Walk on the wild side: ‘Game on!’ at Lehi Buffalo Wild Wings
Waitresses Jhulliana Lofrano, left, and Cheyenne Gordon stand for a portrait with a selection of items from the menu at the new Buffalo Wild Wings in Lehi Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald
The Big Jack Daddy Burger at the new Buffalo Wild Wings in Lehi Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald
Ultimate Nachos, Traditional Wings and the Big Jack Daddy Burger at the new Buffalo Wild Wings in Lehi Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald
Waitress Cheyenne Gordon stands for a portrait with a selection of items from the menu at the new Buffalo Wild Wings in Lehi Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald
Looking for a fantastic environment to watch tonight’s big West Coast Conference basketball game between BYU and Gonzaga, but don’t want to travel all the way to Spokane, Wash.?
Fear not, a short drive to the new Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar in Lehi may be just the ticket you’re looking for.
The famed sports-themed restaurant, with more than 750 locations in 45 states, could be the best place to watch a huge sporting event short of being in the arena or stadium itself. One thing for certain, however, is the food is a lot better than your typical arena fare.
More about the food in a minute. First, let’s talk entertainment value. This restaurant has more TVs than you can shake a wing at. We about went dizzy trying to count the number of screens available for viewing in the main dining area, and kept getting distracted by the cacaphony of action occurring all around us — whether on those screens or live on the floor itself in the form of a hot wings eating contest, among other things. Suffice to say that there were more than 20 TV screens in the main area (including four super-sized ones), and a similar amount in a second large dining room, which also housed the bar, further back in the restaurant.
To beat home the obvious, if you’re looking for a nice, quiet romantic dinner, with lots of subdued conversation, then maybe Buffalo Wild Wings wouldn’t be your first option. But if you’re in the mood for a get-together will all your rowdy friends on Monday or any other night, then it’s hard to imagine a better location.
Servers at Buffalo Wild Wings are all dressed in football-style jerseys with the No. 82 on them. This momentarily puzzled us, until we noticed on the menu where the franchise got its start in 1982. Server names are handwritten onto the back of the jerseys.
For an appetizer, we ordered The Sampler — and were extremely pleased with the choice. It came a few minutes later with a combination of mozzarella sticks, ultimate nachos, onion rings and wings. It was nearly a meal unto itself, and our party of five immediately engaged in diving right in. The onion rings were as close to perfect as any we’d ever tasted and the mozzarella sticks also were fantastic. The wings were excellent and the nachos pretty good as well. If you’re unfamiliar with the fare at Buffalo Wild Wings — and since this is the first franchise location in Utah, we’re guessing many might be — then The Sampler could probably double as a meal option just to offer a taste of the multiple choices in one visit.
We also ordered a couple of combos that included ribs, popcorn shrimp and even more wings. We recommend them all. The ribs are glazed and grilled to perfection, and come in the half-pound or pound variety. There are 16 different sauces and four seasonings available on the menu for your wings, ranging in spiciness from Sweet BBQ to Blazin’. We are not big on burned tastebuds, so we stayed on the milder end of the spectrum with choices like Teriyaki, Mild and Honey BBQ. For every order of six wings, you can add a different sauce. The combos also come with coleslaw, thin-cut French fries and celery and carrots.
The Grilled Chicken Salad was piled high with fresh greens, mushrooms, tomato wedges, large circle-cut onions and a blend of cheeses and croutons in addition to the chicken. Delicious!
We also sampled the Parmesan Garlic Chicken Flatbread. The oven-baked, pizza-style flatbread was good, but a bit spicier than expected. Thankfully, we had a tasty Huckleberry Lemonade to help take the edge off.
There were many other items on the menu we would love to try — especially the tempting hamburgers and sandwiches — but they will have to wait for another visit. And when that occurs, we’re sure to pick a time when there is a big sporting event happening to double our pleasure.
Where: 92 N. 1200 East, Lehi
Hours: 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday
Prices: $3.89 (chips and salsa) to $35.99 (order of 50 boneless wings)
Info: (801) 766-8402, www.buffalowildwings.com