When I first walked in, there were three pigeons sitting on my table! Thankfully, there was a brave waiter nearby to shoo them away. The food was delicious, but the atmosphere was a little too wild for my taste.

In "there was/were" sentences, the verb agrees with the noun that follows it ("three pigeons" -> were; "a brave waiter" -> was). "Food" and "atmosphere" are uncountable/singular nouns, so they both take was.