TRaGiK's Motorcycle Friendly Resturaunt Reviews

Carolina Brewery, bikers breakfast, and other updates

2011-07-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while since I've done any updates. Sold the last bike I was on, bought another, sold that, and bought another. Currently I'm on a 1999 Kawasaki Concours, and I think this bike is a keeper. I PLAN on holding on to it for a little while....certainly longer than 3 weeks like the last bike.

This update is about Carolina Brewery, but first let me step back in time a little bit. Earlier in this blog, I wrote about a place called "Michaels", that did a bikers breakfast every sunday. Not long after I wrote about that place, they went out of business completely, leaving us moto riders, without a place to go. Couple of places tried doing it, and all of them either quit serving sunday breakfast, or went out of business altogether.

Now, Carolina Brewery in Pittsboro NC had started opening Sunday morning at 9am, specifically for the bikers. They've aparently been doing it for 2 months or so now, but I found out about it 3 weeks ago. I'd visited the place before during normal hours, and thought it was a nice place with good food, but didn't consider it a "bikers hangout" type of place.

As the name implies, it is an actual micro brewery. I'm not a fan of beer, so I can't comment on what their beer is like, but it's a pretty cool place to eat dinner at.

For their biker breakfast, their menu is pretty simple. They have pastries, wraps, and sandwiches. On their sandwiches and wraps, you can choose any combination of the following: sausage, bacon, egg, and cheese. That's it. That's all the breakfast they have. I was a little let down my first time in, as I love hashbrowns, and they don't serve them. Not a huge deal though, as the sandwiches and wraps are pretty large. I had a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, and it was pretty awesome. Much larger than I expected, and pretty filling. A friend that rode up with me had the wrap, which was quite a bit larger than any of us expected to see. After eating it, he commented, "I feel like I just ate a small child". Got a laugh from all of us.

For just a sandwich, I thought it was damn good. Nobody complained about that quality of food, and I think most of us felt the same way about it...pretty darn good.

The staff is extremely friendly to us. They seem to enjoy seeing all the bikes show up. Not just for the money, but because they seem to genuinely like seeing the bikes/bikers come in. On my second visit in, the lady that served me on my first visit, remembered me.

I've never seen more than 30 to 45 bikes there. Not a real large crowd at all, especially comparing it to Michaels when they were in their prime. With that said, this place has the potential to draw in a big crowd. GOOD food, a large parking lot, and wait staff that not only do an excellent job, but are also friendly with the customers.

I'll definately be heading back, and make it my new Sunday morning breakfast spot!

Buffalo Wings and Rings

2010-07-18T12:49:00.001-07:00

Location: Morrisville, NC

Stopped here with the wife probably 1.5 years ago.

I'm tired of writing today, and gonna skip to the "meat" of it all. ;)

Quickly seated, fairly quick on the drink, appetizer, and food orders, with overall above average service.

I ordered wings....the hottest of course...and they weren't. On my heat scale, I'd say these were about a 6. A decent flavor, but not one of my favorites. I ordered 10 wings, and when the waiter brought them to me, he said "Sorry these are so small sir, I've got 6 more coming out for you to make up for the small size of these". The manager also came by and apologized for the smallness of them! I gotta say, I was impressed with that. While I didn't want more than 10 (and told them that after they offered me more), they brought them anyway! Now that's some damn service!

The quality of the wings, even the "small" ones, were pretty good. Not over cooked, tender, and pretty meaty.

We also ordered a basket of fried okra...something I RARELY see in a resturaunt of this type. The okra was pretty good. Not great, but definately above average.

I haven't been back to this place, simply because I didn't care for the wings here. I hear their burgers are good, but I've got other places that I'd rather get a burger from.

I'm going to rate this place at a 8. Not the best food in the world, but pretty damn awesome service. I definately recomend others to try it out.

Sticky Fingers BBQ

2010-07-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

Location: Concord NC and Myrtle Beach SC

I first stopped by the SF in Concord. Was at Bass Pro Shop, and was going to go to my old favorite, Quaker Steak and Lube. We decided to try something different, and my buddy suggested SF telling me how good the place was. I'm not normally one for BBQ joints, or BBQ in general, but I decided to give the place a shot.

Seated quickly, ordered drinks quickly, and ordered food quickly. Why can't every place be like this?

I ordered smoked wings. The first time I tried this place was a year or so before I tried Sparks, and was also the first place I've had smoked wings from. If every places had smoked wings like this place did, I'd quit eating normal fried wings, These wings, while nothing like normal wings, are quite possibly the absolute best wings I've ever had anywhere in my entire life! Absolutely amazing! I just had wings for lunch today, and my mouth is watering for more wings....smoked wings from SF! They're not spicey at all, and only have the sauce they were cooked in on them. I ate a few of them like that, and also tried a few with the SF sauces they have at the table. Either way, these wings are GREAT!

I also ordered a bbq chicken sandwich. I'm a plain kinda guy usually, and only put a little sauce from the table on this sandwich. Nothing really special about the sandwich, and it was a little dry. Not terrible, but not the best bbq chicken sandwich I've had either. The fries that came with this, also did not impress me. They're kind of like the fries you get at Burger King.

As not good as the fries were (I don't want to say "bad", because they weren't, they just weren't great), the wings more than made up for it, as did the service.

The location in Myrtle Beach SC, was a very similar experience. Service not quite as great, but still good, and the wings were equally as good.

Overall, I'm rating this place a 9.5. Great wings, good other food, good to great service. I'll definately be going back!

Buffalo's Cafe

2010-07-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

Location: Creedmore NC

Stopped in this establishment after a bike ride with my buddy Tony. It's located in a strip mall, but a fairly big place with a patio. Us smokers love patio's now, since NC has banned smoking inside resturaunts. What a crock of horse dung.

Anyway, I'd read a lot of review on this place. Everything from saying it sucked, to it's the best place in the entire universe to eat anything at.

Tony and I rolled up about 12:15 on a Sunday afternoon, and walked in. We were seated as soon as we walked inside, and drink orders were taken minutes after. A few minutes later, our food orders were taken. This is one of the few places that have a "wing combo". I really wish more places would do that. Ordering an order of wings, and a order of fries usually ends up costing more than I want it to.

The combo comes with 8 wings, fries, grilled corn on the cob, and a piece of garlic bread. Quite the combo for only $7.99!

After taking the pic, we dug in (Tony had his own plate ;) ). Garlic bread? Great! Grilled corn? Awesome! Fries? Good. Wings? Well....I'd have to call them average.

Once again, I got the hottest wings available. They weren't the hottest I've had by any means. Probably around a 7 to 7.5 on the hottness scale. The sauce taste was average. A fair amount of heat, but a little more vinegary than I normally care for. The wings themselves were slightly overcooked. Neither was terribly, and I'd definately go back again, but based on the wings alone, this will not replace Wild Wing Cafe in Brier Creek as my weekly place to eat. I'd definately like to go back and try some of their other stuff. They have a pretty good looking menu, with lots of stuff I'd like to try!

The service here was average. Waitress was on top of stuff, until we got our food. She'd come by about every 10 minutes to check on us, but each and every time I'd have to ASK for a refill. I hate ASKING for refills. I shouldn't have to in my opinion. She should notice when she walks up that I'm out, or nearly out of drink, and offer to refill it. Running out of drink is a pet peeve of mine. Letting my drink run dry repeatedly is a sure way to get NO tip. She did come by and check on us as I said though, so I can't be too hard on the girl.

The other thing she did was bring my back only a 5 dollar bill for my change. No one dollar bills. It kinda annoyed me, and had Tony not had a few ones he loaned me, she probably would have just got the loose change she brought back (maybe 40 cents). Does she really think I was going to leave her a 5 dollar bill? It seems as a lot of waiters and waitresses hope that will happen by only bringing back larger bills for change. Sorry, but not with this guy! I'll tip very well if the service is very good. Average service however, will get an average tip.

Overall, I'm rating this place around a 8.5. Average wings with average service. If the rest of the menu didn't look so promising, I'd rate them a little lower, but it looks so good. :D

Sparks Wings & Ribs

2010-07-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Location: Apex, NC

I've been on the hunt for some new wing places in the area, and stumbled across this place on the local new channels website. Went to the Sparks website, and the place has a pretty decent menu. Looked promising.

So after a NCS (NCSportbikes.com) meet and greet at the Raleigh Fairgrounds, a few of us decided to head over to Sparks. It's a small resturaunt and sports bar in a strip mall in Apex. Pretty cool feeling place, and I dug the atmosphere of the place.

We sat ourselves, and within a few minutes our drink orders were taken. It took a while for the waitress to take our food order, but to her defense, not all of us showed up at the same time. About the time she was ready to take our food order, 2 more people would show up and she'd have to get their drink order instead....then 2 more would show up.

I ordered wings....smoked wings actually. The taste of these are quite a bit different than normal (fried....or even baked or grilled) wings. Very good in taste and fairly tender as well! These wings don't come with sauce on them, but you get sauce on the side instead. As always, I got the hottest sauce. The sauce, while pretty spicy, was no where near being in the top 5 of hottest sauces I've had. On a scale from 1 (coldest) to 10 (hottest), I'd rate these around a 6...maybe 7.

The service at this place was average....maybe slightly above average. I can't really complain too much about it. The food came out in a timely manner, and orders were taken in a timely manner as well. Drinks did run dry on occasion, but I never had to wait any ungodly amount of time for a refill. The one big complaint I have is one of the guys paid with cash, and the waitress didn't bring him any one dollar bills with his change...only a 5. Only when he asked her to make change for the 5 did he get it. When service is only marginal to begin with (I'm not saying it was this time), it's a good way for *ME* to not leave any tip at all. If they're not smart enough to bring ones, they get nothing. Luckily, service was better than marginal (as I said, slightly above average), and his attitude may not be the same as mine. ;)

Now, there is something to note about this place. 2 of the 6 of us got sick after eating at this place. One guy puked up everything a couple hours later, and the other guy said he couldn't get off the toilet all night. The other 4 of us were perfectly fine. The 2 that got sick, that could have been purely coincidental, but it sure is a hell of a coincidence. Neither of them ate the same thing though, and neither of their food shared anything in common. Different sauces, one had wings and the other didn't, 2 different kinds of fries, etc. Maybe one cook that had something on him touched those 2 plates and another cook touched the other 4. Who knows. May have not even been related to the place, but I feel it's note worthy. Both of the guys said they would go back to try it again though, and both said the food was VERY good.

Overall, I'd rate the place around a 8.5. Fair service, great food (as long as it doesn't make you sick), and a pretty good atmosphere! If no one gets sick the next time we go, and the service and food is the same, I'll bump this place up to a 9 or so, but I probably won't make another post about it. If someone does get sick again, I'll be rating it a 1, and will surely post it up.

East Coast Wings

2010-07-18T11:24:00.001-07:00

It's been a while guys. Since I last posted, I've sold my bike, bought a boat, sold it and bought another bike, sold it and bought a quad, and finally back on a bike again. Back on another 2007 SV1000S actually. Not setup exactly like my old one, but close enough for now.

Anyway, I at at ECW on 2 different occasions, at 2 different locations.

ECW #1:
Location: Winston Salem, march-ish 2009

This place was pretty darn good. It was located in a strip mall in Winston Salem, and appeared to be a fairly new location.

I got there with my wife, and a few friends. We were promptly seated, gave our drink orders, and I then ordered up some wings (as an appetizer), and a burger. As always, I ordered the hottest wings they have....Insanity I think they're called. This was another one of those "You have to sign a waiver" kinda deals. I've had to do that before at Quaker Steak and Lube, but I always thought it was just a novelty kind of thing. NOT at this place. I've never had wings so hot I couldn't eat half a dozen of them with ease. Absolutely not the case here. These wings were PAINFULLY hot. All I could do was 3 of them. After those 3, I went outside in the cold trying to make my mouth cool down, splashed cold water on my face, drank everything the waitress would bring me, etc. Nothing helped. On top of that, it had my stomach in knots the rest of the day. FInally! A place that makes wings so hot that *I* couldn't eat them!!! I was impressed! :D Aside from being extremely hot, they were actually very good. Had a good flavor, and weren't overcooked!

Onto the burger I ordered. This was quite possibly one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life! Very tasty! Cooked how I wanted it (well done), but not burnt at all!

The service here was pretty good as well. Waitress was prompt seating us, taking our drink order, taking our food orders, and never let my drink run empty! I thought I had found a new favorite wing joint, until...

ECW #2 - Winston Salem, July 2010

This ECW, as I said earlier, was a different ECW than the one above. Complete opposite experience from the one above as well.

We pull up to this old looking building that looked a little run down on the outside. We walk in, and while it doesn't look run down on the inside, the place is tiny. There might have been 15 tables to sit at.

Once we get inside, we wait for a hostess to seat us like the last ECW did. When some of the staff looked at us like we were stupid for standing there, we sat ourselves. Keep in mind, this place was dead when we got there. There was one other person eating when we got there, and maybe 3 or so employee's that I saw out front.

Several minutes later, a waitress gives us menus and takes a drink order. Several minutes after that (10ish?) we get our drinks and she takes our food order. Probably 25 minutes later, we get our food. In the mean time, another group of people have been seated, ordered and received their food, finished eating, and left about 5 minutes after we got out food.

The food. Ugh. I forgot how my wife liked hers, but mine was pretty....eh. I ordered a steak & cheese sandwhich and fries. The bread was stale, the meat was dry, and the half a slice of cheese wasn't enough. At best, I'd call the food below average. I can't really say anything good about it.

The service....well, it was below average as well. I can't remember the exact location of this one, but I can assure you I'll never stop by it again. Absolutely nothing good about this place. Food sucked, service sucked, atmosphere sucked....it all sucked!

ECW #1, I'd rate at around a 9.5. ECW #2 gets a rating of about 3. Only reason I'm rating #2 that high is because it didn't make me sick, and I did actually recieve food and a drink.

Nothing new...

2009-02-10T16:58:00.001-08:00

With winter around, I've turned into a puss and haven't been riding much lately. Haven't been to any new resturaunts either, but am open to suggestions of places to go.

As soon as I find a new place to try, I will, and will post up a review on it....

Geno's Steaks!!!!

2008-08-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

The place can be seen here: http://www.genosteaks.com/
Location: Philly, Pa

For those not in the know, this is one of the two most famous cheese steak places in Philly. This place isn't exactly a "motorcycle friendly" joint...it's more of a tourist type joint. Who cares though? :)

A friend of mine and I went on a motorcycle tour back in may, and ended up lost in Pennsylvania. Way off our route, and not knowing which direction to go, Jason said "Lets go to Philly for some real cheese steaks!". With me liking food as much as I do, who am I to say no? :D

We wake up the next morning, and drive something like 2.5 or so hours over to Philly. Let me say that I've never been to a BIG city. City traffic was an eye opening experience. Parking further opened my eyes. Once we got to Geno's I circled the block several times trying to find a spot, and finally one opened up directly in front of Geno's (curb side parking only).

When we got there, there was probably 60 - 80 people in front of us. I was thinking it was going to be ATLEAST an hour before we gave anyone our order. 15 to 20 minutes later, we were sitting down, eating our food! AWESOME!

The above makes my mouth water just looking at it. Geno's Steaks has the best damn cheese steaks I've EVER had in my life. You WILL NOT find one as good, anywhere outside of Philly. Period. It's not going to happen. If everything else about our 7 day sucked, the trip to Geno's would have made the entire trip worth while.

Now, normally a place like this you wouldn't really rate on service. It's a tourist, fast food joint. That said, with only having to wait 20 minutes (at most) for food, when ~70 people were ahead of us, the service was damn good. As good as the food itself. I'm rating this place a perfect 10. Nothing could have been better. The ONLY thing I wish were different about the place, is that I'd like for them to be about 500 miles closer to me. ;)

Wild Wing Cafe - Take 2!

2008-08-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

Location: Briar Creek in Durham, NC

So after my last review on Wild Wing Cafe, I was told by several people that I was WRONG. The place simply could not suck, and they had some of the best wings around. Period.

I decided last Saturday that I'd give them one more shot. I HOPED the food was going to be good, but was expecting more of the same junk I got the first time.

This time, a couple friends of mine and I went on a Saturday afternoon. As soon as we walked in the door, we were seated, and within 5 minutes we had our drinks. MUCH better than last time!

We order our food and had it within about 10 minutes. Tony (one of the guys that came with me last time), Random (sorry, I forgot his real name), and I all ordered wings. I ordered the hottest wings they have (Braveheart), Random ordered 3 steps down from that (Chernobyl), and Tony ordered ...umm....I forgot what flavor he ordered. :)

Upon receiving them, all of us noted that they looked like they didn't have enough sauce on them, and it appeard the sauce was cooked on them. However, after eating one, I decided my wings had just the perfect amount of sauce on them. This time, the wings tasted GREAT! Not overcooked and the sauce wasn't burned onto them. Last time the wings simply tasted "HOT", with not much other flavor. I also noted last time, they were the hottest wings I've EVER had. This time however, they didn't seem as hot, and they had an awesome taste to them! Very suprised, and was definately glad I gave this place another shot!

Random seemed to come to the same conclusion as I. While his wings weren't as hot as mine, they still made him sweat. I'm pretty sure he thought the sauce was just right, cooked just right, etc. I got no complaints from him, and he was glad he tried them out (For the first time) as well.

Tony had a couple comments/minor complaints on the place. First was even after trying them, he wanted a little more sauce on them. This didn't seem to slow him down from eating them though, so I didn't take it as a major complaint. The second note he made was that Buffalo Wild Wings wings were "easier to eat". He further elaborated and said they were more "tender".

Overall, this place was nearly great. The service could have been a hair better, and the wings MAYBE could have used a touch more sauce. For the total experience, I'll rate this place a 9.1. A hair better than BWW... mainly because the service was better than BWW (I never ran out of drink). As of now, this place comes second to Quaker Steak and Lube for some awesome wings. I'll definately be going back soon.

Locked and Loaded

2008-01-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

Location: Garner, NC

Locked and Loaded is a motorcycle specific sports bar/restaurant. Their menu is similar to that of Scooters Bar and Grill (Hamburgers, wings, misc. sandwiches, etc). Primarily a Harley joint, but like Scooters, I've always felt welcome.

Both times I visited the place, I ate a hamburger. Both times, the quality was the same, and food tasted the same. Their burgers are pretty good...not the best in the world, but not bad either.

They've got home made chips that they call "buffalo chips". They're thin sliced potatoes, deep fried, just like you'd expect a home made chip to be. After frying, they put buffalo wing sauce, and parmesan cheese on it, if you want. I tried them this way the first time, and they were terrible. Quite possibly, the worst thing to ever go in my mouth. Ugh. The second trip I made to the place, I got them plain. This was was MUCH better than with the other stuff on it.

Both times I went, I went with a group of my buddies. I didn't hear any complaints from them about the food.

Their service one time was average, and the next trip it was slightly above average. Good enough that I'd go back, but...

For some reason, I haven't went back in a while. It's probably been 3 months or so since I've been. Normally anytime I'm on that side of town, I want wings, so I go to BWW. If I'm in the mood for a burger, or similar, I go to Scooters. L&L is a pretty cool place, with average service, and decent food, but it just didn't leave a "I've gotta go back there!" kind of impression on me.

Overall I'd rate this place a 6 out of 10. Slightly above average, but nothing to write home about. Definately worth checking out though if you're in the area, and I'd probably eat there more if they were a little closer to me.

Five Guys...

2007-12-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

Location: Raleigh, NC (It's a chain, so they're located everywhere)

...burgers and fries. It's not really a "motorcycle friendly" place, as in they don't have any kind of bike nights, bike signage, etc, inside the place. It's more of a family resturaunt, but several guys I know freqeunt the place on their bikes, so...

I kept hearing how good this place was through radio ads, and word of mouth, so I finally decided to try them out.

Supposedly this place has won a bunch of "best burger" awards....or so their signage in their place states. Their menu is pretty basic, as they only have hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, and drinks. If you want something else, go somewhere else. ;)

So the wife and I visited the place, and ordered our food. First thing I noticed was the freaking price. Something like $23 for two burgers, two fries, and two drinks. A little pricey imo. Keep in mind this place is basically a fast food joint. You order your food, sit down, they call your number when the food is ready, and pick it up. They don't refill your drinks, bring the food to you, take your order from your table, etc....nothing.

So, 10 minutes later, we get our food. Acceptable wait time. We get our food, which came in a bag. Not even on a tray. Get the food out, make the spread on the table, and dig in.

First was the fries. When I first got them, I almost got excited! They look like the kind you'd make at home with fresh potatoes...and there was a LOT of them. Looked like enough fries to make a meal for two, without the burgers. Unfortunately, they sucked. I'm not sure if they were overcooked, or just really not fresh, and had some funky coating on them. Either way, they were far from great.

Then the burger. I've gotta say, it was pretty good, and fairly large. But, I have no idea how they won any kind of award with it. When I say it was good, that makes it average. Better than Mcdonalds, but worse than....well....anywhere else that charges the same price as this place for their burgers.

Overall, I rate this place a 5 out of 10. It's average. Barely above average burgers, and slightly below average fries, with an "acceptable" wait time for the food.

Scooters Bar and Grill...and Victory/Big Dog dealership.

2007-12-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

Location: Raleigh, NC

Scooters is another place I've been frequenting lately. Usually Saturday for lunch, me and a couple buddies will head up there. It's a pretty cool place in that it's not just a bar and grill, but also a Big Dog motorcycle dealership and a Victory motorcycles dealership.

Just walking in the front door of the resturaunt, and ignoring the dealership part of it, it looks like your "typical biker bar". And generally speaking, the type of people you'll see in there are "Harley Bikers". Not really the type of place I'd expect to get good food from.

Also, despite it being your "typical Harley type bar", I've never felt anything but welcome at this place. I've never had ny problem out of the other "bikers", the waitresses, etc.

Well, since I first went there (several years ago), I was plesantly suprised. Not only is the food just "not bad", but it's actually GOOD! I've never been in there and had something that was terrible....or even, just "bad".

Normally, I get either a burger, or the Ribeye steak sandwich. Both are pretty awesome! I've tried their grilled chicken sandwich, and it isn't anything special, but not bad either. I've been probably 2 dozen times, and always recieved good to great service. All the times I've been, I've never heard anyone say anything bad about the food.

For the first time about a month ago, I finally tried their wings. I was expecting typical bar type wings, that had the typical vinegar taste, and were typically overcooked. Not so here! While the wings aren't as good as Buffalo Wild Wings, they're not bad! They had more vinegar taste than I really care for, and they were a hair overcooked, but they were still MUCH better than WWC, and probably right inline with Buffalo Brothers. Overall taste was actually better than Buff Bros, and were actually a hair warmer than BWW.

As for the dealership part of the place, it cool as well. The type of bikes they sell (cruisers and choppers) aren't typically what sparks my interest, but I like looking at, and sitting on, just about any kind of bike...even if they're not a bike I'd consider buying. The salesman in the place are more than willing to talk to me even if I do ride in their on a "Crotch rocket". They'll answer any question I have, let me sit on anything, etc. I'm treated better in this place than I am in some Jap bike dealers. Hah!

Overall, I give this place a 9 out of 10. The food is good, the service is great, and so is the atmosphere. And on top of the resturaunt, it's got a motorcycle dealership in the place. What more could you ask for? Slightly better wing sauce, and quality of wings would have landed them a 10, but that is really nit picking for a place that is otherwise awesome.

Buffalo Brothers Pizza and Wings

2007-12-14T18:43:00.001-08:00

Location: Raleigh, NC (Capitol Blvd)

BB's is a place I used to frequent a couple times a week. I still go there on occasion, just not for wings anymore.

This place is your typical Sports Bar & Resturaunt, that's a pretty family friendly place. They're pretty packed on friday nights, and normally play whatever "big game" is on. It's not just a wing joint, or just a pizza place. They've got a pretty good selection of food, and all of it is pretty good.

The food at this place is actually pretty good. I originally started going here for their wings, because at the time, they had the best wings in town....that I could find anyway. BWW's wings are better in taste, but overall quality is the same. More of a vinegar taste than I care for is the biggest complaint. They're hottest wings are warm, but eating a half dozen of them isn't any problem. They're probably the 3rd best wings I've had so far, so they're not terrible by any means...just not the best.

I've also had burgers and pizza at this place. Their burgers are pretty damn good. I'd say about a 7 out of 10. Their pizza is the best I've found in the area, short of REAL Italian Pizza (which is almost always the best). WORLDS better than any delivery pizza. This is usually what I get when I go here. If you haven't tried it, you should! ;)

The service here is USUALLY pretty good. When we stop in on the bikes, and it's blazing hot outside, they'll usually drop off a pitcher of whatever we're drinking at the table, and just refill the pitcher when we run out. We also usually are given the largest available table as well, so we've got plenty of room to put our jackets, helmets, etc. Every once in a while, we'll get a ding bat waitress that doesn't know wtf is going on, and our service will suffer...but these happenings are few and far between.

Overall, I'd rate this place about a 9 out of 10. It's convienient for me and most of my friends to meet at, the food is pretty good, good service, and they've always been friendly to me if I'm on my bike, or in the car. They'd get a 10 if they're wings were "only" as good as BWW's, but this gripe is minor. Don't let it stop you from trying them out!

Michael's Bar and Grill (now known as Carolina Blue)

2007-12-13T17:36:00.000-08:00

Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Carolina Blue (previously known as Michaels...any further reference to the place, will still be made as "Michaels") is a bar and grill located in Chapel Hill, NC. On Sunday mornings, they (used to...more on that shortly) open their doors bright and early at 9am, just for motorcycle riders. It's a pretty cool "biker" hangout from about 9am, til around noon.

On a good day, there's around 100 - 150 bikers that show up for breakfast, chit-chat, and to look at all the bikes. On a GREAT day, I've seen as many as about 200 or so bikes show up. Very cool. You can see pretty much ANY bike EVER made at this place...usually, just by going one time.

Now, before I go on about the food, let me say this. No one REALLY goes there for the food. On a good day, when the "cook" is doing a "good" job, the food is....ok. On a bad day, expect everything to be cold. Despite that, we still eat it. Why? Well, it's early sunday morning, we're hungry, and they serve "food". If you're looking for a awesome breakfast, don't bother coming. If you're looking for a place to hang out with some friends, talk to strangers about their bikes, show off your bike, look at other people showing off their bike, etc, this is the place to go. I don't think I've ever been there, and had anyone make any "out of the way" comments. Everyone always gets along fine!

Now, back to the "used to" thing. Since the new assholes (owners) bought the place, and re-named the place, I'm not a fan of it anymore. AT ALL. Prior to the new assholes, this place was open YEAR ROUND. Didn't matter if it was snowing, raining, 10 degree's outside, etc. Sunday morning, 9am, they were open. They've done it like this long before I was even riding (which has been over 6 years now). If you wanted to go to Michaels, you could go, they'd be open, and there would be bikers there. I've been there before when the temps never got higher than 35 degrees, and there was only 5 other people there. Did they close early? No. Did they stop opening on Sundays because they weren't "making any money"? Absolutely not.

Since the new assholes bought it, they changed that. They had exactly ONE SINGLE SUNDAY, in which business wasn't "booming". One slow Sunday where only about 15 people showed up. The sunday before and after (both cold days), the place was pretty busy. Based on that one single "bad" day, they decided they wouldn't open up on Sundays any more until March. This annoyed me, and several other of my friends, and I'm sure, all the other motorcyclists that come.

Carolina Blue my ass.

So, how do I even rate this place? I'll say 4 out 10. The food sucks and the place isn't open in the winter anymore, which means there's no "biker hangout" now. I rate them at a 4, only because they're still open in the summer....or they say they will be anyway. Had they still been open now, I'd probably rated them atleast a 7, just because it's a cool place. Now it's just like the rest of Chapel Hill...

Wild Wings Cafe - YUCK!

2007-12-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

This is a new wing joint to the Durham area, that just opened up a few weeks ago. Since it was a new place, they were playing lots of radio ads. After hearing so many, I decided I'd give them a try, and I set my expectations high. What a let down.

Since the place was so new, I think everyone in North Carolina decided to show up. We got there, and had to wait 45 minutes. Not a big deal, as I somewhat expected a wait.

We sit, order our food and drinks, and wait...and wait....and wait. FINALLY, over 30 minutes later, we get our food....or some of it anyway. While they were on their way delivering, they dropped (as in, on the floor), half the order. Ten to fifteen minutes later, I finally had ALL of my order.

As usual, I ordered (the hottest) wings. One of my buddies ordered a burger, another ordered wings, and my wife got the Terriaki chicken platter.

The two of us that got wings, hated them. Chicken was dry, maybe a hair overcooked, and just plain not good. The other guy that got wings, said there was just a dusting of sauce on them. Barely enough to even taste. He then dips them in blue cheese dressing to give them some sort of flavor, only to find out that was crap as well. The sauce on my wings, well, there wasn't enough...or more like, it was just dry. What sauce WAS on my wings, was not the tastiest of sauces I've had. BWW and QS&L both have a better taste BY FAR. The one thing I can say about the WWC HOT wing sauce is that it is the absolute, without a doubt, the hottest sauce I've ever had in my life. Had the actual taste, quality, etc, been better, it would have been GREAT....but not a chance.

I think this place had the worst wings that I've ever had in my life. I've had wings that were more overcooked, or drier, or had a worse taste, but never everything all combined on one wing.

The burger that the third guy got, he said was pretty good. Didn't get any more info out of him that that.

My wife said her food was good!

I got a desert as well...Chocolate cake with hot fudge on it. It was "ok". No more, no less...just ok. The wife thought the same.

The setting of the place, I didn't care for. They had a band in there when we got there (at 7), but when we left, they still hadn't played anything (at almost 10). They did manage to strum their guitars, but no music came out. The entire place was extremely L O U D. Not like most sports bars are, but MUCH louder. Almost like it's a club....with crappy food....and music. I didn't care for it at all.

Overall, this place gets a 5 out of 10. I didn't die from eating the food, and two of the people liked it. It was to loud tho, with crap for food (wings anyway....this IS a wing joint afterall), and a band that didn't know how to play music, but managed to be "loud". If in 6 months (when the novelty of the place has worn off) I happen to be in the area, and just so happen to be hungry, and everything else is closed down except them, I MIGHT try them out again....maybe. Don't hold your breath for a new review on them.

Buffalo Wild Wings

2007-12-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is a place I usually eat at every, or every other week. It's the best wing joint I've found that isn't 2.5 hours away.

This place has the second best wings I've had as of yet (2nd to QS&L of course). Wings are great! Very meaty, not over cooked, and while they have a slight vinegar taste, it's no where near being over powering.

As with any other place, I usually order the hottest wings they have, but have also tried their second hottest. Both sauces were good. The hottest wings are pretty warm. 5 of them is about all I can handle without needing a stomach pump. ;) Not the hottest I've had, but not to far off either.

Second hottest wings aren't nearly as warm. Anyone that likes hot wings should be able to handle these with no problem. A hair more vinegar taste than the hottest, but again, not over powering with it.

Unlike QS&L that has "other food" but also has GREAT wings, this place has good wings, and then "other food". Meaning wings is their primary type food. They've also got burgers, sandwhiches, and other similar food, but the wings is what everyone goes there for.

I've never eaten their "other food", but pretty much everyone I've gone with does. They all say the food is pretty good (but I don't think I've ever heard it called "Awesome!"). I have tried their deserts (I had a piece of cake with ice cream), and it was great!

The one thing I don't care for there is their fries. They don't have regular, plain jane, fries....or even regular thick cut fries. They've got "potatoe wedges" and "buffalo chips". The wedges are ok, but nothing spectacular. Add cheese if you want, but it doesn't really improve them. Then they have their buffalo chips. The name makes it sound like they're going to be super awesome tasty, but their not. Their just sliced up potatoes that are fried. For some reason, being shaped different than a fry, makes them taste different than a fry...or maybe it's that they're just to soggy for my liking. Whatever the case, this is pretty much my only real complaint....and a minor one at that.

The service at this place is hit and miss. One day, their on top of their game. The next, it takes 30 minutes to get a refill. Overall, I guess it's average, or just below. Good enough where I keep coming back, and don't get pissed at them...

Overall, I give this place a 8 out of 10. The service could be a little better, the sauce could be a little better, and the fries could be a little better. The thing that keeps me from scoring them a 7 out of 10 (instead of 8 as I did), is that they have up front motorcycle ONLY parking, with curbs that prevent cars from pulling in the spaces. I think the bike specific spaces are closer than the handicap spaces. :D

Quaker Steak and Lube

2007-12-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

From here on, known as QS&L. So far, this is the absolute best place for wings I've found, and what all other wing joints (and resturaunts/sports bars in general) will be measured by.

This is a pretty cool resturaunt that I stumbled onto about 6 or 7 years ago. On the outside, it looks like a automotive garage. Usually, there's a car parked out front by the faux gas pump, and on some days, there's a pretty big crowd. Inside the place, there's old bikes, bike parts, etc, hanging from the ceiling and walls. Very cool!

Their wings are hands down, the absolute best wings around....Period. They're meatier than most places. To many times have I went to a wing joint, and it looks like the wings came off a starving Etheopian chicken. Not here!

The sauce is pretty damn good as well. For the record, I like HOT wings. The kind that really make you sweat. When ever I go into a wing place, I always order whatever the hottest they have is. I realize not everyone is like this, and I've always got someone with me that doesn't like them nearly as hot. With that said, all of us that went liked the sauce. They weren't your typical vinegar based sauces like a lot of so called "wing joints" are (like Hooters has....ugh). In general, the sauces were "tasty". No idea how to describe it other than that. Hah. This place also has the second hottest sauce I've ever had in my life. They call it "Atomic Sauce", and for good reason. Borderline to hot. Four wings is about all I can eat of these. If you order these, they'll make you sign a waiver, and give you a free bumper sticket. I'm not sure if the waiver is more for the "Fun of it", or because some have actually complained about it being to hot (wouldn't surprise me). Either way, I got a laugh out of it.

I've also eaten other things from this place. Their burgers, cheese fries, steaks, everything, are all excellent. I haven't had anything that I didn't like there.

As I said in the beginning, there are no sports bars or wing joints any better than QS&L. This place gets a 10 out of 10 rating. I'll gladly ride the 2.5 hours to get there for their food!