451798 Wed Oct 17 17:14:43 -0700 2007 18 32 Chains 0 3044587 A few Wingstops recently opened near me in the SF Bay Area. They have nine types of wings - Original Hot, Cajun, Atomic, Mild, Teriyaki, Lemon Pepper, Hawaiian Barbeque, Garlic Parmesan, and Hickory Smoked BBQ. They are made to order so allow 15 minutes (or call ahead). Sides include fresh-cut seasoned fries, pearl potato salad, bourbon baked beans, cole slaw, and fresh-cut veggie sticks (carrots & celery). Dips include ranch, blue cheese, honey mustard and hot 'aged cheddar' sauce. Opinions are all over the place on the board from what I can see. I guess the wings are heavily sauced so its better to order that on the side. So, any opinions? How are the rolls? Where did this company start. I could just see they started in 1994 and started franchising in 1998. Never heard of them until they started invading my area. Wed Oct 17 17:14:43 -0700 2007 10264 rworange 1 3044644 Got this off their website (Google is your friend): About Wingstop : Wingstop offers restaurants with a nostalgic, aviation-themed atmosphere where the sole focus is on chicken wings. The chain now serves boneless wing strips that are made from 100 percent all-white meat chicken breast coated with a proprietary batter and breading. Wingstop features nine wing flavors, including Original Hot, Cajun, Atomic, Mild, Teriyaki, Lemon Pepper, Hawaiian, Garlic Parmesan, and Hickory Smoked BBQ. The wings are always made-to-order and served steaming hot. Wingstop has more than 600 restaurants either open or under development in 27 states and consistently tops industry growth rankings. Wingstop was chosen Wing King at the 2006 National Buffalo Wing Festival, Favorite Restaurant at the 2005 festival and their Cajun sauce took first place honors for the Best Creative Spicy Sauce in the festival’s blind taste test. In July 2005, Wingstop ranked No. 13 in Restaurant Business’ Top 50 Growth Chains (ranked by percentage increase in units) and was ranked the No. 1 chicken wing chain by Entrepreneur magazine in 2005. Troy Aikman, three-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame quarterback, has served as the chain’s national spokesman since 2003. Aikman extended his contract in 2006 for three years, as Wingstop has posted 16 consecutive quarters of comp store sales increases since the partnership. Wed Oct 17 17:37:10 -0700 2007 3044587 11300 Muskrat 2 3044676 Yes ... I read the entire site too and if you check out the Place record link ... even provided the link to the website. It doesn't answer my questions. Where did they start? What do Chowhounds think? That only tells me what Wingstop thinks of themselves and they are a successful franchise ... not whether it is a good franchise. I didn't just Google. I also checked Chowhound posts and as originally stated, opinions are all over the place. I probably will give them a try and would like to know what is best to try and what to skip. Wed Oct 17 17:51:42 -0700 2007 3044644 10264 rworange 3 3045156 It's wings, for Pete's sake, not a steak house. Stop buy, buy a 3-piece dinner, and judge for yourself. Can't imagine it will cost more than $5, and your tastes may well be different from that of others here and elsewhere -- especially if they're "all over the place." Maybe they'll even let you try assorted flavors in your combo (in fact, I just might try that myself, tomorrow). Wed Oct 17 20:51:19 -0700 2007 3044676 11300 Muskrat 4 3045263 There are other considerations besides price. I don't want to waste calories experimenting on fast food. That is the reason for the boards. I can read the menu as well as anyone else. If you try wingstop I hope you will report back. Also, if I get a bunch of ... it's crap responses I won't bother at all. While I would love to ask on my regional board, because it is a chain that query will get moved here. This is four posts deep and I haven't learned a thing about this place. I hope any further replies will be from people who have eaten at the restaurant. Wed Oct 17 21:53:40 -0700 2007 3045156 10264 rworange 5 3045327 I hit Wingstop at least once a month...I'm addicted to the lemon pepper wings they are crispy and laoded with lemon flavor. The other wings are OK with the exception of the garlic parm which are down right nasty, covered in green can tasting Parm ick. The hot is not very hot so I get the Cajun ones which don't taste Cajun just hotter and the hottest level, (can't remember what they are called) are screaming hot. I like it for what it is and like I said the lemon pepper ones are addicting. Wed Oct 17 22:32:47 -0700 2007 3045263 96905 bubbles4me 5 3047236 If you dig around on the board you'll see where I posted on the Pinole location a couple of months ago, very disappointing, way too expensive for what you got. Thu Oct 18 13:10:51 -0700 2007 3045263 10784 Scrapironchef 6 3047518 Thanks !!!. I guess the mods missed that on the SF board. There's another one in Richmond off 580. That being said ... gotta try it at least once. Will give the lemon wings a try. Thu Oct 18 14:12:34 -0700 2007 3047236 10264 rworange 7 3047722 It's on the chains board -- http://www.chowhound.com/topics/389116 I've been to the Anchor bar a couple of times so at least I have a valid reference point. Thu Oct 18 15:23:18 -0700 2007 3047518 10784 Scrapironchef 3 3110708 I believe Wingstop started in Dallas. The founder (who no longer owns Wingstop) also started Pizza Patron, the chain that made big headlines with its Pizza for Pesos campaign. Fri Nov 09 11:09:05 -0800 2007 3044676 67710 HopDevil 1 3045834 I have no idea when they started operation, but they have been here in Houston for at least 7-8 years, maybe more. My DH is totally hooked on the lemon pepper, but he gets a side of garlic sauce (butter) to spread on them. He gets his extra crispy. I like the garlic-parm. but they do tend to glop too much parm. on them, so I ask for extra garlic sauce. The fries taste like fresh cut fries, a bit of skin on, and sprinkled with a salt & sugar combo. At first we didn't like the seasoning, but have grown to crave it. The fries are not very crispy, but that is how I like them. I like their Baked beans, but haven't tried any of the other sides, except veg. sticks and they just are what they are. I am not a really big fan of wings, but in our area there are Wings 'n things, Wings & More, Hooters, and Wing Stop. My DH could eat wings for every single meal, and Wing Stop is the furthest from our home, but that is his favorite as well as my DD's. I do like their boneless wings. You can get them with sauce on them or plain and dip into a blue cheese, ranch, etc. The teriyaki is okay, hawaiian is sweet, and not sure about the others. I avoid spicy, so . . . The hot cheese is good on the fries. Hope this gives you more of an idea. They are very accommodating, so you might want to see if they will let you sample flavors before you decide, but hands down the favorite around this home is lemon pepper. Thu Oct 18 07:30:04 -0700 2007 3044587 80937 danhole 1 3046321 Also, although I haven't tried Wing Stop, don't be discouraged by heavily sauced wings. This seems to be the preferred way at Anchor Bar in Buffalo (the "home" of Buffalo wings) -- people there order them "saucy" to get even more sauce! Thu Oct 18 09:26:52 -0700 2007 3044587 44445 HungryGrayCat 1 3046332 It has been a few years, but I used to go to one that was on my way home from work once in awhile. Never tried the rolls, tried a few varieties of wings. These are not an OMG died & gone to heaven wing, but they are plump and tasty. Flavors were toned down a bit. I went when I was craving salt (long hot day), was tired & looking for quick & easy. Also they had a good rewards program & coupon upgrades. Excellent customer service, they increased my order due to big orders ahead of me several times, and I had not felt my wait was unduly long! They seemed to do a big business on large party trays, especially when there was a big tv sports event going on. If you are a blue cheese fan, supply your own - theirs is pretty toned down. Thu Oct 18 09:30:09 -0700 2007 3044587 111267 meatn3 1 3046725 well, i can only speak to the one that was near my house for a couple of years (closed down about 6 months ago). the wings were on the small side, but usually pretty tasty, although, as others have noted, the sauces were very wimpy. their bleu cheese is awful; it's really ranch that somebody waved a piece of bleu at. the fries were good when fresh, but acquired a weird, somewhat rancid taste as they cooled. the sides of carrot sticks & celery were anemic and overpriced; but since there's nothing palatable to dip them in, it's no great loss. compared to other chains in my town, wingstop was better than hooters, but worse than wild wing. service was always fast and friendly. Thu Oct 18 11:04:21 -0700 2007 3044587 12583 mark 1 3052163 I ate there once while visiting relatives (who swear by the place) in Kenosha WI and I enjoyed them. We had the gar-parm and they were meaty and tender. If we had one close by I probably would go there instead of Wild Wings! Sat Oct 20 09:27:09 -0700 2007 3044587 85738 libgirl2 1 3052243 Okay... The wings are small, but I like them that way. I LOVE the lemon pepper and the garlic parm are pretty good too. But agree about the extra sauce and too much fake parm. I happen to like the bleu cheese now, but it had to grow on me. The other wings? I've had a couple of flavors and can't remember anything but a soggy, disgusting mess. Blech. Sat Oct 20 10:16:43 -0700 2007 3044587 118114 Mattkn 1 3086975 We got the original and the garlic-parm. Both were kind of wimpy. The garlic-parm had good favor, just don't expect the real/good parm. I like them better than the original as I like the crunch. Hubbie found it too dry. The original was not spicy, and not vinegary. Nothing like the one at Anchor Bar. Also it's so drenched in sauce that the skin totally lost the crunch. We all love the fries though. Kind of reminded me of Lays BBQ potato chip in favor (yes it has sugar in the seasoning), except it's not crunchy and not hot temperature-wise. The wings are way too expensive for what you get. I'd rather go to BJ's Pizzeria (if I am stuck and have to go to a chain). Thu Nov 01 13:44:58 -0700 2007 3044587 46671 notmartha 1 3094971 Thanks for the feedback ... and if I ordered the best of what they had ... it is sad. Wow .. this place is substandard even by fast food standards. The big thing ... coating/sauce aside ... is that the chicken itself was VERY poor quality ... and this is from someone who recently recommended a Tyson Frozen roasted chicken ... the Tyson chicken ... microwaved ... was better than the fried-to-order wings. It is scary to think of how these would taste if it wasn't made to order. The original I thought was better than the lemon pepper. The sauce was a startling, unnatrual red (like the color of Chinese sweet and sour sauce in a bad restaurant). However it was mildly spicy though it tasted mainly of vinegar. The blessing here was the sauce covered up the taste of the chicken. The lemon pepper I found plain nasty ... with a thick coating of salt and a phoney lemon flavor. They were crunchy as opposed to the sauced version, but man ... substandard chicken paired with fake lemon ... ick. This was too pricy as well. Ten wings and a beer ran over $9. What was really annoying was how popular this place was. Someone came in and ordered 200 wings for a party and all the tables were filled. There are two excellent BBQ joints nearby that make far superior wings, yet this is what attracts the locals. Sun Nov 04 19:25:14 -0800 2007 3044587 10264 rworange 1 3149803 I hate Wingstop. The wings at Hooter's or BW3 are much better. The Wingstop wings are very greasy, the flavors outside of the hot wings are all underseasoned and fake tasting, the wing size is pretty small, and the celery and blue cheese is just gross. A really tiny serving of very stringy celery and some blue cheese dressing that seemed to have cottage cheese in it rather than anything resembling blue cheese. There is a Wingstop right near my house. I rarely go out for wings, but I'd rather drive 20 minutes than eat at Wingstop. Save yourself the trouble and just go buy some frozen hot wings at the grocery store and a jar of Marie's dressing. It'll far outshine Wingstop. Fri Nov 23 15:04:27 -0800 2007 3044587 71196 dalaimama