The Big Food Blog

Location: Haywood Mall, Greenville SC

Items ordered: 10pc Boneless Wings with Fries

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The food court of the Haywood Mall is home to your standard affair of mall foods. Sbarro, Asian places (quite a few, actually), tacos, a Chic-Fil-A, and two sandwich shops. Charley’s Cheesesteaks, and Gyros & Wings, the stop for this review. I ordered the 10pc Boneless Wings, Hot and got the full combo with the fries. The atmosphere for the location is frankly what you expect from a food court location, so nothing surprising there. I ordered first and got served second, but that was understandable considering the wings were fresh out of the fryer. The price I paid was $22.97, including tax and tip.

To start with, the fries. Crinkle cut fries that were cooked well. The crunch and texture of the fries was very nice, about what should be standard for a crinkle cut fry. The size of the fries were a bit diminished, though, and were quite under seasoned, relying on the oil and potato flavor. Some salt or pepper would have benefitted these greatly. As it stood, it was nearly $23 for unseasoned fries, which is frankly halfway to a robbery. If I’m paying $23 for a plate of food, I want all of it to be seasoned and to be big.

So how about the wings? Much like the fries, they had a good crunch to them, and the batter used gave a good bite. Rather fortunately, the flavor was great here. The sauce is a buffalo sauce, and quite a good one at that. Not overly vinegary, punchy, and with a nice black pepper note that contrasts the vinegar note very well. No ranch required for this one! In fact, ranch harmed the flavor, taking away that pepper note I loved about this. But were they $23 good? In my opinion… no. I don’t think they were.

For $10 more (even less, most of the time), I can go to a sit down restaurant and enjoy a better environment with an appetizer and unlimited refills on my drink, not to mention most likely better fries. The wings may not be superior, but I would trade some quality for a better experience overall. For $23, I can’t say I recommend this meal. For the amount you get and the disappointment of the fries, it’s simply not worth it. Search elsewhere for your lunch or downscale it.

On a closing note, would I eat this again if given it for free? Absolutely. Perhaps bring a couple of salt and pepper packets for the fries, but otherwise I would. I don’t mean to trash this place, by any means. The sauce was incredible for a small joint in a mall, certainly compared to other places I’ve had previously which pour a slightly tangy buffalo sauce on and call it a day. This was a very good sauce. Just not a $23 sauce.