The food at Buffalo Wings & Rings, 5638 Saratoga Blvd. in Corpus Christi, starts fresh. Wings are big and saucy and come in a variety of flavors and levels of spicy, hot goodness. Photo by Carrie Robertson Meyer/Third Coast Photo
Wings are good for any day, any time, but on National Chicken Wing Day, July 30, what better way to celebrate than to visit the wing restaurant with the freshest, sauciest wings in town! Great food is not all you get at Buffalo Wings & Rings at 5638 Saratoga Blvd. The experience begins when you walk in the door.
A spacious, welcoming venue, the walls of the sports bar and restaurant are lined with more than 40 big-screen TVs all tuned to a wide variety of sports. At 2:30 p.m. one recent afternoon, while Taylor Swift was shaking it off over the sound system, hungry customers were downing ice cold drinks, munching on wings and watching soccer, football, golf and several different sports news programs.
The cool, well-lighted interior is sparkling clean and the service friendly, but it’s the quality of the food that keeps patrons coming back, whether they are sports fans or not, manager Patty Villarreal said.
“Our food is fresh,” she said. “Other places get their wings frozen in a bag. We bread and fry fresh wings. And our traditional wings are really big — a lot bigger than our competitors’.”
Competition in the world of wings can be as fierce as the hot sauce. Buffalo wings have taken over the culinary world with a multitude of restaurants dedicated to a part of the chicken that used to be tossed out as waste. Buffalo Wings & Rings makes everything fresh, from its chicken dishes to its burgers and salads.
The three-year-old restaurant also encourages large parties, which many of the other wing-based restaurants do not.
“Some don’t let you put together tables,” Villarreal said. “We have a lot of big parties. We’re big on putting tables together and having parties.”
So big on it, in fact, that the menu includes an option called Crowd Control that allows easy ordering for groups of up to 25 people. Crowd Control isn’t about security, it’s about the number of starters, wings, flavors and heat your group of family and friends wants to eat.
Whether in a large group or by yourself, every dish is made to order.
“The way it works with us is, you pick the flavor, then you pick how much spice you want,” Villarreal explained to the uninitiated. “You can get it from mild to medium to hot to extra hot to atomic, the hottest we have.”
Flavors include the traditional buffalo, roasted garlic, garlic parmesan, sweet barbecue, bourbon barbecue, fajita tequila lime, garlic-Q, cool wasabi, teriyaki, lemon pepper, sweet Thai chili and peach habanero. Two dry seasonings — cajun and lemon pepper — are also available.
For those not interested in wings, the menu includes burgers, quesadillas, sandwiches, street tacos, salads and a variety of appetizers. Patrons can also take advantage of a full bar and money-saving specials.
“We have very good specials,” Villarreal said. “Kids eat free on Mondays (one kid per adult). Tuesdays is 69-cent wings night, and on Wednesdays, we have $1.19 tenders.” The tenders special includes two tenders.
The restaurant tends to fill up with cheering sports fans on big game or fight nights. Buffalo Wings & Rings carries all the UFC fights as well as all major sporting events on a multitude of TVs.
“Wherever you sit, you can watch what you want,” Villarreal said. “We are a fun place to come with friends and family. We’re a family-friendly restaurant. We have a lot of families who come in to eat and watch sports together.”
When asked about whether Corpus Christi patrons had a favorite dish, Villarreal shook her head.
“I can’t choose just one dish,” she said. “Our burgers are favorites, the buffalo nachos are awesome and really popular. The parmesan fries are a new dish. Just about everyone who comes in wants them. They are terrific.”
The wings will always be at the top of any favorites list. Villarreal said people like them because they are more meat than breading but also because of the generous slathering of sauces. Every table in the place has its own roll of paper towels for the hands-on wings experience.
“We go through a lot of paper towels,” she continued. “Some people even come in with gloves to keep their hands from getting messy.”
One lady came in with blue dishwashing gloves so she could dig in with abandon.
“We have an all-around good mix of people,” the general manager said in conclusion. “Its a spacious place that can accommodate a lot of people. I love working here because I love interacting with the customers and the employees. We have a good time here.”
