While trapped on the glitzy Las Vegas strip during a recent conference, we happened onto an ESPN Zone location.  We threw caution to the wind and decided to try their buffalo wings.

The first thing we noticed about their wings was the price.  At almost a dollar a wing, we were thinking…well, I guess someone has to pay for all those plasma TV’s.  We thought about our responsibility to you, the readers, and went ahead and placed our order.  Our expectations for quality and taste jumped up several notches with the price being so high.  We specified that we prefer smaller wings, cooked extra crisp.  This is a new safeguard we put in place to guard against the giant, sometimes undercooked poultry that seems to dominate the marketplace.

We started with a salad, the Tomato and Basil salad.  It was HUGE and very nicely presented, with big chunks of provolone cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  They say that you can usually tell how good your meal is going to be by the quality of the salad.  Our expectations ratcheted up several notches after consuming some of the great salad.

The wings arrived on a nice, large plate.  They were neatly stacked “lumberjack style”, which is to say they were lined up like logs in a woodpile.  The presentation of carrots and celery was quite nice, as they too were presented “lumberjack style”.  The color contrast of bright orange buffalo wings on one side of the plate, and green celery and orange carrots on the other side of the plate was a sight to behold.

The wings were WAY too big, approaching 3 inches in length.  Just as we expected, on the first bite we verified that although they had been cooked extra-crisp, the meat was very tough and chewy.  The next thing we noticed was the sodium level was off the charts.  They must be using the saltiest sauce in the business – Bruce’s Louisiana Hot Sauce.  We instructed the waiter to step up production on the iced tea, as our tounges started to swell from the excess sodium.

The flavor of the wings was barely acceptable and almost impossible to taste because of the salty sauce.  We did notice a favorable ratio of drumettes to wingettes, with drumettes leading about 7 ½ to 2 ½ . 

This will no doubt be our only visit to ESPN Zone for buffalo wings, as the product was entirely unacceptable and over-priced.  We can tell you to save your dollars for somewhere else – the Zone just doesn’t cut if for wings.  Great salad though!

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