Back on December 18th my co-workers and I went to the new Hooters that opened up on Bluemound Road in Brookfield. We probably should have known better considering the time of the year and also because it was newly opened. The visit was a disaster. I’ll spare you all the gory details. The manager however knew that our visit didn’t go well and gave us a Gift Certificate for 50 free wings on our next visit.I appreciate management that can recognize a problem and try to make it right without being asked first by the customer.

So today we went and redeemed our coupon. We got 20 Hot Wings, 15 medium, and 15 Teriyaki. We also got a couple baskets of curly fries, and soda (lunch break, so no beer) to drink.

Thankfully the service was much better this time. Our server was very nice and refills were provided without having to ask. The wings came out in an appropriate amount of time.

With Hooters being a chain I really didn’t have very high expectations as far as their wings were concerned. I’d say overall my expectations were met. The Hot itself was not very hot at all. I’d actually consider it a medium or just below a medium at some places. I’m not out there looking for the hottest wings, but these definitely fell short as far as heat. The taste was average and the dominant flavor I could pick out was the butter. The same went  for the Mediums. Lots of butter and hardly any heat. In fact my boss, who is a pansy when it comes to spicy food, said he didn’t even think the Mediums were spicy. Out of the three I though the Teriyaki was actually the best. They were a little sticky, but the over-all flavor was sweet, and very good. They tasted like a sauce you would get on a dish at P.F. Changs if that makes sense. Over-all the sauces were nothing to write home about.

The doneness and crispy-ness was pretty good. Most  had a good crispy skin. I only had a couple that were slightly under cooked for my taste.  The wings aren’t as big as I thought they would be either. For the most part when people would tell me their like or dislike for Hooter’s wings they would usually tell me that they are a little bigger then say BW3′s in comparison. If they are, then only marginally. The one thing that really aggravates me though about their wings is that they leave the tip on the wing itself. WHY would they do that? For one, it makes it messier and more frustrating to eat. At one point while trying to pull the wing straight, the tip slipped from my grasp and damn near hit me in the face. I’m making it out to be worse then it was, but it’s still irritating. Second, it’s a waste. People can’t eat them meat off of them. So it wastes the sauce and the tip itself. When I prepare wings at home I always cut the tip off and save it for making chicken stock. I would think as a restaurant trying to watch your bottom dollar that would be a smart thing to do. I don’t know. Maybe I’m the only one irritated by the tip. Or maybe everyone is distracted by the scenery enough to not care.

The Numbers:

Atmosphere: 9 Come on, it’s Hooters.

Service: 9 Our server was very pleasant.

Sauces: 5 Average at best. Without the Teriyaki the score would have been lower.

Wing Doneness: 6.5. Just above average.

Sauce to Wing Ratio: Low. Not very saucy wings and the flavor doesn’t make up for it enough.