Wingaddicts BLOG
While the Steel City has a rich sports tradition with the Steelers, the Penguins the Pirates and the University of Pitt Panthers, it’s only a three-hour car ride away from the birthplace of the Buffalo wing. And, as one of America’s best sports towns, it has its own collection of great destinations to find our favorite cuisine. Wings.
We’ve created the official Pittsburgh Wing Trail to highlight some of these spots for you. We assembled this list largely based on a restaurant’s commitment to great wings and great flavor selections. We don’t do the Dave Portnoy thing and give rating scores because wings are far more of a broad spectrum than pizza and opinions are subjective. We leave the rating to you! You can rate them yourself on the free Wingaddicts app because the only opinion that really matters . . . is yours!
Any bar that serves wings with 37 sauces and a dozen more dry rub flavors has got to be a stop on anybody’s wing trail. Shenanigan’s has a clean modern feel with a full bar, plenty of high-top seating and TV’s everywhere. It also has a heated outdoor patio with a fire pit. The menu has all the pub fare you love with handhelds, burgers, sandwiches, pizza and salads but it’s that separate menu which reads “Shenanigan’s Famous Wings” that keeps the true Wingaddicts coming back!
Just the name of this place conjures up an image of a giant flashing neon sign near the pearly gates of heaven. And if you don’t have a great imagination, just look at the menu which reads “The Best Wings in the USA.” BSB’s opened its original location in Avalon back in 2007 and has since branched out to include 18 more Pennsylvania locations along with a store in New York, West Virginia and Florida. And while we aren’t inclined to include franchise wing joints on our Wing Trails (so don’t look to us for BWW or Wingstop) Big Shot Bob’s has received numerous local awards for “Best Wings” including Pittsburgh Magazine’s “Best of the Burgh” in 2024. This menu has over a hundred flavors including 50 of the traditional classics along with an additional 65-plus “signature” flavors including things like “Talk of Beaver Falls (available by the bottle), Three Rivers, Frank Sinatra, Lady Luck and Lebron to the Lakers. You’ll want to just grab a menu and read it for entertainment value alone! Note that BSB is takeout and delivery only.
In business for more than twenty years, Sidelines dubs itself the “Wing and Burger Experts.” We can vouch for the wing part. Serving communities at two locations, (Millvale and Sewickley) this spot offers the full family-style bar/restaurant experience along with a wing-list which includes 40 hand-tossed flavors including some interesting spice combinations. There are plenty of TV’s for catching all the sports action with an energetic stadium atmosphere and a full menu of pub fare to complement your wings. Wednesdays are special “Wing Nights.”
This little dive bar on the corner of Hatfield and 49th Street calls itself "Lawrenceville’s Premier Sports Bar" and is a super-cool, must-visit destination. Stinky’s has dozens of TV’s, a huge beer selection and a six-page menu which includes 24 flavors of wings which you can order with the traditional “naked” oil fry style or “country fried” with a breaded coating. More known for its nationally-ranked burgers and other amazing menu items, the wing game at Stinky’s is top notch in the Pittsburgh area. The kitchen is open late at Stinky’s and don’t miss the wing special on Wednesday nights. The outdoor patio is dog-friendly and actually has a special “dog menu” for your pups. Sorry, no wings for them but they get some awesome (and inexpensive) treats for sure! We give huge extra credit for the dog menu. Classic!
With four Pittsburgh area locations (North Hills, Lawrenceville, South Side and Regent Square), Dive Bar & Grille isn’t your typical dive bar. Opened in 2010, it has since grown and expanded into four Pittsburgh area locations. With TV’s, dartboards, shuffleboard, live music, beer, craft cocktails and an outdoor patio this inviting atmosphere is a great place to unwind and enjoy lunch, dinner, apps or . . . great wings. Dive Bar serves its “Bar Wings” with a choice of five dry rub flavors, BBQ sauces in traditional, spicy or honey; and Buffalo sauces either traditional or in four blended flavor combinations. They also offer another 14 sauces which you can order tossed on the wings or on the side for dipping. Many customers opt for their wings naked with dipping sauces (two per order).
After two decades of excellence in Shadyside, owner Richard Rattner moved his bar/restaurant three miles northwest to Lawrenceville in 2022 and picked right up where he had left off. Voted “Best Bar in Pittsburgh” by Pittsburgh Magazine, William Penn Tavern boasts its locally famous Kitchen Sink wing sauce to highlight a menu of 16 flavors all told, at super reasonable prices to accommodate the “average Pittsburgher.” Self identifying as “Lawrenceville’s Eclectic Sports Tavern” this popular spot has a heated outdoor area and all the things you love about a sports bar including TV’s and a ton of memorabilia from the local teams. It’s a must-stop on your Pittsburgh Wing Trail!
You could easily drive right past the unassuming building that is Nox’s Tavern (short for Blawnox, the small Pittsburgh borough). It looks more like a house than one of the city's finest wing joints. Inside you’ll find that neighborhood bar and grille atmosphere along with a wing menu that offers 30-40 house made flavors to choose from not including a special “wing of the month." Nox’s was opened by Jennifer Carrozza and Brittany Schaeffer back in 2014 and has won multiple awards for its wing game, taking three first-place trophies and a runner-up in Pittsburgh’s “King of the Wing Festival” for Steph’s Secret Sauce, Butter Mesquite and their signature Nox Sauce. They recently opened a second location (Nox’s on 8), just 15 minutes northwest in Shaler Township. Both places serve the same great wings and have the same motto, “Nox Your Ordinary Tavern."
This addition to our Wing Trail might raise some feathers (pun intended) because Mad Mex isn’t your typically wing joint. It’s a Mexican restaurant with nine PA locations. We put them on our list because of their clear commitment to serving quality wings. Mex’s serves a Classic Buffalo wing, a San Francisco wing (sweet and garlicky spicy honey sauce) and a Southwestern wing (cilantro, Mexican oregano, lime and garlic) all available in Mild, Wild or Insane heat levels. They also have a Honey Chipotle BBQ wing and a General Zaragoza (not General Tso) which is a citrus soy sauce with peanuts, sesame seeds and fresh cilantro served over a bed of bean sprouts. Owners Tom Baron and Juno Yoon opened their doors 30 years ago with an idea to create an exciting Cal-Mex style restaurant with a party vibe; a fun atmosphere where you can gave dinner and a bar scene at the same time. Yes, you’ll be tempted to drink lots of tequila and eat Mexican. But start with those wings!
Oh, and there’s a second Redbeard's right across the Monongahela in Mt Washington. The downtown location on 6th Street is open seven days a week from 11:30 am until midnight and slings up a dozen different wing sauces and another half dozen dry rubs with awesome game day specials. They also host “What the Hell Wing Tuesdays.” The Mt Washington location has the same wing menu, but different hours. Both spots have expansive bars and seating and multiple TV’s to watch the games. The Pittsburgh City Paper once proclaimed Redbeard’s as the “Best Bar to (Not) Watch a Steelers Game,” suggesting that outsiders can watch their own teams play despite being in the home of the yellow and black.
Best this. Best that. Bigham Tavern has won virtually every “Best of” award imaginable since it opened its doors in Mt Washington back in 2012. In fact, the Pittsburgh City Paper has named Bigham Tavern “Best Wings in Pittsburgh” in ten of the last twelve years. Pittsburgh Magazine awarded Bigham with “Best Wing Night” seven years in a row, and even the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette awarded this bar as “Favorite Wings” in 2018. That should be enough to poke your head in the door! The menu boasts over 40 flavors, many of them unique and all of them with creative names and stories like Chupacabra, Dingo, Gnarbenero and the Honey Badger. Like they say in their motto “Go Bigham or Go Home!” The recently opened a second location in Beaver County with the same amazing fare. This wing menu is one of the greatest we've ever seen!
Wiggy’s is a special place, and is an outlier in a lot of ways. There isn’t any social media presence so forget Facebook or Instagram. It can’t be considered a pub. You won’t find a bar or TV’s but you’ll see sports photos and memorabilia on the walls. It’s a takeout place for sure but it might be more considered a deli-type atmosphere. There are tables and chairs available and you can BYOB as you drool over the wing menu with 49 mouth-watering flavors. Wiggy’s were nominated in the “Best Wings” category by the Pittsburgh City Paper in 2022 and is a favorite wing destination for locals there for almost 30 years. It’s one of those “if you know, you know” places to visit. And now you know!
This national treasure started back in 1992 when craft beer pioneers Glenn and Michelle Benigni had the idea for a craft-beer centric restaurant on Pittsburgh’s South Side that would specialize in huge sandwiches and delicious wings. In 2009 they partnered with master brewer Matt Cole and opened Fat Head’s Brewpub in nearby North Olmstead, OH which blossomed into what is now a world-renowned IPA brand having won dozens of national awards. Let’s talk wings, though. You can order wings either pit smoked in full wing sections or traditional fried in (flats and drums) and your choice of 15 different flavors here. And you won’t be disappointed!
Not named after boxing great, Smokin’ Joe Frazier (Joe is the owner’s name), this awesome watering hole on the historic South Side has been in business since 1996. With one of the largest beer selections in Pittsburgh (well over 200), this isn’t a barbecue joint either, also implied by the Smokin’ title on the building. What they do have here is a popular neighborhood dive bar on Carson St where regulars come out to laugh, drink, watch sports and eat great bar food. The wings at Smokin’ Joe’s are also not “smoked.” They are traditionally oil fried to perfection with a choice of 20 flavors on the menu, and frequent wing specials.
In the spirit of a true wing “trial” Archie’s is only three blocks east of Smokin’ Joe’s which is just two blocks east of Fat Head’s. In other words you can walk to all three of these wing havens. Archie’s has a special wing menu that includes 25 flavors and offers not one Wing Night, but instead Wing Nights Monday through Thursday every week where you get discounted prices. Archie’s calls itself “Pittsburgh’s Best Place for Food, Drinks and Sports,” with its local dive bar atmosphere, daily drink specials, a tasty bar menu and a front row seat for the big game! In fact, if you’re a Pitt Panthers fan, this may be the perfect place to watch the games. Owner Mike Manning has been known to roll out free wings after Panther wins. Shhhh. Well, he did it once. And that’s legendary status in our book.
Welcome to the bar that raised a community. Since the Bicentennial (that’s 1976 for all you young un’s), the Saloon of Mt Lebanon has been a neighborhood staple where generations have gathered and created lifelong memories. It was the TV show Cheers, before the TV show Cheers. Near the Pittsburgh Penguins training facility of the 80’s and 90’s, the bar was a frequent hangout spot for many Penguins players like Mario Lemieux and Jaramir Jagr among others and is also a favorite hometown stop for Mt Lebanon native Mark Cuban when he’s in town. The Saloon has been family run since the beginning, opened by Jim Sheppard and now being run by his son Keith both of whom have sipped from Lord Stanley’s Cup (in the bar) over the Pirates glory years. The bar food menu is as great as ever here as is the wing list. They serve Buffalo wings in four heat levels, and a half dozen other classic traditional flavors as well. Step into Pittsburgh history when you visit this location.
We shy away from adding pizza joints to our Wingaddicts Wing Trails and make no mistake, Caliente is ALL ABOUT pizza. In fact, since Nick Bogacz opened up his first restaurant in Bloomfield in 2012, he has since added seven more Pittsburgh area locations and has earned global acclaim for his pizza (like three-time World Champion acclaim). But unlike a lot of places that specialize in the hot pie (Caliente is Spanish for “hot”) this restaurant also works hard on its wing game. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a pizza joint with over 30 house-made flavors on its wing menu. Caliente is also a drafthouse (hence the name) and has a killer selection of rotating draft beers at all of its locations. Don’t be surprised to see “wing” awards on its mantle soon.
This destination was once called 51 Wings & Things. Then it was 51 Wings & Fish. Now it's 51 Wings & Pizza. And you can get all those things here - along with sandwiches, burgers and salads too - but the only part of the name that really matters is the constant . . . “WINGS." There are tables to dine in, and there are a few TV’s on the wall, but this isn’t a bar and does most of its business via takeout and delivery. You can probably guess how many wing flavors you can choose from (hint, it’s in the name), and they also run monthly flavor specials. You have the option to order them traditional or breaded (in full sections). Make this a stop on your trail when in the Brentwood area.
Without knowing anything else about the place, a restaurant with “Wing Pub” on the end of its name is worth a visit. And this one, again despite that Italian “p” word at the beginning is absolutely worthy of our Wing Trail. Family owned and operated since 1996, this popular bar/restaurant offers jumbo wings in two dozen flavors including five Cajun “Blackened” Flavors that are pizza-oven charred to perfection. In fact, the “oven roasted” option is available for all the wing flavors and you can ask for crumbled bleu cheese as well. You may as well grab a pizza for dessert and wash it all down with one of 24 draft or 200 bottled beers while you watch the Steelers on one of 30 TV’s on the wall. Lots of room. Lots of fun.
There are so many great wing spots in the Burgh and everybody has their own favorites. We’d love to know about yours. The “Pittsburgh Foodaholics” Facebook group chimed in for us too and offered up their own suggestions as well as our influencer buddy Eric Weaver at The Hungry Road. Based on those, we just had to create an Honorable Mention list.
The Burg Bar & Grill is a PREMIER wing destination but didn’t make our trail only because of its distance from the center of Pittsburgh. About 50 miles northwest of Accenture Stadium, this place is a wing-lovers paradise. Not much of a social media presence so it’s difficult to learn about online, but this is a classic neighborhood dive bar with sports and live music and an extensive wing list which includes over 40 unique and exciting flavors to choose from.
Birmingham Bridge Tavern, Mugshots Cafe, Forbes Tavern, Gooskie’s Bar and Pittsburgh's only rugby bar, Ruggers Pub all receive honorable mention on our list as well and are all well worth the visit!
Did we miss your favorite spot? Please let us know!
Contact me directly at tommy@wingaddicts.com. I promise to answer your email message personally! And be sure to explore our other Wing Trails as well at www.wingaddicts.com.
Tommy Wyatt is co-founder of Wingaddicts and author of this “Under the Wingfluence" blog. He can be reached directly by email at tommy@wingaddicts.com
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