The Best Wings in Philly

Address: 1415 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Website: www.locustrendezvous.com
Price: 10 Pieces for $7.50

Tracy’s Overall Review: I’ve been Googling around looking for places to add to our wing to-do list and Locust Rendezvous came up a few times. When we looked at their menu online they listed their wings as “Vous Buffalo Wings ***The Best!!!” With 3 exclamation marks Scott and I decided we had to try them.

When the wings came out I noticed they had the wingtips still on them. Not something that would cause them to lose points in general, but I, personally, don’t like the tips left on my wings. When I first tried them they were nice and crispy and they tasted good, but not great. As I continued to eat and the wings cooled (you can tell a good wing by their staying power) the sauce seemed to be lacking and there was something kinda gross about the wings. Scott and I came to this realization at the same time — the wings were slimy. Slimy isn’t good. They were fatty and it gave them that gross, slimy taste. I don’t want to totally trash these wings, overall they were decent, but the slime really tainted the whole experience.

Scott’s Overall Review: Locust Rendezvous really caught me off guard. The outside was little dodgy looking to me but once I walked inside I was pleasantly surprised. Inside the place looked very clean, low key and inviting. The wings seemed to be a highlight on the menu with other buffalo items like “buffalo fries” and “buffalo nachos” so I was eager with anticipation. The wings came out with a bowl on top to keep the wings warm and room for the bones. Unveiling the bowl gave a whiff to an inviting tangy smell. The wing themselves where medium in size had a nice taste and good sauce. The Celery was okay and the bleu cheese a little more mayo then bleu cheese. All in all I was pretty happy with the wings. As we got through the bowl though Tracy pointed out that the wings were getting a little slimier as time went on. The wings were good though and I did like the overall look and feel of the place and will definitely go back, maybe for the “buffalo nachos”.

Authenticity: The wings were prepared authentically.

Wing size: Medium to small.

Sauce: Decent, but lacking. Could have used more tang and spice. They only offer one variation of buffalo wing sauce.

Accouterments: It came with Celery and Bleu Cheese dressing. Some of the celery stalks were rubbery. The dressing was a little gelatinous and tasted eh.

Atmosphere: Locust Rendezvous was cute, clean and dark. It was like a bar in someone’s living room. Unpretentious and sports bar-esque, the decor was homey with wood-paneled walls. It was like a small-town bar in the middle of center city. The service was nice and they also offer other Buffalo appetizers.

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Address: 3rd & Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Website: www.finnigans.com
Price: 10 Pieces for $7.50

Tracy’s Overall Review: My first impression of these wings were positive. When they came to the table they had that spicy/tangy Buffalo Wing smell that stings your nose in a good way. The first bite was good, but soon the that spicy/tangy flavor faded away and this sweet flavor came and dominated the sauce. I couldn’t pinpoint the sweet flavor, it almost tasted like Teriyaki, but I didn’t like it. Sweet has no place in Buffalo Wing sauce. The wings themselves were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside which was nice, but the sauce turning sweet just brought the wings down. The wings were also a little small and became dry as I ate them, because there was no extra sauce to keep them saucy.

Scott’s Overall Review: As soon as I put them to my mouth I remembered eating these before. The wings are sweet it is either a teriyaki or honey and it is the first thing I noticed. They were pretty good at first. The wing was a little on the small side but the meat was very tender. The buffalo chips at Finnigans are really good. I just wish that same sauce was on the wings. The sweetness thing just isn’t part of a real buffalo wing and shouldn’t be done cause it just overwhelms and dulls the taste buds really quickly. Overall they were decent but the buffalo chips are better.

Authenticity: Passes the authenticity test except the sweet taste in the sauce.

Wing size: A little on the small side.

Sauce: The sauce started off good, but became overpowered by a mysterious sweet taste. It did have some spice to it which was nice.

Accouterments: They gave you bleu cheese dressing and only three pieces of celery. The bleu cheese dressing was pretty good.

Atmosphere: Finnigan’s Wake is a giant Irish Bar in Northern Liberties. It is a totally different scene during lunchtime than it is on a Friday night. It’s really dark inside and has that bar during the day smell, but it’s a mellow place to have a bar food lunch. Our waitress was very nice.

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Address: 1030 N. American Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123. Located in Liberties Walk.
Price: 10 Pieces for $7.00

Tracy’s Overall Review: These wings were perfectly pleasant and would quell a wing craving, but they weren’t spectacular. Like Scott says “it’s all about the sauce” and the sauce was ok, but not great. I personally prefer the non-drumstick pieces, and in my batch they were almost all drumsticks. They could have also stood to be a tad bit crispier. However, it is definitely worth the trip for the ambiance and pizza.

Scott’s Overall Review: Homeslice was very clean and the service was great. I think you have to keep in mind that the main word here is “Pizzeria”. The wings are kind of a side note on the menu and kinda scared me at first with such flavors as BBQ, Poblano and Thai. The mild and hot flavors where pretty good and a buffalo style wing. The wings where good and the sauce was good but had a certain pepper taste that I couldn’t quite figure out. There was no celery or carrots but the blue cheese was good. Would I go back? Yes. Would I order wings again? Yes. The search still continues though with Homeslice have a pretty much standard wing in taste size and sauce.

Authenticity: They had no extraneous ingredients, but they served them with NO celery.

Wing size: The sizes varied a little, but they averaged out to a decent size.

Sauce: The sauce fell a little flat. They have “hot” and “stupid hot” and neither tasted all that hot. They also have other sauce flavors, but we wont talk about that.

Accouterments: They had bleu cheese dressing and….nothing else. That is a little weird because it leaves you with only the wings themselves to dip into the dressing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I imagine many Buffalo Wing connoisseurs would find that taboo. At the very least they get a red X for not including celery. The blue cheese dressing was pretty good, we dipped our fries in it.

Atmosphere: The restaurant is located on the hipster stroll Liberties Walk in Northern Liberties. The place itself is pretty awesome, decorated in decoupage and giant tomatoes painted on the walls. The people that work there are very nice. It also has a very cool bathroom. It is really loud in there from the ducts, it was hard to hear each other talk. But where it’s lacking in wing sauce quality it makes up for it in pizza. Their pizza is some of the best in Northern Liberties.

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