Wing City – 5 Stars

Robi Minies can recall sitting in a parking lot, staring for hours at the same structure. Week after he went back and forth to this location, always staring and grasping with whether or not he wanted to purchase the structure. On one faithful evening, he decided he’d stared long enough. He called wife and asked her to meet him. When she arrived he smiled and said, “Honey, we’re going into the chicken wing business.”

In April it will mark three years since Robi opened Wing City and he doesn’t take that lightly. Sharing the parking lot with one of Garland’s most popular restaurants, Babe’s Chicken, since opening in 2013 he’s seen a number of restaurants come and go. Both Robi and his wife Tracy, admit during that first year, business was extremely difficult. “There were a lot of 100 dollar days, and my wife would look at me and say, ‘Really, are you sure?’” During that time, he was only getting about one customer per day. Between calls, a very tired Robi could be found falling asleep in his wife’s truck, waiting for her to tap the window until the next order came in.

Things really turned around for Wing City during the Super Bowl that year, when Robi basically decided to give his wings away. He passed out and posted flyers all over Garland, advertising 60 cent wings for the day of the Super Bowl. Hours passed, and a handful of people showed up. But, suddenly, by 3PM the trickles turned into droves as people started placing wing orders. Robi’s plan had worked.

And why wouldn’t it? Here patrons can order their wings done classic, boneless aka “chicken chunks” or breaded. All your favorite flavors are on the menu. From classic buffalo, to barbeque. Those who are garlic parmesan fans will delight in his pungently intense version. Meanwhile the lemon pepper recipe gives a hefty amount of zest. Wing City definitely does the classics well, but it’s their Homestyle flavor that really sets them apart. Nearly 60 years old, the recipe was created by his grandfather. Robi kept everything the same, except for adding one extra ingredient. The taste is simplistic and almost familiar. It’s the kind of wonderfulness you want to achieve when frying chicken at home but better.

Robi follows this simplistic concept for everything on the menu. From burgers and fries, to the French dip, a favorite of frequent visitor, Margret Stanley. “I like a good French dip, and they make a great one  I like that the food is always served fresh and hot, even the fries,” she explained. Getting your food served hot is an issue you’ll likely never run into at Wing City because everything is made to order. In fact you will never catch a leftover of any sort around Robi, something his wife can attest to. “No disrespect to leftovers and people who eat them, I just grew away from that. When I built this place, I told myself, you are never going to have to worry about anything not being fresh. If it looks weird to me, I’ll throw it out,” he explained.

More and more people are coming by to enjoy all the winged goodness, burgers and sandwiches at Wing City. Even founder of Wingstop, Antonio Swad stopped by and put his stamp of approval on the Buffalo wings. When telling the story about Swad, Robbi grins saying he often uses it for inspiration. But, no matter how busy things get, Robi vows to keep things simple and remain humbled by his customers. He truly believes the customer comes first which is one of the major reasons this place stands out. “I think, one of the things I learned on my path is how important customer service is. It’s our responsibility to provide a clean environment, great customer service, while staying fast and friendly. That’s what we have tried to live by,” he explained.  And the wing lovers of this town smiled and collectively licked their fingers. TXmb

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Where to find them- 1456 Belt Line Rd #120, Garland, TX 75044

Phone- (972) 414-9464

That whole parking thing- It’s in a pretty massive lot, so parking should be no issue.