Couldn't be for the wings...I'm sure!

I say that having finally tried HOOTERS back in October when I found myself at an airport hotel outside ORD on Sunday evening with the only eating option aside from call-in pizza (no room service or restaurant in the hotel open) for blocks around was the HOOTERS across the parking lot (former Holiday Inn, now Wyndham Garden Inn).

I was quite overwhelmed by what a dump this icon of American food service turned out to be. The design of the restaurant was atrocious: the entry and waiting area was right next to the entry/exit to the kitchen and a high traffic area as waitresses scrambled in and out with their orders...I suppose this was designed purposely to give those waiting for tables a good look-see! But it caused bottlenecks that could have easily been avoided by placing this entry at the other end of the room/bar.

Anyhow, I found the chicken wings mediocre at best and down the chart of what I've tasted around NAmerica. My standard reference is a once yearly visit to the original home of this delight, Buffalo's Anchor Bar, with few friends. Of late, the Mill Street Brewery here in Toronto has just opened a Brewpub/Restaraunt and their wings are the best I've found here in Canada. Of course, it doesn't hurt that on Tuesdays and Saturdays these go for 39¢ a wing (Canadian cents) and Mill Street brews some of the finest craft beers on the continent too. (Their Tank House Ale is one of the finers true English-style IPAs, though it doesn't go under that category.)

My reference point is not necessarily the seasoning, though that is important, and not just for the "hot". Rather it is the meatiness of the wing and drumlets, and the degree of cookedness.

Anyhow, the only saving grace of HOOTERS was the $12.95 pitcher of Samuel Adams lager. Okay, there were redeeming features about the waitresses, but not enough to compensate for the disappointment of these so-called legendary wings.