Introduction
It’s Emilia and Iris, back with ANOTHER anticipated review! Have you guys ever heard of a popular fast food chain called “Wingstop”? Because we sure have. Many know how controversial their flavors could be, so we’re going to betray our winter arc and try the top 3 flavors. We’re not going to WING it. We let YOU guys choose through a Google Form sent out to the whole school. We’ll be covering the results curated through the Form, a bit of the nutrition facts (to keep us in check), Wingstop’s description of each flavor, their rank on Wingstop’s heat scale, and our HONEST reviews and ratings.
As we said before, we have sent out a poll to the entire school. We were so impressed when 133 people filled out our survey. Thanks, guys! We had a total of 14 different flavors and let each person pick just one. Unsurprisingly, Lemon Pepper won with 26.7% voting for it. In second place, drum roll please, was Garlic Parmesan with 16.8% voting for it. Following that was Mango Habanero, making it last on our podium with 13%. Now let’s get into what you all came here for, the REAL review.
Lemon Pepper
Lemon Pepper, a clear fan favorite, honestly a classic as well. It’s 120 calories per wing; no surprise we gained 5 pounds after this taste test. Its rating on the heat scale is a 1/5 and Wingstop described it as “Zesty lemon. Cracked black pepper. This dry rub is the ultimate gateway flavor.” However, what did we have to say about this?
I, Iris, rated it a 5/10. Honestly, I thought it was quite bland, something I can make myself, and I’ve burned oatmeal before (tragic). It was just chicken with the slightest tang of lemon, not a kick, not a punch, barely a push. The chicken with the lemon didn’t pair that well, in my opinion, and, frankly, it tasted weird with the ranch. It was like a combination of egg and lemon, ew.
I, Emilia, rated it a 6/10. It might’ve been the fact that we ordered bone-in instead of boneless, but the lemon pepper flavor wasn’t very distinct. In all honesty, it just tasted like plain chicken and I would’ve definitely preferred more flavor. For it being the fan favorite, I was expecting a lot more and those expectations just weren’t met. Overall, nothing too special and I wouldn’t re-order.
Garlic Parmesan
Our second place winner came next, Garlic Parmesan. Like the last one, each wing contains 120 calories, which is quite surprising considering there wasn’t that much going on with the flavor of this one either. Its rating on the heat scale is a 0/5 and Wingstop described it as “Savory garlic, buttery Parmesan. This dry rub is simple, potent, and delicious.” They should’ve emphasized the “simple” and left out the “potent”.
I, Emilia, rated it a 7/10. To me, this just tasted like chicken with Parmesan because I couldn’t really get a taste for that supposed hint of garlic. I feel that the Parmesan sprinkled on top was excessive and took away from the garlic flavor making it quite bland, though it might just be the Polish in me. Despite that, the taste was pleasant and classic. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to re-order unless I had a strong craving for it.
I, Iris, rated it a 9/10. I honestly enjoyed the roasted Parmesan flavor. I couldn’t taste much of the garlic, so hopefully it didn’t make my breath smell, but I guess we’ll never know. Honestly, I would order it again; it was very tasty, especially paired with the ranch. Though, I think I would prefer it if it was on the boneless wings instead. There wasn’t much to complain about, which is a little annoying.
Mango Habanero
Mango Habanero, our third placer. It only had 100 calories, which honestly didn’t even matter because if we would’ve eaten another one, both of us would’ve thrown up. Its rating on the heat scale is a 4/5 and Wingstop described it as “sweet, with heat. And then some. Seriously.” Like what does that even mean??
Anyway, I, Iris, rated it a 4/10. It honestly wasn’t terrible considering the weird scent, like deep fried sugar. I didn’t know what to expect when I tried it. I was thinking it would taste like mango and Tajín, but that expectation was on me because it was still chicken. It just tasted like chicken with some sort of honey or sap and had a tingly sensation from the spice. Honestly, it’s no wonder the description didn’t make sense because neither did the flavor. I enjoyed the spice; it made my tongue a little numb though, but what can you do? While the taste overall wasn’t too terrible, it definitely wasn’t good either. It kind of reminded me of cough syrup, so, personally, I wouldn’t re order.
I, Emilia, rated it a 3/10. Initially, I was afraid to try this one because of the amount of sauce it had and the smell of it, which weren’t enticing at all so I didn’t know what to expect. Once I tried it, I immediately put it back down. This one just isn’t for me personally because the flavor isn’t something I’m used to. I liked the tingly sensation left on my tongue afterwards, but the flavor of the wing itself wasn’t something I’d ever crave. It was weirdly sweet and, like Iris said, had a similar taste to cough syrup which is known to be gross. I couldn’t ever see myself re-ordering this.
Conclusion
We both enjoyed the Garlic Parmesan the best: Iris rating it a dashing 9/10, while Emilia was a little more critical with her 7/10 rating. We thought it was a classic and, frankly, the others were just bad in comparison. Honestly, we know this wasn’t part of our article, but if we had a choice we would’ve rated the ranch a 10/10, the real star of the show.
Overall, this was both an exciting and fun experience, despite the fact we nearly threw up after trying these, but of course we ordered more food for ourselves afterwards! Again, thank you so much to everyone who took a few seconds out of their day to make this article possible. We hope you guys enjoyed this one as much as the last one – we sure did! Make sure to keep an eye out for our next article!
Works Cited
- NUTRITIONAL GUIDE (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2024, from https://s3.amazonaws.com/wingstop.com/assets/static/WSR18-0009-Corporate-NutritionalGuide-JumboWings-HR_OFFICAL.pdf
- Taste the Delicious Wingstop Sauce Flavors (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2024, from https://www.wingstop.com/flavors
