Wing Night at Birmingham Bridge Tavern
This review has been a long time coming. But better late than never, I suppose! Back in July, Drew and I journeyed to Birmingham Bridge Tavern in the Southside. I’d been hearing about their wings for a while, and I saw a picture on Facebook saying that they had won second place in the traditional buffalo category of the King of the Wing festival. Really, I don’t need much encouragement to go to a wing night, and this was certainly ample enough to convince me it had to be our next stop on the Pittsburgh wing night circuit.
The Details on Birmingham Bridge Tavern
Located at 2901 Sarah St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203.
Contrary to what you might think, Birmingham Bridge Tavern isn’t actually super close to Birmingham Bridge. I mean, it’s in the area, but it’s not right on top of it or anything. Go figure. Anyway, wing night at Birmingham Bridge Tavern is on Mondays from 7PM to 10 PM. Wings are on special for $.50 a piece and can be ordered in batches of 10. Usually, wings are $9.99 for a dozen and $5.49 for six, so that’s quite a steal. Luckily, you are allowed to divide these into different sauces, meaning you separate your batch into two flavors like we did. Yeungling is also on special for only $2.75 a glass.
The Wings
The delicious flavors available at Birmingham Bridge Tavern wing night!
There’s a decent amount of wing flavors to try at Birmingham Bridge Tavern. They go beyond the basic buffalo and hot with some exotic sounding concoctions. I’m assuming they go from mild to spicy, otherwise the exploding thermometer is extremely misplaced.
Wing sauces include Garlic Parm, BBQ, Golden BBQ, Spicy Garlic Parm, Spicy Garlic, Bourbon BBQ, Buffalo, Golden Boy, Thai Fire, Jerk, Eric Jr., Eric the Red, Hot Metal, and Death Metal.
In my traditional fashion, I of course chose to go with Spicy Garlic Parm. How could I not? I also chose Golden Boy because it seemed intriguing. While the waitress kindly explained to me what it was, I can’t remember right now. I believe it was a mix of Buffalo and Golden BBQ, but I’m open to corrections. Drew, as always, tried the more exotic ones. He went with Jerk and Thai Fire. Goodness, we are so predictable, aren’t we? And of course, we got fries, because I happened to be starving on this day and I love fries.
A sad bunch of celery.
I don’t really think anyone goes to wing night for the celery, but if you do, avoid Birmingham Bridge Tavern. It was easily the least impressive part of the evening. This also might just be my personal opinion because I hate green things… but I mean look at it. It just looks slimy and gross. I made Drew eat it, of course. However, an important point to note… good ranch. Delicious, homemade ranch! Yes!
Spicy Garlic Parm and Golden Boy at wing night at Birmingham Bridge Tavern.
Now on to the main event… wings! Pictured above are my delicious wings, Golden Boy and Spicy Garlic Parm. I’m pleased to say that they tasted as good as they looked. They were a decent size and had decadently crispy skin on the outside. Inside, the meat was tender and juicy. The Golden Boy was a really good choice in my mind – it had just a little bit of spice to counteract the sweetness of the BBQ. Not too hot to handle, and not too sugary (which is a big pet peeve of mine). The Spicy Garlic Parm were also delicious… but didn’t have much garlic flavor. Not a huge problem, as the spicy buttery sauce was so good that I dipped my fries into it.
Thai Fire and Jerk wings at Birmingham Bridge Tavern wing night.
I was really interested to try Drew’s Thai Fire wings, as I was debating getting them myself. They were definitely good, and had a nice Asian zing to them. They would be a great choice if you love Thai food, obviously. The Jerk were also ok, but not really my thing. They were really spicy – not in a heat way, but in a spice way. The jerk spices were a little too overpowering for me, but Drew really enjoyed them. Of the four sauces we tried, they were definitely his favorite. I can’t really choose a favorite – I really liked both of mine, but I might go with Golden Boy, just because it was a little different.
Soggy fries at wing night at Birmingham Bridge Tavern.
However, I do have a bone to pick with our fries. Sadly, as a fry connoisseur, they hugely disappointed me. At first, I was ecstatic about seeing this heaping basket of fried potatoes in front of me. They looked scrumptiously fresh cut and needed to be in my belly immediately. But as soon as I lifted one from the basket, I knew they were trouble. They were soggy and lacked any sort of the essential crisp that makes fries so tasty. It was so disappointing, but luckily I had ranch and other yummy wing sauces to dip them in to make them more palatable.
PROS
- Can choose different flavors
- Tasty and myriad sauces
- Come in batches of 10 (good for me)
- Crisp and perfectly cooked
- Ranch was good
CONS
- Fries were soggy and bland
- Come in batches of 10 (bad for people who like a dozen)
- Ranch dressing cost extra
- Only had celery
Final Ranking
I’ve tried a lot of Pittsburgh wings, and these were really some good wings. Drew and I both agree on that, which means that it’s not just my fat girl persona talking. The sauces were good and there were plenty to choose from, the price is right, and they were cooked just the way I like them. We each gave them four stars, though I was close to going up to 4.5… I look forward to going back some day and trying out some more flavors!
My Rating:
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Drew’s Rating:
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P.S. Check out my Pittsburgh Wing Night calendar for up to date information on wing nights in the area! It runs on Google Calendar, so you can easily add it to your own schedule to keep track of wing nights.
