TALKING BUFFALO REVIEWS: Wingstop (Chicken Tenders & Fries)

Is Wingstop Bringing A Knife To A Gun Fight In Buffalo?

Truthfully, I spent this Thursday night trying to go eat chicken tenders at Dave’s Famous Chicken. Needless to say, I was shocked to pull up to the door and find their suddenly closed until further notice.

Dejected but no less hungry, I said screw it and decided to give Wingstop a try---partially because I’ve already been meaning to but also because its literally less than six minutes from my house in West Seneca.

For this specific visit, I did decide to keep it to chicken tenders only. I do plan on trying their wings (traditional and boneless) another time, but I’ll be doing that with a friend. For these tenders, I went riding solo and here’s my honest review.

PROS

· Plenty of enjoyable tenderness on the inside of the tenders.

· Personally really enjoyed the French fries, well cooked.

· Cajun sauce I got on the side was fire! If it’s heat you’re looking for you’ll find it there.

· Mango Habanero had a solid kick.

· I didn’t wait long at all for my food (though observing plenty of others makes me think I got lucky)

CONS

· · The original hot sauce is bland and boring. Blah

· Louisianna Rub had potential but not nearly enough on the tenders to feel anything.

· Even if the flavor was good, they weren’t saucy enough.

· Terribly small eating area for anyone looking to dine in. Just five tables in total and four are two seaters. This place is clearly geared towards takeouts.

· Saw some people picking up food and one person waiting to dine stand around for an extended period of time (like I said, I think I got lucky).

PRICE: Five tenders (up to two flavors) with fries and a 20-ounce drink at just $14.14 is elite value. That’s literally cheaper than most McDonald, Wendy’s and Burger King combo deals.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

· Location is literally brand new, just a few weeks old.

· Nice, clean and sleek interior. I was impressed.

· Most definitely busy, especially with the pickups and Door Dash/Uber Eats.

· Subway is directly next door, Not sure I saw a single person go in there over the course of 40 minutes. Poor Subway.

CONCLUSION/SCORE

· As said previously, I’m saving the wings for another time, both traditional and boneless. I don’t have any expectations for those, though I didn’t have any for the tenders either.

· Wingstop’s tenders exceeded my expectations in that I had already written a shitty review of them in my head when ordering. In that regard, I was definitely wrong.

· Truth is franchise places almost always going to pale in comparison in places like Buffalo in terms of quality simply because Buffalo’s a staple for this kind of food--- wings, pizza, beef on weck and finger food. Wingstop competing with places like Bar Bill, Nine Eleven Tavern, Adolf’s, Kelly’s Korner, etc is bringing a knife to a gun fight—like, what are we doing here? Hell great food spots along with shitty weather and sports teams that rip our hearts out is all we have.

· So yeah, Wingstop probably ranks a lot higher on the quality scale in places like Florida than regions like here but again, I don’t think the tenders were really bad at all and I’m not going to crucify them for setting up shop in Buffalo.

· I probably won’t have them again but that’s only because of other high quality options within a short drive. It’s not you, Wingstop---it’s me.

· Score: 6.1 out of 10