the Wing Coop - We do wings right?

Location:

  3971 Wasatch Boulevard
  Salt Lake City, UT 84124

Critique:

I needed to go to SLC today to run some errands, so part of the lunch crew decided to come with me so we could try out the Wing Coop (Today is almost a national holiday when it comes to work, so the other half of the lunch crew were all gone on holiday already.)

Ovi Maps couldn't find the place, so I had to rely on good old google maps to get there.  Once we were pointed in the right direction finding the place was not hard at all as it is off of a major road, all be it in a small strip mall.   The place from the outside appeared to be a hole in the wall, which for me is how it should be for wings. (A fancy wing place, just makes me think I am paying to much for my wings.)  The inside of the restaurant is decked out in what I would call an "extreme sports" motif and once again I think this goes well with wings.  After checking out the menu and seeing what they offered (17 sauces) we decided to go with the Wednesday special. 20 wings, 2 drinks and a large fry.  We were able to choose 4 different sauces with our 20 wings, so we were able to try a few of them out.

When it came time to order we did end up standing at the cash register for quite some time, while the employees were doing something.  Not sure if they were filling an order, or reading a book but it took some time to actually place the order.   Two things that I noticed right away about the wing coop. 1st, all dipping sauces cost .50 cents (no dipping sauce for free) and 2nd, there was no sauce for the fries (ketchup or fry-sauce, or anything) For a place that prides itself on their wings sauce, they seem to forget about the staples (fries) and the sauce they need.  Eventually I was able to find a container of ketchup packets.

Sauce flavors from top to bottom:
Confucius, Kansas City BBQ, Honey Habenero,
and  Spicy Garlic.

Our wings came out in a pretty timely manner on a large tray, with four containers of wings, one for each sauce.  After attempting to determine what sauce was what, we ended up asking one of the employees, who also had to make a best guess.  Even after asking the employee we still took a few minutes to figure out the flavors. I am not certain how they cook their wings, but I would prefer them a little more crunchy. Of the four sauces I tried today, I think I liked the Confucius sauce the best. It is described as "Our Asian sauce with citrus, sweet and spicy zest." which adequately describes the sauce. The sauce was lite, tangy and had a wonderful ginger flavor (unfortunately I didn't order these, so I was only able to sample one wing). I was only able to taste the sauce of the Kansas City BBQ and it tasted as I would expect. The two wing sauces I was able to eat a lot of were the Spicy Garlic and Honey Habanero. The later of the two having won them the National Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival winners award in 2007. I always love a sauce that portrays opposite flavors well. The sweetness of the honey coupled with the spiciness of the habanero blended well and I could see how this was an award winning sauce. The Spicy Garlic sauce was about what I expected, it was very simular in flavor to other spicy garlic wings that I have had elsewhere. They are listed as being almost the hottest wings they sell, but I honestly though the honey habanero were spicier and they are only listed as mild.

Overall my experience at the wing Coop was very pleasant, the food was good and the atmosphere was good. Would I eat there again? Yes. Would I recommend it to others? Yes. Are they the best wings I have ever had? Well I will answer that with a ?.

I am looking forward to trying some of their other sauces to see what flavorful concoctions they have come up with, and perhaps I will find myself a new favorite wing sauce, and in the process a new favorite wing shop.

Rating:

Today's Wings: 7
Overall Wings: 7
Customer Service: 7
Overall Satisfaction: 7

URL:

The Wing Coop

    "Urbanspoon rocks"

Magleby's Fresh

Location:

  135 S. State Street
  Lindon, UT 84042

Critique:

Today's choice for lunch was Magleby's Fresh in Lindon. My first impression upon walking into the restaurant was "Wow there are a lot women who eat here" (for some reason there was an abundance of women, most with kids, eating there for lunch today.)

I had heard that the Philly Cheese steaks at Magleby's Fresh were pretty good, so I decided it was time to try one out. Once I arrived and was inside the restaurant the pictures of different menu items, that were on the walls, kept making me want to change my mind about what I wanted to eat. The fish and chips kept calling my name, and I had to constantly remind myself that I was here for the Cheese steak.

Their Philly Cheese steak came with all my favorite toppings for a cheese steak: Peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and of course, cream cheese.  All of their sandwiches also came with a choice of one of the follow side dishes: Fries, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, sauteed vegetables, or fresh fruit.

I went with their fries, which are battered before being fried, giving them an additional crispiness that I thoroughly enjoyed.  The sandwich itself was of a good size, and was visually appetizing. The first thing that I noticed with my first bite was that the hoagie bun was slightly toasted which added a new degree of texture to the sandwich that I was not expecting, but liked a lot.  The meat was cut up in small enough pieces so I didn't have to tear it with my teeth in order to take a bite, but big enough to give it some substance when chewing. The vegetables were also cut into larger sizes, which I prefer. I felt it gave them more of a presence in the sandwich, where as with many cheese steaks that I have eaten they seem to get lost in the over all build of the sandwich, and to top it all off it was smothered with cream cheese. I am a cream cheese kind of guy, so for it to be offered as part of the sandwich without me having to order it special, I think that is top notch.  One of the key touches to the sandwich though was the fresh cracked black pepper which in my opinion just makes the sandwich that much better.


So to sum up my experience.  The fries were good, the sandwich was great, and I walked away very full, all for eight dollars and seven cents.

Now for the tough questions:

Would I go back to Magleby's Fresh to eat another Philly Cheese steak? Yes.
Was the food worth they money? Yes.
Would I go back to Magleby's Fresh to eat? Yes.

I would recommend this restaurant to any person, regardless of what you like to eat you can find something on their menu you are going to love.


Rating:


Today's Sandwich: 8
Overall Sandwich: 8
Customer Service: 8
Overall Satisfaction: 8


URL:


Magleby's Fresh

For an additional review, check out my buddies blog.
Big John Reviews: Good Carrot Cake Average Food