Wingbonz Opens In Fort Mill

No one can doubt Americans love affair with chicken wings. According to the National Chicken Council’s 2012 Wing Report, an estimated 1.25 billion chicken wings were consumed Super Bowl Weekend.

The chicken wing has come a long way since the Buffalo Wing was introduced by The Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY in 1964. Once a lowly and neglected chicken part that was either tossed aside or used in soups, they’ve become so popular in recent years that the wholesale price of wings has doubled in the last decade

The cars in the parking lot of Wingbonz, a new Fort Mill restaurant, have been so numerous that I wouldn’t be surprised if prices double again. The lunch crowd is especially large. On our first visit, we spent a solid hour and a half at Wingbonz. Had we ordered the Fried Twinkie we were so looking forward to, it would have been closer to a 2 hour visit.

Fortunately, the interior space in Wingbonz is top-notch and if you aren’t pressed for time, you won’t mind hanging out here for a while. The building was formerly home to Longitude 81, a more upscale Caribbean influenced restaurant. I never had a meal at Longitude 81, but I’m guessing that the owners of Wingbonz did little to alter the space. The floors are dark wood and the space is light and airy  with splashes of tropical color.

The greasy, fried menu of Wingbonz seems slightly incongruent with the sleek, swanky interior. I couldn’t help but feel I should be washing down a bite of conch salad with some Rum Punch while listening to the familiar beat of some Reggae music. Instead I found myself chowing down on raw fries drowning in chili and cheese while trying to tune out music that should have stayed in the 80s. Papa Don’t Preach? Did anyone even like that song 25 years ago?

Three Cheese Stuffed Burger

Or second trip to Wingbonz was in the evening and the heat had subsided enough to dine on the deck. Had I known there was such an awesome deck behind this building, I would have potentially frequented the former restaurant every week. Not only is it an expansive deck, there’s an outdoor bar as well as two massive oak trees strung with lights overhanging the deck. Plus there is more land behind and to the side of the property than I realized. You would never know that you are just feet off of Gold Hill Rd.

I will say that we did have to fend off a few bees while we ate. My family complained, but I view that as the price you occasionally have to pay for a meal enjoyed in nature.

Philly Cheese Steak

Those few criticisms aside, Wingbonz is a very welcome addition to the Fort Mill restaurant scene offering at wide variety of good food at very reasonable prices. In addition to wings, you’ll find Chicken fingers, salads, sandwiches, wraps, and burgers on the menu. A selection of appetizers include fried pickle spears, fried mushrooms, and raw fires served floppy, medium, or crisp.

Wingbonz is the first restaurant I’ve seen that allows you to choose how your raw fries are cooked. We are big raw fries fans and whenever we order them, all 4 of us snatch up the soft, undercooked ones. When we get a basket of raw fries that are cooked until they are brown and crisped, we’re all disappointed. So I was thoroughly excited to see that we could order floppy raw fries at Wingbonz. As it turns out, I found them to be a touch too undercooked for my liking. On our second trip to Wingbonz, I ordered the medium raw fries and found them to be just right.

Mushroom Bacon Burger ($7.59)

The general consensus from my family regarding the food is that the burgers are pretty good, the Philly Cheese Steak is average, the wings are good but not our favorites, and the chicken tenders were very well liked.

Wings come in 18 flavors and the fresh-cut and fried chicken fingers can be glazed in any of the wing sauces.

Raw Fries with Chili and Cheese

Fried Twinkie

I finally got to try the Fried Twinkie. It was good, but the standout was the Fried S’more- chocolate and marshmallow in a graham cracker coating. I only wished it was bigger.

Fried S’more

There are two other Wingbonz  locations, one in York on Congress street and the other in Rock Hill on Oakland Ave.

Wingbonz

971 Gold Hill Rd

Fort Mill, SC 29708