It’s easy to find a passable chicken wing. It’s harder to find an incredible one. This unassuming poultry cut has slowly but surely become arguably the United States’ go-to finger food, and with its ubiquity in sports bars and on fast-casual restaurant menus everywhere, you’re never far from an okay-ish combination of chicken and classic Buffalo sauce. Getting it right, though, requires chefs to execute the perfect mix of flavor, texture, and moisture, in a small package, without just resorting to salt or spice to create impact. It’s a tough thing to do.
That’s why you need to be in the know — and luckily, there’s a fairly even spread of spots across the country that nail their chicken wings. From New York to California, Florida to Nebraska, there are restaurants and neighborhood bars making chicken wings that are the stuff of legend. For this article, we scoured social media and customer and professional reviews to find the best chicken wing spots in America. We were very pleased with what we discovered.
1. Bar-Bill Tavern: East Aurora, NY
Bar-Bill Tavern is located just south of Buffalo, and its geographical location carries a lot of weight. Buffalo wings were, as their name suggests, invented in the city in 1964 at the Anchor Bar — and so any restaurant within its proximity that serves wings better be good. Bar-Bill Tavern’s wings aren’t just good, though: According to customers, they’re some of the best in the state. This eatery gets its Buffalo wings right every time, delivering perfectly balanced bites with just the right amount of sauce (which is brushed on with an actual paintbrush) and a crunch that hasn’t been diminished by being slathered in liquid.
Additionally, the wings at Bar-Bill Tavern aren’t the kind that are gone in a single bite: They actually give you a proper meal. “The wings are massive, crispy, and juicy,” said one fan on Reddit, who also stated that the wings were “incredible” and that the sauces it dishes up are second to none. Beyond the wings themselves, the extended menu at Bar-Bill Tavern also goes down a treat with diners…