Your Guide To The Best Chicken Wings In Buffalo & throughout Western New York
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Whether you live in the 716 or you're just visiting, Buffalo NY has a ton of outstanding bars and restaurants. Almost everybody puts out a decent plate of chicken wings but what joints have the BEST wings? Well, we've learned that's not the easiest question to answer. That's why we founded the Buffalo Wing Coalition and created this helpful guide to navigating the Buffalo chicken wing scene. We can't make the decision for you, but we're certainly here to help.
We've dined on chicken wings all across WNY and have grouped our top destinations in tiers all the way from "The Elite" to "Honorable Mention". Check out our guide below.
After years of consuming thousands of wings, we present our official rankings for bars and restaurants located in Buffalo & the greater WNY area. We've placed many of the bars and restaurants we've visited into tiers. We've converted our pyramid into the tiers below for easier viewing. This is a working chicken wing guide with periodic changes and updates.
Our tier placement is based on a number of different factors including consistency, crispiness, specialty hot sauces, unique flavors, wing size, and overall restaurant atmosphere/experience. The main contributing factor being the "Hot" wing served at each establishment.
Arguably the best chicken wing that Buffalo has to offer, the Bar-Bill Tavern has solidified one of the top spots in the 716. Here you'll find a variety of hand painted sauces with Cajun variations, freshly sliced roast beef sandwiches, and your choice of french fries to compliment your order. Their homemade bleu cheese is some of the best around.
The original location is located on Main Street in East Aurora however Bar-Bill continues to expand throughout WNY as the once small town tavern continues to impress those patient enough to wait on a table to secure a plate of their renowned wings.
You won't find a "blueberry cinnamon cilantro" wing at Nine-Eleven Tavern. Here they stick to the basics, and they do it extraordinarily well. A sauce recipe that's quietly been passed from one generation to the next. It's inspired copy-cat kitchen recipes within the Buffalo community for years now. Hot, medium, & mild are the only sauces offered.
This place is the very definition of dive-bar and this sleeper establishment is finally getting the recognition it deserves. We're happy to welcome all of Buffalo aboard the bandwagon. There is a reason we have them under our "elite" tier. Go get yourselves an order of these wings (but make sure they're open first).
As a Buffalo restaurant you either "have wings on the menu" or you specialize in them. Sonny Red's does the latter. Of all the places we've dubbed "Elite", Sonny Red's leads the pack in specialty sauces. This place is serious about their wing game and it shows. The wings also pair very nicely with their wood-fired pizzas. Our only knock on Sonny Red's is that we wish the "Hot" was a bit spicier. With that being said, we've built a higher tolerance than most.
Selfishly we wanted to keep Adolf's off the Buffalo wing scene radar but we felt obligated to share our discovery. After stumbling on Adolf's randomly on a BWC wing tour, it skyrocketed to the top of our recommended wing destinations immediately. Previously placed in our "Elite" pyramid tier, we had to knock them down to the "Heavy Hitter" category due to some inconsistent visits. Don't be fooled though, when Adolf's is on their game, they're on.
Another classic Buffalo dive bar, Adolf's offers hearty sized wings cooked to perfection along with some great sauce offerings. Request a side of their homemade hot sauce for dipping if you're feeling extra saucy. The bleu cheese here is also homemade with fresh cut carrots and celery complimenting every order. If you haven't been here yet for wings, you're really missing the boat.
Boasting some of the best wings the city of Buffalo has to offer, Forty Thieves Kitchen & Bar came onto the scene in 2017. Winner of our "2024 Best Wings in Buffalo" Instagram tournament, Thieves is a true contender for not only the best wings in the city, but all of WNY. Thieves is located in the Elmwood Village. Considering they have the same ownership as Doc Sullivan's, we assumed correctly that this establishment would also offer some seriously tasty chicken wings. Rarely closed, there is no excuse not to stop in and give their wings a test run. While small, locally owned dumpy (and sometimes dirty) dive bars usually put out the best plates of wings in Buffalo, Forty Thieves is an exception.
The indoor space is a little tight, but this place is cool, clean, and recently renovated. They have a unique variety of wing flavors to choose in addition to the Buffalo classics. Their award winning "Beef On Weck" wing probably isn't for everyone, but we happen to love it. What's life without a little experimentation anyway?
Any discussion regarding Buffalo chicken wings almost certainly mentions Duff's Famous Wings in some capacity. Some consider it to a tourist trap. Others still hold Duff's wings in high regard. We find ourselves somewhere in between. It's hard to shake the fond childhood memories of making the trip to the original location on Sheridan Rd and feasting on what then was considered the best wings in Buffalo. As time passed and other restaurants began to step up their wing game, Duff's became more mainstream losing a little bit of its allure.
We still love a good Duff's run (The restaurant that started it all for us). The Duff's hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot base) still makes our mouths water after all these years. Their shoe string french fries are still the perfect compliment to a bowl of their delicious wings.
If you hear the term “Size, Sauciness, Crunch” you might be in a conversation about a wing you just ate from a 2 fryer kitchen inside of a multipurpose room at a nights of Columbus. At the beginning of 2019, we tried WingNutz for the first time (way before Barstool's Big Cat declared them the best wings ever), and since then the brand has spread its roots throughout WNY in various kitchens and restaurants. These aren’t your traditional “Buffalo Wings” so it’s really tough to pinpoint how they stack up, but you’re missing out if you don’t give them a try. Their “Wing Nutz” flavors have more of a sweet and savory flavor, (we call them breakfast wings) while their Buffalo flavors imitate the classic Frank’s variation that most restaurants do. "Ed's Hot" will kick you in the face. Bring a group, and experience them all.
If the Northtowns wing joints squared off against the Southtowns in a baseball game, Elmo’s would be batting clean up. This place is near and dear to many Northtown residents who don’t venture south of the Galleria Mall for wings. Elmo's track record in online Facebook and Instagram wing tournament brackets has certainly shown that. Without their signature “double dip” options, this place wouldn’t be what it is… so make sure to embrace them if you swing by.
What Elmo's lacks is a "hot" wing that stands out against the competition hence only a "heavy hitter" title among our ranks. Even though the ceiling is falling apart and the dining room is dark, the future looks bright for Elmo's wings.
Sometimes all you need is couple fryers and some consistent cooks to succeed in the wing game. Mr. Goodbar has just that. This is a late night hangout with a limited bar menu. Definitely not a place to bring your 2-year old. The variety of sauces they offer will keep you coming back for more.
The standout wing here is their Cajun Stout BBQ. It doesn't sound like how it tastes but trust us, it tastes phenomenal. We're not going to pretend we've tried every sauce on the menu because there are a few more than usual, but that's what keeps us coming back for more. We've never had a bad experience. No rotten tomatoes here. This place is "certified fresh".
We typically don’t factor takeout pizzerias into our wing rankings, but Macy’s place is not your typical pizzeria. The secret here is the sauce, you won’t find any naked wings at this establishment. 2 locations with a 3rd coming late summer of ‘24, these guys are going to be around for a while and we’re here for the ride.
If you don’t follow them on social media, you’re missing out. You never know what they're going to post. We often get asked “what are the best wings near the airport” - Macy's is your answer. Aside from their bizarre pizza creations, this place has 40+ wing sauces to choose from. We’ll just name a few of our favorites.
Typically when a business's main focus is placed on brewing beer, the wings tend to suffer. This is not the case at Beltline Brewery. Is Beltline a brewery? Yes. Do they serve incredible wings? Also yes. If a tub of ranch falls and no one’s around to clean it, does it make a mess? Who cares. This is probably our favorite spot for wings downtown. No table service but you can order at the bar with plenty of space to sprawl out for a wing feast (We know from experience as this was the home base for one of our bus wing tours)
This spot comes from a management group that knows what they’re doing when it comes to wings, and it shows. They have their signature flavors and also weekly & monthly specialty sauces to keep things fresh. Located at the corner of Hamburg and Swan, this place is kinda hidden in plain sight. Now you have no excuse for saying you haven’t tried them.
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