I’m a big sports bar guy and quite frankly there’s a lack of good ones in Western New York.  Lots of spots slap up memorabilia on the walls and call themselves a sports bar, but Mooney’s Sports Bar & Grill on Military Road actually feels like one. I love going to this place for that alone.

Of course, I’m completing off track and nobody cares about my takes on the authenticity of sports bars.  This is about wings and when it comes to them— is Mooney’s authentically good in that department as well?

PROS: There’s a handful of places for wings in Western New York capable of hitting the spot with numerous flavors and Mooney’s unequivocally is one of them.  Their traditional medium/hot, always what I go by most when evaluating a place may not have knockout power, but they’re good enough to force a standing eight count. As for several of their signature flavors are simply fantastic. The Mooney’s Gold looks and to some extent taste like wings for rich people. The Tropical Thunder were delcious and Italian Style Garlic aren’t far behind.  More importantly the wings I had were cooked to near perfection with a nice balance of crisp and tenderness.

CONS: While certainly far better than average the traditional medium/hot weren’t exactly elite either. That’s not really a “con” but for those unwilling to experiment with fancy flavors who want a regular ole’ Buffalo chicken wing, there’s better places than Mooney’s to get them.

Also not necessarily a con but worth pointing out is the wait being a little long, although in fairness that’s to be expected on a packed Friday night.

QB COMPARISON:  Philip Rivers. He’s never won MVP but you can count on him going to the Pro Bowl.

RECORD IF MOONEY’S PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 10-6.  A favorite to win the division and at least one playoff game.

OUTLOOK: There’s not necessarily an “Oh my God these are heaven” moment with any one style of wing but they come at you in waves of tasty flavors that make this one of Western New York’s more underrated spots.

Ironically Mooney’s isn’t even best known for wings and it’s not particularly close either.  Mac & Cheese is their signature dish that patrons near and far rave about it.  They also have a gargantuan hamburger challenge that’s basically impossible to finish in one sitting.

I feel very good about recommending Mooney’s as a spot for wings.

Imperial Pizza is the gospel when it comes to pizza and wings for most people in South Buffalo.  Seriously, it’s nearly sacrilegious to speak negatively of it in that part of town and trust me, I’d know. I’m not a fan of their pizza. I’ve considered it quite bland and comparatively overpriced. I’ve gotten into heated exchanges with folk through the years for this stance.  Because of that, I never bothered to have their wings, as I assumed I’d feel the same.  Well, I was wrong—sort of.  Read on.

PROS: If you like you’re wings extremely saucy you’re in luck here. To call them saucy is a colossal understatement (more on that in a minute). For the traditional medium, this worked out great. They were tasty, very tasty in fact. Nice sized wing, cooked well with sauce I savored. I say it frequently and will do so again here—when getting both the traditional medium (or hot) as well as a promoted signature flavor, I’ll always put more weight on the traditional wing because it’s the one where the field is completely level for fair comparison. The medium wings were significantly better than just the typical pizza joint wing.

CONS: To be fair, I did ask for my wings saucy, but these were quite literally the sauciest wings I’ve ever had in my life, ever. My plate was essentially wing sauce soup. You could’ve had a full bucket of wings on the plate and there’d still be too much sauce. For the Char BBQ wings, this was a monumental detriment.  The sogginess absolutely killed any charred flavor they were supposed to have.  These might be great if the sauce ratio was even remotely passable but I wouldn’t know. Very disappointed in what I expected to be a signature wing.

RECORD IF IMPERIAL PIZZA PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 10-7.  Loads of potential there, but they got to clean up a few mistakes.  Imperial Pizza’s certainly capable of having playoff team caliber wings.

OUTLOOK: Let me tell you how blown away I am with the remodeled look Imperial has.  I remember a time where my only experience with Imperial was delivery or pickup for house drinking gatherings.  They’ve transformed themselves into a really trendy spot in South Buffalo over the past few years.  The dining area is plenty big, the bar’s kickass with a ton of TVs and at least during the summer months, the outdoor patio is an awesome luxury.  They had an acoustic band going when I was there so live vibey music is a thing there too. Hell, even the bathrooms are clean and have a small TV near the sink area—having me feeling I was in a trendy downtown spot with that.

Even if you wanted to skip food and do nothing but drink, this has turned into a fantastic place to watch a game or hang out with people. 24-oz domestic beers for six bucks isn’t a bad deal and they also serve wine.  That said, this a wing review and the wings were a mixed bag for me. The medium were far better than expected and on par with upper tier places but the Char BBQ were lousy because of the sauce overabundance.  Not going to crush one cook’s decision of what’s considered saucy one that night but can’t just give it a pass either.

This place has the ability to become a wing spot and day/night out destination that people outside of just South Buffalo can brag about. Hopefully the sauce monsoon was a (very) rare oddity. I’ll find out soon enough because the traditional medium and overall vibe definitely has me eager to come back—so stay tuned for updates.

Don’t worry, KO Sports Bar & Grill. I won’t penalize you for being closed on Sundays despite the internet claiming you’re open. It’s a lesson I learned the hard way after an Orchard Park to North Buffalo early Sunday evening drive to KO was wasted.  But hey, I got to see some interesting characters strolling around Delaware Avenue plus, I came back a few days later on Tuesday with my buddy, Casey to bang out two styles of wings on the advice of a few blogger community buddies. Immediately I was impressed by the interior of what I’d consider a very old school sports bar that’s way bigger than it looks from the outside, filled with friendly people.

I love the bars where everyone knows each other and this definitely feels like one.  However, it doesn’t mean the wings are any good and this isn’t a review about the friendliest bar locals in Western New York.  Were the wings any good?

PROS: The KO Spicy wings are insanely good. If you racked up the best non-traditional wing flavor choices: Elmo’s Cajun Hot Double Dipped, Dalmatia Hotel’s Chiavetta’s Hot and La Nova’s Hot BBQ immediately come to mind— the KO Spicy gems can hold court with any and all.  Seriously, these were outstandingly tasty and cooked perfectly too.

CONS: The traditional medium wings were equally pedestrian –and I’m possibly being generous here.  They were not very good, at all.

QB COMPARISON: Ryan Fitzpatrick. One of the most exciting yet inconsistent quarterbacks I’ve ever seen. Go the traditional wing route these borderline suck but spice them up and you’re getting MVP caliber play.

IF KO SPORTS BAR & GRILL PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 9-7 and a quarterback away from contending.

OUTLOOK: First and foremost, when it comes to overall power rankings I can’t have these very high. From day one my rule has always been traditional (medium or hot) wings come first and need to be considered heavily while other items (signature wings, price, vibe, service, etc.) play a slightly lesser role.  Honestly speaking, had I walked in here and gotten only the regular medium wings I’d consider putting KO on blast.  They just weren’t good, man.

That being said, if I’m power ranking the best specialty sauce wings this joint would be extremely high—possibly even top five.

I cannot recommend KO Sports Bar & Grill if you only like traditional wings but if you desire more spice in your life, I can’t recommend them highly enough. Truly a tale of two cities.