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Wing Stop – Casselberry, Florida

Below is a “critique essay” I wrote for school on my visit to Wing Stop on Saturday the 6th. I also incorporated my pictures from the visit for the post.

“Let’s go to Wing-Stop”
With that said my husband and I were off to have a late lunch. I had never been to Wing Stop, but Ruben had already gone a few times with his brother and friends. I already knew we were in for a good meal because of their tendency to return at least every couple of months to the nearby restaurant. My experience with the multi-flavored chicken at Wing Stop turned out positive and I see myself going back for more in the near future.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by an employee who’s enthusiasm actually seemed honest. This gentleman, who also took our order, even went as far as frying us a sample wing my husband and I were not sure of buying. After sitting at our table to wait for our food I took notice of the staff-to-customer interaction. What I really liked was each member’s attention to detail as they took many orders; it was Saturday afternoon after all. It was nice to see they served everyone with the same positive attitude we experienced ourselves – both to customers walking in and calls they were taking constantly on two phones.  There were at least six employees all working toward the common goal of getting it right for each customer.

The Casselberry restaurant is small and seats about 30 people. As soon as your order is taken you are free to choose your table. Location, location, location. I quickly decided on a table by service counter where the drinks were given because my husband likes his soda refills. The table for two was small, but still able to accommodate comfortably when our pile of chow was set onto it.  We were sitting against a wall with a covering I can say was literally “rustic”. The bottom half is a metal sheet with rows of burnt orange rust that seemed to almost coincidentally appear in stripes. The top half was adorned with random posters either relating to aviation or Pepsi Cola. Overall, the feeling for Wing Stop’s atmosphere was different, clean, and welcoming.

I was excited when our food was set on a tray before us. This was the moment I waited about fifteen minutes for. My husband ordered barbecue flavored chicken strips (i.e. think crispy breaded chicken bathed in gooey sauce). I ordered Louisiana style wings which were rubbed with Cajun seasoning and packed quite a kick. I would rate the spiciness an eight out of ten. They were so good dipped in blue cheese sauce! Each entree is served with french fries which tasted fresh. I really enjoyed them because they were cut without peeling and potato skins hold a lot flavor. We also ordered half a dozen of their “Yeast Rolls” – sweet bread baked in the shape of a ball. These were really tasty and also helped balance the heat from the wings.

Our visit to Wing Stop is one that will definitely repeat. I am mostly looking forward to trying a new style and flavor of wing. From the moment you walk in to the restaurant it feels like you made the right decision. The customer service and food quality only makes it better at Wing Stop. I would absolutely suggest Wing Stop to my friends and family and would bet this is one of the reasons for the non-stop phone orders coming in while we ate our lunch that afternoon. What a tasty and filling lunch that was.

Wingstop on Urbanspoon
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Thanks for reading – soon I’ll post Part 3 of my New York 2012 series.
New clue… it’s powdery.

Zulaika H.

Follow Me on Pinterest for easy sharing of my reviews and recipes and a bunch of other fun stuff on there.

New York City 2012 Part 1

This past week my husband and I went on a trip to NYC. I know I keep saying this on Twitter, but I really have a bunch of stuff to share with you all and will post them soon. Come back these next few weeks as I share some of what we ate within just a few days in the Big Apple.

The first meal for this series could not be more appropriate. As soon as we dropped off our luggage we headed to the BEST Chinese place in China Town. WO HOP  

Wo Hop (Basement Level) on Urbanspoon

Picture this – my husband and I come up from the subway into China Town in the POURING RAIN. We had to buy a pair of umbrellas at the first shop we passed. I was wearing my Sperry’s and so my feet were SOAKED!! Finally we see it – we race down the steps to get out of the rain.

We were both relieved and excited. My husband had been here before, but it was my first time. Luckily we got there just a little after 11 a.m. and so there wasn’t a line of people waiting outside to eat (the inside doesn’t seem to be large enough for more than 40-60 customers at a time).

It was really like we traveled back in time to a restaurant that didn’t care it was 2012. The walls were covered with photos – There isn’t a way to know what color the paint is in the room. The people in the pictures taped/hung were a mix of actors, musicians, random television personalities and “regular” people. Many were autographed. By the booth we sat in I saw a couple high school student IDs. Anyone who wanted to leave their mark basically had the option to in any way they wanted. It was very different, and made the room seem even smaller.

There’s an image on Obsession Confession (a blog) if you’d like to see what it’s like – here’s the link

As we waited for our food (about 10 minutes or less for the entrees), we got to see a couple tables full of men working… apparently the kitchen is too small to prep back there. A couple (senior members of the kitchen) cleaned fresh snap peas and 3 or 4 others were working on prepping dumplings. It was really cool to witness them doing this – really made the experience feel that much more authentic.

Before our entrees were served I had wonton soup (about $2) just because I love it and wanted to know if they had the goods… Their fried wonton are 75 cents (do not come with the soup). They tasted as if they were fried on the spot because they were still warm.

I was not disappointed, but found it surprising they did not put chives in the broth. Still very good.

As an entree I ordered BBQ spare ribs, which I’d rate a 7 out of 10 – the smaller cuts of meat were a little tough from being overcooked. The larger ribs were juicy and tasty. Ruben ordered Honey Crispy Beef which to be completely honest did not look appealing to me at first (and is NOT crispy). It’s a breaded steak, which is then bathed in a sweet syrupy sauce and served. I tried it and did really like it. Unfortunately I was too full to have a real serving of it. My husband really liked it.

We also ordered Beef Fried Rice to share. It was very good.

Something to make note of is the fact that they do not serve soft drinks or a variety of beverages at all actually! Water or Tea – that is all.

Overall Wo Hop lived up and exceeded my expectations. I look forward to eating there again whenever we visit next. The portions are very big and can easily be shared between 3-4 hungry people. This is probably why everyone loves it. You don’t have to take my word for it though – it has hundreds of positive reviews. I haven’t found a negative one yet!

Google Search (see the positive notes just in the results!)
Google Plus page (Rated a 22 in Zagat)
NY Mag profile page
Wo Hop Chinese Restaurant’s Official Site (the simplicity of the site shows they’d rather be serving food than making it sound and look good. They KNOW their stuff is good!)

After our lunch my husband and I continued with sightseeing – luckily we had cooperative weather for the rest of the day.

As always, thanks for reading – please come back for my continuation of this series from my NYC trip.

Zulaika H.

Follow Me on Pinterest for easy sharing of my reviews and recipes and a bunch of other fun stuff on there.

Smokey Bones Restaurant

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Smokey Bones for lunch. I haven’t had ribs for a while and I felt hungry so that’s what I decided to have – the Baby Back Ribs (just a 1/3 rack) with fries and cole slaw. I was surprised to actually like the slaw – it was very moist but still crunchy 🙂

Ruben had a Smokehouse burger – he had to take some of the onions out towards the end because the taste of them was a little overpowering.
Menu description: “A mouth-watering 1/2 lb burger fire-grilled to your liking, smothered with BBQ’d onions, peppered bacon slices, melted cheddar and crispy onion straws, all on a toasted burger bun.”

Overall I’d rate our outing a 7 out of 10.

Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill on Urbanspoon

Location: https://plus.google.com/111789603078334239221/about?gl=us&hl=en

Zulaika

Follow Me on Pinterest for easy sharing of my reviews and recipes and a bunch of other fun stuff on there.