Wild Wing Cafe
The human love of routine is deeply ingrained whether it’s sticking to doing things a certain way even though there are demonstrably better approaches, always parking in the same spot or grabbing the same chair in meetings. Our Friday night routine always used to be finish work and hit the pubs to kick off the weekend properly. As we’ve got older that approach has evolved slightly and now Friday night is very definitely wing night.
As this was our last night in Savannah the original plan had been to return to our favourite restaurant of the week as a send off. That would have been Local11Ten (fabulous place) but the conditioning of several months kicked in. Nothing was ever going to dislodge the need for saucy chicken goodness. The change of plan meant that Wild Wing Cafe was our chosen venue for the evening.
Wild Wing Cafe is a South Eastern chain based mainly in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia which didn’t sound too exciting but the attraction for us was the prospect of 33 different sauces with some that should be properly hot, fingers crossed.
The Savannah branch is located in the City Market, an area with a wide variety of galleries and restaurants. On a Friday night the whole area was heaving with families looking for dinner, hen parties, buskers and people milling about just because it was a warm Friday evening.
The menu doesn’t aim high with its extensive mix of appetisers, soups, salads, nachos, wraps, flatbreads, sandwiches, burgers and of course wings. But sometimes this kind of food just hits a spot. The decor was exactly what you’d expect from a place like this. Plain wood floors, bare tables Neon signs, “old” memorabilia & photos, TVs with the sound down and all the other features that restaurant chains like this always seem to include.
As this was our last night in Savannah the original plan had been to return to our favourite restaurant of the week as a send off. That would have been Local11Ten (fabulous place) but the conditioning of several months kicked in. Nothing was ever going to dislodge the need for saucy chicken goodness. The change of plan meant that Wild Wing Cafe was our chosen venue for the evening.
Wild Wing Cafe is a South Eastern chain based mainly in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia which didn’t sound too exciting but the attraction for us was the prospect of 33 different sauces with some that should be properly hot, fingers crossed.
The Savannah branch is located in the City Market, an area with a wide variety of galleries and restaurants. On a Friday night the whole area was heaving with families looking for dinner, hen parties, buskers and people milling about just because it was a warm Friday evening.
The menu doesn’t aim high with its extensive mix of appetisers, soups, salads, nachos, wraps, flatbreads, sandwiches, burgers and of course wings. But sometimes this kind of food just hits a spot. The decor was exactly what you’d expect from a place like this. Plain wood floors, bare tables Neon signs, “old” memorabilia & photos, TVs with the sound down and all the other features that restaurant chains like this always seem to include.
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The wings ordering options range from a single flavour with six wings to a platter of five flavour options and 25 or 50 wings. We took the more modest approach and opted for the full platter of two flavours with sixteen wings. The wings have pepper symbols on their menu denoting how hot they should be. Having eaten at many places where the pepper sign seemed exists only as hyperbole we decided to go for one of the hotter flavours as well as a more modest option.
The wings all came on a single plate with a generous portion of celery sticks with blue cheese and ranch dips. The darker wings in the photo were China Syndrome wings (4 peppers out of a possible 6) were described as very peppery, very hot and very good. For once the menu writer got it spot on. My kids found them too hot but I loved the blend of crispy skin with its peppery heat and the juicy chicken meat inside as my lips buzzed with the residual spice Next up with a milder heat but wonderful flavour were The Slayer wings (2 peppers out of 6). The description said this hot garlic wing helps Buffy kick some demon butt. As long-time fans of all Joss Whedon’s work, particularly Miss Summers and her gang, it was inevitable that we’d choose them. Much as I loved the China Syndrome wings these were even better. The garlic and heat blended superbly with the chicken for a great overall flavour.
The wings all came on a single plate with a generous portion of celery sticks with blue cheese and ranch dips. The darker wings in the photo were China Syndrome wings (4 peppers out of a possible 6) were described as very peppery, very hot and very good. For once the menu writer got it spot on. My kids found them too hot but I loved the blend of crispy skin with its peppery heat and the juicy chicken meat inside as my lips buzzed with the residual spice Next up with a milder heat but wonderful flavour were The Slayer wings (2 peppers out of 6). The description said this hot garlic wing helps Buffy kick some demon butt. As long-time fans of all Joss Whedon’s work, particularly Miss Summers and her gang, it was inevitable that we’d choose them. Much as I loved the China Syndrome wings these were even better. The garlic and heat blended superbly with the chicken for a great overall flavour.
To follow the wings I stuck with finger food and opted for the BBQ chicken nachos. This was a generous portion of tortilla chips with sweet barbecue chicken, lettuce, sour cream, jalapeños, salsa and lots of melted cheese. I’ve always had a soft spot for chicken nachos though my kids think it’s a weird combination. After the wings this hit the spot perfectly.
Overall Wild Wing Cafe was an unpretentious place if all you want is beer and bar snacks. Maybe we got lucky or were just really in the mood for their type of food (that Friday feeling) but we left thoroughly satisfied. Wild Wing Cafe is one of the better examples of this type of mid-range chain. Although their claim that they have the best wings south of Buffalo may be over the top, they were definitely good and I hope I get the chance to test some of the 31 other flavours.
Overall Rating 3.5/5
Overall Rating 3.5/5
