Buffalo Wild Wings
http://www.buffalowildwings.com
It happened again; I got suckered into free wifi. Needing to get a connection for about three hours, Buffalo Wild Wings was my closest option with beer. The beer part was the most important. Then I found out it was wing night which is $0.40 cents per wing. I know that I might sound like an old fart, but when I was in college, they used to be $0.10on wing night. Plus, they were good then, oh….how the mighty have fallen.
What I Ate: A few wings with Asian Zing and a few with Caribbean Jerk.
According to the menu, Asian Zing is where sweet meats heat. Chili pepper, soy and ginger. To be honest, it is where sweet meats sweeter. Sure, they had a little bite in them, but I tasted sweet more than anything. I really didn’t taste any ginger. It reminded me of a spicy version of sweet and sour that you get at a dumpy Chinese takeout. A very unhappy ending to these wings and if I was of Asian decent, I would be royally pissed off.
Caribbean Jerk is a red pepper based sauce with island spices. What does that even mean? Island spices. Maybe there is some Red Stripe and some weed in there…who knows. What I tasted was a lot of black pepper. I didn’t pick up any cinnamon, nutmeg or thyme that you would usually find in a jerk rub.
Would I Buy It Again? Nope. Too sweet, the pieces were too small and it just was pretty bad. I might catch some grief on this, but my favorite wings are still Hooter’s Hot. I need to find some more places for wings, what are your suggestions?
-wibia
Tags: asian, buffalo wild wings, caribbean, Food, wings
Quaker Steak and Lube…Wing night, All you can eat for $11.99. The wings are always meaty and moist and the flavors are outstanding.
Their food is too expensive anymore, and the portions have shrunk on a lot of things. I’m pretty much done with BWW
The best wings in Indy can be found at Keystone Sports Review. Hot Garlic Wings cant be beat IMO!!!
Friendly tavern in Zionsville. Awesome wings. Big pieces and the sauce has just the right kick. No need for 30 flavors when you can do one so well.
Ale Emporium…hermanacki (or however it’s spelled). I’m not a spicy/hot wing lover, but these are really good.
With the wide variety of sauces that they have I find that summation of ‘too sweet’ to be misleading. They do have sauces that are not sweet and have some heat.
Now don’t get me wrong, I won’t got to a BW3′s unless I’m dragged there by friends that don’t understand that alot of TV’s and crazy crap on the walls, in no way makes up for crappy service, poor value, and mediocre food. BW3′s is just another chain that has found that if you market yourself as hip and cool you don’t have to have a quality product.
2nd vote for Ale Emporium… Their wings are really good. Also, Gramboli’s on the east side has good hot wings but they only come in one flavor since its a pizza joint.
wings and wifi don’t sound like they mix all that well. Sticky keyboards and such.
3rd vote for Ale Emporium’s wings … Hermanaki’s are to die for but they refuse to give us the recipe. Lots of other good food there too, with a huge beer list. Don’t know about wifi.
These results don’t surprise me at all. B’dubs is one of those places that has done everything possible to get me to stop visiting their restaurants… poor service, cold wings, barely-sauced wings, over-sauced and soggy wings, exorbitantly high prices, limited craft brew selection, etc… and yet I still go. Actually, I get carry out. But still, they got my money… and I don’t know why. I used to like their Asian Zing sauce until I got a real bottle of Nuoe Cham Ga and realized what it was supposed to taste like.
Stupid story about Wings Etc:
Their version of the “Asian Zing” sauce is called “Me-so-spicy.” They put this slogan all over their t-shirts and make the wait staff wear them around the restaurant. Now I’m not Asian, but I could definitely see how somebody might find that sauce name a little offensive. When I placed my order, I refused to say the name of the sauce. I indicated my order by the description: “Sweet, hot Asian.” The server just looked at me (she was wearing a “Me-so-spicy!” shirt.) I repeated myself. She still didn’t understand… So I was forced to repeat the name of their racially insensitive sauce. I should also note that it was neither hot nor Asian in flavor… just sweet.
Oh and Hooters wings??? Next you’re going to tell us you read Playboy “for the articles!” …… kidding. I actually really like their wings too. I could eat their 3 Mile Island wings until I spontaneously combust.
@adam. 100% agree.
@PC Thanks man, I will give those a try
@Kristen. I agree, they are awesome.
@Lance: Fair enough. 5/14 sauces they have are sweet. The Parmesan Garlic is downright bad.
@Benny: Good info, thanks.
@Rod: Well, me and a sticky keyboard go hand in hand. Kidding, but I worked for an hour, ate, washed my hands twice and then got back at it.
@Jessica: Good stuff. Wifi usually doesn’t rank that high, but I have been traveling a lot lately.
@IndyFoodGeek: I agree, the Me So Spicy is a little much. Plus, that sauce sucks as well. No, I don’t not read Playboy for the articles, that would be ridiculous. However, it did bother me the day that I figured out that a centerfold was younger than I was. Ahh…getting old..
A BW3 opened near me years ago, and I have yet to try the place. We’ve since had a Quaker Steak open as well, which I haven’t tried. Not sure why, as I love chicken wings. I guess I just can’t get past the local joints.
I’ve heard that BW3 has some really good sauces, but most seem to prefer QS. I want to try one of these places, but when I set out for a chain experience, I tend to sway towards my local Texas Roadhouse.
@Indyfoodgeek
Being an Asian I agree with you about the “Me So Spicy” sauce. I’ve found many places are finally going away from the term Oriental and changing it to Asian which is a welcome change. I was once at Wendy’s and ordered a regular salad and was given Oriental dressing without even being asked. My buddy called Wendy’s PR department and their exact words were, ” I’m sorry your oriental friend was offended by one of our workers.”
I always find it funny how blatantly racist the media is towards the Asian community yet other ethnic groups and races are off limits so to speak. Would wings etc get away with a black stereotyped term sauce or a Jewish stereotyped term sauce? I’m going go out on a limb and say no lol.
Buffalo Wings and Rings downtown has pretty generous sized wings and delicious sauce. They also give you the ability to pick out of nine sauces and then pick the heat level from five levels. The variety of heat and flavor really makes this place worth checking out.
Echo Kristen’s recommendation. And 100% agree on Hooters/BW3, WIBIA. BW3 waaaaay too small. The breading on Hooters makes them.
Buffalo Wild Wings is an abomination of an establishment. Everything about them sucks EXCEPT for the fact that they have a variety of sauces. There’s not much reason to go there anyway (and I pout if someone DRAGS me there), but the sauces are the only thing that make it somewhat palatable.
Agree with Show 100% on the Hooters wings. I love them and would put them up against anyone because of the breading. Also, Hooters wings may not be the best, but they are an American classic and you have to eat them because of that.
The irony of the BWW ad in the column to the right …lol
I had the Caribbean Jerk sauce last week and it tasted like industrial cleanser to me. Overall, very lackluster. Shame on you BWW.
There used to be an RJ Wingers on the east side that we loved, but sadly they closed. Anyone know where their owners went?
Yeah Lauren they closed during some extensive construction on Washington St – probably couldn’t handle the loss in business. Not sure who the owners were or went – I know there was a RJ Wingers on the west side years ago as well but they closed well before the east side one. Loved their wings!!
I think I wrote a blog post once calling Buffalo Wild Wings the worst chain in the world. I stand by that and haven’t been back since. I will throw in another vote for the wings at Ale Emporium also.
I hope at least the beer was good:-)
@Alrui: Yeah, no problem with the suds at all.
I’m gonna stick up for B-Dubs a little bit here. Yes, quality can vary WILDLY between visits and yes, their prices long ago ascended into “Obscene” territory, but their sauces are pretty outstanding. Mango Habanero and (to a lesser extent) Hot BBQ are great examples of a spicy/sweet flavor combination.
I like Quaker Steak and Lube, and hit the one in Cincinnati whenever I make an Ikea run. One of these days I’ll try eating wings with Lingonberry jam. That sounds oddly appealing for some reason.
I’ve been to Ale Emporium twice. The first time, the Hermanaki wings were revelatory. The second, they had a great flavor but were too dry. (What is it with wing places and consistency?)
As for Hooters, well, their wings are decent enough. But if they’re the best our fair city has to offer, that’s a serious problem.
Vote #2 for Keystone Sports Review. They have some of the best bar grub in town period. The wings are huge and meaty and the sauces house made. Good value too….get a big bucket of 20-25 wings for about $11.
Davy Byrnes in port chester ny has the 10c wings on Thursday nights if u miss those beautiful deals.. 30 wings for 3 dollars.. Mmmmm
Recently I tried the caribbean jerk wings at BW3, so very disappointing. The sauce is a syrupy goo similar to their honey barbequeue, but with a slightly hot afterbite, and maybe a musty hint of allspice, almost overpowered by an aftertaste of preservatives. Bleah. Caribbean jerk indeed. Transmuting real jerk into a wing sauce should have resulted, I thought, in a thin, savory wing coating with elements of lime juice, habañero, garlic, thyme, and allspice – more like a buffalo sauce (balanced buttery, salty, sour and hot) than a gloppy, musty flavored sweet and sour sauce. Definitely give this one a pass if you like real jerk.