January 9, 2008 

To start off the wingsday year, we chose Chili’s.  We figured it would be a solid choice, and provide us with a baseline for the coming days.  There were four of us participating - here’s what everyone had to say:

“Chili’s was the first establishment on our radar for a wing review. I was late to the table and as such did not order for myself. Therefore, in a crapshoot, I ended up with boneless breaded chicken hunks with hot wing sauce on the side. There are a couple of problems here. The size was ample. In fact, you have to cut the bigger ones in half so between the dunking and cutting the whole ordeal ends up being a fork & knife meal — not at all acceptable for hot wings. The hot sauce was slightly thin in consistency, and you could definitely taste the vinegar base. Looking around the table, I would say I didn’t end up with the best choice from the menu. These were chicken nuggets with a bowl of hot sauce, best left for the kids. My receipt passed the $13 mark with gratuity and a soft drink, so for that money, just get some Tyson’s microwaveable wings and a 2-liter of Coke and save a few bucks. Better luck next week. ”
- Steve

“I’m a frequent visitor of Chili’s and a big fan of their food/restaurant. I’ve probably had their chicken wings a couple dozen times in the past so there wasn’t a great deal of anticipation on what to expect, although I was excited about sampling some of the other varieties. For my main course I went with the Wings Over Buffalo (all drumettes - a huge win) which I would have to say is my favorite versus any of the other chicken like offerings. They came out to the table with a lightly crisp outer skin (non-breaded) glazed with what I would consider a medium buffalo sauce. The consistency of the drumette is almost perfect with no part of the chicken that you wouldn’t file your teeth down to get off the bone. The sauce is hot enough to delight the tongue but not so hot as to cause a mad rush for a picture of you favorite beverage or to cause the hot sauce sinus cleansing thing. The first two to three drumettes were excellent however after that they all tasted a bit mundane and it just became lunch. For the $8.29 (kind of expensive for just an appetizer) you get approximately 10 drumettes which are filling if you’re a 9 year old. For under $10 I would expect Chili’s could offer the drumettes and a side which would be more than enough for most people. To summarize Chili’s makes a consistent great tasting product which I’m sure to consume several more times in my lifetime. As for the sampling I had a taste of the Boneless Shanghai wings which I will respectfully avoid ordering in the future.”
- Shawn

“For our first wing foray, we chose Chili’s. I ordered the Boneless Buffalo Wings, and received a basket of nuggets doused in wing sauce accompanied by a few celery sticks and Bleu Cheese dressing. The portion was a reasonable one, if a little expensive at $7.50. Using nuggets instead of real wings means you don’t necessarily have to end up with sauce all over your hands unless you choose to, however, if you’re partial to the taste / texture of real wings, you’ll definitely notice the difference. The sauce was good, but just a touch too hot for my taste. One of our other reviewers sampled my dish and the “real” wings and said mine was hotter, so maybe they aren’t using the same sauce, although I’d be surprised if this was the case. It just may be that the breading on the nuggets holds more sauce than a normal wing does. all in all, I would rate the portion 4 / 5, taste 4 / 5, and value 3 / 5.”
- Chris

That’s it for now. I echo everyone else’s sentiment. I’m just trying to get caught up to real time.

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