Wings

Chicken Wing Review: Bada Bing

Published

3 days ago

May 12, 2025

admin

After five long years I’m back in my hometown of Buffalo, only this time not a visitor but back for good. That means a great deal to me in many ways, and one of course is more access to wing spots than ever before.

My first wing trip back me to Bada Bing on Chippewa street down and holy shit, people—I’ve waited a long time to be able to have a new review! Here’s to the next 70 reviews coming much quicker!

One thing of note, I need to preface this by saying a trusted wing source buddy of mine (AKA Marcel Louis-Jacques) told me the Italian wings were some of the best he’s had but I didn’t see his tweet until after the fact. So rather than get my normal traditional (hot or medium) wing along WITH a signature flavor to evaluate and tier, I only got hot wings this time around. Anyway, onward we go.

PROS: I asked for the wings hot and trust me, they were hot. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a good hot wing in multiple months but these pushed my tolerance. I tend to get sweaty when eating hot wings that are actually hot and I was in the bathroom basically toweling off my forehead and thinning hair after four wings. There’s a lot of places where hot is essentially medium. This ain’t one of em. They were on the saucy side, which I enjoy and were cooked plenty fine. I never specifically ask for crispy or extra crispy—I let the cards fall where they may. These weren’t overly crisp but were far from soggy. Considering the wing shortage going on they were reasonably priced at just under $15 for a single.

CONS: There’s nothing terrible that stands out as a con, so “nitpicking” may be a better term. The wings weren’t tiny but I’ve had much bigger. Also, and again a nitpick more than a con is the traditional hot sauce doesn’t stand out—it’s literally just Frank’s with maybe a little added pepper for kick or something. I don’t do Blue Cheese (I know, blasphemy) but most do and I can tell the Bada Bing pre-packaged blue cheese wasn’t visually appealing to most on Twitter.

I actually do have one con/bitch that’s completely unrelated to wings but I’m unloading it anyway. I was with a buddy and got a single (one ounce) shot of Jameson. $6.25! To quote Chris Rock from SNL, “Good Lord that’s a lot of money!” What the hell man, I’m in Buffalo not Vegas—that’s pricy for a single shot when there’s no live entertainment or anything going on.

RECORD IF BADA BING PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 9-8 and in fairness they played the season without one of their best players as again, I heard the Italian wings are the best in their arsenal and I failed to try em out.

OUTLOOK: For the purpose of this review, I can only rank their traditional wings against TRADITIONAL wings of other places simply because I didn’t try their signature Italian flavor. Also, let’s skip the drama on if they’re ranked among the very best in Western New York because that’s not happening—- the Nine Eleven Tavern, Elmo’s and Bar Bill’s of the region are safe. That said and this is extremely important, I consider Bada Bing’s competition your everyday bar and wings joint and on that level, I think they fare well, maybe even very well. Non-fancy seasoning or not, these were good hot wings. If you’re at the bar by yourself, on a date or with a buddy with the pints flowing and you find yourself hungry, these are solid. You ain’t gonna be complaining about them. They’re good.

I regret not having the Italian wings to compliment them but I’ll say this in fairness to Bada Bing, I don’t think they try fancying themselves as Buffalo’s best chicken wing. If they did I’d probably be more negative. The traditional wing I’m reviewing/comparing is solid but merely a complimentary piece to what they offer. I’ve had their pizza previously, more specifically the steak and cheese pizza and it’s amazing. I’ve also heard incredible things about the Antonio in the Grass sandwich and other food items. There was also a dude next to me who got a veggie burger and the thing (along with fries) was huge. The vibe is really cool and feels trendy. As a bonus, maybe I got lucky but was down here on a Thursday around 9pm and it wasn’t all young 20 somethings like I feared it would be.

I’ll conclude by saying I wouldn’t recommend someone goes out of their way to go to Bada Bing specifically for traditional wings when they have so many more appealing food options, but I’m very keen on this place’s food menu and vibe as a whole and it’s absolutely worth a trip to Chippewa Street if you haven’t been there already—minus the $6.25 Jameson.

Wings

Summer/Fall 2019 Chicken Wing Power Rankings (1-60)

Published

5 hours ago

May 15, 2025

admin

If you listen regularly to my Moran-Alytics Podcast, read my blog wing reviews here or follow me on Twitter (@PatMoranTweets) I’m sure you’re aware of my fondness for chicken wings.

In fact, perhaps the only thing I enjoy more than eating wings is power ranking them.

This cliff notes version is I was born and raised in Buffalo and spent most of the first 45 years in the 716. While living Buffalo, quite possibly like many of you I had a tiny handful of go-to spots for wings and rarely ventured anywhere else. I moved to Florida in the summer of 2016 and after trying wings at a half dozen or so spots and detesting each, it hit me how badly I took great wings back home for granted.

In large part because of my job and to a smaller extent my podcast I’m afforded the opportunity to get back to Buffalo semi-regularly. Admittedly to a huge fault I know use each opportunity to try new places while occasionally go back to some a second or third time. I started writing up small reviews on each spot and comparing that place’s wings to a former or current NFL quarterback for fun. Lastly, I power ranked each from one down to however many I had. Before my latest trip I power ranked all 40 places I’ve tried.

Incredibly this series kind of took off. My last Power Rankings was read by nearly 50,000 people. In the process I realized these reviews and rankings went from being able to do it for laughs among my friends to at least semi-serious, because at this point people are actually going to places (or not) based in part on my reviews.

My criteria is unscientific. I judge each spot on one but never more than two flavors, with traditional medium (or hot) mandatory. In addition friendly service, price and overall vibe plays at least some role in my rankings. Like I said, some spots I end up at more than once and they subsequently may go up or down in the rankings based on that but I’m prioritizing getting to as many first time joints as possible.

I just spent 20 days in Buffalo and had wings 25 times, including 20 first-time spots. Obviously there’s many more places to go and if you don’t see your favorite spot on this list, they’ll be there at some point.

Last thing: These are nothing more than my person opinions and I don’t fancy myself the leading authority on all things Buffalo wings. I don’t take myself too seriously and neither should you.

On that note, here’s my Summer/Fall 2019 Chicken Wing Power Rankings, 1 through 60. Most are linked to a review I did while some have either yet to be written or need to be redone.

Wings

Chicken Wing Review/QB Comparison: Dalmatia Hotel

Published

6 hours ago

May 15, 2025

admin

Hotel Dalmatia is located in Riverside and I hit up in the early afternoon during the week with reinforcements. My wife, daughter, her boyfriend and my son joined me. Because of my extensive company we tried five different flavors, though in keeping with my own rules I only counted the medium plus one signature (in this case Chiavetta Cajun) for this review. To call it an unexpected experience is an understatement. Let’s dig in.

PROS: The wings were generously sized with enough crisp but not TOO crispy. More importantly the taste borderline blew me away. Like I said we ordered five flavors (they have around 60 or some crazy shit like that) and the traditional medium were really (really) good. Taking it one step further, I’d put their Cajun Chiavettas against almost anyone’s specialty wing. Holy shit, they were they tasty. Not counting towards my overall review we also had Garlic Parm, Chiavettas BBQ and Lemon Pepper Franks. Of them, the BBQ were the best. Bonus points for being reasonably priced and the people (more on that in a second) were nice.

CONS: This isn’t a con to everyone or even most but must be mentioned. The location can be scary, especially if you’re not a city slicker. Let’s keep things real here—Riverside doesn’t have the best reputation and isn’t the safest part of WNY. I could easily see people who aren’t “city smart” intimidated by this place, especially after dark. Also, this is a place most go to drink first and eat second. Although the bartender and patrons couldn’t have been nicer, I wouldn’t consider this a quintessential spot to bring the entire family for a sit down dinner. Lastly, which doesn’t factor into my review I wasn’t a fan of the Lemon Pepper Franks—far too strong for my liking.

QB COMPARISON: Dalmatia is the Jim Plunkett of quarterbacks. When talking about the game’s greats you don’t think much of Plunkett if at all, but if a few things fell his way Plunkett proved to be a championship winning quarterback. if you’re all about the wings you can wholeheartedly trust this place.

RECORD IF DALMATIA HOTEL PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 13-3 but worth nothing that they could really use a new stadium.

OUTLOOK: I want to be very clear about my cons, those are only for some wing-goers and not a general reflection on Dalmatia Hotel. I found the place and its clientele awesome. If you don’t mind Lynard Skynard potentially blaring on the jukebox while you mow down delicious wings you’re good to go. Props to Joe Yerdon from The Athletic for recommending this spot to me. Can’t wait to have them again.

(Note: My reviews and ultimately Wing Power Rankings are always based on the same criteria. I try medium wings plus at least one specialty or flavor I’m in the mood for. I don’t ask for anything special (such as extra crispy or extra saucy) other than requesting as many flats as possible. I also put at least some stock into vibe, service and price.)