but the parking issue makes me think twice about eating there.

How long are customers expected to circle around? How far are you willing to walk?

I guess I will just have to forget about Dog House Grill and Buffalo Wild Wings and go to The Mad Duck ”” at least they have plenty of parking.