GINO's PIZZA ~ Toronto (and other locations)

THIS LOCATION NOW CLOSED

It was a lazy Sunday. Woke up, late afternoon. Ok didn't get the day started until the late afternoon and I didn't see Narnia. I'm still in Toronto doing temp work, when I went in to do some work in the office for a while. Then I took a nap. Then I slept through the caf and I missed dinner. I went back to do some more work later in the evening, but later on I was getting hungry. There was no way I was going outside at this point, so I decided to look into delivery. I thought about Chinese, then Pizza, when it hit me: wings, of course. Ricky had mentioned Gino's Pizza's new wings were worth checking out. So I did.

Gino's Queen Street Location, Toronto

In high school, Rick, Dude, and a few others had a special class we called Gino's 101. When the schedual worked out just right, we would have class, spare, lunch, spare, class - which essentially worked out to be a mega-spare. Oh once we had vehicles were were going to McD's, a short lived Caribbean place, even Zellers restaurant (love the Z sauce). But we spent most of our time studying Gino's Pizza. We got to know Gino (his name was doubtfully Gino, but he looked like a Gino), who served us up slices every week and introduced us to the bizarre beverage, Brio. Good times were had by at the Tillsonburg Town Centre, but I was never a big fan of what seemed like tiny, over cooked wings.





Back in December I had passed by a Gino's stand and saw advertisements for new wings. I made a mental note and kept on. But then speaking one night, Rick mentioned having tried Gino's new wings and that they were worth checking out. I had planned to wait until I saw him again, but on this night, I couldn't wait.



The poster from the website showed me 4 options: Buffalo, Honey Garlic, Crispy Breaded and BBQ. Obviously I wasn't getting HG, but I couldn't decide between the Buffalo, Crispy and BBQ. So I got all three. To do a fair sampling. Really. This had to be scientific.

There was some slight confusion when I ordered. When asked what kind of wings, I was asked if I wanted baked or fried (I have an option? that's a nice touch). I asked for the wing sauces to be split, 1 Buffalo, 1 Crispy and 1 BBQ. Somehow she made it HG and we had to start over. I was given a choice on BBQ, for mild, medium, hot or suicide. Not for the Buffalo or the breaded sauce, for the BBQ. Suicide it was! I was told 45-50 minutes for delivery and in a few minutes I was chatting with a friend on the phone. It wasn't long before a security guard came to my door. My food had arrived. It wasn't even 30 minutes since I ordered.

2008 THE SCORE 3.0: GINO’s PIZZA ~ Toronto (and other locations)

STYLE:	baked, deep fried, plain & breaded (choice for all)
PRICE:	$7.99 for 10 wings $15.99 for 20 wings $22.99 for 30 wings
SAUCES:	Buffalo Honey Garlic BBQ (mild/medium/hot/suicide)	1/1
HEAT:	Tingle – there was a bit of a sting, but not really (this was both the Buffalo and Suicide BBQ)
SIZE:	Medium – even breaded wasn’t that big	1/3
WETNAP FACTOR:	dry-wet-dripping: each order was different	2/3
CRISPINESS:	chewy: by the time delivery came anyway	1/3
FLAVOUR:	Good with much room for improvement	2/3
SIDES:	n/a	*
CLEAN UP:	n/a	*
WING NIGHT:	n/a	*
OTHER:	They gave me a free fridge magnet!
TOTAL:	Ok – would be better at Gino’s rather than takeout	7/13*

*adjusted to fit style of restaurant

They were a decent sized wing for a takeout place. Unfortunately they were a bit mushy by the time they got to me, despite the speedy delivery. The breaded wings were moist as well, but ready to fall off the bone for sure. There were 3 different type wings, so lets break it down:


Above: Buffalo Style. Ok they were deep fried, and yes there is a Frank's style hot sauce. However it was just straight hot sauce, no butter and potential vinegar mix. An ok wing, but they were defenitely my least fave.


Above: Breaded with the same hot sauce as Buffalo. The seasoning of these wings was pretty blah but a juicy wing inside. They asked me if I wanted sauce on the wings or not. I said on. They put it on all but the breaded (I should have gotten them all on the side to reduce soggification, lesson learned).

Above: BBQ Suicide. This was by far my favourite. A very subtle bbq, hidden behind a nice suicide sauce. It didn't taste like a normal spicy bbq, as the hot sauce was the dominant flavour. I ended up dipping all the other wings in this sauce it was soo good.



FINAL SCORE: Well, these wings satisfied a craving, and I had leftovers for the next day. I didn't hate these wings, but I didn't love them either. I did really enjoy the BBQ Suicide sauce, which went well with the dusted wings and the breaded. I think this would worth a second try from a different location, like London or even Tillsonburg as some chains tend to be a little different from place to place. 7/13



Gino's Pizza
60 Queen Street East, Toronto (and other locations)ginospizza.ca