Wings Reviewed: Signature and Spicy Thai

Genre: Place That Serves Wings

Overview: In the great haze of holidays and laziness towards the end of 2013, I ate wings at 5 or 6 places, but neglected to write about them. Rather than review things I ate two months ago, I figured I’d just let ’em go.

Three Kings Public House, in The Loop, was one of the places I went to during this time, and it was so good that I couldn’t wait to go back and give it the review it deserves. Fortunately, I had bought 2 Groupon-esque deals, so it was an easy choice.

Unlike a lot of Groupon places though, they seem to do good business AND have good food. We had a 20 minute wait when we went at 6:00 on a Friday night, and they were full when we left as well. If I remember correctly, it was pretty full the last time we were there as well.

They have a good beer list, and the beers are from a variety of craft breweries around the US. They cost a standard $5-6

Service on both of our visits was great. The wait staff is friendly and informed. They offer a few specials every day and each time we’ve gone they’ve sounded delicious. The rest of the menu that I’ve tried is also delicious.

An order of chicken wings at Three Kings costs $9.99 and you can split your order half and half betweeen the two sauces they offer, “Signature” and “Spicy Thai”. It’s a good move if you’re looking for some variety. But don’t make the mistake I did and eat them in the wrong order!

Signature Sauce

BAD • FAIR • GOOD • GREAT • BEST

Left: Spicy Thai, Right: Signature

I think I made a mistake here. When I’m eating more than one type of wing, I try to eat them in order of mildest to spiciest. I assumed that the signature sauce was a buffalo sauce and that the other option (the Spicy Thai sauce) was more mild, because Asian sauces are regularly the more mild option, even when they have “spicy” in the name. Also, I had probably forgotten that it had “spicy in the name”.

I was wrong. The Spicy Thai Sauce was spicier and when I got to these wings, my tastebuds weren’t up to the task of noticing much about them.

These wings seemed like a kind-of-buffalo sauce, but definitely not one that’s too spicy. The main star of these wings, and also a highlight of the Thai Wings reviewed below, is the chicken. It’s lightly breaded and perfectly cooked. The outside was light and crispy and the inside was tender and juicy.

Anyway, I ate the wings in the wrong order, and I remember them being better last time. But these are still good because the chicken is so good, and maybe even boardering on great, despite my bad description.

Spicy Thai Sauce

BAD • FAIR • GOOD • GREAT • BEST

In the above review, I probably portrayed these wings as spicier than they really are. They are probably less spicy than “Hot” at Buffalo Wild Wings, but they sure are tastier.

Among the asian inspired wing sauces I’ve reviewed so far, these are second only to O! Wing Plus’ Hot Mama wings in their deliciousness. If you like asian-style wings, you’ll love these.

The sauce was a little bit sticky, perhaps due to honey or brown sugar, but was not overwhelmingly sweet. Whatever the source of the sweetness, it gave a nice added carmelization that enhanced the texture of the breading. The sweetness also balanced out the spice of the peppers involved in the sauce.

Like the Signature Sauce wings, the wings were cooked with care juicy on the inside and crisp on the outside. If I were going to order the wings again at Three Kings (and I almost certainly would), I’d get a full order with the Spicy Thai sauce.

Visited at 6:00pm, 01/31/2014, 6307 Delmar Boulevard 63130