“Home of the Best Wings in St. Louis” is the bold claim you’ll be presented with when you visit Syberg’s website. How do they back this claim up? They’ve won People’s Choice awards both in Buffalo, NY and at the venerable Wing Ding in St. Louis, MO. Some pretty legit credentials. They’re also the favorite wings of several of my friends.

What I’m trying to say is that people – lots of people – really like Syberg’s wings. Some of my friends who have been eating them since their youth are borderline obsessed with them. As one said to me last night, “After being raised on Syberg’s wings, I think all other wings are terrible.” Even taken as hyperbole, this is a pretty extreme stance. This lukewarm review will be blasphemous to anyone with a similar mindset.

When people refer to Syberg’s wings, they are likely referring to the “Syberg’s Original Sauce” variety. (Also offered on the menu: Buffalo Brown Sugar, Buffalo, Suicide, Tay’s Teriyaki, Trashed, Frank’s Sweet Chili, and BBQ. Lots of options.) The first word that people that most people would use to describe how this sauce tastes is “mustardy”. It’s thick, creamy, a very little bit spicy and definitely has a mustardy aspect to it.

I do think this sauce is delicious though, even though I’m very suspicious that it contains a more-than-healthy amount of mayonnaise. This very popular sauce is sold online, so I thought I’d be able to find a list of actual ingredients, but after about 15 minutes of searching, I’ve given up. However, by my estimation, the appeal of the sauce deteriorates as you stuff more and more wings into your face. It’s too rich, too creamy and doesn’t have enough kick for me to enjoy a full order of them.

What about the chicken itself? For my order last night, it were a bit on the overcooked side. The wings themselves were large, but not offensively large, the chicken was dry and the skin was a bit chewy. The dryness of the wings was easily overcome by the fact that they are served doused in a very generous helping of the sauce.

Whether I like it or not, Syberg’s (5 locations, and also Helen Fitzgerald’s, a Syberg’s Eating and Drinking Restaurant) is a St. Louis wing institution. And if you want wings, you could certainly do worse. These are absolutely better than average-bar chicken wings, and they’ve got a lot of sauces to choose from if mustard isn’t your thing.

But not by a long shot are these the best wings in St. Louis, by this reviewer’s estimation. They aren’t even in the top 10. I dined with a couple out-of-town friends, and neither of them were particularly impressed. If you want great spicy-mustard wings, I’d recommend Schottzie’s. (But then again, I always recommend Shottzie’s.) If you want to read someone say some really nasty things, that I don’t agree with necessarily, about these wings, check out this Off the Eaten Path STL article I dug up while trying to find the ingredients to the sauce.