Long Wong's — Restaurant in Phoenix

I went into this place picking up an order for a friend. I took one step into the establishment and observed that it was dark dingy and had a Musky smell. Looking on the walls I could see a collection of 1980s memorabilia that had a layer of dust on it so thick it looked like it had been sitting there since the year it was created. I used to work in the food industry for 13 years and I took one look into the kitchen and wanted to run the other way. That place was a breeding ground for something otherworldly. I asked if I could pick up my order and the old man behind the counter said it wasn't ready. I asked if I could at least pay for the order then so that I could just leave when it came out and he simply told me no. I stood around and waited for another 20 minutes and it had already been a total of 35 minutes since I place the order. I finally got back in line and waited another 10 minutes before I asked the lady behind the counter if they could double check if my order was ready. I told her to look under two different names but she only heard the one and so she went back and searched and couldn't find anything and told me they didn't have it. Then a guy came out and said yes we do it's right here. So she gave me the order and read it back and one of the items was missing a topping so I had asked for it on the side. She said okay and ring up my order and then wish me a good day. And then had to ask her again for the items she had just promise me on the side. She looked at me like she had no idea what I was talking about. This is a place I would not touch with a ten-foot pole it alone eat at . It's not even like it's good food either most of it'll give you cancer and if the food doesn't make you sick then the dust and all of the bacteria in the dust and dead skin cells living on the walls in their old collections of...

Not sure why it took this New Yorker so many years to make it to this Phoenix landmark restaurant. Finally managed to get to their Thomas Rd. location for lunch. This place has charm and character in spades. As all the posted photos show, visitors to this little shop are greeted by a splash of collectibles, trinkets, and various works of art. Add in some old-school pinball machines and video games just for the fun of it. There are menus and random menu options on hand-written notes and signs hanging on the walls all over the place - along with all the house rules and thoughtful quips. It is mesmerizing. We were after wings and pizza, so we got right to it. An order of medium and suicide along with a sausage pizza. We found one of the few inside tables available and in a matter of 10 minutes, the food arrived. Their wings are definitely true to a NY traditional preparation. Smaller wing parts, cooked to a pretty hefty crisp. A bit too crispy for our liking, but still great. Their Buffalo sauce was awesome and the "suicide" sauce was spicy but not ridiculous hot. The pizza was made on what appeared to be a prefab flat dough with little texture or taste. It reminded me of a frozen pizza or, as my guest remarked "a Peter Piper pizza". They do have a lot of other options that we wished we had tried instead. This place is a fun spot that's been a long-running locally owned, Buffalo influenced, joint for quick and very affordable eats. Prices are great and the staff was delightful. Maybe not the "best" wings in town, and pizza not their specialty, but it is most definitely...

I'm a wing lover. There, I've said it. I love that the humble little chicken wing, which was once almost routinely discarded as more of an annoyance than a culinary gift, can now be elevated by proper cooking and the application of delectable sauces. This place does both well. I do like my wings more on the done/crispy side rather than rubbery, and that is how these folks roll. They don't have a huge list of sauces/seasonings like some of their bigger competitors, yet the ones they do offer all bring it in terms of creating a happy dance between the texture of the chicken and the flavor of the sauce. My favorite sauce here is garlic Parmesan, with lots of chunks of garlic in a Alfredo-like base; I also like spicy BBQ, and the medium is classic buffalo wing heaven. If you choose to eat it, which I usually don't the place is fun and very funky by design, and is very much the dive it deserves to be, but is clean and otherwise functional, with a couple of TVs to view sports. Lots of fun tourist-trap offerings for to keep the kids occupied. They have a menu beyond the wings, which I haven't tried, but there are burger, sandwich and pizza offerings for any non-wing lovers in your group. Be aware too, that each Long Wong's in the Phoenix valley appears to use their own recipes and approaches, as I found out when really disappointed with results from a Long Wong's in mesa. But this one does it, and does it well for my...