Wingsday is on a break.  4 weeks.  Starting now.

Oh, don’t worry - we’re still eating wings.  We just won’t be reviewing them (for public consumption, anyway) for the next month.  You see, as we’ve gotten further into this, we’ve realized there are a few holes in our review “net” - so we’re taking this time to fix ‘em.

Check back with us after the 4th of July, and we’ll have a review waiting for you . . .

In the meantime, enjoy some heat, as part of the summer and on your wings!

Anyway, this week we visited Wingstreet, inside of Pizza Hut on S. Florida Ave in Lakeland. So, on to the reviews:

“I must admit that I was not very excited when I learned where we were going for Wingsday on this day, Pizza Hut. I thought to myself, ‘They can not make pizza very well, what makes them think they can make wings?’ To my amazement I was surprised. There were several different varieties available and all of them seemed good. I ordered Spicy Asian and the Honey BBQ. When the wings arrived I was amazed, temperature-wise they were very hot and had just the -right amount of sauce. The Spicy Asian were exactly what they said, the sauce was a sweet and sour mixture with a shot of peppers. The Spicy Asian were a treat to have after eating some of the other flavors because it helped cool the mouth. (Agreed… a good palette cleanser, like that little pink stuff you eat between sushi rolls to quench that wasabi-burn.) The Honey BBQ was good as well, my least favorite, but good. The BBQ sauce was not very thick and contained a hint of smoke flavor which no other location has done.

Others at the table order Buffalo Burnin Hot, Garlic Parmesan, and Cajun. When the Buffalo Burnin Hot was ordered our waitress warned us they were extremely hot, I laughed. We were at Pizza Hut, how hot could wings be? She was right. The Cajun wings arrived and had a strong pepper smell. I have tried Cajun wing at several locations now and how decided I am not a fan of these so to me they were okay. I was very optimistic of the Garlic Parmesan. When this wing arrives on a table most of the time it looks like a wing that has been dipped in some sort of Alfredo sauce. Thank goodness these were not. These wing had a good buttered glaze with garlic on top and what looked like fresh Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. These wings were excellent, overall these were the best.

I would visit Pizza Hut again for wings and would not have a problem ordering any of the above flavors.”
-Jason

“This week we went to Pizza Hut for Wingsday, that’s right: Pizza Hut. Well it was actually a WingStreet Pizza Hut that served pizza and wings. I arrived a little late and asked some of the other reviewers to order on my behalf. When I arrived I noticed that the waitress seemed a little stressed and might have been the only one serving with a full blown lunch crowd in the dining area. Both the food and drink seemed to take a little while to arrive with the wings coming out in stages. (Yes… I believe I probably waited 20 minutes overall for my drink — AFTER reminding her 3 times. What do you expect from a “Fast Food Waitress?”) Since there was quite a bit of confusion about what wings belonged to who we basically put them in the middle of the table and started sampling each flavor. All of the wings were medium size, non-breaded and cooked to a good consistency. (Kudos to Wingstreet for labeling the plates with stickers denoting each wing flavor.) Below is a summary of each wing that I sampled:

Buffalo Burnin’ Hot – Probably one of the hottest wings we’ve had so far. Although the heat was top notch; the flavor of the sauce was just average.

Garlic Parmesan – These were excellent wings and there’s nothing more I can really say outside of the fact that they were probably one the best, if not the best, Garlic Parmesan wing I’ve ever had.

Cajun – These were OK nothing special or great about them.

Spicy Asian - As the menu explains these wings have a sweet sauce with a little bit of kick. I’m not a big fan of really sweet sauces on my wings so I thought they were just average.

Most of the wings were more than adequately covered in there respective sauce and there were no containers provided for us to place our eaten wings into so we placed them on napkins. The waitress made up for this snafu by bringing us warm moist (cloth like) paper towels to clean up with afterwards. Forget the moist towelettes that come in the little square packets — this is the way to go. Overall the price was right (20 wings for $10.99) and the wings themselves were pretty good. I’m pretty sure just about everyone has been to a Pizza Hut so that environment and service is pretty much what you would expect from past experience. (Yeah, it wasn’t great… but they did turn up the A/C at our request!)”
-Shawn

“This week we went to WingStreet. I have heard really good things about this place, and even saw the awards they won last year, but still wondered how good wings could be from a Pizza Hut. The restaurant was pretty slammin’ for the pizza buffet. I think we were the only ones with wings in that whole place. First and foremost, our waitress sucked. (Again, I stress that I cannot agree more.) It took her 20 minutes and about 4 requests before she even brought me my glass of water, then another 5 minutes before I could get a straw. (SEE?!) More on her later. The wings came out by orders of 10. We all pretty much shared everything. So here is the wing breakdown.

Hot - These were really good. I can’t remember the last time I sweat from eating wings. The heat really grew on you.

Spicy Asian - These were not spicy, but very nice anyways. They had a subtle citrus flavor to them.

Garlic Parmesean - Nice and crispy. The flavor was very well dispersed throughout the entire wing - not just on the surface.

Cajun - These were just kind of peppery. I wasn’t a fan.

Honey BBQ - Someone finally got it right. They had a nice smoky flavor, not just doused with K.C. Masterpiece.

Overall I was very pleased with the wings. They were pretty large, very flavorful, and cooked really well. Also, I liked that they didn’t skimp on the sauce. The environment was pretty nice, as much as you could expect from a Pizza Hut. The restroom’s floor was sticky. That’s negative points for me. Our waitress was never around. Our cups were always empty. When she was around, however, she made me very uncomfortable by somehow managing to always place her 50 year old left breast on my right shoulder. (Watching that happen each time actually added points for the rest of us.) How thoughtful of her. She topped the day off by taking my debit card off the table (before I could even react) and charging me for the wrong meal. I then had to go through the entire process of voided my purchase and ringing up the correct ticket. Thanks for making me arrive late to work.”
-Mike

“It’s weird for me to be on this side of the proverbial table, writing a review rather than sprinkling my witticisms throughout the entire post, but I’ve got confidence Scott will hold down the fort/make fun of me admirably. (I’ll try my best… but sometimes it’s too easy.)

What do you say about Wingstreet? They have Pepsi products? Their pizza buffet is second to none? No, we do wings, and Pizza Hut’s entry into the wing market gave us plenty of choices – Spicy Asian, Parmesan Garlic, Burnin’ (their apostrophe abuse, not mine) Hot, Honey BBQ, and Cajun (there may have been a few others we didn’t get to). I was very impressed with the sauces they used; not overpowering, but plenty of flavor. That said, the wings were small, occasionally broken, and not overly meaty (that’s what she said!) (Jeez, stop writing parenthesis jokes! That’s MY job this week!). I’d recommend the Parmesan Garlic or Spicy Asian as the best of the crowd.

The service was poor, perhaps because there was one waitress for a very busy lunchtime crowd. As for value, this ranked near the top - $5.99 for 10 wings. Add in the fact that you could conceivably have them delivered to your door, and WingStreet’s a win. Not the best I’ve had, but a surprisingly tasty wing for a chain restaurant. (That’s what she… oh, you already ruined it.)
-Travis

“Today we went to Pizza Hut, I mean WingStreet for lunch. I tried hard not to be biased based solely on my low opinion of their pizza. I shrugged off the server’s warning that the Buffalo Burnin’ Hot wings were “very hot.” Yeah right, like Dave Thomas (of Wendy’s fame) makes a spicy chicken sandwich. (He does make a mean Frosty, brother.) Wingstreet’s wing sauce is a very unnatural red no. 5 colored capsaicin sauce that definitely brings the funk and the noise. That is to say, they were flipping hot. (Steve nearly got an open-handed smack because I think I saw a tear forming in his eye…) There was a strong vinegar acidic burn as well, and not in a good way. I tried the spicy Asian and honey BBQ flavors as well. They were much better. The atmosphere was exactly what you’d expect from a dine-in homogenized, generic, franchised \ chain establishment. Service left something to be desired as well. I doubt I’d go back to the dine-in restaurant, but I’d probably be okay with a delivery order of any flavor other than hot. They missed the mark in my humble opinion on the standard hot wing flavor, but did well in the artisan flavors. Coming in at about six bucks for ten wings, the value is hard to beat. For the technically savvy chicken wing lover, you can even order online. On the upside, I learned two new terms at lunch; the iron cross and the log cabin. Since this is a wing review I’ll leave those for you to Google on your own. (As the person who introduced these new phrases to the table, I recommend NOT googling them, especially prior to lunchtime.)”
-Steve

Overall, I’d pretty much agree with everyone: The waitress would have been better off had she not come in to work that day. The “special” flavors were halfway decent. The price was a good deal. The Buffalo Burnin’ Hot made my tounge feel like I had just licked a Solar Flare (with less flavor). The wings were medium-to-small sized, but had enough meat on them to satisfy. See, then I coulda said “that’s what she said” here. It fits so much better. That’s what she said. Crap. Thanks, Travis. See ya’ll next week!

“I was a little apprehensive about going to a Japanese Sushi Bar & Grill for Wingsday but I understand that that we must be diverse in our reviews (What - do you want us to discriminate against a place because it’s not a sports bar?). As we walked in we noticed that the restaurant was clean and easy on the eyes. Our hostess (restaurant owner) even wiped down our table before we sat down which was reassuring. Although the menu listed Chicken Wings (listed as Cho-Kara) as an available option I was a little concerned about what the “special sauce” was? We had plans to order a few wings and then maybe another entrée just in case the wings didn’t work out. Our waitress (restaurant owner) who was full of spunk came out and instantly sold us on how good the wings were so I ordered 12 of them in the “special sauce”, forget the entrée.

We were told that it would take about 15 to 20 minutes for everything to cook but it seemed more like 30 to 40 minutes. The waitress understood that it was taking longer than expected so she brought us out some Edamame (We called them Japanese French fries, but they were really soy beans) to curb our appetite. The wings arrived and again I was a little concerned with the “special sauce” it didn’t look all of that appetizing (The closest I can come to describing it is like the parmesean wings at Hooters, at least in sauce appearance/consistency). The wings themselves were quite large, had loads of meat of them, and when I finally bit into them I determined that they were cooked to near perfection. The sauce that I had been so worked up about was tasty as well with a small touch of heat. Our waitress continued to amuse us with her wing talk and made our experience pleasurable. The prices weren’t bad either for the quality/quantity of the wings (12 wings/$9.95).”
–Shawn

“Shingetsu can be defined as “enlightenment of the mind” according to the lazyweb. We were referred to this Japanese eating establishment because of its highly ranked wings at a Chamber of Commerce sampling. This is the first time I’ve ever had edamame with my wings. I guess edamame is Japanese for French fries. The wings were very large and of good quality. They were fried to near perfection. The “special sauce” however, leaves something to be desired. They were not at all hot. The sauce was the tangy pink-orange-white concoction that you find as a staple at many Japanese steak houses. It often goes by the names shrimp sauce, yum yum sauce, or sakura sauce. I’m glad I tried them, but would likely not eat chicken wings at Shingetsu again. I doubt that my mind was enlightened much during this visit to Shingetsu. Perhaps I’ll opt for sushi at my next visit. Shingetsu is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to eat wings there.”
–Steve

“Imagine my excitement when I found out that we were going to hold Wingsday at a Japanese Sushi Bar & Grill. My two favorite things all in one place, IN ONE DAY! I got a little crap for my order, but I will justify it in a minute. I got a half order (6) of the wings, and an order of the Spicy Tuna Roll. As you may well guess, people judged me ordering sushi on Wingsday (Yes - he’s talking about me.  I’m a judger.  It’s called Wingsday for a reason!). I like to just think of it as a side order of fries.

The wings came out in no time at all after about 40 minutes, which makes an hour long lunch break difficult. They were covered with the “secret sauce” which is a scary term in an Asian bistro. Basically, the special sauce turned out to be that mayonnaise based dipping sauce you get at a hibachi grill. It was ok. The wings were good in size, more comparable to Decisions than any other place I have gotten wings in a while. The server/cook/owner/hostess/short, loud Asian woman said they would be too hot for us, and that we should order rice as well - just in case we couldn’t eat the wings. These wings had no heat to them at all. My Spicy Tuna Roll had more of a kick with my soy sauce/wasabi concoction.

As for the sushi? Listen. Tuna is commonly know as “chicken of the sea.” Just ask Jessica Simpson. So, with a little kick from the wasabi, my tuna has now become buffalo chicken. Very justifiable (Hardly.  But funny). ”
–Mike

“Shingetsu – the name alone made me think more of Bourbon “Chicken” than Chicken Wings. So I showed up, expecting the worst.

But I was pleasantly surprised. As I arrived 30 minutes late, the wings were just being served as a sat down. They were very large – comparable to the famed Decision’s Wings that has been our baseline for wing-size.

They were cooked perfectly (I’m with you on this.  As far as cooking a wing goes, you can’t do it better than Shingetsu). I mean that. Crispy on the outside, steaming hot on the inside. And all that meat – cooked thoroughly. The sauce – I cannot begin to describe the flavor here. It had a tiny kick of heat with an oriental flair. Not the “teriyaki” Orient – the honest-to-goodness taste of Japan. I think. I was never good at geography. Unlike anything we’ve tasted thus far, in a good way. Wingalicious.

The service was second-to-none. Our waitress/chef/owner was attentive, friendly, and just talkative enough to not be over-bearing. She said we can call-ahead next time and they’d start cooking. She even offered to bring additional wing sauce, hot sauce, snap beans, etc. It could have been that we were only one of two parties in there, but it was probably my ravishing good looks and boyish charm (I’m sure it was your ravishing good looks and boyish charm; although, now that I think about it, didn’t you show up, like, 30 seconds before we ate?).

The ambiance was not that of what one would normally think of when dining on Wings – it was a nicely decorated, typical Sushi Bar. Not the beer-swilling, peanut-shells-on-the-ground, forty-two-70-inch-televisions-at-every-corner establishment like we’re used to. The frat-boy in me wants to deduct points because of this, but the grown-up in me likes the nutritious shredded wheat! upscale part of it all.

Now I finally have a place I can bring my wife to for Sushi and Sake, while I can chow down on man-food.”
–Scott

(Please note - this review is a week late - since most of our traffic comes on Wednesday, we’ve decided to hold our reviews back one week and publish on Wednesday. Just keeping you in the loop.)

“O.K. guys, today is the first day of my vacation. I don’t really want to
think a lot about everything (or anything), so this is not going to be like my typical
reviews. Here we go:

• wings were pretty good, I got Hail Mary and Sweet Hot
• Hail Mary had good heat; I didn’t care for the Sweet Hot
• restrooms were very clean
• restaurant atmosphere was nice. I liked it (I did too. I thought it was a different, but very cool atmosphere).
• service was very prompt, even though our waitress was spaced out. She
may have had a mental disorder, so I don’t want to talk too much trash (he totally nailed this. She was a good waitress, just out there somewhere).

Alright, I’m going to St. Augustine (Evidently, whenever you have decent wings with a spaced out waitress, the appropriate response is to go to St. Augustine. Who knew?). See you next week.”
–Mike

“Today was my first Wingsday experience, and let me just say I was nervous. These guys are professionals and I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers (Is that a wing joke? Because it’s pretty funny).

I ordered 6 honey bbq and 6 teriyaki wings (We’ll call this the “woman’s platter”) I passed on the 75 cent fries, because they weren’t the crinkly kind, and we all know that those are hands down the best kind of fries ever. The first wing I picked up was delicious, I think I even exclaimed out loud how wonderful it was. I thought it was the honey bbq…I found out quickly, after I picked up a wing from the other side of the plate, it was a teriyaki. Silly me (obviously, we’re not all professionals). Either way they were both pretty good. The wings were big…2 or 3 mouthfuls per wing (and some would say I have a big mouth). The honey bbq weren’t good to me, but I don’t like bbq. I don’t know why I ordered them, I think I was just nervous and we were late and I needed to say something, so I picked them. The teriyaki more than made up for it though, ’cause they were really teriyawesome (Wow. Just wow.). I even ended up with sauce on my neck…so you know I was into it.

Miscellaneous:
The waitress was nice, but spaced out.
The ceiling had glow-in-the-dark stars on it w/ black lights. RAVE!
Somehow, my Dr. Pepper got refilled with sweet tea, and I didn’t notice until Scottie pointed it out to me (This has got to be reassuring to our readers. “Reviewer didn’t notice sweet tea mixed with Dr. Pepper. I’m sure she can tell the difference between good wings and bad.”). Guess I was spaced out too.
You can get 12 wings and a drink for $6.99, and ad fries for 75 cents, so that is a really good lunch deal.

I’d go back.”
–Emily (special guest reviewer, and wife of Mike. It’s also important to note a couple of things - a. Emily was in charge of photos for this week, and b. I’m sure the photos are safe, up in St. Augustine)

“Champs was one of the first places to do a lot of things “right” in my eyes (Finally. 12 wing establishments and we found one that does a lot of things right. I’m kidding. Sortof). For starters, seating and TVs abound… probably more televisions than any place we’ve been to yet. Not to mention the fact that there were 5 of us in a booth and there was still ample room.

The wings came out extremely quickly – this is both a positive and negative statement. Positive because we were hungry, negative because we learned that during the “lunch special” they continuously cook wings, ordered or not. This leads me to believe that there might be some heat-lamp action going on during slower lunch hours, but I digress (I thought the same thing, but I have no complaints about the quality based on our experience).

I ordered 12 wings, with fries and a drink (For less than 8 bucks!)– 6 “Garlic” and 6 “Hail Mary,” a step below their hottest wing. With the continuous cooking of wings, I think it’s a fair bet that nearly all wings are “made-to-order” by dipping them in whatever sauce you order right before they hit your plate. The Garlic wings tasted like the garlic-butter you get with a Shrimp Scampi. Not that great, and not very “strong” like our waitress warned us. They were a far cry from Kau’s ButterGarlic wings, my personal (yet unreviewed) favorite wing. The Hail Marys (“Maries?” – change “Y” to an “I” and add “es” ?? (This is why I love Scott - he writes his own jokes)) had a decent flavor but lacked the “kick” of heat I would expect from a second-hottest wing. Now I wish I had tried “Lava.” At least they were temperature-hot, and crispy. Not extremely tasty though. I will say Travis’ Hot-Garlic mix were the best wings I sampled.

The 75 cent fries were 25 cents worth of fries with 0 cents worth of salt/seasoning thrown on a plate. I need a gansta refund – I want my 50 cent. [Alternate Joke “50 cents worth of fries… I feel like The Dolphins – I need a Quarterback.”] (ummm, maybe you should leave the jokes to me)

The waitress was attentive, but apathetic, and… out there. One of the wingmen called her a Space Cadet, and I feel it suits her; she appeared to be in a helpless orbit around the restaurant, governed by some unknown force that made her visit our table every 20 minutes like a wayward comet… completely devoid of all intelligent life. Don’t drink that Kool-Aid, kids. (See - I’ve got nothin’ to add to that paragraph. It’s perfect.)

Overall I’d return to Champs. The fact that my buddy Josh (Which was an UNBELIEVABLY nice gesture) picked up everyone’s tab may have me biased. The atmosphere was great. The manager who visited our table (twice) was friendly. The waitress was… a good conversation piece. And the wings… well, maybe I’d just order a few beers. And invite Josh.”
–Scott

“Today we went to Champs Sports Bar & Grill, which I’ve heard of and seen but never visited. When we walked in the first thing that caught our eye was the black lighting and the glow in the dark items (stickers?) on the ceiling. It was interesting to say the least and isn’t something you see in every restaurant Bar & Grill. Once we got past that little distraction we noticed that everything was well laid out and seemed very clean. We sat down to read the menu and quickly discovered that we may have found the best deal on wings in town. There at the top of a menu, that seems to contain well over 100 items, was a deal that gets you 12 wings and a drink (even a beer if so inclined) for $6.95. The deal became even sweeter when we found out we could get a side of fries for $0.75 more (as someone who moves among wing-type circles, this is a fantastic value). Not knowing how filling everything was going to be I ordered 12 wings half hot and half Cajun with a side of fries.

The food came out about 10 minutes after we ordered and everything looked well prepared. The wings were medium-large to large in size (pretty close to Decisions) and I was impressed with the quality of the chicken (me too - not a lot of broken wings). The hot had good flavor and although they weren’t overwhelming they did have a little kick to them. There are two other levels of hot including Hail Mary (one level above hot) and Lava (The hottest). Some of the other reviewers ordered the Hail Mary wings and again I thought that they had a good flavor with a nice kick. No one tried the Lava wings however I’m sure they would have been just as good and should have brought some heat. The Cajun wings were a little on the bland side, I wasn’t impressed. Most of us quickly realized that the wings were very filling and we could have done without the fries which were just OK nothing to write home about (I want to hang out here for a second - it’s amazing how many places we ate at where, no matter how many wings we ate, we could leave and get milkshakes. Not the case with this place.).

The entire experience was very pleasant and it got even better when a friend (Josh) of our friends had the waitress come over after he had left to tell us that he was picking up the tab. We were all little shocked (very grateful) as this doesn’t happen very often in today’s world. Travis and I had only met this gentleman about 45 minutes earlier so we were taken back by the display of generosity. There were a few service slip-ups for a couple of the reviewers (imagine how Dr. Pepper/Tea or Coke/Tea taste when mixed together, probably not very good) but overall I felt the waitress and the other workers in the restaurant were nice and attentive. In my opinion champs may not be the best place we’ve been so far but I feel that it ranks very close to the top (I guess we’ll see about that).”
–Shawn

1. Kazbor’s Grille
2. Decision’s
3. Beef O’Brady’s
4. The Winner’s Circle
5. Bedrock Cafe
6. KauKau Koner
7. Ker’s Winghouse
8(tie). The Gym
8(tie). Salem’s
8(tie). Hooters
8(tie). Chili’s
8(tie). Ale Gators

Keep in mind that we realize these aren’t all of the wing establishments in Lakeland - our quest is far from over. Also, it’s important to note that these are ranked on 6 subjective criteria: Wings, Heat, Variety, Service, Value, and Atmosphere.

Steve’s Individual Leaders
Best Wing: (tie) Decision’s/Kazbor’s
Best Heat: (tie) KauKau Koner/Kazbor’s
Best Variety: (tie) Decision’s/Winner’s Circle/Beef O’Brady’s
Best Service: Decision’s
Best Value: (tie) Kazbor’s/Salem’s
Best Atmosphere: Kazbor’s

Tomorrow, we’ll let you inside Mike’s head (scary!) . . .

1(tie). Kazbor’s
1(tie). Decision’s
3(tie). KauKau Koner
3(tie). Winner’s Circle
5. The Gym
6. Ale Gator’s
7(tie). Ker’s Winghouse
7(tie). Hooter’s

(It’s important to note that Scott did not rank Beef’s, Bedrock’s, Chili’s, or Salem’s as he didn’t attend those days. Those establishment’s will NOT be penalized in the overall rankings)

Keep in mind that we realize these aren’t all of the wing establishments in Lakeland - our quest is far from over. Also, it’s important to note that these are ranked on 6 subjective criteria: Wings, Heat, Variety, Service, Value, and Atmosphere.

Scott’s Individual Leaders
Best Wing: KauKau Koner
Best Heat: KauKau Koner
Best Variety: (tie) Decision’s/Winner’s Circle
Best Service: Ker’s Winghouse
Best Value: Kazbor’s
Best Atmosphere: (tie) Ale Gator’s/The Gym

Tomorrow, we’ll let you inside Steve’s head (scary!) . . .

1. Kazbor’s Grille
2. Decision’s
3. KauKau Koner
4. Beef O’ Brady’s
5. Winner’s Circle
6. Bedrock Cafe
7. Ale Gator’s
8. Chili’s
9. Salem’s
10. Ker’s Winghouse
11. Hooters

(It’s important to note that Shawn did not rank “The Gym” as he was on vacation that week)

Keep in mind that we realize these aren’t all of the wing establishments in Lakeland - our quest is far from over. Also, it’s important to note that these are ranked on 6 subjective criteria: Wings, Heat, Variety, Service, Value, and Atmosphere. Although Kazbor’s scored the highest, Decision’s is Shawn’s Best Wing.  The rest of Shawn’s leaders - Kazbor’s and KauKau tied for Best Heat - Kazbor’s, Decision’s, and Beef’s for Variety - Decision’s for Service - Kazbor’s for value (although, to be fair, we went on “all you can eat wings” Thursday) - and Ale Gator’s for Best Atmosphere.

Tomorrow, we’ll let you inside Scott’s head (scary!) . . .

“It was inevitable. Wingsday must review all chicken wing establishments in the area and we couldn’t leave out Hooters - a giant in the wing business (and another business!). Hooters’ reputation was the only thing giant about it. Well, almost. Hooter’s chicken wings are as bulimic as their waitresses. Each could stand to put some meat on their bones. I tried the 911-hot chicken wings, naked. They are the second hottest wings on the menu. Only three mile island are said to be hotter. They were small, dry and lacking in meat. After consuming 11.5 wings (one was severely damaged) I’m starving (I was too - it’s sad to spend fifteen dollars on lunch and then need to get dessert on the way back to the office). The sauce was a deep red paste smeared on as an after thought then dehydrated, possibly via heat lamp. It tasted more like a tomato based spicy pasta sauce. Thankfully, I borrowed a Cajun and a parmesan wing from fellow wingmen. The Cajun were good, the parmesan were gross, dripping in cream sauce. I doubt I’d miss Hooters (the restaurant) if I never laid eyes on them (ummm, it?) again. I’m surprised how poorly the major wing establishments are measuring up against the hole-in-the-wall unknowns (Word - this is the most amazing thing to me; no-name places killing the big names. It’s like David and Goliath, only, if like David and Goliath were both chicken wings).”
–Steve

“Today we visited Hooters on the South side. Overall I must say that I was not impressed, in fact it sucked (I love the bluntness of this statement). Here is a breakdown of the day:

1. Arrived at 12:30 PM
2. Very busy
3. Service was extremely slow (Unbelievably slow. We were with a large party, but still, it was ridiculous)
4. Iced tea was watered down
5. Ordered 10 Spicy Garlic/Cajun wings
6. Food took approximately 45 minutes to come out
7. Wings were very greasy
8. To much sauce on the wings
9. Wings were also salty and to much pepper
10. The wings were so small I thought they were pulled from a Cornish hen
11. When I was finished I was still hungry
12. Even with the inside decoration it was not worth the price I paid, money or physically

Overall I would have to say that I am not sure I would visit Hooters again.”
–Jason

“Hooters. The name says it all. You know, now that I think about it, that’s all they really have going for them. There wasn’t much of a lunch rush today. In fact, it was a lot quieter than I remember Hooters being back when I frequented the establishment weekly. Oh how taste changes as you grow. I could tell it was going to be an interesting lunch from the moment I approached the table. To say that our waitress was tense/flustered would be like saying people go to Hooters for their quality cooked wings. I digress. The service was crap. The wings were crap. Even most of the “scenery” was crap. I can say, however, I never choose to eat at this place unless I have friends going there, which was the case for today.

Our waitress was totally (not) on top of things, scrambling all over the place, not knowing what plate was which flavor (this has happened to us a few times; if you advertise multiple flavors of wings, and you brag about how well you do it, how ’bout keeping ‘em straight for the customer. I would say that half the time we are forced to figure out the flavors on our own). At one point she blamed it on the cook’s colored toothpick technique. Later, she was complaining how she is usually very organized, but 3 girls didn’t show up for work. I don’t want to hear you complain. I just to eat a good wing. Well, I didn’t eat a good wing. I got 10 hot wings, naked, and an order of curly fries. The wings were the smallest pieces of meat that I had ever seen (that’s what she said) (funny guy! You beat me to it!) and the curtly fries were unseasoned and soggy. The only thing that would have made this experience better was 1) someone else had paid 2) beer would have been involved, or 3) all the waitresses were running around naked. I think the last option wouldn’t have been child friendly, or even a Hooters establishment at all. I think that this wing experience will be my last week with the Wingsday crew. I don’t know if I can emotionally handle another let down like this. (I’ll most likely be back next week)”
–Mike

“I approached this outing with apprehension – in the past I always used Mr. Everyman’s excuse for visiting the establishment: “Honey, it’s just because they have good wings, I swear!” (A similar ploy to “I only read it for the articles.”) However, I knew once my discerning taste buds sampled the food here, I might lose my excuse (What Scott meant to say here: Now that I’ve become a wing snob, I can’t check out the Hooter’s babes anymore, since their wings suck).

And I did. For starters, the wings/drums looked like they came from New York City pigeons more than actual chickens. Smallest wings ever. [Insert “large (chicken) breast” joke here.] (Okay - you know what they say about small wings?)

Moreover, the flavors just weren’t that great. Any combination of flavors was a nightmare… icky, gooey, too much seasoning. A mess. The hot wings were okay. The teriyaki was bad, but I hate teriyaki anyway. The Cajun were okay. Somehow I lucked out and picked (in my opinion) the best-tasting wing on the menu – the Spicy Garlic. That’s not saying much, though. The best tasting wing at Hooters is like being the smartest person to repeat 5th grade… twice.

From now on I’ll have to tell my wife I go to Hooters for the oysters (I would go for the shrimp!).”
–Scott

“The wings were good. Not really the best wings I’ve ever had. My favorite part about lunch was dipping the fries in the ranch. I liked the fries - not the best I’ve ever had, but they were good. I guess I would go back.”
–Christian (age - 8 - filling in for his dad and reviewing wings as part of “Bring Your Child to Work Day”)

Make sure to check Wingsday this week as we unvail our rankings thus far in the “Wing of the Year” competition.  Have a great weekend!

“Today we tackled Salem’s Gyros & Subs. I had 10 hot buffalo chicken wings with a side of onion rings. I’m not sure why they ask “here or to-go?” because everything was served up in styro-foam ready to take away (Trav: this is pretty convenient). Whatever (Don’t whatever me - it is convenient). From ordering at the counter to sitting down eating took maybe four minutes. Seriously, I’ve seen drive-thru burger joints run slower. The quality of the chicken wasn’t great. Some of the drumettes were very small (That’s what she said!). The wing pieces were better sized. The sauce smelled as though it was going to be very hot, but on the scoville scale, just measured at a normal hot to my taste. Overall I’d say the experience was a good one. Especially for a time crunched lunch. You could get in and out of there in no time and enjoy a decent wing. The sign boasted “open 365 days a year.” I guess now I know where to get a good hot wing meal on Thanksgiving or Christmas. They server platters of 100 wings too. Just what the holidays need (The holidays, do, in fact, need wings).”
–Steve

“Having driven past Salem’s Gyro shop many many times, I was confused when I found out that we would be eating there for Wingsday. When I arrived today, upon closer inspection, I noticed it was a fast food style establishment, even equipped with a drive thru. After I parked and walked in, I instantly knew that this would be a better place for take out rather than dine in. The dining area was maybe 20 feet wide by 50 feet long (that’s what she said), with not much room  (It really was kinda tiny, but I didn’t feel cramped.  Maybe that’s just me). Needless to say the tables were a bit crowded when surrounded by four grown men. Anywho, I placed my order. A number 6 platter. 10 wings and fries. I paid my bill and joined the guys while waiting for my food. I didn’t realize that a drink was not included. They should be more specific with that, because I thought “platter” meant everything I need to dine. Frustrated with the situation, I walked out to my car and drove away grabbed a bottle of water and returned to my lunch. The wings were pretty standard. Nothing special, except the ones that were cold (Mike ordered a few minutes after the rest of us - he probably got some of our leftovers). They tasted like every other mediocre wing tastes. They were decent in size. The fries were good. It was better than Ale Gator’s (At first, I disagreed with this - but I think he’s right). I would hardly rate this wing, or establishment, on a top list of places to dine, but I would eat there again (as long as it was take out).”
–Mike

“I’ve passed by Salem’s Gyro & Subs several times over the years. You really can’t miss the building since it’s quite colorful and tends to stand out (Seriously - it’s got flourescent lights and pink and blue accents - it slightly resembles a Miami Subs; are there still Miami Subs?).  It’s not in the greatest part of town, so I’ve never really given any consideration to stopping by, especially after dark. Wingsday occurs mostly during the daylight hours, so we gave it a shot. The restaurant was clean and although there were several people waiting for food, everything seemed well organized. I ordered the 10 wings and fries platter with a drink and paid under $10 which included free beverage refills. This is a fast food restaurant and the food came out in about 5 minutes. Many establishments openly advertise that it takes at least 20 minutes to thoroughly cook wings, so we (I had no concerns.  I’m brave like that) had some concerns about things being prepared so quickly. Regardless, when we picked up the food it seemed well cooked and we dug right in. The wings were cooked to a light crispy texture and had a very distinct flavor unlike any other wing that I’ve had. The sauce had a hint of sweetness and the hot flavor was a little too much on the medium side, but overall they tasted pretty good. The size of the actual wings were a medium large, but the drumsticks were quite small. We also noticed that we got about 12 to 14 pieces of chicken instead of just 10, which was a nice bonus. The fries were good and the shrimp that one of the guys ordered to share was not bad either. Although everything was pretty good about the experience, there was nothing great about it. I would give it an overall rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars.”
–Shawn

I would definitely eat there again, dine-in or take out.  The subs looked good, and the wings were definitely passable.

Stay tuned, as next week, we’ll be releasing the first official rankings from the Wingsday crew.  It’ll be like the BCS, only, you know, without football teams and computers.