But since then they've lost the crown, with multiple locations closing in recent years. Their biggest location shut down a few years ago and was re-imagined as Hometown Sports & Grill. Hometown's website says they've been operating for 20 years ... so perhaps it was the same owners of this location? Not too sure.
I've been here once or twice before this review, but I'm still impressed at the renovations from the old, tired dingy sports bar it was, to the clean, bright and spacious eatery it is today. On this visit I was here for lunch, but the place was pretty dead (to be fair, its a BIG space). The waitress let me sit where ever I wanted, so I got a giant booth to myself which was pretty sweet.
The menu proudly displays their specials, and chicken wings are pretty clearly highlighted. They have a big wing section on their menu and it's not too clear but I put arrows beside the wing flavours I chose.
This place is not a traditional sports bar. They have a vegan menu, and on it they have cauliflower wings. That's pretty cool.
I mean I'm getting wings, but for you vegans, bonus.
When you order wings they come by the pound, but these pounds have about 9 wings in them. On wing DAY (all day long not just a wing night), wings are 1/2 price. That meant I was feasting.
They set you up pretty right with a metal bone bowl, wing plate, napkins, fancy wet-naps: all your cleaning needs taken care of. On the side of the wings they give 2 carrot sticks, and usually sour cream, but I was told I could also get ranch. I said nuts to sour cream and got the ranch, but it was terrible. It was so chemical-fake tasting I couldn't eat it.
The wings are dusted and then deep fried. This meant they were pretty crispy and held up well against the sauces for the most part.
These were not the longest in length, but not the shortest either. So pretty much a medium. Meatiness they were a medium plus (+), not quite a large, but decently meaty. The meat was tender. With the crispy skin, these were a quality wing.
The wing sauces I went with were Hot, 40 Creek BBQ and Suicide on the side.
HOT
Hot was a classic cayenne base hot sauce. It was a good flavour, ok heat, but these would have been even better if there was more sauce. The sauce was absorbed into the skin, but it didn't ruin the crispiness.
40 Creek BBQ
This is a commercial BBQ sauce, but I quite like it. It's smoky, slightly sweet, and savory. It's a bit sticky, a bit thick. The crispy skin with the sauce gives for great flavour and texture.
SUICIDE
So this sauce is 3rd Degree sauce, but they jazz it up with chili flakes and spices. I don't find it that hot but I do like this sauce, and the fact they put in a bit of effort.
I don't have any more points, I just wanted to put a gratuitous photo of these wings.
FINAL SCORE:
These are a solid chicken wing. Crispy dusted skin, good sauces, and a good wing night. Sauces are commercial but they are good sauces. Lots of clean up equipment, veggies, but some sad dip. If the wings were bigger that would be awesome, but they aren't small either. I wasn't here for sports, but this is a good place to watch a game or in my case, come for wings. 9.5/15
Hometown Sports & Grill
1525 Bank Street, Ottawa ON
hometownsportsgrill.ca
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