WING QUEST PHILLY: Oh Bryon's Saloonery

While Oh Bryon’s was never suggested to us by anyone for having outstanding hot wings, it’s a place that we felt we needed to review. For those who didn’t already know, Oh Bryon’s is the birthplace of Wing Quest. It was here that Sean, Nick, and myself sat at a table one night, ordered wings, tasted said wings, and decided that it would be an awesome experience for all of us to go out and try to find the best hot wings in Philadelphia. Perhaps more importantly, a year or so before that first unofficial quest was when Sean, Nick, and myself met for the first time at that very bar. So Oh Bryon’s is not just another wing spot for us, it’s our bar. We’ve all spent countless hours there, hanging out, drinking, and having some awesome times. All of our friends go there, some even work there, and it’s because of that, this quest was one of great, if only sentimental, importance to all of us. But if you’ve been keeping up with the Quest, you know that sentiment has zero bearing on our reviews and we went into this quest with no bias whatsoever.

Arriving at Oh Bryon’s, we all took our usual seats at the bar, greeted the regulars, and hassled our bartender gal pals Rachel and Caitlin before ordering our feast of wings. According to the menu, there are two different sauces, Hot and BBQ, but apparently, as I learned that night, there are at least three more sauces/styles of wings to be had. On top of the Hot and BBQ, there’s the Cajun, Garlic/Butter, and Old Bay. Naturally, we ordered ten of each. Our wings arrived in a timely manner and we got down to doing what we do best.

Hot sauce

The Hot sauce was confirmed to be nothing more than a Frank’s and butter mix. Now, we know that when we say, “just Frank’s and butter”, it sounds like we disapprove of that simple recipe and that's not the case. We love Frank’s hot sauce and we love butter, who doesn’t? When the two come together it’s like there’s a mildly fun party in my mouth and whilst everyone was invited, only a couple of my relatives showed up. It’s a classic combo and you always know what you’re in for when you eat a Frank’s and butter hot wing. The BBQ sauce, much like the Hot sauce, was of average quality. Deemed a bit too sweet, the BBQ wings tasted like someone was a little heavy-handed with the brown sugar, though not to the point of being inedible. The Cajun and Old Bay seasoned wings could be lumped together in one salty, dry rubbed category. We didn’t dislike them, but we definitely don’t harvest a lot of joy from eating things that are comprised mainly of sodium.

Look at all dem wings!

The Garlic/Butter wings were by far the most interesting of the wing selection. These were drenched in an ocean of butter and topped with chopped garlic cloves. Upon the first tasting, the wings had a really nice flavor, but as we ventured on, we noticed the wings had a really sweet flavor that eventually became too much for some of us to handle. The sweetness of the wings, as hypothesized by Dan the karaoke man, is attributed to the fact that the bulk-sized jar of garlic has had a lot of time to sit and ferment, allowing the garlic to take on this sort of sweet flavor. Perhaps some fresh garlic could revive these wings, though Sean seemed to really dig them as they were.

Garlic and Butter

The quality of the wings themselves was okay. Oh Bryon’s bakes their wings first before throwing them into the fryer so they’re not a juicy as they could be, but they’re not that terribly dry either. The wings are of average build and we didn't get any basket hangers or weird misshapen freak of nature wings. The price of the wings is a bit of a downfall for Oh Bryon’s. At $7.95 for ten, or $14.95 for twenty, the quality of the wings just isn’t enough to justify the price.

Overall the wings were average; just some good old fashioned bar food. But as stated before, the importance of this review is based more so on the fact that Oh Bryon’s is where all of this started and we felt the need to pay them this respect. While the wings aren’t top notch, they were a lot better this time than they were the night we decided to start Wing Quest. So, even though the wings are in need of improvement, we still like Oh Bryon’s and that's never going to change. With its laid back atmosphere and friendly yet snarky bartenders, Oh Bryon’s is definitely a great place to go relax, have a beer, enjoy some good bar food, and more importantly, enjoy the good people and good times.