HOT WINGS GRILL & RIB HOUSE ~ Toronto ON

RIP - HOT WINGS is now CLOSED

JULY 22 2012

It was a hot summer day. I had a Zip Car and was running errands. I happened to be down in the Queen West area, and decided I would stop for lunch and have some wings. I mention the rental car because I was going to do take-out, and I would be speeding (faster than walking, not actually speeding) home to eat.

I went to Hot Wings Grill and Rib House. To be perfectly honest with you, this wasn't my first time. I had been about a year before, tried to do a review, but it was so dark and I wasn't in a good mood, I ended up not. So I figured this was the time to do a proper review.

The place was a bit dead this weekend. The decor is simple brick and wood, and the highlight (at least for the summer) is the garage door front that opens. I'm torn because fresh air is great, but I also love my A/C in the summer.

My order was taken by Allison, and normally I wouldn't mention the server's name in a take-out order, but not only was she friendly and informative, but she offered me cold water while I waited. Nice.

I waited about 15 minutes for my order and then I was off. I got home and the first thing I did when I got in the door was open my lunch bag.

My pound of wings came with fries. The fries were shoestring style. They were pretty limp, which might have been from the polyurethane container that steams things in travel though. My guess is that they aren't prepared on site but from a bag. They were ok - I just wished they were more crisp.

Wings also came with a dip - dill dip. It's tasty - creamy ranch with dill. You can't go wrong.

Of course you can't forget the wings.

I went with an order of wings which is a pound a wings or about 8 wings. As you saw above, they come with fries and dip for $9.99.

Looking at the length, these wings were medium tipping to large, but in terms of being meaty, they were meaty. Super meaty.

They say the wings are grilled, but they seemed more baked. The skin wasn't crispy so much as being dried out. The meat was a bit tough too.

I went with Suicide as my sauce. This was not a suicide wing. Really, it starts out as a medium, but eventually some heat kicked into a hot. The wings are not that saucy, but you can tell the chicken is marinated and the seasoning and spices do come through.

FINAL SCORE: These were ok wings. That's really sad, considering wings are supposed to be their thing. I expect a lot more from my wings from a wing joint. Dried out, and not that spicy. They were big and their marination gives them a good flavour. They say grilled, but I would never be able to tell. 5/10.

Hot Wings Grill & Rib House
563 Queen Street West, Toronto ON
hotwingsbbq.com