Original Post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/baltimore/comments/u85jms/best_chicken_wing_quest/
A bro and I have set out on a quest to answer an extremely important question:
Who makes the absolute best wings in Baltimore?
We will judge each buffalo/hot wing order on a 5 point scale (average of the two reviewers) on the following parameters:
Appearance: Size, quality, and consistency of the wings
Taste: Overall deliciousness, heat to expectations
Sauce: Consistency, creaminess, acidity, flavor, quantity, attachment to wing
Crispiness: Crispy exterior, appropriately cooked meat pulling off the bone, not dry
Convenience/value: not weighted, used for tie-breaking
Restaurant: Look and feel of restaurant environment, not weighted, used for tie-breaking
3 locations added to this post: Cheezy Mike's Food Emporium, Wet City, Choptank (read the explainer)
​
| Restaurant | Appearance | Taste | Sauce | Crispiness | Convenience | Restaurant | **Overall** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delia Foley | 5 | 2.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 5 | 4 | **13** |
| Magerks | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3 | 4.25 | 5 | 4.5 | **15.25** |
| Hudson St Stackhouse | 4.75 | 4 | 4.25 | 3.5 | 5 | 3.75 | **16.25** |
| Dont Know Tavern | 4.5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | **18.25** |
| iBar | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | 4 | **18.25** |
| Kisling | 3 | 4 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | **13.25** |
| Nepenthe | 4 | 3.75 | 4.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 4 | **15.25** |
| Charles Village Pub | 3.5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | **7.5** |
| Lighthouse Tavern | 4 | 4 | 4.25 | 3 | 4.5 | 5 | **15.25** |
| Claddaugh | 2 | 4 | 3.25 | 2.25 | 3.5 | 5 | **11.5** |
| Mahaffey's | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | **17.5** |
| Smaltimore | 3.5 | 3.25 | 3.5 | 3.25 | 2 | 5 | **13.5** |
| Cheezy Mike's Food Emporium | 3 | 3 | 2.5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | **9.5** |
| Wet City | 3.25 | 3.5 | 4 | 2.75 | 3 | 3 | **13.5** |
| Choptank | 3.25 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | **10.25** |
​
**Delia Foley**: Very disappointing. Not nearly enough heat, overcooked, some horribly dry. Great scene though.
**Magerks**: These were okay. Good consistency, okay taste, not enough sauce, could have used some more heat. Good crispiness. Good scene.
**Hudson Street Stackhouse**: Really good classic buffalo flavor. Good amount of heat in an appropriate amount of sauce. Could have been a little crispier. Super convenient and high value ($10 during happy hours) but a bit of a claustrophobic ceiling. Place still is great.
**Don't Know Tavern**: Damn good wings. Very good consistency, just right in size and quality. A little mild for a hot wing, but oh boy that sauce. Perfect creaminess from the butter, sticking to the wings, and enough acid to bite the back of your tongue. Perfectly crispy. I would be remiss to mention that on Mondays and Wednesdays an order of wings is $6. Which is almost unthinkable for the quality you are getting here.
**iBar**: Also damn good wings. A little bit of variability in the size and quality of the product. Had 2 broken flats in a single order. Perfect heat for an order of hot with great creaminess and attachment. Perfect amount of sauce with just the right bite. Ordered both regular and fried hard orders. Feel like the absolute perfect crispiness is somewhere in between the 2.
**Kisling**: I live near Kislings and have eaten hundreds of wings from here. I was VERY disappointed this evening. Had 2 broken wings and varied in size, sauce was good but WAY too much of it and they were overcooked. It was also grimey, far worse than normal. Not sure I'll be back anytime soon, also forgot to photo these.
**Nepenthe**: Pretty good overall. Mostly good consistency in quality, 2 were a little too big, and the order itself only had 8 wings. There was no heat to the sauce, but the sauce was good, good consistency and creaminess. On advice of this sub, we ordered them crispy and thank god we did. Because even ordering them crispy they were not at all. Feel like they would be rubber on a normal order. Overall tasty but not executed terribly well.
**Charles Village Pub**: Not going to bother scoring the restaurant because its bad. Absolutely terrible. Reasonable consistency in size and quality. Terrible and broken sauce, no creaminess, no heat. The order came out cold and we sent them back. The kitchen refried the entire order, including the half eaten wing that I left on the plate. Somehow they came back still luke warm but I didn't bother eating them. The waiter was also terrible. These were the worst wings I've ever had, and that's saying something.
**Lighthouse Tavern**: The first thing you notice on these is that they have grill marks. Turns out they are baked, fried, grilled, then sauced. I'm not sure why all of that is necessary, but it adds up to a very tender and well cooked wing. If you closed your eyes it would be hard to tell the difference between these and Nepenthe with slightly better execution. A good wing, with a good consistency in sauce, could use more heat and be a bit crispier.
**Claddaugh**: I used to get beer tubes and wing platters here back in the day and remember these wings being better. The quality was not good - the size of the wings was all over the place. Some were so big they could have been turkey legs (bottom right in photo), two were broken. The sauce seemed to be Frank's with a little vinegar added and quickly broke, definitely needed more fat and better emulsification. They were not crispy at all.
**Mahaffey's**: Full Disclosure - I am a beer club member here and have eaten hundreds of wings over the years and sometimes they can be hit or miss. We went on a Wednesday, which is wing night. The consistency was a bit off, some very big, some small, some just right. But really that was the only problem. Perfect amount of sauce with great attachment with just the right heat. Amazing crispiness, and not dry at all, which was impressive considering the size disparity. Very good wings overall.
**Smaltimore**: Consistency was all over the place here as well. On the menu they advertise them as Delia Foley's wings, the sauce is definitely not Frank's based, there wasn't enough of it, and it needed more heat. They were crispy, but dry, which meant they were overcooked (as can be seen in the photo). We did not review our Delia Foley review prior to scoring Smaltimore, and they track similarly across the board, as not very good. Additionally, I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't comment on the scene here. It was "music bingo" night and it was incredibly loud. People were proudly singing Eagle Eye Cherry and Nickelback. They have like 25 TVs, and only one in the back of the bar had the World Series on. So either I'm older than I think, or kids today really love shitty music and hate sports.
**Cheezy Mike's Food Emporium**: Wings were all very big but consistently sized, however had a few broken flats in an order of 8. Taste was fine, and the garnishes of at least 2 kinds of cheeses was pretty pleasant, however I don't think this was Frank's based, it was just slightly off. It had good attachment to the wings, which was why I was very confused why they were drowning in sauce. Way too much sauce. Despite saying right on the menu these are cooked hard, these were maybe under cooked, there was absolutely zero crisp. Soggy from the sauce and then I came to find out they were baked. These are bottom tier wings. Whoever recommended we go here in my last update, you owe me $16 + tip.
**Wet City**: I used to love this place when it was called Dougherty's, and despite everyone raving about every single dish here I've always been disappointed. The wings are not an exception. Couple big wings, one broken flat. They were sauced appropriately, good creaminess, good attachment, just absolutely flat on the heat. I think a little too much vinegar, not enough chili. They were juicy because they are confit cooked then fried, but not crispy at all. I'd put these as fine if you're desperate, but avoid if other options are available.
**Choptank**: We were picking up another buddy from here, and when we walked in he had ordered us beers, so as opportunists we felt compelled to do the thing. Nothing surprising here. Marginal consistency, not great sauce, poor attachment, not enough of it, not enough heat, poor crispiness.
Photos (Mike's>Wet City>Choptank): https://imgur.com/a/2fesYNV
trymypi t1_iwi8g3v wrote
I recently had at Claddagh and they were pretty good. Really crispy and saucy.
Edit: Claddagh (not Looney's)