Wings Reviewed: Medium, Mango Habanero

Genre: Wing Place

Overview:

Yeah, I went to college in a town with a Buffalo Wild Wings (B-Dubs) and I ate there a lot. I even wrote about it in The Torch, my school’s student newspaper as a Junior in college. When I was the paper’s Features Editor my Senior year, I’d pick up wing orders for the staff on a weekly basis. So… I’ve eaten a lot of wings, and they are kind of tied in my mind to writing.

That said, every time I go there, especially to dine in, I’m reminded why it’s not a regular part of my life anymore. It’s loud & crowded, the TVs are up too high to view comfortably, it’s overpriced and the service is bad. These are constants. Another constant is the inconsistency of the food: wing quality & sauce quantity vary widely location to location, order to order, wing to wing.

For a long time I’ve believed that the best B-Dubs experience is take-out, because you can normally get in and out in under 5 minutes (not a guarantee) and eat your wings in a more comfortable location. That’s what I did for this review.

You’d think it would be easy to order wings over the phone, but not only did I not get what I wanted, but my wife was told that they don’t even have the type of wings I want. What obscure flavor was I trying to order? Hot Buffalo. She argued with them for 2 minutes on the phone before ending up with Medium. Whatever.

This place is kind of expensive, especially on days that aren’t Tuesdays and Thursdays. They do have a ton of great wing flavors and are located in most decent sized cities in America. Even if you’re staying in a hotel, I’d get the wings to go and eat them in your room (I have done this, to comical results… another blog post for another time). If you stay, they’ve got a fine selection of national “craft” beers which you can choose from.

Medium

BAD • FAIR • GOOD • GREAT • BEST

Except for research purposes or to appease a group of spice averse eaters, I would never order medium wings. If I want a buffalo flavor, I want the burn that hot buffalo wings allegedly offer. As it is, most places hot wings aren’t hot enough for my liking.

Buffalo Wild Wings Hot Buffalo (from what I remember) is pretty good and hot though, and these Medium wings packed more of a kick than many place’s Hot ones. My particular wings had enough sauce on them and were crispy enough as well.

There’s something I find really enjoyable about the thickness & texture of a Buffalo Wild Wings sauce, when there’s enough of it, and there was plenty here. If you’re really spice averse, these might be a little bit much for you. Fortunately there’s a lot of options further down the heat scale.

If you’re really hankering for some traditional buffalo sauce flavor at B-Dubs, the medium wings are probably your safest bet. There are more adventurous sauces on the menu that you won’t find comparable versions to at other places that I’d try first.

Mango Habanero

BAD • FAIR • GOOD • GREAT • BEST

Mango Habanero is the 3rd spiciest wing on Buffalo Wild Wings menu. I’ve ordered the two spicier flavors (Wild and Blazin’) and for me, this is the spiciest enjoyable flavor. The other two are just burn with a limited amount of flavor.

While the coating is on the medium wings are a sauce, these wings are coated in a glaze. I don’t know what the technical difference is between the two, but I associate glazes as shinier and stickier than sauces. I’m sure there are other real differences, but I don’t know what they are.

These wings are extremely hot but provide a good amount of flavor as well. The sweetness of the mango serves to counterbalance the extreme heat of the Habanero. If I eat too many of these though, my face gets tingly and my forehead starts sweating. Even just a few is pretty intense. Maybe I’m a wimp. Your mileage may vary.

As for this particular order, there was enough sauce and they were pretty tasty. Among my 2 orders of wings, I didn’t get a single wing with gross gristle or anything like that.

If you’re at Buffalo Wild Wings and looking to push your taste buds limits with something you’ll actually enjoy, I’d go for the Mango Habanero.

Visited for carryout at 8pm, 9/8/2013, 1210 Strassner Drive, 63114