I can’t believe that Quaker Steak gets 2 and a half stars on Yelp as of this writing. I disagree. I’d probably give it 3 and a half stars, but I’m going to round up to four. Buffalo Wild Wings in Lewisville is the closest direct competitor (I guess Frankie’s is also) and I believe this is better.
Ambiance:
Let’s get the nasties on the table first. I’d probably give this one and a half stars. The “car” concept is kind of cool, but I’m not wild about how it’s executed. I don’t particularly care for NASCAR. This is certainly a “blue collar” atmosphere without the breastaurant effect you’ll get from Twin Peaks and Redneck Heaven in Lewisville. (The food is better also, but I’ll get to that later.) The downside is that unless you’re sitting in the bar or in a booth, I think you’re stuck in the plastic lawn chairs that they have. This is a bummer… and probably the biggest bummer of the restaurant. Also, I’m not wild about the thought of eating under the car, as I’m always thinking about how it could fall on me or leak oil on my food. Gross.
When you receive your check, you receive a moist towelette and each diner receives a red Twizzler. (I can never get the damn wrapper open… I’ll bet I’m not the only one.) The twizzler is worth mentioning here because it kind of adds on to the blue-collar theme. I think the twizzler is pretty funny, actually.
Either way, I’m okay with the whole “blue collar” theme, but I think it could be executed better, primarily by buying some real chairs. :-/
Food:
I’d give this a full five stars. I believe their dishes are fairly creative and imaginative, and there’s MANY options. There’s so many things on it, the menu kind of reminds you of the cheesecake factory. This is an awesome thing for a wing joint. The sauces / flavorings help to add to this, by allowing you to further customize your meal.
(Just to set the relative bar of expectations, I think Hooter’s wings (and food in general) TOTALLY suck. A wise man named “Rock” once said, “No one goes to Hooters for wings.”)
Sauces:
The sauces are quite good. I’ve had a lot of the sauces, and I’ll rank them here. Quick note: I really like SWEET and/or HOT BBQ sauces. I know that my taste isn’t congruent with everyone else. Let’s go in the order of how they list them… in increasing spiciness on the Scoville scale. Note that I haven’t tried ALL of their sauces yet.:
Ranch – Your standard ranch. I like their little ranch containers here. I think they look cool. But they are somewhat small. Make sure to get a few of them.
Original BBQ – Tasty, but nothing to write home about.
Dusted Mango Habanero – (This is actually a “dry rub” and not a sauce.) EFFING AWESOME. I’d get this again. Goes great with the ranch.
Louisiana Lickers – Like the Original BBQ, I’d say this is tasty as well, but nothing to write home about.
Thai ‘R’ Craker – Also EFFING AWESOME. One of my favorites.
Arizona Ranch – Very good, but not as good as I was hoping. I was expecting this to be my favorite. It’s up there, but it’s not my #1.
Buckeye BBQ – This is excellent. It’s a great compromise of spicy and sweet, with a little more spicy. This is also one of my favorites.
Atomic – I’m not a huge fan. Sure, they’re really spicy. I like spicy. But I don’t like the vinegar-y buffalo-sauce tasting spicy all that much. This has too much of that with too much heat.
Triple Atomic – This is better than the Atomic sauce. It’s actually kind of sweet for about the first half a second you can actually taste it. Then, the ghost peppers take over and you start to cry. Literally.
My only complaint here is that I kind of wish they had a honey BBQ sauce to rival Buffalo Wild wings. Overall, I’d give this 4.5 stars out of 5.
Service:
The servers here appear to be nice, enjoy their job, and are willing to talk about the menu. I’d give this 5 stars / full marks as well.
Price:
I think without discounts, the price is actually better than their competition. I think that WITH discounts, they truly have a leg-up.
Take advantage of the nightly specials, and get on their mailing list. They send you a lot of e-mail, but in those e-mails, there seem to be some nice coupons.
Don’t tell them I said this, but I think the “worst seat in the house” is a lot better than some of the other seats in the house. In fact, I’d kind of recommend it, because you get a good view of the TVs by the bar. If you sit at this table, you’ll get 10% off your check. I find this to be totally worth it.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, better than going to their competition in Lewisville because the food is just as good (and priced more reasonably) and you won’t leave smelling like the bottom of an ashtray.
