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BW-3 Buffalo Wild Wings

BW-3 Buffalo Wild Wings
Overall Rating: Product Rating: 3.5

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Buffalo Wild Wings - Finally A Winghouse Where I'm Comfortable Taking My Family

Written: Jul 05 '06 (Updated Jul 11 '06)

Product Rating: Product Rating: 4.0
Pros: Great sauce choices, fresh food, nice family atmosphere

Cons: I Wish they'd have the guts to cook a burger below medium.

The Bottom Line: If you like buffalo wings and don't want the floor show, Buffalo Wild Wings is a great family sports grill.
mongkut's Full Review: BW-3 Buffalo Wild Wings
Everyone in my family loves buffalo wings, even my four year old. My wife likes them well beyond atomic spiciness, my son mild, and me at about the atomic level. The problem I've had for many years now is that all the places that specialize in buffalo wings like Hooters and local chains Winghouse and Muggs & Juggs aren't the most family friendly places in the world. It's not even the waitresses parading around in tight shorts and t-shirts but the crowd they tend to draw. On a boys night out it might be one thing but with my wife and son I really don't want to hear some guy's graphic description of his "dream date" with a Hooters girl. I'm also of the opinion that there is something slightly creepy for middle-aged guys to be ogling 19 or 20 year old waitresses in hot pants.

Thankfully a chain that I had tried for the first time last year in Orlando has opened a branch not far from my home. Buffalo Wild Wings is a great addition to family oriented sports restaurants in our area.

Table of Contents

The Restaurant
The Food
The Sauces
Adult Beverages
Entertainment
Parking
Hours

The Restaurant

The Oldsmar Florida location of Buffalo Wild Wings is located at 4058 Tampa Road near the intersection of Tampa Road and St. Petersburg Drive West. The restaurant is quite large with two big dining areas and seating for well over 100 people. The decor is typical sports bar with memorabilia like team pennants, jerseys, and posters everywhere and several large screen TVs and ceiling or wall mounted TVs throughout. There are booths as well as tables and both seem to have been designed for ease of cleaning which is a good thing with all the wing sauce messiness eating here entails. Buffalo Wild Wings is a fun place to eat with video games for older kids and no bad seats for viewing whatever game happens to be playing on TV. The service is very friendly and very competent for a casual dining chain. In particular it is nice that the wait staff are well versed on the menu given the numerous choices of wing sauces available.

The Food

There are several choices for buffalo wings in my area and each have their fan base who believe their wings are the best in Tampa Bay. There are the t-shirt and hot pants places like Hooters, Winghouse, and Muggs & Juggs which I’ve mentioned as not really being family friendly. Then there is Beef O’Brady’s which although family friendly has a very uninspiring menu. The menu at Buffalo Wild Wings beats them all hands down with over 45 choices not including desert and the children’s menu. On top of this BWW has an unparalleled choice of wing sauces that when matched with the other menu items leaves little room for boredom. The wings themselves are excellent. Although I like the crispiness of Winghouse’s offerings I’m not crazy about the amount of oil saturated flour coating required to produce said crispiness. BWW’s wings are much lighter with almost no noticeable coating save their wonderful sauces. The wings are available in quantities of 6 ($4.19), 12 ($7.99), 18 ($10.99), 24 ($13.99), 50, and 100 or boneless wings in quantities of 8 or 12. Sauce choices include the following in order of heat from least hot to blazing:

The Sauces

Mild Sauces

Smilin’ Sweet BBQ
Teriyaki
Mild *
Parmesan Garlic

Medium Sauces

Sizzlin’ Medium *
Honey BBQ
Spicy Garlic
Asian Zing
Caribbean Jerk *

Hot Sauces

Screamin’ Hot BBQ
Hot *
Mango Habanero *
Wild *
Blazin’ *

* Denotes sauces my family and I have tried. The Sauces are all available for purchase separately in 12oz bottles.

As you can see there is quite a variety. My wife’s and my favorite is the Blazin’ which isn’t really that insanely hot. I would say that it would be a comfortable burn for anyone who likes spicy food. Wild is about as hot as many places ‘atomic’ level but not as flavorful as many vinegar based sauces. Mango Habenero is very tasty but to me seems more like a honey based sauce than one with any mango flavor. I was surprised by how mild this sauce was given it contains habenero peppers, the world’s hottest variety. It has a sort of slow burn but never really reaches the level any good habenero hot sauce might. Still very tasty though. The Hot sauce is not all that hot but very flavorful along the lines of good vinegar based sauces. Caribbean Jerk has the nice combination of spices like allspice and ginger found in good Jamaican sauces, not hot but very tasty. Sizzlin’ Medium is, to me, fairly mild but like the Hot has a nice dash of vinegar flavor. Mild is just that, very mild and should be tame enough for all but the most spice adverse tastes.

Beyond the wings BWW has several salads including typical chain choices like Chicken Caesar and Blackened Chicken Salads as well as salads featuring their popcorn shrimp and chicken tenders. Unlike several of their competitors, BWW serves up super fresh greens, red ripe tomatoes, and crisp vegetables along with very tasty dressings. To me this shows they want to be known for more than just pub grub.

Burgers are an unexpected highlight being big at 1/3 lb, juicy and flavorful. Varieties include the basic Classic Burger, Cheeseburger, Bacon Cheddar Burger, Honey BBQ Burger, Swiss & ‘Shroom Burger, and Black & Bleu Burger with Cajun spices and bleu cheese. My only issue with BWW’s burgers is that they do the typical corporate chicken-out move of not having enough faith in the quality of their beef to cook burgers less than medium. It is always a huge plus for me to find chains that step up and serve ‘em rare. For vegans (what, vegans can’t go to a winghouse?) BWW is thoughtful enough to include Gardenburgers on the menu.

Wraps and sandwiches get a strong showing at Buffalo Wild Wings with 15 choices between the two categories. Wraps include Chicken Tenders or Naked Tenders with your choice of sauce, Chicken Caesar, Buffalo Ranch Chicken, Southwest Chicken Queso, Popcorn Shrimp Queso, and a wrap they call the Grilled Chicken Buffalito. The Buffalito ($6.49) is one of our favorites and features grilled chicken, lettuce, pico de gallo, a blend of cheeses, sour cream and your choice of sauce wrapped in two flour tortillas. Sandwich choices include Grilled Chicken, Jerk Chicken, Buffalo Ranch Chicken, Honey BBQ Bacon Chicken, Chicken Parmesan, Spicy Chicken, Bacon Swiss Chicken, and a Fish sandwich. Let’s see other winghouses or sports bars beat that.

Buffalo Wild Wings’ menu also includes several appetizers of which my favorite is their Popcorn Shrimp at $5.99 for 1/2 lb or $7.99 for 3/4 lb. Other options are typical pub grub choices like Mozzarella Sticks, Ultimate Nachos, Loaded Chili Potato Skins, Three Cheese Quesadilla, Chicken Quesadilla, and Blue Corn Chips & Salsa. One nice appetizer if you are planning on having something other than wings as an entree is the Dynamic Sauce Trio. The Trio pairs either boneless wings, tenders, naked tenders, or popcorn shrimp with your choice of any three sauces making it sort of a taster appetizer.

All the food we have had has been very well prepared using fresh ingredients making each trip to Buffalo Wild Wings a winner. Prices at BWW are typical of other winghouses or sports bars. The food is very affordable with dinner for two easily coming in under $40. (Please be aware that as a chain the individual prices I included with some dishes may vary from location to location. These prices are for the Oldsmar location.)

At the Oldsmar location there are a number of specials available weekly including $.35 wings every Tuesday, $.99 kids meals every Sunday, happy hour Monday through Friday 3PM to 7PM, $.50 boneless wings every Thursday, and several other specials that rotate.

Adult Beverages

Another area that seperates Buffalo Wild Wings from the herd is their drink selection. BBW has a full bar featuring a wide selection of standard drinks as well as numerous frozen treats including their Frozen Mai Tai and Frozen Screwdriver. For beer lovers they have a nice selection of 15 by the bottle and an impressive 20 beers on tap including:

Aber Boch, Amber Boch Ultra, Amstel, Bass Ale, Blue Moon, Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, Fosters, Grolsch, Guinness, Heineken, Killian's, Michelob, Miller Lite, New Castle, Sam Adams Boston Lager, Sam Adams Seasonal (currently the Summer Ale), Stella Artois, and Yuengling.

Entertainment

Besides a multitude of TVs showing the current football, baseball, hockey, or other sporting event (They even show pay-per-view boxing matches and UFC fights) Buffalo Wild Wings has several video games and their own house trivia game Buzztime Trivia. If you would like to try it out cut and paste this link: http://www.buffalowildwings.com/game_room/index.asp. Along with Buzztime Trivia you can try their Beer Smarts Quiz.

With all these entertainment choices, the great wings, and the fantastic drink choices, Buffalo Wild Wings is a fun place to eat.

Parking

Parking at the Oldsmar location is usually OK with quite a few spaces near the front of the restaurant. Unfortunately this is sort of a strip mall set up and so you are competing with patrons from other businesses. Parking during busier times can be a bit of a hassle.

Hours

Buffalo Wild Wings Oldsmar location is open Monday through Thursday from 11AM to 12AM, Friday & Saturday from 11AM to 1AM, and Sunday from 11AM to 12AM.


Recommended:
Yes

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mongkut

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