A friend of mine told me that McDonald’s attempt at Buffalo wings were good if you really need a fix of hot wings. I immediately scoffed.
They’re called Mighty Wings, in an obvious effort to overcompensate for the lack of originality in the product itself. When I first saw the signage outside a corner Mickey D’s advertising them, I assumed they would be some kind of enlarged nugget served with hot sauce. BUT IT TURNS OUT – Mighty Wings are, in fact, real bone-in chicken wings. To my surprise, the wings are real, they’re fried, and you’ve got a selection of sauces to eat them with.
My experience ordering the Mighty Wings was typical McDonald’s. If you’ve ever ordered food at McDonald’s and found yourself greeted by the most disinterested eyes ever seen standing on that side of a cash register, you know what I mean. Fortunately, my expectations concerning ambiance and customer service were low to begin. I was informed at the counter that the hot flavored sauce wasn’t available. I was ready to give up at this point, but sheer inertia overcame me. I took the honey mustard variety instead, often my second choice of wing sauce (after exhausting all variations of Buffalo sauce, of course).
The breading forms a thick, breaded crust over the entire wing from tip to tip, leaving you with a crispy but shapeless piece of chicken that you have to tinker with if you’re going to avoid chipping a tooth on the bone you can’t detect using sight alone. This much breading is basically a disqualifying factor from the start. NOT BUFFALO.
But after all, who doesn’t love fried chicken? As fried chicken goes, I was satisfied. The seasoning on the wings, perfectly designed to not offend but yet remain enticingly zesty, makes them potentially the most flavorful item on the menu, in the opinion of The Wing Authority. They were plump, juicy, and filled the little box they came in.
These were tasty pieces of extra crispy fried chicken, but fried chicken alone does not a Buffalo wing make. Look at these fried titans!
Problem is, these wings are not tossed in sauce, wear way too much breading, and blue cheese is nowhere to be found. While these wings might compete side by side against a fried chicken food chain (more on that later), The Wing Authority is done here. NOT BUFFALO.